On Monday we went to Auschwitz.  We did a project at school about this in Primary 6.  We read the book The boy in the Striped pyjamas.....I saw the same clothes in the museum.  It was very sad.  There were gallows where they hung people.  One of the buildings had rooms with lots of spectacles (that's what Mum called them), bed pans (big hole in the ground with lots and lots and lots of them), a room where there were metal and plastic things (mum: prosthetic limbs) people wore when they had no arms or legs, and a big area full of humar hair.  A sign said they kept these things as 'evidence of war crimes'.  I thought it was all very sad, and that the Nazis were very cruel people.  They almost killed all the Jews.

(From Mum) : The 'roads' in the camp were very bumpy - not easy going on the wheelchair, but you have to accept that.  If they were smooth (to make it easier for disabled people) it would just change the whole look/feel of the place.  Molly was able to get out of her wheelchair and slowly climb the 4-8 steps at the doorway of each of the buildings, but if you were totally wheelchair bound, this would have been impossible - only option would be to bring two (or 3/4) strong burly blokes who could lift the wheelchair up there.  It's just one of those things - try to change it all to accommodate the wheelchairs, and you change the whole look of the camp - and it's that 'look' which hleps you understand what it must have been like to be forced to live there the last few days/months of your life. 

Tuesday we went to the Zoo.  We got parked very close to the entrance because we they let disabled people get closest.  There were a lot of cool animals in there - some very colourful birds.  There were leopards, jaguars, lions, tigers, an some very small cute monkeys.  There were some monkeys that had very sore looking bums!  My favourite was the elephants, but they looked very sad and bored.  We even saw some small crocodiles.

Yesterday we went to Zacopane, which is a way up far in the mountains.  We got a cable car up there - 1,987 meters in the sky, that's over 6,000ft (mum says) and the highest I have ever been (except for an aeroplane!).  It tooks us over 2 hours to get there.  Mum was a bit annoyed because when she phoned a lady was really helpful (could speak English) and said we could get parked close, and that I would be able to go in the cable car in my wheelchair.  When we arrived, there were no disabled spaces left, but a man who had a horse carriage told us we could park in one of the other bays.  A man who had a disabled son showed us how to get to the gate near the way in, and there were more disabled spaces there, but there were no signs telling us about them.  Blair and Rosie had stood in the queue, and when the man let me in, he would not let us go and get my brother and sister, so Mum had to go and join them in the queue.  Andy took Melissa and me up in the cable car - it was amazing.  We were there for 2 hours before Mum arrived with Blair and Rosie.  We had a great big pizza lunch, and took some great photos.  We went back down in the cable car, and when we got to the start again, the man did not show us how to get to the elevator down, so we had to stand and wait until another cable car arrived.  Then, when we got to the car, there was a piece of paper on it, which Mum thought was a notice of not being parked properly.  Mum tried to call the number, but they could not speak English, so we went to the address with the tom tom.  It was a police station.  Mum says the police man was very nice, and told her she should have got a fine, but he would let her off this time.  Mum was grateful, but a bit annoyed that due to no signs at the cable car place, it would never have happened.  Anyway, it was a great day and we have some great photos of the mountains.  I know Andy would have loved to go climbing.