Bochnia, Poland

Today is certainly the hottest day of our trip, 31C/88F. We originally thought of visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp, but it is located about 2.5 hours away in Oswiecim, Poland. Courtney has already been, and I am really touristed out. We decided to just enjoy our final day in Bochnia. We strolled through town, visited a Polish cemetary, and also the oldest preserved Jewish cemetary. The history of this area is amazing, but of course mixed with the horrific past of the holocaust.

Yesterday we visited the Bochnia Salt Mine, which is most of what this town sits atop. We were about 250m (820 ft) below the surface. At one point Salt was more valuable than Gold, and the mining of Salt took lives. There is a chapel in the mines, which a small train track (to get around in the mines) goes through, which is pretty cool.

After the Mine tour, we plopped down at a Beer Garden in the town center, and listened to some local bands and also there was a mix of music, dancing, and a fashion show. We also noshed on some Keilbasa which was awesome. We also came accross some local Gypsies, pretty bizzare folks. They were reading peoples fortunes with a piece of thier hair, and just trying to peddle and get money (and dude..they stunk).

Another cool discovery in Poland was thier pretzels, which is kind of a mix of pretzel and bagel. In fact this is the origin of the Bagel as we know it in NY.

Tonight we are spending our last night having dinner with Erin, John and Basia at a local Polish restaurant right here in Bochnia, which we are really looking forward to. It has been a fantastic trip, and the opportunity to spend time with Courtney's family has been terrific.