Nice, France

The beautiful city of Nice, France!

Up at the top of "Castle Hill"

We took a day trip to Villefranche to search for the place where my maternal grandfather lived. He passed away a few years ago and my mom and dad had come here to clean out his apartment. We never did know him, so this visit was very special. It was really nice to get even a tiny bit of insight and a grasp on where he lived and spent his time. It made me feel like I got to know who he was in a small way, and that means so much to me.

This is the view of the port of Villefranche.

This is the street where my grandfather lived, Rue Volti.

This was his warehouse where his business sold lobsters to local restaurants. 

After our visit to Villefranche, we hopped back on the train and rode it out to Monaco!

We went to the world-famous Monte-Carlo Casino, where my dad showed me how to gamble for the first time! He introduced me to the slot machines, roulette, video poker and blackjack, all of which were very fun! Unfortunately, we didn't win that day, but it was a really good experience. 

Milan, Italy

Though we were only in Milan for a very short period of time, we saw and did so many great things...

This is an incredible stained glass window inside Milan Cathedral. Its hard to see from this photo, but each segment of the window depicts a scene from the life of Christ, beginning with his birth all the way through the resurrection.

The rooftop of the cathedral is open for visitors. From that point you can see the entire city, along with all the incredible beauty and detail on the exterior of the church.

From here it felt like being in the towers of a castle! 

One night we went to go see a rock concert at the Mediolanum Forum...

KISS! 

We rock n roll'd all night, and had an awesome time in one of the most beautiful cities in Italy!

Venice, Italy

Amazing sunset!

Gondola ride through the canals

Gondola ride through the canals

Status Update

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be a little behind in posting for the next 2-3 days. The internet where I am right now is too slow to upload pictures, so I'll catch you up to speed when we move on to the next location. Thanks so much for following me on this journey! Talk to you soon! -Chandler

Budapest / Salzburg

Over the past 4 days, we've been in two different locations. The first 2.5 days we spent in Budapest, Hungary, and the other 1.5 days we were in Salzburg, Austria.  Budapest was very city-ish and bustling. While in Budapest, we decided to take a double-decker bus tour of the city which was very informational and great for sightseeing. Another highlight was going to dinner at a traditional Hungarian restaurant with live gypsy music. After our mini-visit to Hungary, we took a train to Salzburg and packed as much action into our 24 hours as possible. We began by meandering through the streets of the rustic downtown area. We saw some sights and monuments that were in The Sound of Music which was fun too! Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg, so that night we went to a dinner-concert. Through the evening, musicians played several sets of pieces by the famous composer, some of which were accompanied by opera singers! We had a great time overall with lots of fun packed into our short visits. Here's a few photos from our trip:

Inside Budapest's train station - Matchy-matchy outfits unintended. Haha!

View from the citadel in Budapest

Budapest, Hungary

The beautiful Budapest Opera House

This Austrian castle on a hill looks like it came right out of a fairytale.  :)

A view from the train of a little Austrian village at the base of a mountain.

Mozart Concert

Also at the Mozart Concert

Inside St. Peter's Cathedral, Salzburg

Poland

June 8th - June 11th: Poland!!!

Poland was so amazing! Probably my favorite location so far! This is the view from the center of Old Town Square. We went to Sunday mass in Polish at the big cathedral on the right.

St. Faustina, Pray for Us!

My favorite food ever: Pierogi! (Polish dumplings consisting of mashed potato, onion and cheese in dough.) Usually I make them at home with my mom  from a family recipe and we freeze them to save for special holidays, but here they're extremely common and cheap! My dad and I tried them at about 7 different restaurants in search of the best pierogi in Krakow. There were definitely some good ones!

The gates of Schindler's Factory which has been transformed into an extensive exhibition about the effects of Nazism and Communism in Poland.

Along similar lines, we took a tour of Nowa Huta, an experimental city established by the communists in an effort to create a "perfect city" based on the ideals of socialism. Though they eventually gave up their efforts and moved out, nearly all of the original buildings and design styles are still in place. It was a little eerie to see because everything seemed just a tiny bit "off". The buildings were very stark in their colors and appearance. Everything seemed a little too generic. In a way I felt like we were in one of the districts of Panem. (Hunger Games)

WWII Tank on display in Nowa Huta

There is one Catholic church in Nowa Huta which was installed toward the end of the communist reign in that area. This is one of the many monuments dedicated to Pope John Paul II in honor of his efforts to free the citizens from communist control. He his very loved all throughout Poland, especially Krakow as he was once their bishop!

Inside the prison yard of Auschwitz

This is the room in which they administered the lethal injections to some of the prisoners of the concentration camp. I bought a book called "I Was Doctor Mengele's Assistant" in which one of the main physicians of Auschwitz (who was a prisoner himself) recounts the stories of some of the terrible things that went on inside the camp, specifically from a medical view. Its insane and horrible. 

Here is a memorial dedicated to St. Maximilian Kolbe, a priest and martyr who gave his life to save another man at Auschwitz. This is the cell in which he died.

This is Birkenau, aka "Auschwitz II". This camp was classified as an "extermination camp" rather than a "concentration camp" because all prisoners sent there were killed with no exceptions.  It is an incredibly huge camp with rows of barracks as far as the eye can see. 

Interior of one of the barracks of Birkenau

After the war had ended, some of the barracks were disassembled so the wood could be used to rebuild the city. All that remains in their place are the foundations and chimneys. To gain some perspective of how massive this camp was, the chimneys seen here represent only about 1/5 of the total barracks. 

Stormy night in Krakow

It was heartbreaking to visit the concentration camps, but overall we had a truly great time visiting Poland!  I'm writing this entry as we sit in a train station in Katowice awaiting our connection to Budapest, the next stop on our journey. Off to Hungary!