Today we visited the Wieliczka salt mines (a UNESCO world heritage site) and not only saw how the mine operated in the past but practically a whole city 100 - 175 m below. There were amazing chapels, a cafe, a ballroom, children's play areas, toilets, etc. Lots of salt sculptures as well. Next we went up to Wawel hill to look at the castle, cathedral and royal palace before walking back down the hill and through the Old Town to the market square (the largest in ...

Started our journey from Warsaw to Krakow at 8:15 am. We stopped at Czestochowa to view the 'Black Madonna' painting at the Jasna Gora Pauline monastery (a place of pilgrimage). Crazy crowded here as we arrived in the middle of mass. Next stop was Auschwitz concentration camp, specifically Auschwitz I (the original camp, ex-army barracks) - a very sobering experience. We went through the barracks, learnt about the selection process, roll call, the gas chambers, ...

A sleep-in this morning - didn't have to get on the bus until 10:15. We drove out to Wilanow palace, then along the Royal Route. Our first stop was Lazienki Park to view the Chopin monument, then past the Ronald Reagan, Charles de Gaulle and Copernicus statues. Many embassies along this route. Saw the church with statue of Pope John-Paul II, the Opera House, the Nike goddess, old City Hall and new City Hall, then stopped at the Jewish museum and viewed the Jewish...

Left Berlin and crossed the border into Poland. Our lunch stop was in Poznan (a former capital). We visited the old town square to watch the goats come out of the bell tower of the town hall, and butt heads 12 times, at 12 noon. We had some traditional food for lunch (Pierogi - meat dumplings - for Spider and I, and Zurek w Chelebie - soup in bread case - for Cathy) along with Lech's (the local beer). Drove into Warsaw and had dinner at our hotel (Radisson Blu So...