YR MOM GOES TO ATHENS.

Before we left Krakow we went on another visit to Auschwitz, mainly focusing our time on Auschwitz II - Berkenau. It's quite vast, much larger than I previously thought. It contained five crematoriums + two temporary crematoriums before that. We went to the room where they showered, shaved down, sanitized, clothed and tattooed the incoming prisoners that weren't killed on spot. 75% were killed on spot. The railway led right to the crematorium which was surrounded by trees and flowers as to bring a false sense of security to vulnerable new arrivals. The room contained stories and snapshots of several people. The whole experience was overwhelming but seeing the photos was difficult to bare as it's the easiest connection to making Auschwitz more real for people. We can't go back in time, so it's hard to know what it was like. The current Auschwitz has beautiful trees and green grasses amongst the blocks - probably from all the human ashes spread there. Around one and a half million were killed there.
The next day we tried to catch a bus to Greece, but it didddn't quite work out so we had to wait until Monday and now................

A couple hours ago we got off the bus from Krakow. We're in Athens now as a stopover on the way to Istanbul. We could've made the trip a full 20 or so hours shorter (some time off the bus and the train) by going to Thesseloniki but we opted for being able to see the scenic train route from Athens to Thesseloniki that includes beaches and Mt. Olympus.
Our passports our definitely filling up now. I have over ten stamps...even after not being stamped in Poland or in Rome (after entering, exiting & entering again.)
Our bus crossed quite a few countries. I bought some chips and mushy carrot juice in Yugoslavia and we stalled the bus each time we were at the border as we were the only two Americans on the bus. "Oh, is this your only passport?" "Where is this from?" "Oh, you are Ammmerriicannn."
We met a 17 year old Polish boy on our bus trip named Olof who taught Max Polish and Greek (along with the drunk guy behind him... No, he didn't teach the drunk man, the drunk man was teaching also) and forced all of his food upon us. Mostly sweets. Including these weird blue Polish candies that are probably in the vein of agent orange and we just don't know it yet. I think it's impossible to refuse something if someone pushes it toward you three to four times each time. No really. EAT IT. IT IS MY PLEASURE.
35 hours of bus riding is insane. I am glad we stopped in Athens since our train ride will be another 24...Tomorrow morning.
I got a guide book on the Middle East and it includes the Arabic alphabet, which I think I will practice writing. I was able to find a book store called Massolit in Krakow that has over 25,000 English titles. I wasn't able to find an Arabic language book yet, but I've written down quite a few English language book stores in Istanbul.

Me - "Hey Max, do you want to ad anything?"
Max - "No, it's cool."

Love,
Nancy and Max.

PS: I added a link to my FLICKR account. That means you can see travel photos as we upload them. It will be slow-going at first, but it will pick up speed. Just like this blog.