Winter Wonderland-Vienna

So this past weekend we traveled to Vienna, Austria which was quite a trip!  It is hard to say what I did the majority of the time that I was there because for the most part it was freezing cold while we were there!  It was kind of rough the first day.  We took a bus there with my study abroad program.  As we were about an hour or so outside of Prague we had a beautiful little surprise of, oh yes, you guessed it, SNOW!!!!  It was so wonderful!  The snow flakes were gigantic and were just falling so gracefully.  It was exactly as the first snow of the year should be.  We stopped at a gas station and there were snow ball fights going on and my friend Rachel and I enjoyed (what I may argue to be) the best cup of hot chocolate in which I may have ever tasted!  It was great!

When we arrived in Vienna it was, as I said, rather chilly.  The kind of cold where it goes right through you and straight to the bone.  We were staying in a very nice hotel which was a nice change.  There was a tour that was scheduled and we started to go on it.  However, by the time that we had made it no farther then 3 blocks, we had found ourselves in a down pour rainfall and soaking wet.  So we decided to break off from the tour and head to a cute little cafe to warm up and enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate.  Some people got what is called Sacher cake which is a popular dessert in Austria and the surrounding countries.  While the cake looked quite good, I don't think that I would ever try it again.  It has a certain kind of spice to it and is not a sweet cake.  Overall, it was really just interesting.

That night we went to a cute little restaurant called Centimeter's and then after dinner we walked down to the city hall.  It was great to see that the city was already in the Christmas spirit!  There were christmas markets and Christmas lights all around!  it was truly just a beautiful little winter wonderland to walk around.  Unfortuantley, the bitter cold wind did not want us to enjoy this too much.  So we headed back to the hotel fairly early to get ready for the next day.

On Saturday we were split up into small groups where we had a tour guide which showed us all around the city.  We saw the city hall, the huge museums, all of the historic buildings and so much more!  After our city tour we, once again, went to a small cafe to warm up.  In the afternoon we went to another market and looked around and then went to the crowned jewels museum which was interesting.  There were the robes, crowns, and many more of the items in which the emperor's use to wear and have.  The best part was when we walked out of the museum and it started to snow!  Oh we were all so excited!  We were running around and sliding through the snow.  There may have even been a few snowballs being flown around.  

We then walked through the shopping district, which I was able to resist the temptation and not buy anything.  After walking through the city for awhile we, of course, went to another cafe to warm up.  I guess it wasn't much of a cafe this time though because we visited, oh yes, Starbucks.  While I am usually VERY against visiting American stores, coffee shops, and restaurants in foreign countries, it was a great taste of home and just comforting.  The rest of the night was spent enjoying the nice warmth of the hotel.  I was even able to take a bath, something which I have not been able to do in months.

On Sunday we went to the Schloss Schonbrunn which is the old palace right outside of Vienna.  They had a Christmas market there with a huge christmas tree and christmas lights.  We went to the restaurant and my friend Cort and I shared an apple strudel (delicious) and had some delicious hot chocolate. After the restaurant we walked around the gardens which were behind the castle.  It was beautiful but was for sure some place that I would love to visit again in the spring or summer when it is all blossoming and green.  Overall it was a great trip and I am truly in the Christmas spirit now!  

Amsterdam

So this past weekend four of my friends and I traveled to Amsterdam.  We left on early Friday morning and then came back on Tuesday morning.  Monday was a Czech holiday so we didn't have any school.  I was unsure of what to expect of the city before I left.  Amsterdam is usually most associated with the fact that both Prostitution and Marijuana are legal there (don't worry, I didn't partake in either of the them).  

I was amazed though that once I got there I found such a beautiful city!  The center of the city has numerous amounts of canals with cute little bridges that go over them.  The architecture of the buildings was also very beautiful.  It was all mostly 17th century building's.  They were also only about 5 or 6 floors so it did not have that big overwhelming city feeling.  It felt rather homey actually.

The first day we got in at around 10 in the morning.  We dropped out bags off at the hostel and then began to walk around.  It was amazing to see that a majority of the stores were not open until about 11 or so.  We were just walking around going down random streets and then ended up walking through  China town, which is always quite an experience.  We then turned off one of the streets and we were all rather surprised to have found our selves in the red light district.  I could hardly believe that it wasn't even noon yet and there were already these women who were barely wearing anything, standing in these windows trying to get guys to come in.  It was a very strange thing to experience.

