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!

Prague Photos

An amazing view of the beautiful city of Prague! Or as locals call it, Praha.

While we were there, everyone was very concerned about the flood, which was the worst one in about 500 years. It didn't disrupt much except for the Charles Bridge and the subway system luckily.

One of the many beautiful churches found in Old Town Square.

This is what can be seen from the tower of Prague's castle.

The cathedral inside the palace was incredible to see!

This is Lennon wall, a huge graffiti wall dedicated to the famous Beatles member.

Germany

Begrüßung from Germany! Today was our second day here, and we're having such a great time with Ute and her family. Here's a retelling in photos of our experiences thus far:

After we were picked up from the train station yesterday morning, we all went to Sunday Mass at the basilica of St. Freising.  Coincidentally it was the same church where Pope Benedict XVI was ordained a priest! 

After Mass, Ute took us to a 1000 year old brewery called Weihenstephan. She told us that she used to be a waitress there when she was about 17 years old, and so did her mother who is currently 93!

After lunch we went to Ute's sister's house to meet up with the rest of the family. We sat around her table talking for hours! Thank goodness we had Ute to translate! They taught my dad and I how to play German Gin Rummy and we all played together for hours as it rained outside...and flooded the basement. 

This morning, Ute, Joe, Carl-Heinz, my dad and I went to visit Nazi concentration camp: Dachau. This was a very solemn morning for us as we remembered and learned more about the terrors of these death camps. The whole experience was very moving. Actually being at the camp walking around the grounds and through the gas chambers, crematoriums, stubens, and other prisoner facilities was heartbreaking. Knowing that such evil ever existed is enraging and horrendous. We need to pray that nothing like that ever happens again.

"Arbeit Macht Frei" is a German phrase meaning "labor makes (you) free". The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps, including Dachau as seen here.

Inside the concentration camp

On a happier note, we saw the famous Glockenspiel! Every hour as the clock chimes, ornate figurines dance around the clock set to music from the bells. 

This is the Hofbrauhaus! This is the biggest, loudest, most fun place to eat traditional German food ever! 

In the evening we went to visit Marcus and his wife at their home in Freising.

This is Lavender, their pet pig. It is an indoor pig, and as you can see she was taking a little nap under the covers in her bed. Lavender is big now, but when they bought her several years ago they were told that it would stay small forever. Regardless, they still call it their Mini-Schwein. 

In case you were hoping to see something amazingly adorable, here's a photo of Lotte the pug riding on top of Lavender.   Its a pug on a pig, folks!

Amsterdam

Thanks for all the emails and comments lately! It has been great to hear from some good friends speaking in a familiar language! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. To catch you up on our latest happenings, we've been in Amsterdam for the past few days! Due to lack of time and internet connection, I haven't been able to post any photos yet, so here they are!

To get to Amsterdam, we took the high-speed Chunnel train to Brussels, Belgium. We were only in Brussels for about an hour,  but hey, it counts!  (Right?)  This is outside of the Brussels station right before we took the next train to Amsterdam.

Here we are in Netherlands! (Thats us in front of the letter "e".)

Amsterdam is filled with canals! Boating is one of the top methods of transportation here, second to biking of course! This is also a good example of what most of the buildings and architecture look like. So beautiful!

Here we are at the Anne Frank Huis learning about the experience of the Frank family who went into hiding because of their religion during the Nazi invasions. Wishing you were here, Katherine!  

Amsterdam Scene

Pancakes for Dinner! A Dutch tradition. 

No, I can't pronounce that either.

Just your typical parking garage....if you're in Amsterdam!    Dude, where's my bike...?

Visiting Amsterdam was so much fun, and an even more wonderful experience to be able to explore it with my dad. Hopefully some day I'll go back for another visit! But for now, we're in Munich, Germany.  We just arrived this morning via the night train and have been spending the day in Freising with Ute and Joe Blaz, Oma, Ute's brothers and sister and their spouses. We're having a great time together because it feels like we're all family. Tomorrow Ute's brother Kari is going to show us some of his favorite spots in downtown Munich, and we might even make a visit to Dachau. More photos and journal entries to come!  Gute Nacht!!

London Adventures Continued!

Today was our final day in London, so we packed as much adventuring in as possible! We began the day by taking the Underground in the morning to the location where The Beatles shot their album art photo for "Abbey Road".  Of course we took a picture of our own "crossing the street" pose. After that we visited the Victoria and Albert Art Museum to see an exhibition on David Bowie which was really interesting and fun. It was absolutely crowded! After our morning of exploring rock music history, we went out to afternoon tea. Served with the tea were some of the most beautiful tiny desserts ever, my dad and I agree that the scones were really delicious! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing some photography around Camden Town and the British Parliament building. When the sun went down we rode the London Eye to see an incredible view of the city, then continued on with some night photography before going back to our hotel to pack up. Tomorrow we leave to Amsterdam on the Chunnel. Goodnight all!

Chris and Kalin, this one's for you! They served these macaroons at tea and they were so pretty! I think you would have really enjoyed them.

The London Eye

Riding "The Eye"

To get some perspective, this is the view from the top compared to Big Ben.