New roads in Poland and Czech Republic

[SteveA30]

Snapped these from trains during an Interrail tour in June. The first is somewhere between Ostrava and Rybnik in the Czech Republic but, can't remember exactly where. Satellite shows no construction or dotted lines.
Second is an extension of E261 (S5) towards Leszno, between Wroclaw and Poznan. It will bypass the S2 Rydzyna bypass. Traffic was leaving at Kaczkowo and taking the soon to be old E261 on the other side of the train.

Rail route via tunnel, Brussels, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Prague, Brno, Katowice, Auschwitz, Wolsztyn, Poznan, Szczecin, Berlin, Brussels, home.

Anyone else been to Auschwitz? I thought 2 hours would cover it. I ended up staying from 9-6.

[FosseWay]

Anyone else been to Auschwitz? I thought 2 hours would cover it. I ended up staying from 9-6.

Yes, I was there at Easter and was there the whole day (though the trip included a bus ride from/to Kraków). It was sunny but bitingly cold, and I had all the clothes you expect a reasonably well-off western person to have in such conditions. Quite apart from the gas chambers and other deliberate violence, it is hard to understand how anyone survived the hypothermia that must have been rife among starving prisoners wearing only pyjama-like clothes and no shoes.

[Bryn666]

Anyone else been to Auschwitz? I thought 2 hours would cover it. I ended up staying from 9-6.

Yes, I was there at Easter and was there the whole day (though the trip included a bus ride from/to Kraków). It was sunny but bitingly cold, and I had all the clothes you expect a reasonably well-off western person to have in such conditions. Quite apart from the gas chambers and other deliberate violence, it is hard to understand how anyone survived the hypothermia that must have been rife among starving prisoners wearing only pyjama-like clothes and no shoes.

You either toiled to death or froze to death if you were spared the gas chambers. When you read about the horrors of it, gas seemed the quickest way out of it.

[Glenn A]

Auschwitz was a huge place spread over several sites dedicated to death and slave labour. Imagine sites as big as Sellafield dedicated to mass murder. If you weren't gassed, or gunned down by some bored SS man, there was the prospect of being worked to death or used for medical experiments. Truly an evil place.

[darrenpufc]

Auschwitz was a huge place spread over several sites dedicated to death and slave labour. Imagine sites as big as Sellafield dedicated to mass murder. If you weren't gassed, or gunned down by some bored SS man, there was the prospect of being worked to death or used for medical experiments. Truly an evil place.

A spooky place too Glenn. Not sure if it were the same when you visited , but when myself & the other half visited several years ago we spent around 90 minutes at Birkenau ( Auschwitz 2 ) & never saw a single bird fly past. Glad we went , but at the same time an evil place as you say.

[Enceladus]

Friends who have been to Auschwitz have told me they were deeply moved by the experience and were speechless after their visits. It is a place I want to see to remind myself of the evil humans will perpetrate on one another when hatred is allowed to grow and spread.

A place of pure, utter evil.

[darrenpufc]

Friends who have been to Auschwitz have told me they were deeply moved by the experience and were speechless after their visits. It is a place I want to see to remind myself of the evil humans will perpetrate on one another when hatred is allowed to grow and spread.

A place of pure, utter evil.

If you do go - and decide public transport from Krakow - the bus is a much better option that the rickety & slow train .