Later on in the day we went to the Rijksmuseum.  We had heard amazing things about this place.  When we got there however, we found out that they were actually renavating and only a small portion of the pieces were being shown.  We did however get to see some of Rembrant's work and also this piece that is called "For the Love of God".  This piece was very interesting.  it is a skull which has had over eight thousand diamonds placed on it.  

The next day we went to the Van Gogh museum.  Many of his famous art works like two of his self-portraits, sunflowers, and many others were there.  It is always amazing to see this famous art pieces in real life.  After the Van Gogh museum we went to some small little markets where the people were selling such things as produce along with some sort of flee market items as well.

Sunday started off with us hearing some honking from our hostel.  We soon found out that there was a huge parade that was going on.  We still aren't exactly sure what the parade represented, but a lot of the people dressed up in these sort of "joker" outfits and got make-up to turn their skin black.  At the end of the parade, Santa from Spain came riding through on a white horse.  It was rather entertaining.  

My friend Becca and I then just spent a majority of the day sitting in this coffee house which was along one of the canals and read.  We then walked around for sometime.  Amsterdam was truly one of the greatest cities that I have been to just by the fact that I can just simply walk along the streets and just be so thrilled and so happy to just see the beautiful city.  

On Monday we had another coffee house reading day and then later on went and visited the Anne Frank House.  You go on a tour of the house in which they were living in hiding before they were caught.  It was amazing to take a small look into the living conditions and small quarters that they lived in for months just to save their lives.  The rooms were all very small and I could hardly imagine not being able to get outside and breath in the fresh air for so long.  It is so tough to take a look into one of the families and see the struggle and the hurt that they went through and to imagine that that is how it was for all of those people during that time.  it's truly putting a face and a story to just one of the millions of people who were killed during that time.

Krakow and Auschwitz, Poland

This past weekend we traveled to Krakow, Poland.  We spent almost all day Friday (from eight in the morning until seven at night) on the bus driving to Krakow.  It was a very long bus ride and we were in traffic for quite a long time.  Upon arrival I was not positive what to expect.  I have never really heard that much about Poland that much at all.  We walked to the city center and it was truly beautiful!  Prague will very often get this sort of "Disney land" feeling where everything is just so beautiful and surreal that it seems like it could be straight out of a Disney movie.  Krakow had a lot of this feeling as well.  The town square was truly beautiful.  It was great to hear that Krakow was not damaged one bit during World War II, something which I am finding to be very rare of the bigger cities in Europe.  

On Saturday we took a tour of the city.  We visited various churches, the big square, the castle in the city, and went through the Jewish quarter.  It was very interesting to learn that in the city there are only about 150 Jews who live there.  The Jews who survived through WWII in the city did not feel safe and many of them moved to different cities.  Poland is now a very predominate Catholic country.  Pope John Paul the II was actually from Krakow and there were posters and pictures and souvenirs of him every where.  

My friend Cort and I also tried some traditional Polish food called "perigee's" ( I think that the spelling is way wrong though.)  They are a sort of dumpling which is filled with meat.  They were pretty good.  I probably would not order them again but it is something that I am glad I tried.

Now I just want to warn who ever may be reading this that I am now going to talk about my day at Auschwitz.  It is, of course, not and uplifting place by any means and is something which was very hard to see, but is something that I think needs to be talked about and I feel as though I should share.

Auschwitz was actually split up into two different camps.  There was Auschwitz I that we visited first this morning.  This camp had about 30 or so stone buildings that were three stories tall that were perfectly lined up in three rows of ten.  A few of the building's were open and we were able to go inside.  The first building we went inside showed how some of the people slept.  It also showed the "courtroom" where many of the prisoners would have a trial, which would last approximately a minute, and would be sentenced to death and then taken outside in between two of the building's to what was called "The wall of death" and were shot.  There were many flowers which were spread in this area.  In this building in the basement they also had starvation chambers which were small brick little areas where they would punish many different people.  In another area of the building in the basement was where they first tested the gas chamber on Russian POW's.

We then walked through one of the building's which showed how the living conditions.  They showed how for the first few months, they were forced to sleep on the floor on hay in a room with many other people.  All they had for warmth was a small blanket.  They then later on built bunk bends which were three bunks high.  They were about two and a half feet across.  Most of the beds had two people who slept in them too.

