Chicagoan Stu Feiler will lead his first tour of “Oskar Schindler’s Poland” from June 1-13, visiting sites central to the life and culture of Polish Jews, and offering the opportunity for firsthand research into the fate of relatives believed killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
A longtime travel writer on Eastern and Central Europe and lecturer on Jewish history, Feiler says he was inspired by the Academy Award-winning film “Schindler’s List” to organize the 11-day tours.
Among the stops: the historic Jewish district, synagogues and cemetery of Krakow, the ghetto at Tarnow, the New Town synagogue of Rzeszow built in the 17th Century, as well as the camp at Plaszow that held Jews known by Schindler, a tour of his factory Emmalienfabrik, and a visit to the residence of Amon Goeth, infamous commander of the Plaszow camp. Meetings with members of the Jewish community in Krakow have been arranged, as well as with some of those Jews saved by Schindler.
Early on, participants will tour Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they will be able to submit family names and/or specific names of relatives who may have perished there. Archive staff will then search records and provide copies to tour participants when they return later in the week.
Guide and translator Marta Wegrzyn and other colleagues in Poland helped arrange the tours, which costs $1,750 double occupancy, (single supplement, $150) and covers all accommodations (including one overnight in Amsterdam on the return), breakfast and dinner daily, three box lunches, ground transport, all special programs and sightseeing. Call 312-587-1950.
Burgernomics explained
The Big Mac Index, aimed at an accurate and occasionally corrective appraisal of exchange rates, has just been published by The Economist magazine.
Spanning the globe to buy the same old hamburger, the editors found, for example, that the price of a Big Mac in the U.S. ($2.30), divided by the price of a Big Mac in England (1.81 pounds) yields an exchange (or PPP, for purchasing power parity) for sterling of $1.27. This compares to the current official exchange rate of $1.46 and suggests that the pound is 15 percent overvalued against the dollar.
The Big Mac Index found that the yen is 64 percent overvalued against the dollar, given a Big Mac PPP of 170 yen, compared to the current exchange rate of 104 yen to the dollar.
The most undervalued currency, and cheapest burger, is found in China, where a Big Mac goes for $1.03, suggesting that the Chinese yuan is 55 percent undervalued against the dollar. And the most expensive Big Mac is that peddled in Switzerland, for $3.96, implying that the Swiss france is 72 percent overvalued.
The complete results of this exercise in “burgernomics” is found in The Economist’s April 9 issue.
News in the air
American Trans Air will offer scheduled service between Chicago and Riga, Latvia, beginning May 7 for $868 round trip, based on 21-day advance purchase.
For that price, passengers will fly to New York’s JFK on Trans World Airlines and connect with ATA’s flight to Riga, stopping over in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Call 800-382-5892.
Trains old and new
High-speed rail service is on its way to the Pacific Northwest, as the Talgo train this month commenced a half-year trial period of service between Seattle and Portland, Ore. Though the European-built train has a top speed of 180 mph, it will stay under 80 during its trial.
Round-trip cost of $35 per person includes movies, white-linen meal service, complimentary newspapers and Starbucks coffee.
Eventually, top speeds of 120 mph will be reached on the run, which will extend from Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, British Columbia.
– The Grand Canyon Railway began its fifth year of daily service this month through Oct. 30, offering a more than two-hour journey through Northern Arizona aboard restored 1923 Harriman coaches.
Pulled by a 159-ton, SC-4 class steam locomotive built in 1910 by American Locomotive Co. of Pittsburg, the train pulls out of the Williams, Ariz., depot at 9:30 a.m., traveling through Ponderosa pine forest and Old West scenery to the Grand Canyon Depot, a National Historic Landmark, on the South Rim of the canyon. The train departs for the return leg at 3:15 p.m.
Refreshments, live music and entertainment are provided, as well as interpretive programs by conductors and crew on the railway and the geology, history and environment of Grand Canyon National Park.
Adult round-trip ticket is $47, children 12 and under $14.50, and teenagers $23.50. Deluxe service is also available aboard the Chief Keokuck parlor car, built by Pullman in 1927, and the railway club car. Call 602-635-4000.
