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<\/a>The stellplatz at Gro\u00df Schacksdorf. It’s silent, I’m ready for bed at 8:30pm!<\/p><\/div>\n
The Big Picture European map taped to our table came into play last night, after we’d eaten a delicious Lidl venison nosh-up, as we worked out where to head for today. We hope to meet friends in Stuttgart in a week or so, and then some other friends on the French Atlantic coast in mid August. Between these dots in time, we can do what we please. We could skip Berlin, heading south to Prague, Munich and into the Black Forest and the French Alps. We could continue east to Dresden and cut out a big loop of geography. Nah, we figure the motorways in Germany are both great condition, and free; we’ll make the most of them and detour north to Berlin for a couple of days.<\/p>\n
This morning we had a quick go at outdoing each other: “I hardly slept last night, maybe 5 hours”, “5 hours? You lucky swine, I only slept for about 18 minutes”, “That’s funny as you kept me awake snoring” etc. Our parking spot almost in the centre of Wroclaw was probably perfectly good, next to the theatre as it was. Once the trains halted late at night silence rained down, but we were in a city, unguarded, and twitchy. Our next big city’s Berlin, and we’re booked into a Stellplatz there outside the Umweltzone (the German pollution control areas where Dave can’t go as he’s too old and dirty). Perhaps for only the second time in almost 2 years we’ve reserved our place in advance, it’s high season and we’ll be there at the weekend, so we figured it a good idea. The website for the place made it easy and we’ve got a PDF confirmation emailed back to us, perfect.<\/p>\n
Exiting Wroclaw in the rush hour, we popped back into the out of town shopping city to make some coffee and breakfast, taking Charlie for a walk before embarking on today’s cross-Poland jaunt. Picking up the perfect A4 motorway east, we cruised along through endless fields of corn and wheat, the sky thick with cloud. No sign of toll booths? It turned out this is because there are no tolls; in the past few days we’ve crossed half of Poland by motorway for about \u00a34.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The Polish version of CHIPS (PHIPS?) escorted us along the A4 in Poland.<\/p><\/div>\n
Marius, a South African fella and a lovely chap, dropped a line to us a few days back: are you going to\u00a0\u00a0\u017baga\u0144, site of the Great Escape? I’m British, and male. The Great Escape was and is an iconic film to me, the story sums up something of what I’d like to aspire to when I think of myself as British. I’m nothing like the men in the story of course, their tenacity, courage, ingenuity and discipline escapes me, if you’ll excuse the pun. That’s not stopped me watching the film a hundred times, each time hoping Steve McQueen will, this time, make it over that second barbed wire fence to Switzerland (if that’s spoiled the ending for anyone, seriously, let me know).<\/p>\n
This time Steve, this time.<\/p><\/div>\n So, the idea I could actually get to see the site of the real-life Great Escape, where 76 airmen being held prisoner in Poland managed to escape the camp, was to me a massive draw. Today we got there, finding the small museum by chance and walking the wooded ground behind it where the remains of the camp lie being gradually reclaimed by nature. If you’re heading this way, and have a SatNav, the car park’s at these GPS co-ordinates: N51.59689, E15.29255.<\/p>\n The Stalag Luft III Museum in Poland.<\/p><\/div>\n The museum was created in the early 1970’s, way before the fall of the Iron Curtain and, it would seem, way before anyone cared about the 1963 film. When we turned up workmen where busy with power tools installing a new heating system. Some cash has been made available from the town’s governors to improve the site, which is a pleasant little spot but which makes little of the association with the movie. It costs a whole \u00a31 to get in. One of the curators spoke English, explaining to us how the Soviets were uninterested in the place, being filled with ‘Imperialists’ as it was. He described how any Russian soldiers finding medals and insignia made of precious metal at the site were instructed to break them and leave the pieces in place, unfit as the metal was for being used by the enlightened communists. This got him going somewhat, as he deviated from the story of the camp into the Cold War years, “The soviets didn’t leave here until 1992, two years after the fall of the USSR”, “no-one could sleep in their beds at night, fearing a knock from soldiers at the door”, “Poles coming back home from England after the war were sent to prison, as spies” and finally “just 20 km from here the Russians had atomic weapons. No-one knew about them, just the Russians”. This was one chap at least, who was glad communism was over.<\/p>\n The chap we spoke to had this in his office. If we’d seen it anywhere else, we’d have freaked out.<\/p><\/div>\n The museum explains the history of the place through a VCR (remember them) video and a series of photos, copies of documents, models, personal items loaned by relatives and items excavated from the site a km away. We were the only ones in the place, and took our time peering through the glass topped but unlocked exhibits.<\/p>\n Insignia made in the camp.<\/p><\/div>\n Stalag Luft III.<\/p><\/div>\n POW St Christophers.<\/p><\/div>\n POW glasses.<\/p><\/div>\n More effects. Life for the officers was pretty privileged. No work, sports and arts all allowed, yet still they chose to escape and risk their lives.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>