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That name probably doesn’t ring any bells for you I would guess. Well perhaps the German name of the scene of the most extensive experiment in genocide in the history of humankind does…. Oswiecim is the actual Polish name of Auschwitz. That is where I spent this morning exploring, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau as well as the Jewish ghettos here in Krakow (the setting of Schindler’s List).  It was certainly an interesting, yet horrifying, morning.

I began at Auschwitz and was surprised at the location near the town, in a nice bit of trees, and the like. Really not at all what I expected and at first not nearly as impactful as the Killing Fields outside Phnom Pehn in Cambodia, the other site of mass genocide I have visited. Then, after wondering through the barraks, the death wall, etc. I arrived at the crematorium which was also the site of the first test of using Cyclon B as a gas chamber agent for mass murder. All the sudden I was just about sick… 850 Poles and Soviet POWs were murdered in cold blood and then burned to ash in the very room I stood in.

Then it was on to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). All the sudden I actually felt the very of essence of the ex-Nazi concentration and death camp all over and inside.  Out at Birkenau, it is stark and barren with nothing but a few ruined buildings and the standing chimneys left where the hundreds and hundreds of wooden barraks once stood. Much more what I expected, it was surreal. The ruined buildings were the remains of the gas chambers and crematriums used to mass murder somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million innocent people.

The train tracks run right through the middle of Birkenau and the gas chamber was not 10 yards of the track. A train of Nazi prisoner would arrive here carrying a thousand or more people. 15% were selected who looked like strong laborers for work and the others were told they had to be bathed before being introduced into the barraks. All of these people were moved into a confined room with fake shower heads on the wall to keep chaos from breaking. The door was locked, the Cyclon B was turned on, and 15 minutes later the chamber was a crypt of thousands of dead bodies. All because they weren’t within the chosen race. Often there weren’t even people picked to labor, just one entire train load of people offloaded directly into a gas chamber and terminated. What the HELL is wrong with mankind? Why would we ever feel this is an appropriate course of action?

In certain circles back home it has become fashionable to put swastica patches on your clothing, and the next person I see with one I am seriously gonna tell how sick they are. Hitler and his ilk were clearly evil to the very most core of the word. And while the Nazis were in a class of their own, what I think is worse is it seems to me we didn’t even hardly learn anything from it as a human race. The same kind of genocide went on since then in Cambodia, Somolia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Iraq, and even as we speak in Zimbabwe and Darfur. I may just be in a rant at the minute but what ON EARTH is the point of having a group like the United Nations if these kinds of things (the very most agregious of crimes ever known to man) are still aloud to happen? What else could they possibly have to attend to that is more important? I don’t get something. We will one day live in a world where borders, cultures, religions, ethnicity, etc. is not a means for hatrid… hope it comes soon. 

Are there any great/famous chess players from Hungary? Because if so, I figured out how they practice.  I was kickin back today in one of the thermal baths here in Budapest (quite a famous thing in Budapest), and was watching some Hungarian dudes playing chess (they play on like these chessboard stands in the middle of the pool) when one of them saw the games had peaked my interest. The bloak asked where I was from and I told him the states. He says… “awwww, US very smart” and invites me over for a game against the guy who was champion of the day at that point. The champ was this guy probably 55, with a horrible half bald/half ponytail haircut missing a whole bunch of teeth, but real nice. Now not that I am good (in fact I would categorize it more like barely proficient enough to not look like a complete idiot), but this guy ravaged me in probably under a dozen moves, never taking more than 10 seconds to make any of them.  Haha… lets just say I did not represent the American flag well at that little gathering.

OH MY GOSH, so much has gone down since last time (sorry for the delay, Grandma even emailed me with a check-in message It is so nice to feel loved, haha). I am in Budapest, Hungary at this point although almost ready to head out again.  I was left with a bittersweet (or actually, sweetbitter) taste of Slovakia upon leaving. Sweet because I traveled out of the city to a town called Devin to check out Devin Castle, which was SUPER cool. Very historical, cool looking, the whole bit. Bitter because on my way out of town I managed to turn a 50 cent bus ride into a 30 dollar bus ride by getting a ticket for not having my bus ticket properly validated.  It sucked for sure, but I deserved it I guess, haha.  In my defense, learning to use six different major metro public transport systems in two weeks aint all that friggin easy!! I hope that guy gets a ticket on the Denver Light Rail one day, HAHA (not that anyone actually uses that thing).

As for Budapest, FABULOUS. I have checked it all out… Castle Hill, the Danube, thermal baths, museums, cafes, street markets, on and on. This is a fantastic city. It has the old world look and feel still, but is totally pulsing with life. Where Bratislava is sleepily awakening from Communist rule, Budapest is on the express train outta there.  Which brought me to an interesting observation I think when compared with my travels on the great continent of Asia.

