Holiday

In October 2001 my girlfriend and I went for a holiday in Krakow, Poland. We had been to Prague the year before and had fallen in love with the city's history, which displayed itself around every corner and alleyway. From what we could see in the brochure Krakow looked if anything more beautiful than its neighbour. We were not disappointed.

Although not the size of Prague, we found ourselves in a city of outstanding beauty and history. Unlike Warsaw, which had taken immense damage during World War II, Krakow seemed to be on the whole just as you would have found it even hundreds of years ago. We knew that we had visited somewhere very special. As we were on holiday, we asked the hotel at which we were staying where we should visit. We had done some research before we had left and knew we had to visit the castle and the Salt Mines (if you ever visit Krakow you must visit the Salt Mines which are truly amazing). Karen then said she wanted to visit Auschwitz. At this point my heart dropped.

When I was much younger I had visited Belsen as part of a football tour. I must admit that my memory of this is very hazy. I must have only been around ten years of age. What I remember very clearly was not so much the museum but walking around the grounds. Although I could not fully remember why, there was something not right about the feeling of the place. Please excuse me for explaining that so simply but it is important to this story. I did not want to say to Karen that I did not want to go; in fact I wasn't sure myself whether that I wanted to go . However Karen felt it was important for her to go so we booked two tickets for the following day. It is fair to say that the visit to Auschwitz changed my life.

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