Poland Day 4

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TJ Maxx in the mall
Today we were rained out of the cemetery, which was very sad, but it allowed for us to have a big chunk of free time to do what we wanted. I took advantage of the later morning and slept in a little bit, but made sure that I was at breakfast by 8:30. After breakfast, I went with a few girls to the Magnolia Park Mall. To get there, we had to be adults and figure out the Tram on our own, which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. We spent about two hours there walking around and I bought two shirts! We came back to the hotel a little bit before 12 and learned that the Synagogue that we were supposed to tour had lost power, so we weren't able to tour it today and we aren't able to attend the Shabbat dinner that we were supposed to have tomorrow.


The Old Jewish Cemetery
We had a 4-hour walking tour around Wroclaw which was very interesting. We walked, took a bus, and a tram, all around Wroclaw to see different Jewish sites. Our tour guide was so incredibly knowledgeable and I enjoyed listening to what he had to tell us, though it was difficult to hear at times. My favorite part of the tour was honestly being able to see different areas of Wroclaw that I hadn't been able to see since we follow the same general path each day. Their traffic laws are much different than the US as I haven't seen a speed limit sign or someone being pulled over, there is parking on what I thought was considered sidewalk, and traffic still seems to flow well even when busy. The Old Jewish Cemetery we went to was beautiful and we were able to learn a little bit about some special people buried there. There were trees and flowers everywhere, birds chirping, and it was impossible to tell that there was a major road right outside of the gates. As a whole, it survived WWII, but there are visible marks where bullets hit the interior and exterior walls, and even some of the headstones.


The walking was a lot and by the end, I was very hungry, so I along with others, went to an Italian restaurant. We went to the lower floor which had a very interesting ceiling and a very Italian feel. The food was very yummy and we had lots of good conversation!

Tomorrow we are going back to the cemetery, but whether we get to work or not depends on the weather. I hope we are able to work so I can uncover the stone I found before leaving yesterday. If we don't work, we will be saying goodbye and maybe some other needed tasks. We will also be discussing our class memoir, Night. 

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