Our 5:45 wake up call was brutal. Luckily we had packed before we went to bed. We went down for breakfast and sat next to the two stinky guys (not by choice.) We then got our stuff and boarded the bus by 7:00 and were on the road to our first stop- Jasna Gora.

We took our headsets and made our way to the entrance where we met with our monk tour guide. He took us on a tour of the museum rooms and showed us lots of relics dating back hundreds of years. He talked very quickly and was very witty. The chapel he showed us was very beautiful. We went in around 11 which is around the time that mass was about to start. A bunch of priests were kneeling in front of the sacred black Madonna and the rest of the mass goers were sitting and standing behind them.

At the end of the tour, I decided to buy a rosary and postcard for Mary Lu since I know she collects those and a rosary for mom. The monk even blessed the items. We had about 45 minutes before getting back to the bus so we sat with the Knights (Aussies) and ate some of the chips they bought.

We then headed back to the bus and headed on to Auschwitz. I had a heavy feeling on our way there. On the way, we passed by the Birkenau concentration camp. It was one of the most horrible of the camps and is well known because of the gate entrance and train tracks. Most of it was burnt to the ground by the Nazis in an attempt to cover up what had been done there. All that stood were some chimneys and the barbed wire fences and a few towers. It appeared to have some some reconstructed buildings that looked like long barns which I assumed had housed workers.

We parked at Auschwitz which was only about 3 miles from Birkenau. We got divided into 2 groups. Luckily we were with the Knights. We had to go through the security gates where some people had to check their bags. We were given audio guides and met with our tour guide.

Our first stop was at the famous gate entrance. The sign said "Arbeit Macht Frei"- work will set you free. The irony was lost on no one. It was so disturbing to see the set of 2 barbed wire fences. I couldn't imagine coming here and entering this area like a caged animal.

We were taken by some of the original buildings like the kitchen and then we were shown the other blocks. Each block had a number and served a different purpose. They were mostly each turned into a museum about different parts of the camp and different things that happened there. We were taken through one by one by our somber guide. We were shown maps of the grounds and pictures of the people who were taken here. We saw how they were sorted by those who would die immediately and those who would live because they could work, mostly young men. Everyone who couldn't work like the elderly, women, and children were sent to the gas chambers. The guards typically had a lack of any negative feelings toward what they were doing.

The hardest parts were seeing the people's belongings-shoes, glasses, suitcases that were labeled because they thought they would get them back, brushes, prosthetics, and plates, bowls, etc. They were told to pack what they needed but didn't ever stand a chance to see any of it again. It was very difficult to see the braids of hair that were piled. Some hair had gray streaks and some you could tell were from young girls because there were bows on them. The nazis sold the hair to make textiles and things like pillows.

We got to see a gallery of prisoner's pictures. It had their serial number on it and their birth date, arrival date and death date. Some I saw were as young as 16. Some only survived the camp for a couple days. Many of the people looked scared, sick and hungry. They all had short or shaved hair. It was haunting to know none of them made it out alive.

Seeing the living quarters was shocking. Many of them slept packed in rooms with only hay. Some slept on thin pads. There was typically 8 disgusting toilets for 1,000 people. There were also small troughs where people used to wash but apparently that was very infrequent and crowded.

We saw a building where certain officers would put people on "trial" for crimes at the camp and then mostly decide to execute them. We saw the reconstructed wall where these people were taken and executed. I found it very disrespectful that a man had his picture taken by the wall. I also found it disrespectful that a few guys were laying on the grass outside one of the buildings.

We ended by going through the last remaining gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz. It was very hard to walk through knowing what had happened. The prisoners were told they were showering to be disinfected. They were piled in by the hundreds and locked in. The Zyklon B was dropped in from the roofs and everyone inside would die in about 20 minutes. We were told the bodies were stacked on one another because people were attempting to reach the small holes at the top of the room for air. The weakest ones (elderly and kids) were at the bottom and the rest were at the top. There was a violent struggle til the very end. They were then taken to the crematorium and the ashes were taken away. The common area where the soldiers would hang out was right next to the gas chamber and crematorium.

The man in charge of Auschwitz Commander Rudolf Höss, apparently said before his hanging that his only regret in life was not "spending more time with his family" who happened to live a very comfortable life of "paradise" right next to the concentration camp.

It was disturbing to learn that more than 1 million people had been murdered at Auschwitz over a period of about 5 years.

After the tour ended I bought an informational book in the gift shop about Auschwitz. We somberly got back on the bus and made our way to our next stop- Kraków.

We got to our hotel around 6:30 and met downstairs for our buffet dinner at 7:45. By about 8:45 I knew I had to put myself to bed. I was exhausted from the long, hard day. I passed out around 10 pm and looked forward to a late wake up call of 7 am.