Auschwitz

We did go there.  I had mixed feelings about being a tourist in such a tragic place.  It seemed painful to be in a place were people suffered so much because of one man's mania and many men's fears.  It seemed painful to be truely free in so many ways under the ironic sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei"

I don't know if you will be able to see it in the blog picture, but I also thought this tuft of dandelion seed caught in the barbed wire spoke of freedoms curtailed.

Rows of brick buildings  or wooden buildings seemed maybe "not so bad" until you saw inside the bunks about the size of a queen size bed and used for eight or more people.  "Not so bad" until you imagine the grassy areas being only muck and mud.  Not so bad until you imagine winter and almost no food and forced labor and  separation from loved ones and fear...

"Not so bad" until you see the trees where the overflow of imprisoned people  waited for days without shelter. 

"Not so bad until you see guard houses and

rows of barbed wired and imagine the machine guns directed at those wearing striped clothing and colored stars on their arms to identify the "crime" of their nationality or ethnicity.

until you see the train tracks where people were unloaded like cattle or the pile of prosthetic arms and legs and feet, crutches and back braces or the portrait after portrait of shaved heads.  ... until you recall the names filling the walls of the Pinkus Synagogue in Prague.

"Not so bad" until you see pits filled with ash...

The Jews remember.... but they were not only Jews.  They was Roma and Sinti and Poles and Russian prisoners of war.

                                  They were People... Human... Men.... Women... Children... Babies

                                                                          Remember

Kyiv, Ukraine Temple Dedication and Cultural Celebration

Someone told David that this was the best place to take a picture from.  He may have been right.  The reason for this Eastern European trip was to attend with Nathan the temple dedication of the Kyiv, Ukraine Temple.  Because we are not official members of the temple district we were invited to attend a session in the stake center in central Kyiv.  We did that and then found our way out to the temple for the afternoon.  The mashrutka driver dropped us off at the corner of the temple.  He saw us and asked if that was where we were going.  I suspect he had many passengers that day.  It was a kindness on his part to drive a little further down the road before stopping.  I don't know what the people waiting at the regular stop thought.  We had a great meal with Ann & JD who have been called as full-time temple worker missionaries, watched from their window overlooking the temple for a while, then joined the many people who came out between dedicatory sessions.  I think many of the local people attended multiple sessions.  They certainly were not eager to leave the temple grounds when it was all over.  JD says that people come and walk around and sit on the benches until it is dark most days.  It is a place of beauty and peace in a chaotic city.  The day, the weather, the occasion and the people were all beautiful. 

The Landscape even is designed to appeal the Ukrainian people.  They apparently love all types of sunflower and the crab apple tree is the "tree of paradise" if I recall rightly.

Nathan enjoyed meeting many old friends and making some new acquaintances in the between times and at the cultural celebration the night before.  This picture was taken on the metro - an old friend.  Even on the metro after the Saturday night program he met old friends.  It took a long time for people to leave the event, they were so glad to see each other and to meet each other.  President Monson promised the young people participating that they would see blessings come from their participation.  Just the new friendships would be one of those blessings.

The Cultural Celebration featured regional dances from the several nations that are part of the temple district and told the story of Christianity in the Slavic lands.  Without language skills I was pretty much on my own to understand the narrative portions, but the dancing and music was beautiful.  It needed no interpretation.  I was moved as the story unfolded to learn that the Slavic people were the first to be able to read the Bible in their own language.  When the story unfolded to the point that the LDS missionaries came to Slavic lands the entire mission came up through the audience the the strains of "Hark, all ye Nations"  and a standing ovation from the audience.  People living in foreign lands only vaguely know that missionaries make a sacrifice to serve.  After all the missionary lives like they do, so it is a common thing for them.  They may recognize the time it takes to serve a mission, but they KNOW that what was brought was so  valuable.  The missionaries are heroes to those who have accepted the gospel.  It was a new perspective on missionary work for me.

I was flattered when someone assumed that I might speak Russian or Ukrainian and asked me to take their picture.  Here we are checking out the picture.  Than meant that at least I didn't stick out as "too American"
- well at least until it was clear that I could only respond to them in English.

