June 4th 2016.
I arrive in Berlin, where Cora's parents - Silke and Andre meet me at the airport. We drive to Alexanderplatz, park the car and then start our walk around the area. We visit the Brandenburg Tor, see pictures of the gate over the years, then the wall of shame, where there are crosses and a memorial to those who died trying to cross over from East Berlin to the west before the wall came down in 1989. One man who tried to cross, just 3 months before the wall came down was shot dead.
I arrive in Berlin, where Cora's parents - Silke and Andre meet me at the airport. We drive to Alexanderplatz, park the car and then start our walk around the area. We visit the Brandenburg Tor, see pictures of the gate over the years, then the wall of shame, where there are crosses and a memorial to those who died trying to cross over from East Berlin to the west before the wall came down in 1989. One man who tried to cross, just 3 months before the wall came down was shot dead.
We take a river cruise on the Spree to see the main buildings of Berlin. Old and new juxtaposed. The ultra modern building where Angela Merkel works, right next to the old house of parliament.
We drive to Poland, on the autobahn first zipping away, then on the Polish highway which reminds me of roads in Bangalore - to a small village called Nowogrod Bobrzanski - on the river Bobre, to meet Roman and Halina (Cora's god parents) - a very warm welcome by simple people. Beautiful garden, clean house, vegetarian dinner specially ordered for me from a vegan place 20 kms away. Halina and Silke make delicious Carpaccio - boiled beetroot sprinkled with parmesan and pine nuts. They all turn vegetarian with me for a couple of days.
Here on starts the funny confrontation with consonants - Cz (tch), Sz(sh), Rz (je) and many more... trying to read and say some words in Polish.
The next morning we drive to Auschwitz, have lunch at restaurant Art Deco - good vegetarian - perogie ruskie(steamed dumplings with goat cheese and potatoes) and cream of zuchini soup. Roman has booked our guided tour a month in advance, the English guide is excellent, he is from the US, but his family is from around Auschwitz. His passion for the subject makes the tour more interesting. We visit both the camps - Auschwitz and Birkenau. Some buildings are retained as they were, with the straw beds, the toilets and the scaffold where prisoners were punished and hung to death in public. Reading Primo Levi made the visit more realistic. The dark side of man. Today it is terrorism, every country and age has its own share of evil, but the Nazi period seemed like there was no hope for mankind.
The mood changes when we go to Krakow a bright, bustling old town. The market square is medieval, one of the largest in Europe, dating to the 13th century. We visit the Wawel castle, massive bell towers, walled enclosures, cathedral. Inside there are huge hand woven tapestries- one of the Tower of Babel, King Nimrod the proud who wants to build a tower that touches the sky, God's wrath and the confusion of languages that follows - all depicted in weavings. Splendour and legends form part of the castle. The story of Saint Stanislas who is killed by the king for speaking up.
We walk along the Vistula river to see the Jewish quarter Kazimierz. Visit to a synagogue where young girls are singing aleluias melodiously.
We listen to Jewish music by a live band, have local food, perogie ruskie, cold beetroot soup...
Roman and Andre eat up all leftovers, no one wastes any food. The portions are not big by any standards and delicious.
Roman entertains us with jokes about Nazi officers trying to write down Polish names and towns when the Jews have to register. CZ, Sz, Rz !!
For dinner, I make a huge pot of mixed vegetables with turmeric and Indian spices that we buy locally and everyone wipes the pot clean appreciating the flavours. I make sure to add less paprika so the dish is not Indian spicy.
Andre, Silke, Cora, Roman and Halina drop me off at the airport and too soon, it's time to head back. They pile me with gifts of home made jam and marmelade.
These first time friends who are so simple and good natured, make me believe we are all connected by kindness and respect for each other, and a universal soul.
For curious reading:
