Books have always played an extremely important role in my life. Growing up, my father would often provide me with literature that he felt was instrumental in teaching me the many fundamental truths of life. Often these books would lie dormant upon my shelves, hibernating among the numerous other titles I never found time to read in my adolescence. But eventually, the curiosity would beckon and I would be swept up into the trials and tribulations of the people and places of many far-off places. Every book he ever asked me to read changed my life in many subtle ways.
I don't remember the day I picked up "Night," by Elie Wiesel , but I do remember the feeling when the novella was within my hands and I learned the truth about the compassion and the cruelty of this fragile world. I've never really understood the ethnic and spiritual strife so prevalent in the world and I've come to realize that I likely never will.
"Night," a book written about the true experiences young Elie faced within the confinement of the Nazi prison camp Auschwitz , in Poland , was a life experience when I first read it as a young teenager. Captivated by its harrowing tale and savage truths, I never imagined I would read the book again, let alone step upon the grounds of the infamous death camp. But as I read an e-mail from my lifelong friend Dan while he was in Africa and I was in Western Europe, just days after I had finished "Night" for a second and likely last time, he proposed that we meet in Budapest and make our way to Krakow to begin to try to understand some elusive questions that are still very relevant in the 21st Century.
Traveller's tips