Immediately after the dedication the crew began working to get the temple ready for Monday.  Temples are not normally open on Mondays, but this one was full to the brim and overflowing, with many who were coming for the first time.  Many of those had no escorts to guide them so you know the temple workers were busy.  We were able to attend a temple session on Wednesday.  We had waited until they were not quite so busy.  We didn't want to take anyone's place that might have come from far away with a need to return home.
Again in the temple we met people Nathan knew and were able to see Ann & JD one last time before going home.  It is a beautiful temple.

Nathan took the picture that follows.  I love it for the contrast of the Lord's house with those Soviet style apartment building in the background.  The apartments are just across the freeway.  The Lord has such good things in mind for us - better than we can think of for ourselves. 

Amsterdam

An over night stop - with 10:00 kebab for dinner and an early morning walk before walking to the train station was our quick taste of Amsterdam.

We stayed in a beautiful neighborhood, the Jordaan, near the Anne Frank House.  Anne heard the bells of Westerkerk sing the hours from her hiding place just a couple of doors down the street. 

Rembrandt knew this neighborhood with it's canals and tall narrow buildings.

You can't see it very well, but each house has an apparatus at the center top to help move things to the upper floors.  Bringing things in through the window is much better than going up those small stairways.  Some of the houses are a little tipped out at the top.  I suppose to protect the windows as things are hoisted up.

 

Rembrandt lived before Amsterdam became a bicycle haven.  We saw people in those early morning hours heading to work on their bikes along the narrow lanes that are only wide enough for one car.  There were cars parked along the way, but many more bikes than cars.  We saw into a downstairs bike garage

The train station had a double decker bike garage with hardly a car insight.  And the train ride to and from the airport was amazingly smooth and easy.  This three wheeled truck was about the right size for the streets

Street Markets

We found a little street market for fresh produce one day in Prague.  There was a little street fountain to wash the pears we bought and we enjoyed them with the bread and cheese we had purchased in a metro stop store.

 They had charming wooden toys.

It would be a happy kid with an indulgent mother if these were purchased- they were huge gummy candies.

And visited a regular open air market in Lviv.  They sell coins, Soviet memorabilia...., door knobs....

crafts.....

traditional embroidery....

The bored jewelry sellers play chess.

Street Scenes

This post will be a collection of street scenes.  I didn't take very many pictures of people.  It feels instrusive and most of the people we saw in Prague and Cracow were also probably tourists - not local color.


The squares and the main pedestrian streets were home to people trying to entertain and earn a little money.  Guitar players and breakdancers.  These two guys were my favorites.  The first delighted the children with his ability to keep the ball moving with various parts of his body, but no hands. 

This one kept the children happy with enormous bubbles that they chased and popped.  It was fun to watch the moms come up with their kids and put some coins in his urn and let their kids go.  One rather tall momma helped her "smaller than the other kids" daughter pop a few bubbles before taking her away.

Of course there were plenty of pigeons.  Nate calls them flying rats.  Some are pretty bold.  We were having our granola bars (aka emergency food to get you to the end of the exhibit) and some tried to land in our laps.  The little boy in the picture below was feeding them with the crumbs from a pretzel stand until his momma pulled him away.  You can see that he wasn't quite ready to go.  In Lviv there was a lady the pigeons seemed to know.  They flocked around her as she walked past us and when she was a little ways away she released the bag of crumbs she carried.  The pigeons left little evidence of her passage.

There were plenty of charming windows fitted with white lace curtains and or flower boxes.

As well as some creative displays of flowers

Advertising wasn't always what you would expect - as these women of "substance" illustrate...

But there were celebrity endorsements, even in Poland.

In Lviv, the notables of ancient times were recast in traditional dress









In Everett this year, they have artist painted working pianos on the streets.  In Prague they have painted non-working pianos honor a Chopin anniversary.

This is a Polish style street sign.












Open air cafes were everywhere.  I wonder if they have to rent their sidewalk space?  Although the cafes allow for smoking diners, they also allow for fresh air on a hot day. 

Art shows up in surprising places, cement trucks, manhole covers and the inside shutters of market stalls.

The old and the new find themselves at home together.