Saturday afternoon I had the chilling privilege to visit what is perhaps the most awful place on earth- the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southwestern Poland. While I can not, in words or pictures, do justice to the horror of such a place, I would like to share my experience.
The name Auschwitz actually refers to a network of Nazi concentration camps which operated between 1940 - 1945, the most notorious of which were KL Auschwitz I just outside the town of Oswiecim and KL Auschwitz II near the village of Birkenau.
A visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial sites begins at Auschwitz I, which on first impression may appear to have an almost collegiate feel, that is until you start to notice the not so subtle barbed wire fences and guard towers. 
After annexing Poland, the Nazis converted this Polish army base and training facility into a political prison in June 1940 and spent the next two years expanding the camp to a full capacity of 20,000 prisoners. Any glimpse of serenity is immediately and painfully destroyed upon entering barracks 11, known as "the Death Block", where the most horrific types of medical experimentation and torture imaginable were carried out on a massive scale. The brutality in incomprehensible. In September 1941 the Nazis began the systematic annihilation of prisoners at Auschwitz I. A moment spent standing inside the original gas chamber moves nearly every visitor to tears of sadness and frustration.
When the killing and incineration efficiency of 340 bodies per day at Auschwitz I was no longer sufficient for the Nazi's intentions, construction of Auschwitz II was undertaken.
The new camp, 3 km away, would be comprised of 4 killing factories with the joined capacity to execute and cremate 20,000 people per day and an adjoining camp capable of holding of 100,000 prisoners.
The layout of the camp was designed to make mass-murder as efficient as possible. In fact, the railroad tracks were extended inside the camp gates allowing the unloading platforms to be immediately adjacent to the gas chambers requiring the weakest of the doomed inmates to walk only 200 meters to their immediate execution.
When the killing and incineration efficiency of 340 bodies per day at Auschwitz I was no longer sufficient for the Nazi's intentions, construction of Auschwitz II was undertaken.The new camp, 3 km away, would be comprised of 4 killing factories with the joined capacity to execute and cremate 20,000 people per day and an adjoining camp capable of holding of 100,000 prisoners.
The layout of the camp was designed to make mass-murder as efficient as possible. In fact, the railroad tracks were extended inside the camp gates allowing the unloading platforms to be immediately adjacent to the gas chambers requiring the weakest of the doomed inmates to walk only 200 meters to their immediate execution. 
The statistic that really got to me was that 80% of the men, women, and children who arrived at Auschwitz II - Birkenau were deemed unfit for labor and immediately executed within the hour of their arrival. The surviving 20% would be worked to death over then next 2-3 months (the average life span in the camp) in weather as cold as -10 degrees Celsius wearing little more than what you and I wear to bed and consuming less than 1,000 calories per day. 
To say it was a hard experience is a dramatic understatement and I think every visitor deals with the overwhelming feelings in different ways- some joke, some pose for pictures, and others weep uncontrollably. I spent 4 hours in a state of indescribable shock and disbelief, truly moved beyond words. I would like to think that each visitor takes away one or two feelings that will be with them for the rest of their life. Mine- standing on the unloading platform imagining the agony that the arriving prisoners must have felt as they confronted their horrifying fate and any glimmer of hope they were holding for their promised "relocation" was ripped away as the rail car doors were finally opened after a journey of up to 2 weeks; and the feeling of stepping into the 90 cm x 90 cm (approx. 35 in) standing cell which was used to incarcerate and torture 4 prisoners at one time. As fellow inmates passed away in the complete darkness, those surviving had to hold the deceased body upright until the cell was emptied and they were released for work the next morning (often after as much as 14 hours). Standing in that spot, where so many had died, I don't know how to put in words the overwhelming feeling of loss and sadness I felt.
Perhaps you wonder why I would refer to it as a "privilege" to visit such an awful place, a place where literally millions* of innocent people were murdered- I found this message particularly appropriate.
For the second year in a row, I learned why flights are so cheap out of London in January- in January, Europe is closed. Or should I say, chiuso. For $75 round-trip, I flew to Naples last Friday. I should have seen it coming when I boarded a bus from the airport filled with only three, clearly local, other passengers and headed to Sorrento. The last off the bus at the end of the line, I wandered into a ghost town.
Lucky for me there was one flea-ridden hotel and one half-baked pizzeria open for business. With a bed and well fed, I hit-up the nightlife- which consisted of seven old men fishing in the harbour. With nothing else to do, I decided to join them and batted my hook with a bottle, or three, of Italy's finest 3 euro wine.
Things smelled fishy on arrival when I realised that my dream of cruising the island on a rented scooter would go unrealised and that postcards would be harder to find than another tourist.
Capri was closed. Public transport- closed. TI- closed.
Hotels, restaurants, everything- closed, closed, closed. So I walked and I walked. Now I'm a walker, and I have to say, I did some serious walking.
All the way from the port, to Capri Town, to Anticapri. I walked and walked for hours and hours. 
Truth be told, I was having a great time- very peaceful and very beautiful. I walked all the way to the entrance of the famous grotta azzurra, which was, you guessed it, closed. 
On my scan that found only one single soul was within eyesight, 
I spotted this sign which thwarted my plan.
I did. And now I know, it's because they take them in January.
What a shithole. Seriously, I think all travellers should be required to spend at least one night in Naples. With the aroma and beauty of the Port of Tacoma, a night in Naples makes one appreciate every other city in the world. Cheating death, I wandered through the armpit of Italy and picked up a new pair 5 euro Ray-Bonds before calling it a night.
So well persevered is Pompeii that it is easy to envision how the ancient BC folks lived. 
Perhaps the best preserved building in the whole of the city is the lupanare- the home of the women nicknamed lupe, or she-wolves. A wonder inside the original lupe-house reveals five simple rooms with stone beds and pillows.
The faded frescoes above the doors advertised the services offered inside...
I have also noticed girls are starting to wear fanny packs as a fashion statement; heading out for the night with jeans tucked into their boots and a fanny pack as a handbag. Really funny, even though it actually it kind of makes sense, it looks ridiculous.
I just got back to London after a great 2 week holiday to Seattle. It was great to catch up with you all- friends and family. Thanks to everybody for welcoming me back. And a very special thanks...