I think I can judge the growth rate of an emerging market economy, with no prior background knowledge, after traveling there for just two to three days. “How in the world could he think he could possibly do this?” you ask. Well, based solely on the quality of the tourist scams there (only works in emerging economies where they can still get away with tourist scams). Those places where I find creative and interesting scams run on tourists, I find that in general the people are highly entreprenurial, capitalistic, and hungry to get their big slice of the worlds wealth pie. Look at Slovakia (in Europe) and Laos (in Asia) for example… poor, poor attempts at scamming tourists. Totally uncreative, poorly thought through, the whole bit. Both are sleepy, ex-commi economies where people still dont seem to realize you can get whatever you want in the world without the government taking it. Next example, Budapest. Not bad, yet needs work. The main scam here works like this… a guy is walking down the street, pretty girl walks up and acts like a tourist, gets him to go to “her” bar to buy her a drink, guy doesnt check drink prices acting all macho, bill comes, drinks are OUTRAGEOUS, billed is served by thugs, girl disappears, guy ends up with 200+ euros worth of beer and doesnt even get a good buzz. Pretty good but a bit tired. After playing along just a bit to see if the scam plays out as noted after being propositioned myself last night, I sat at a nearby sidewalk cafe and watched the girls ply their trade for an hour or two. After about a dozen attempts, sure enough, some dude fell for it. A Brit, on a guided tour, out by himself at night.  Hahaha, poor guy. I stopped him, explained the gig, and made a friend (who then offered to pay me which I refused in lieu of a free beer :-D). So… like I said not bad, works occassionally obviously, but a bit tired.  Now back to Asia. The unsuspecting tourist can pretty easily get their flippin SOCKS scammed off in Thailand, China, or Cambodia!!! What does this say to me? Watch out world, the SE Asian economies are a comin!!!

I am off to Krakow, Poland on the sleeper train tonight and onto Prague in a few days. Cheers!!

So perhaps one of my most favoritist things about international travel is the… FOOD!! (You thought I was gonna say girls huh?) Well, I made a discovery and I think I’m in love. In Austria, there are these stands on the street that have like these massive kebobs of beef and chicken rotating on a spit that they cut meat off of to make a sandwich. The beef one is stupendous! They cut the beef off in thin slices, put it on a toasted roll with some lettuce and tomatoe (I got mine without lettuce of course), and then pour this white sauce that tastes like that white sauce they put on Greek food and shake two kinds of seasoning on it. I don’t have any idea what the sauce and seasoning are but DAMN… that is one good sandwich. I ate like three of them in two days. Even better, the sandwich along with a bottle of peach iced tea is only three euro. It is the ticket… best street food I’ve had west of Thailand.

Also, the other food over here is great. German food… how can you go wrong? Sausages, sauerkraut, and boiled potatoes with a German beer. Mmm mmm mmm, deeeelish. Unfortunately I have to call Weiner schnitzel in Austria a bit overrated but Game Goulash, a specialty in Slovenia, over dumplings more than makes up for it. Slovenians think their wine is amazing, which it is not, but again there is the compensating factor that it is a dollar glass for most kinds.

Man, I’m hungry now. I gotta go dig up something Slovakian to eat! Ciao

I have arrived this afternoon in Bratislava, which is the capital Slovakia (that is four already this trip mom), and hit up the ATM for some new cash since they don’t use the euro here. When I arrived at my hostel I found myself digging through my pockets for my freshly attained Slovakian Krona for five minutes because I already have such a mess of currency. I currently have in my wallet US dollars, euros, Krona, Slovenia Tollar, and Croatian Kuna. What exactly happened to this one continent, one currency thing? Funny thing is that I think I’m done with euros for the possibly. Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic all have seperate currencies also. Perhaps I’m missing something here.

So… first off, I feel terrible for what happened to Gene. I am so glad to hear that it appears everything is OK. I guess there is not a lot I can do for him but say I am thinkin about him and if he’s in Europe… or Washington D.C. or wherever else it is I am next three months (everywhere but home I think) that I am happy to drive!!

Back to Europe. My time in Vienna wrapped up beautifully with a fantastic St. Pattys Day evening with a bunch new friends I met there (a German, an Austrian, two from Down Under, and a couple of Florida Gators). All of us travelling alone except the other two from the US. I have decided that someday I must make it back to Vienna in the summer to lay around in the gardens at the Schonbrunn palace when everything is green pretty.

Bratislava is a nice change pace for a guy like me who enjoys seeing the diversity in life. It is clear when you arrive in Bratislava (only an hour or two train ride from Vienna) that you have left the high-society Hapsburg culture to an ex-communist place trying to revive itself. I doubt any of you have seen the movie Eurotrip (not exactly the American Pie types generally), but if you have, the exchange rate aint quite as good as in the movie.

Well I’m off to see the sites of Bratislava. I still haven’t managed to get photos downloaded anywhere yet but I’m working on it.

Wow everybody, thanks for all the comments… I am totally shocked to see so many people dropping a line. That is supercool. After careful deliberation, I have decided that Rick must come next time, offering to buy beer and all, haha

I did have a casualty tho… my cell phone fell out of my bag and broke. So, I am somewhat incommunicado with the Western world.  I did get a prepaid European cell tho I have not yet figured out what the number is to call it.  I guess email is the best communication anyway.

So I think I figured out at least part of the reason I came to Europe… to go to Vienna, Austria. I am happy to say that I did not miss my train stop yesterday morning and have been hangin out in Vienna since. This is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen and I think it would be even better in the summertime! Schonbrun Palace is worth the visit on its own. Again, I am totally feelin the cafe culture here but has led me to noticing one thing I really don´t like here.  Vienna is know for its great coffee and its famous coffee houses along the streets. Some of the “kaufeehuases” are really cool and all and if I drank coffee, I am sure I would think it is delicious… but what I have seen three of right in old town Vienna?? Yup, STARBUCKS.  Somebody has gotta put a stop to that.

People here, like Munich, are much cooler I think than in Slovenia and Croatia. Maybe I just notice because there are more English speakers but I find them much more hospitable.  Hung out last night with a German, two Canadian girls, and a guy from D.C. I like the diverse company.

So since people are reading this, I have to come up with some more creative stuff write. Which, I will do next time probably from Bratislava, Slovakia which is the next stop I have decided. Ciao!