We entered Poland wanting to see Auschwitz, so we found a wonderful camp ground near by, well and hour away, it was wonderful, with heated pool and spa, we even stayed an extra day! We used it as a base to travel to Auschwitz and Krakow from. Auschwitz, we had been warned it is a very emotional experience going there, but nothing can prepare you for the place, we still get emotional when we talk about it and it has been over a week since we have been there. Quoting numbers and seeing photos is just not the same as being there and even though our guide had told us what to expect and see, it is hard not to gasp when you see a room with two tons of human hair in it, or another with 80,000 pairs of shoes, and this is just what the allies found when they liberated the camp, and then going through the gas chambers and seeing the ovens, it is just mind numbing, and that was in Auschwitz 1, we also saw Auschwitz 2 that was twenty times bigger and housed 100,000 prisoners and the Nazi ovens could dispose of 5000 people a day! It just is so hard to understand and take in. Enough of that, hard enough to write about even now. We then visited Krakow and enjoyed the main square with its lovely old architecture, it also had some lovely parks to visit, we didn't think much of the palace and cathedral, but then each to their own. We visited Schindler's factory and what was the ghetto area of the city, in the windows of the factory they have quite a few photos of the people Schindler saved. Next was Warsaw, it was a full days ride from Krakow through some nice countryside, all very green interspersed with small towns and villages and small forests breakup the farming land, most enjoyable. Unfortunately we wouldn't have much time to look around Warsaw, we wanted to do a tour of the BMW factory in Berlin, to see where our bike was born, and the only tour we could get into was on the Monday morning, we arrived in Warsaw on Friday afternoon and it was a two day ride to Berlin, so Saturday morning we were up early to catch the bus into the city, we worked out we had four hours before we needed to be back at the park and on the bike. Fortunately Warsaw is a compact city and we were able to get around a lot of it, even took in a tour of the palace which was very nice. Warsaw was pretty much flattened by the Nazi's, so it had to be rebuilt after the war, but they rebuilt what was already there, which gives you an old style city that is not that old. Getting in so early we didn't have to compete with the tourists, but it was that empty it felt dead, but by the time we left the crowds had moved in and it had a good feel to it. Then it was back to the bike and two days of riding to Berlin. Poland certainly had an impact on us and unfortunate for the wrong reasons, but apart from the atrocities, it was a nice country and we enjoyed it's cities and towns.