I am thrilled to see Socialist-era buildings in Warsaw, Poland, which used to be under Communist rule.

Warsaw’s Old Town was rebuilt from rubble after WWII. Nearly six million Poles died in the war.

“Prepare to be very sad,” a friend said when I told her I was visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The ruins of a gas chamber where camp inmates, mostly Jews, met their deaths.

It’s not all sorrow - heroes like businessman Oskar Schindler saved the lives of many Jews, like those seen here.

Your wish can come true supposedly if you walk thrice around this bell. I’m glad my wish to visit Poland has come true.