(08-20-2023 03:20 PM)U_of_Elvis Wrote: If you can visit Poland you should. Cracow (waywal cathedral, castle), Salt Mines, Warsaw, Toruń. Great trip for any architecture or history buff.
Do not miss Gdansk and the shipyard workers' memorial and museum. I can't think of anywhere else in the world that was more moving for me to experience, and only a couple that equalled it.
A few stories:
Our guide for the museum was a young lady who had grown up there during the protests. At one point in the museum there is a large mural photograph of one of the demonstrations. Our guide said, "I am not in this photo because my parents did not think it was safe for me to go. But this man right here was one of my professors, and this man right here sat behind me in history class."
Another photo showed a long line standing in the street in the midst of what was a fairly big snow storm. There are a large number of very small children bundled up in the lines. Our giude explained, "This is a line to get meat. The reason all these children are there is because the more people you brought, the more meat you got."
There is also a cathedral downtown which is the largest brick church in the world. On my first trip, with Rice alumni, we had a lecture from Lech Walesa, who said, "We knew that the government were communists, but they were Polish first, Catholic second, and communist third. And we knew that once we got one concession from them, the momentum would build and the game was over." At one point during the protests, several thousand of the workers hid out in the church. The police came. The padre met them at the door and said, "Yes, they are here, but you can't come in." The police left out of respect for the church as sanctuary.
Really incredibly moving experience.