Eastern Europe

It was actually quite a relief to cross over the Russian border into Finland. Although the architecture and people in Russia had looked European it wasn't until we got to Helsinki that we felt we had really arrived back in Europe. The supermarkets were well stocked with familiar products, there was a helpful tourist information office with maps and most people could speak a few words of English. Best of all it felt as though there was no chance of getting trouble from any policemen as we wandered around town. In fact we couldn't even see any policemen!

We spent a couple of lazy days in Helsinki just walking around the very pleasant but not massively exciting town center before going to Budapest for the wedding of our friends Jonny and Bettina. We arrived to find the bride and groom not feeling very happy at all. With only a couple of days to go before their wedding there had been a massive security alert at all UK airports and many of the English guests had had their flights cancelled. Fortunately by the afternoon of the wedding all but two of their guests had found a way to make it over from England.

The wedding was held in the Gerbaud in the center of Budapest. Betty is Hungarian and the wedding ceremony was held in both Hungarian and English presided over by a man in a rather cool Dracula style cloak. It was really nice to see so many of our friends again and after a big dinner with lots of wine Jonny and Betty impressed us all with their Hungarian folk dancing. The language barrier made it difficult for the English and Hungarian guests to communicate, though that didn't stop Betty's granny chatting away to everyone in Hungarian regardless!

Jonny and Betty and many of the guests stayed on for a couple of days after the wedding so we got to spend some more time with them. We spent an afternoon at the Szigat music festival but didn't do much actual sightseeing in Budapest due mainly to the bad hangovers that we kept waking up with.

From Budapest we flew to Krakow in Poland to meet up with Roy, Heather and Willi (my Dad and Steve's mum and step dad). We had rented an apartment near the Market Square for the two of us and my Dad to stay in. Unfortunately the apartment turned out to be directly above a nightclub and so we made arrangements for my Dad to stay in a hotel with Heather and Willi instead. This turned out to be a good decision. One night the music was so loud that Steve ended up getting out of bed and going downstairs to the nightclub on the basis that if he was going to have to stay awake all night he might as well try to have a good time.

Krakow is a very beautiful medieval city which was once the capital of Poland. At the very center of the town is the huge Market square which is flanked by impressive buildings, including the lavishly decorated Basilica of the Virgin Mary. The square is packed with bars, restaurants, cafes and market stalls. To add to the atmosphere, every hour a bugler appears in the tower of the Basilica and plays the Last Post. Streets filled with shops and interesting old buildings and churches radiate out from the market square. This whole central area of Krakow is surrounded by a park where the city walls and fortifications used to be.

We spent quite a lot of our time in Krakow just soaking up the atmosphere in the centre of the city, drinking cups of coffee and sampling the tasty polish dumplings. Just outside the central area of Krakow is Wawel Hill where we visited the castle where the Kings of Poland used to live as well as the Cathedral.

Another interesting area of Krakow is the old Jewish quarter of Kazimierz. It is a very pretty and atmospheric area of Krakow with an old Jewish cemetery and several Synagogues. Unfortunately Kazimierz is a familiar sight to anybody who has ever watched the film Schindler's List, much of which was filmed here. It was this area of Krakow that was turned into a ghetto during the Second World War and where the Jewish citizens of Krakow were imprisoned before being murdered by the Nazis.

We went on a visit to the remains of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp which has now been turned into a memorial and museum. Auschwitz is just over an hours drive from Krakow, which I must admit I found quite shocking in itself. I had always imagined Auschwitz to be miles from anywhere hidden away in some bleak and desolate region of Poland, not just down the road from a beautiful and cultured European city.

Auschwitz was in reality a number of different camps as well as an industrial complex and was spread out over quite a large area. Today two camps remain, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II or Birkenau. We went first of all to Auschwitz I which was the headquarters of the whole complex. This was the first camp to be set up, initially to hold Polish political prisoners. On the surface, perhaps because it had been converted from an ordinary barracks for Polish soldiers, Auschwitz I looked surprisingly normal.

At least 1.1 million people were killed by the Nazi's at Auschwitz. The great majority (around 1 million) of the people who died were Jewish, though many Gipsys, Russian prisoners of war, Poles and other categories of prisoners were also killed. It is really very difficult to grasp the enormity of these crimes, but the large collections of shoes, particularly the children's shoes, on display, that were found at the camp, get the point across to some extent.