Another building we went into was maybe by far the most disturbing.  It was artifacts and possessions from the people.  There were mounds of glasses, a room filled with shoes, pots and pans, hair brushes, and other such possessions which people have brought with them.  The worse thing that was in there was a room that was filled with hair that they had shaven off from women who they had killed.  They had done tests on some of the hair and had found traces of the poisonous gasses that they used in the gas chambers.

Another building we visited was about the Jews who died there.  There were many different pictures of the war and of people in this building.  The most interesting thing was there was a fairly big pictures of Hitler which was in one of the rooms.  It was the only picture which has a sort of protective plastic covering on it.  I at first did not understand why but then caught a glance on the light and saw that many different  people had spit on this picture.  It was truly a powerful thing to see.

At this camp site they had also built a small gas chamber which you could walk in and see.  It was a very eerie feeling which I can't even begin to explain.

We then traveled to Auschwitz II which was even more difficult to take in.  It was a huge field which had many different sort of building's which looked just like horse stables.  These were the places in which the prisoners lived.  We walked to the far end of the camp, past the train tracks where thousands upon thousands of people were dropped off, and then walked to the gas chambers, where they were told they were getting a warm shower to clean up.  The gas chambers are no longer standing but their ruins are still there.  You can see from where they would first walk in and where they would undress.  They would then walk them down into the chamber and then fill it with gas.  I can't write any more about it.

We then went into one of the 'houses' where they use to live.  It looked like nothing more then a storage unit as to where you would keep supplies, but this was where these people use to live.  The beds which they had here were three levels with a cement level on the bottom, and then two rows of beds made out of wood.  In a four to five foot area, there would be about four to five people sleeping there.  It was about 50 degrees outside but inside of these stables it was freezing cold.  It is hard to even begin to imagine what it would have been like in the winter.

Overall there were approximately 1.2 million people who were killed in Auschwitz.  This was a place that had a very eerie and dark feeling.  Our advisor pointed out the fact that there are no birds that fly around the area.  It was a very difficult thing to see which leaves a person with many unanswered questions, but it is something which I think is very powerful to see and that I will never forget.

Prague Weekend

After traveling for 5 days last week, it was very nice to have a very relaxing weekend in Prague.  We only had class on Wednesday last week (thanks to a great Czech holiday).  On Thursday I went and taguth English again at the high school by our dorm.  This is truly one of the best thigns that I have been able to do while in Prague.  It is so great to talk to high school students about their life in Prague and their views on the world.  it is so interesting seeing their perspective on everything.   We talked about random facts about the US and then I started to ask them questions about their lives in Prague and their schooling and what they want to do and so on.  This week we are suppose to come and talk about the election and our feelings towards it.

A very interesting thing about the Czech people is that they do not try to be politically correct by any means.  They say it exactly how it is and are very blunt about stuff.  They don't try to make sure that they don't hurt anyone's feelings or offend someone.  It is very interesting to experience this.  For example, a friend was telling me about one of the high school classes they were sitting in on that was learning about the American political parties and so on.  She explained the Democrats and the Republicans.  My friend that she was very biased about the parties and in favor of the Democrats.  she then was telling them about how the Democrats are a blue color and the Republicans are red.  She then asked "And what other party was red?  The communist party."  If this was to happen in the US they would first not be so biased towards the parties by any means and would also not be comparing one of the political parties to a communist one.  Just one of the very interesting differences about the Czech Republic.

it was also interesting to celebrate Halloween ehre.  They do not have the traditional Halloween of dressing up in costumes and going trick or treating and so on.  They celebrate "All Soulds Day" on November 1st which is a day where they go to a cemetary or a church and pay respect to their loved ones who have passed away.  They also traditionally bring a candle which is in a red jar and light it.  My friend and i happened to stumble across an area where these candles were being lightened and placed and just observed it.  It was very intersting to see all of the different people who came and brought candles.

This week is filled with many mid-term tests which I have been studying for.  This Friday I will be leaving for Krakow, Poland for the weekend.  I am very excited for this trip!  I have heard that it is beautiful there and is claimed to be "The New Prague" so it should be fun to visit.  On the way back we are stopping at Aushwitz which should be a very moving experience.  I will make sure to write all about my trip when I get back.  Much love!