Exploring Vienna and Venice

Week 5: Group trip to Vienna and Venice

I fell in love with Venice!

The past two weeks have been filled with adventures all around Europe to many different cities. Living out of a tiny backpack for two weeks and hopping from city to city has made me realize that there is nothing like traveling all around the world. You get to experience different cultures, see new ways of living, and compare your norms to others. There are so many things you can gain from stepping into another place. These past couple of weeks I had the privilege to experience life from many new cities. We loaded up the bus, said goodbye to Olomouc, and made our way to the posh city of Vienna, Austria! When we finally arrived to our destination, I was in awe of this beautiful city! After we checked into our hostel, we dropped off our backpacks and hit the ground running! We were all making comments about how clean the streets where and how friendly the people were! (A nice change from the angry Czechs haha.) I could tell that this city was more fancy and high class compared to many other cities that we have been to. Right away we spotted a café famous for their delicious waffles, and of course we had to stop by and try one! This café is where I first realized that Vienna had great food! For example, one night I had spinach dumplings. This may not sound like the most appetizing meal, but they were absolutely amazing! Therin and I spent most of the afternoon one day in a café since this is what the locals normally do. We visited the Vienna’s oldest café and tried their famous sacher cake and apple strudel, which both were just amazing. Vienna is also the place where I found the world’s best schnitzel- seriously the world’s best. I have had a lot of great schnitzel in the Czech Republic, but nothing compares to this 120-year-old recipe of a big, fat, classic schnitzel the size of my entire plate. Just thinking back on it makes my mouth water.

The great waffles! Raspberry spread with bananas!

Spinach Dumplings 

Apple Strudel

The most amazing schnitzel ever!

Along with the food, the sights were also amazing. We were able to visit the Imperial Treasury where many of the Habsburgs valuables are kept. The Habsburg family ruled over a huge part of Europe for many years until they were overthrown. In this museum we were able to see many of their jewels, fancy wardrobes, valuables, and the amazing crown. We also visited Vienna’s museum of Natural History, the palace, St. Stephan’s cathedral, and the beautiful parks! Vienna was an amazing city full of beauty and class.

The Habsburg crown

This was my favorite thing inside the treasury! There is a piece of the table cloth from the last supper, a tooth of John the baptist, a piece of wood from Christ's manger, and a piece of the loincloth of Christ.

The Museum of Natural History

St. Stephan's Cathedral

Inside the cathedral

Our next stop was Venice, Italy! I have always dreamed of going to this unique city. Venice is made up of more than 180 small islands, and is filled with so much charm. What I loved most was that there were no cars and roads; it was all just canals and little allies to walk through with bridges connecting them. Venice is also quite the place to get lost! I never knew where I was going or how to get anywhere, but that was the part of the experience and fun that Venice had to offer. A few of us got to cross taking a gondola ride off our bucket list! It was such a peaceful ride to see and enjoy the great city of Venice. We also spent a lot of time sitting by the Grand Canal, just taking in the view.

The gondola ride!

Venice:) 

A beautiful view of Venice from above!

We made our way to St. Mark’s Basilica, which was originally built in the year of 829- isn’t that crazy!! In every city we see so many beautiful churches that were build so long ago, but this is the oldest church that we have visited yet! It was also incredibly fascinating to be standing in a church were the apostle Mark was buried. It was unbelievable to think that this is where his body is laid.

St. Mark's Basilica

While we were staying in Venice, the University there had their graduation. I found it very interesting to watch how they celebrate their graduations compared to the way that Americans do. The main square was flooded with people! From graduates and professors to family members and friends, everyone was there to celebrate! Besides the fact that the graduates wore wreaths on their heads, the graduation seemed very similar to ones back home.  

Like all places I go, I fell in love with the food! I made sure that ate plenty of pizza and pasta while I was in Italy. Also the gelato is to die for! Which meant that we had to stop and get ice-cream cones two or three times a day.J  Venice is also the place where we found the best little pasta place EVER. My friend back home (shout out to Katie Warneke J) saw that I was in Venice from a picture I posted and messaged me raving about this small homemade to-go pasta place call Dal Moro’s! After an hour of many wrong turns and dead ends, we finally found this hidden treasure. All of us fell in love with this place so much that we went there twice and we were only in Venice for two full days. The second time we went there, we were just going to quickly grab it to go before we had to run to catch our train to Verona. However, we got there thirty minutes before it opened and become very disappointed because we would not make our train if we waited until it was open. The owner’s dad overheard us talking and told us that he would sneak us in if we didn’t tell a single soul, because he might get in trouble. So we all dashed in the shop, ordered our pasta, and then ran out with our delicious meal in our hands only to find people waiting in line right outside the shop starring at us. We all looked at them and then hurried off to catch our train. I will never forget such a fun moment!