As part of the guided tour of Auschwitz I, we were taken into the punishment block. This was where many prisoners were tortured before being shot and also where in the underground cells the first experiments at Auschwitz of killing people using gas were carried out on Russian prisoners of war. Also in Auschwitz I is the only surviving gas chamber left in the complex. This gas chamber fell out of use before the end of the war because the camp authorities decided that the screams coming from the victims created too much disturbance. Instead prisoners too sick to work were taken to the more isolated gas chambers at Birkenau to be killed. Walking into the gas chamber where so many people had died felt really very sad as was walking out again past the ovens where the bodies of the victims were burned.

Next we were taken on a bus to visit Birkenau. This camp was built after Auschwitz I, initially to house Russian prisoners of war but it was later adapted for the purpose of murdering all the remaining Jewish people in Nazi occupied Europe. At the entrance you can still see the gate, the watch tower and the railway tracks where the trains came in. On the platform SS officers and doctors would divide people into those who would be sent to the gas chambers straight away, such as old people and children and those who were fit for work. The prisoners who it was decided were fit for work would be admitted to the camp. They might stay in Birkenau or be sent to any of the sub camps in the Auschwitz complex to work as slave labourers.

In reality those who were admitted to the camp to work were also condemned to death, only more slowly. The food and clothing provided to prisoners was completely inadequate and after a few months most prisoners would either die of exhaustion or disease or become unable to work and be sent to the gas chambers. Those who did manage to survive until close to the end of the war were made to march back towards Germany ahead of the Russian advance and most either froze to death or were shot by the SS along the way. The remaining survivors were then sent to concentration camps like Bergen-Belsen where many more died of starvation before finally being liberated. Sick prisoners that were unable to move were left at Auschwitz but many died of the cold and starvation before the Russians arrived or succumbed to their illnesses.

Despite all this it is from the prisoners that worked at Auschwitz that most eyewitness accounts of the Nazi death camps come. From camps like Belzec and Treblinka, which were purely extermination camps there were virtually no survivors.

At Birkenau we were taken to look at the prisoner's barracks where they slept in wooden huts tightly squeezed into narrow bunks and also the sanitation facilities. The gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau were destroyed by the SS before they left in an attempt to cover up their crimes and so today only the foundations remain.

It might seem a little strange to decide to visit a place as horrible as Auschwitz. I think though that it is important for people to visit in order to understand the past and hopefully therefore help to prevent similar things occurring in the future. I think that even people who are familiar with this period of history would probably gain a greater understanding from visiting the camp.

We went on an organised tour and to be honest we were rushed around quite a bit. I went to the toilet for five minutes for example and found the bus was ready to leave without me. While I think that all visits around Auschwitz have to be guided, for a less frantic experience it might be better to go independently and then hire your own guide or join in one of museum's guided tours.

After one more day in Krakow, during which time I turned 30, it was time to leave Poland and go back to China. You might be thinking at this point that we are not really following a very logical route for a round the world trip! Initially we were actually planning to end our journey in Europe but with six weeks still to go we thought it would be more interesting to go back to China and visit Tibet and Nepal.

Nine hours on the plane were sufficient to arrive in Chengdu in Western China and travel further than we had in a week on a train going in the opposite direction. I have to say that Chengdu is definitely not the most attractive city that we have visited in China! The air is thick with pollution and it is hot and humid. Meanwhile the fetid stench coming from the river suggests its main function is that of an open sewer. A bit like a nightmare vision of environmental catastrophe.

Fortunately it is not all bad. Only 10km outside of the town is a Giant Panda Breeding Centre. Set amongst bamboo groves, not only can you see dozens of giant pandas roaming around spacious enclosures but you can also breath. We were lucky enough to also see some baby giant pandas in incubators. They are extremely small when they are born and completely pink. The ones that we saw were born a few weeks ago and had grown distinctive black and white fur but were still very tiny.

We have also managed to find a computer in a hostel in Chengdu, from where the usual restrictions don't seem to apply and is possible to view and post to this blog. You still can't see the BBC website though!

Tomorrow we are going to fly from Chengdu to Lhasa in Tibet.