As we put the itinerary together for our most recent trip, I didn't realize how much WW2 history we were going to be covering. So many of our other travels have been more focused on the history of centuries ago, which somehow seems more romantic and less horrific. Perhaps the benefit of time has just smoothed the edges of those long-ago atrocities. With the recency of WW2 and the efforts that have been made to document and share the events of those years, the emotional impact felt much more intense than learning about battles of the medieval times. Well, that being said, I'll try to keep the rest of this post a bit lighter :)
First stop, Warsaw. We were greeted right off the bat with some cooler weather, which I think we'd kind of forgotten could exist. We had a lovely spacious apartment, but it was a bit of a walk to many of the sights. For some reason, I was anticipating Warsaw would be a quaint little town, but it's large and spread out and there's a section of it filled with tall, glass skyscrapers. Almost more like Chicago than Europe there. So much of Warsaw was destroyed in the war, between the Soviet bombings early on and the uprisings that occurred later on, finished off by the Nazi's razing what remained at the end of the war. In 1945, upwards of 80% of the buildings in the urban areas of Warsaw were wrecked. So it's amazing that, under the communist regime that followed, the city was totally rebuilt. Even more incredible is the re-creation of the quaint old areas as a replica to identically match what things looked like pre-war, even down to the tilt of the old buildings! We enjoyed walking around the Old Town with its Market Square and Castle Square, the Royal Route, the park surrounding the Lazienki Palace, and numerous times past the Palace of Culture and Science (aka Stalin's Penis, that's seriously what they call it!) since it was right behind our apartment. Also checked out a few churches, a synagogue, the Monument to the Warsaw Uprising Fighters and the Barbican. There were several museums that I'm sure would've been worthwhile, but we've learned that limiting museum time while traveling with a 3-year old is a trade-off we usually want to make. If we wear her out enough throughout the day, we usually get a nice little break for afternoon drinks on a square somewhere while she naps in the stroller. It's a win-win!
From Warsaw, it was a quick train ride down to Krakow for the next few days. Krakow survived the war with pretty minimal damage, so the Old Town there and the giant Main Market Square (maybe the biggest in Europe, but don't quote me?) show their true age, but in a lovely quaint way. Krakow is a major tourist draw nowadays, but for centuries it was a trading capital for the region, and was the capital of Poland for almost 600 years in medieval times. For the first time, we hired a private guide to take us around town and give us some of those local insights that we love, and I would highly recommend doing that in a city like this. We got to see the university, the Wawel Cathedral and Castle, the Jewish district of Kazimierz, Oscar Schindler's factory-turned-museum, the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, a synagogue and Jewish cemetery. In addition to seeing the town, Krakow is near Auschwitz so we took a day-trip tour out there, and a half-day trip to the salt mine nearby. Now, I have to admit, when Eric suggested going to a salt mine (first in Brasov Romania), I was not enthused in the least. I couldn't imagine there would be anything interesting to check out in a salt mine. We didn't go. But the opportunity came up again, and this time it was pretty close by, so I swallowed my objections. It was actually pretty cool! I had no idea salt was such a valuable commodity in the olden days, and I still hardly believe you can just dig down into the ground, chisel out a hunk of rock salt, and grind it up to sprinkle on your pasta. But apparently that's how it works! They don't extract salt from Wieliczka anymore, and thankfully they've put in A/C to combat the intense heat and humidity that miners had to deal with throughout the centuries. The craziest part about the place, and the reason it's such a tourist draw, is that generations of miners (who apparently had some extra time on their hands) have carved all kinds of statues into the rock down there. Not just statues, but created a cathedral and a ballroom and a bunch of other things that really don't seem to belong hundreds of feet underground. Coco was a pretty good sport on the long tour, and got herself a crystal of rock salt from our guide, in addition to several licks along the wall of the mine to confirm that it was actually made out of salt. Gross.
The salt mine wasn't the only place I was less-than-eager to visit on this trip, but my apprehensions about going to Auschwitz were more about whether we could expect Coco to spend the day there with us, and how distracting her presence would be to all the other people around us who were there to experience something so somber and sobering. Eric convinced me to give it a shot, and we hopped on the tour bus with the rest of the oldies. The first stop was the main Auschwitz camp itself, and our guide gave us some insights about the beginnings of the camp and how it was a sort of exile for people who were politically opposed to the Nazi's. Over time, it grew into an extermination camp that was expanded to the much-larger Auschwitz-Birkenau camp nearby. Throughout the course of the war, over a million people (mainly Jews) were gassed and cremated after living and working in some terrible conditions. Seeing the barracks where they lived and the single toilet area thousands of people shared and the 'showers' into which they were herded before their bodies were hauled (by their fellow inmates!) into the ovens... These places defy comprehension. In the end, I'm glad we were able to visit (although I do not plan to go back), and I think it was OK to bring Coco. She had absolutely no idea what any of it was about, and when she got antsy, one of us would just slip away from the tour and head outside with her and let her run and play with rocks and sticks. We didn't get any scornful looks (that I noticed, at least) for allowing her to run and play in a place that is meant to commemorate some of the worst things that one group of people can do to another group. Well, so much for my attempt to keep the blog post light!
