Christmas 2007

It is really hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone again and that we are now in 2008! This time last year I was back in New York, counting down the weeks until I moved back to the UK!

We had a lovely Christmas trip through Poland (via Berlin). There were 4 of us travelling together and we did the whole trip by train. It was a novel idea at the time, but none of us want to see a train again for a very long time!!!

We spent a couple of nights in Berlin, which is a really beautiful city. The architecture is amazing and some of the new streets are just amazing. We spent most of our time in Poland, in between Krakow and Zakopane, an alpine resort in the Tatras mountains bordered Slovakia. Zakopane was lovely and we had a nice covering of snow. We didn't get any snowfalls at all the whole trip, but there was a thick blanket of snow covering the ground from previous snowfalls.

While in Krakow, we took the opportunity to visit Auschwitz & Birkenau. It was fairly sombering to be there, and it was bitterly cold the day we were there, but even so, it is hard to imagine just how bad the conditions must have been.

Very best wishes for 2008. I hope that everyone had a happy and safe Christmas and New Year! Keep in touch and let me know what you are all up to!

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

The Reichstag, Berlin

Berlin Opera House

View from the top of a mountain near Zakopane, Poland

Mountains near Zakopane

Church in Zakopane old town

Entrance to Birkenau concentration camp

Railway lines into Birkenau

Guard's post, Birkenau

Entrance to Auschwitz - 'Work Makes One Free'

Some of the 'accommodation' at Auschwitz

Guard's post and warning sign

Auschwitz