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This past September, I was fortunate enough to travel to Poland with my family. We arranged a tour through Pat<br />

Tours-the “Best of Poland” tour, which would take us to Warsaw, Czestochowa, Auschwitz, Zakopane, Krakow,<br />

and back to Warsaw.<br />

In Warsaw, we were<br />

taken to a local<br />

restaurant, where<br />

we enjoyed a four<br />

course meal and<br />

folklore show. We<br />

toured Lazienki<br />

Park, the Jewish<br />

ghetto Memorial,<br />

and Old Town,<br />

where we were also<br />

given access to the<br />

Royal Castle. We<br />

also attended a<br />

piano recital featuring<br />

music by Frederic<br />

Chopin.<br />

On the way to Zakopane,<br />

we stopped<br />

in Czestochowa and<br />

Auschwitz. We arrived<br />

at the Jasna Gora Monastery just in time to see the Black Madonna before it was veiled for the afternoon.<br />

In Auschwitz we toured buildings that have been converted into educational spaces that explain how the concentration<br />

camps operated.<br />

Once in Zakopane, we toured the town before taking a cable car ride to the top of Gubalowka Mountain. After<br />

spending time browsing and eating handmade cheese in the market, we took a raft trip down the Dunajec River.<br />

It was very cold!<br />

In Krakow, we toured the Wawel Coronation Cathedral<br />

and castle and Old Town Square (home of St.<br />

Mary's Church). After purchasing some souvenirs<br />

at the Cloth Hall (and spending some time in the E.<br />

Wedel chocolate store), we spent the afternoon in the<br />

Wieliczka Salt Mine. Our final dinner with our tour<br />

group was in a charming restaurant in the Jewish district,<br />

complete with a trio of Jewish folk musicians.<br />

It was a trip to remember.<br />

Photographs by David Hopkins<br />

Be s t o f po l a n D to u r<br />

by<br />

Jennifer Trentowski Hopkins<br />

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