The great and wonderful Dal Moro's pasta place!

The girls enjoying a nice diner :) 

Tiramisu for dessert! 

Seafood spaghetti! 

I had such an incredible time exploring Vienna and Venice. Getting to observe their culture and admiring the beautiful sights these cities have to offer was priceless. I enjoyed the little time that I was blessed with to see these cities! Next stop- spring break!!

Auschwitz- There are no words to truly describe it.

Week 4: Auschwitz

When I sat down to write about our trip to Auschwitz, I found myself at a complete loss for words. There is not a correct way to describe the sights that we saw. This will be my best attempt to tell all of you about what we saw yesterday at Auschwitz, but I know that I will not do it justice. This is just one of those things that you have to experience on your own to really get the full effect.

When I found out that we would be going to Auschwitz on our program, I was very excited. I have always had an interest in the Holocaust and I was looking forward to this trip the most. I knew that it would be a very heavy and emotional day, but I was ready to see the place that left such a big mark in history.

It was a very cold, rainy, and gloomy day, which fit the mood. We first walked through the gate, which said, “ARBIT MACHT FREI” meaning “work makes you free.” This was not true at all though. All of the prisoners worked all day long, yet they were never free. This camp was were people came to die. About 1,300,000 people were deported to Auschwitz, and about 1,100,000 people died there. It is just unimaginably to hear those numbers.

The gate entering Auschwitz.

We visited many of the barracks were the prisoners stayed. Inside we got to see all of possessions that belonged to the prisoners. Seeing all of the possessions made it all too real and almost unbearable to look at. There were millions of shoes just stacked up. The unending amount of women’s hair, the baby clothes, the suitcases with names of real people on them, the glasses, the hairbrushes, the pots and pans, everything that the people owned was just stripped away from them and then piled up. I was in complete shock. Next we entered the gas chamber and crematorium. The Nazis often told the prisoners that they were going to take showers to disinfect them in order to calm all of them down, but really they just dropped Zyklon B in from above to poison them. There were fingernail starches along all of the walls. To think of all of the people who suffered here was unbearable.

The barracks where the prisoners stayed.

A pile of glasses that used to belong to the prisoners.

Their pots and pans.

It was sickening to see the baby clothes.

Millions of hairbrushes.

Suitcases with names of real people on them.

The unending amount of shoes.

Zyklon B cans that were found.

Inside the gas chamber.

These are finger nail scratches that lined the wall of the gas chamber.

The crematorium. 

After we visited Auschwitz I, we traveled over to Auschwitz II- Birkenau. The prisoners built this entire camp, and it is massive. The barracks just keep going on and on and on.  One side of the camp was for women and the other side was for men and in the middle of the camp is the railroad platform where all of the prisoners arrived. When the prisoners arrived to Auschwitz, they came in small train carts. Hundreds of people were packed into these tiny carts and they would be traveling for days. Our tour guide told us that so many people were all packed inside so tightly and had to stand up the entire way. Some people had died on the train, but because their bodies had no room to fall, nobody knew of it until they arrived at the camp and were let out of the train. Unimaginable.

One of the train carts that prisoners were transported in.

The unending amount of barracks.

One of the gas chambers that was destroyed.

Right when the prisoners arrived, they were examined to see if they were fit enough to work, if not they were sent straight to the gas chambers. The tour guide also told of us of a story of a woman that arrived with her two sons. One of her sons and her were sent to the gas chambers, while her other son was being sent into the camp to work. She did not want her son to be split from here, so she begged a solider to let her son come with her and his brother. She had no clue that they were being sent to the gas chambers, and the solider of course let her son join them. They had plenty of workers at the camp and they knew that more were coming daily. To the Nazis it was just a point of a finger whether you went to the gas chambers, or into the camp to work. It meant nothing to them.

