We have divided our stay in Poland into two parts. The first part my wife and I are traveling on our own, first Warsaw, then Krakow, where we now are, and then Lodz. In the second part, we have hired a guide, who we met briefly in Warsaw, to take us by car to my wife’s anscestors’ home town in western Poland and then to Zambrow in eastern Poland. Auschwitz is not far from Krakow, I think about an hour or so away by car (as you know, trains also go there), and so Krakow is the natural jumping off point for visiting the concentration and death camp.

I am not the world’s greatest planner, and I neglected to figure out how we were actually going to get to Auschwitz. I had heard that you are no longer allowed just to show up there. Rather, you have to go with a guided tour. Actually, it depends what time you get there. Apparently between the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. no is allowed in without a guide. All around Krakow there are signs for trips to Auschwitz as well as other destinations, as if Auschwitz is just another place that tourists may want to visit. (There are some salt mines which are not far from Auschwitz which can be combined for a few Zlotys more. Such a deal.) Auschwitz is a lot less expensive that some of the other sites, and a much better bargain than the river rafting trip:

Our guide told us not to worry, that he would try to arrange a tour for us. So we did nothing. He told us that he would work on it Friday and Saturday, and that we would get an email on Shabbat on what awaited us. I checked our email after Shabbat. Nothing. So we asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel about booking a tour. She said it was not easy to get to Auschwitz on such short notice. It’s a popular destination. You have to book these trips several days in advance.

And so it looked as if, unlike my ancestors and a million others, we were going to have trouble getting there. She said the next day, Monday, would also be problematic, because that’s the busiest day there. She made a phone call. Even without understanding much Polish, I could understand her saying “transport to Auschwitz” which confirmed this.

Nor did I read in advance the section on “Getting to Auschwitz” in the Krakow tourist guide we got at the hotel. It recommends that one sign up for an organized tour “to ensure that everything goes smoothly; . . . the organizational help of these outfits can eliminate significant confusion upon arrival.” Yes, confusion upon arrival. The section entitled “Visiting Auschwitz” begins: “Arriving at the Auschwitz Museum can be chaotic and confusing thanks to the large crowds, numerous ticket windows with different designations [you have to “select” the correct one] and excessive signage that contradicts itself.” Somewhere else I read that it is best to leave your bags at the entrance because you won’t be needing them inside. No one ever did.

At any rate, I began to contemplate the possibility that we might not be able to make it to Auschwitz at all. The irony of the situation was not lost on me. Indeed, the whole idea that I have to make a reservation to visit my Zambrow relatives’ “resting place” (assuming that they were killed in Auschwitz; see my previous post on at http://zambrow.blogspot.com/2015/02/auschwitz-or-treblinka.html), is absurd. It took an effort for me not to say to the hotel clerk that my relatives didn’t have this much trouble getting to Auschwitz, but Poles are not able to engage in this kind of humor.

In the end, my guide was able to get us a private ride to the camp and book us on a 4:00 p.m. tour today. Hopefully it should go well.