From Krakow, we hopped a very early morning train back to Warsaw, then a longer ride across northern Germany to Berlin. Like with Warsaw, I was a bit taken aback at how big and spread out the city was. Maybe Granada is turning me into a small-town girl? As we like to do in the bigger cities, we found a hop-on/hop-off tour bus and rode all over to hear a bit of insight, before heading off on our own to explore the areas that caught our interest. In addition to seeing sights like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag Building, the Holocaust Memorial, the Berlin Cathedral and remnant sections of the wall, there were a couple museums Eric wanted to explore. Since we knew Coco wasn't going to be up for that, she and I headed to the park while Eric got his art fix :) I think one of the favorite little memories I have of Berlin is enjoying the sun on a grassed-over mound of post-war debris, while Coco learned the joy of rolling down a hill and getting head-to-toe grass stains. As the reconstruction efforts occurred after the war and after the wall came down, the city chose to turn some of the rubble mounds into grassy park areas, which are now a lovely smattering of green hills around the city center. Usually pretty peaceful spots, I'm sure, except when an energetic 3-year old is traversing them with screams of delight!
From Berlin, it was one more long train ride into the Netherlands and we were all pleased to arrive in our final destination of Amsterdam. Well, for me, that lasted about 2 minutes. We walked out of the central train station at 5pm on a Friday afternoon, and it was C-H-A-O-S. Again, maybe my expectations were just wrong (they clearly were!), but I was envisioning quiet canals with romantic boats silently gliding along, a couple of cyclists leisurely pedaling their way along a broad sidewalk with tulips in their front baskets, maybe a waft of mellow smoke lazily drifting out of a nearby coffee shop. FYI, that's not Amsterdam! It seemed like all 800,000+ of the bikes in the city were being ridden by blind speed-crazed robots along the one narrow cobblestone street that led to our apartment in the Jordaan, while we struggled to manage with our stroller, giant suitcase, 3 backpacks and cranky kiddo. Ugh. We managed to get settled in the apartment, Coco napped, Eric had some work calls, I found the grocery store nearby (I love checking out foreign grocery stores!) and got the essentials...milk, yogurt, cheese, bread, alcohol. From there, things improved, though I never got fully comfortable walking around the city with Coco - just too many bikes whizzing past at high speeds, and she struggles even to avoid stationary objects like the lamp post. We did rent bikes for a day and blend in a bit with the locals, we took a boat tour of the canals and harbor, and a day trip out to some nearby towns (Rotterdam, Haarlem, Delfshaven). Back in Amsterdam, Eric visited the Moco Museum and I visited the Anne Frank House, we strolled through a few outdoor markets, took the ferry to the north side for dinner and did a few Rick Steves' walking tours (including one of the Red Light District). Seems safe to say we're not Rick's target demographic, but we love him anyway. In the end, Amsterdam was much more of a hustle-and-bustle city than I expected, still quaint, but far from quiet. I'm guessing we'll go back at some point, but that will likely be driven by Eric's desire rather than mine :)
After two weeks on the road, we returned to Granada and it's summer again. As usual, Coco had a tough re-adjustment to school here. I think she's used to it now, but that doesn't mean she really likes it. I've started talking to her a bit more about the fact that she'll be done with this school soon, and after Christmas she'll have a new school in Arizona with friends who speak English. I think she understands, but can't quite figure out how far in the future that really is... Eric is spending this week with his BFF Nate who flew over from the US, they're working their way back down the coast from Barcelona and climbing everything they can. On Saturday, the four of us will head to Morocco for a week, and Coco is beyond excited that Uncle Nate has come to see her. Eric is getting a little taste of what it feels like to be the non-preferred parent now - when Coco FaceTime's with them, she keeps telling him to give the phone back to Nate. She has also informed us that when she's a little older, she's going to leave us and get an apartment with Uncle Nate...probably some further discussions about that yet to come...