I will never forget what I saw at Auschwitz. As I left in complete shock that day, I realized how blessed and privileged I am. These prisoners were tortured, beaten, and suffered. It is still unbelievable to think of the millions of people who died during this horrible event in history. Like I said at the beginning, there are no words to truly describe it, you just have to see it for yourself.

Budapest.

Week 3: Trips to Znojmo, Mikulov, Budapest & Academic Life in Olomouc!

Dobre den! The time has been flying by here! I have been so grateful to see so many beautiful sights and learn more history! Last Monday was an Easter holiday so there was no school! So we decided to take a day trip to southern Moravia in the Czech Republic. Our first stop was to Znojmo! The sights were absolutely beautiful!! We were able to see a wonderful cathedral and castle while taking in the gorgeous view around us! We then made our way to Mikulov, where we saw another Jewish cemetery and hiked all the way up to Holly Hill. I was in shock looking out at the marvelous view! The beautiful town and countryside stretched on forever! It was so peaceful and astonishing to be able to see such a beautiful sight!

The group enjoying the beautiful view at Znojmo!

The Jewish cemetery at Mikulov.

I fell in love with the astonishing view from the top of Holy Hill in Mikulov.

The group that made the it the top of the hill! 

So thankful to have Tereza and Ann show us around these cities!

We made it back to Olomouc and had classes the entire week. Then Friday afternoon we raced to the train station after class and we were on our way to Budapest! When we finally made it to Budapest, we checked into our hostel and then went on a pub-crawl to the ruin bars with everyone that was staying at our hostel. The ruin bars are abandoned buildings in the Jewish quarters that were destroyed and are now transformed into a bar. They are half inside and half outside with dirt floors and decorated with some awesome vintage furniture. Saturday morning we were able to take a tour of the city of Budapest. I loved learning about the history behind every building and statue, but what I found the most interesting was the way the city formed. Budapest used to be split into two separate cities; one was named Buda and the other Pest. In 1873, the two cities were emerged together to create Budapest. These two cities became one by being linked together with the construction of The Chain Bridge over the Danube River. We also hiked up Gellert Hill and saw an amazing view of the entire city. That night we decided to take a boat cruise on the Danube River. The views were even better at night when everything was lit up across the city. 

St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.

Matthias Church was stunning to see!

The view of Budapest from the top of Gellert Hill.

The Chain Bridge

Enjoying the night lights on our boat cruise! 

The Hungarian Parliament building all lit up!

We were blessed to have such a beautiful day on Sunday and decided to take full advantage of it by going to the Szechenyi thermal baths/spas in Budapest. These baths are supplied by natural springs and are so hot they have to cool down the water so that people can use them. We were able to just soak in these mineral baths for hours. It was so refreshing to be able to take the entire day to just relax in the water and lay out in the sun. That evening we spoiled ourselves and went to a fancy restaurant that was absolutely delicious. We spent the last part of the night just walking around the city enjoying our last moments in Budapest. 

The Szechenyi thermal baths!

Although am loving all of the fun destinations that we get to visit, I love always coming back home to Olomouc! During the week we get to learn about the Czech Republic and all of Europe from a some of the greatest professors. Our three main professors are Martin Elbel, Jan Stejskal, and Katka Prokopova. They each are so intelligent and passionate about the topics they have to teach us. Martin's class mainly focuses on the Holocaust, which is a topic that I absolutely love learning about. So far we have learned more of a background before we dive right into the Holocaust. Martin has been preparing lectures about Judaism and Christianity and our most recent lecture was about witches, which was very fascinating! Jan's class is more focused on the culture of Europe. So far he has covered topics over Greek and Roman Legacy, and Christianity. We also have many guess speakers come and share special topics with our class! We have had a wide range of topics covered like government and politics, democracy, press, economics, refugees, and international boarders. Katka's class is learning the Czech language- which is not an easy language!! Although I try my best to learn this difficult language, I get very frustrated. Most of the time I don't even speak proper English, so you can only imagine me trying to learn Czech. However, I am very thankful that we are able to take this language class because it truly helps me in my daily life by communicating with people in Olomouc. Hopefully by the end of this trip I will be able to have full conversations with others! I am incredibly thankful to be able to have these wonderful professors be so passionate and knowledgable about the topics that they share with us! 

I have seen so many stunning places in Europe already and my trip isn't even half over yet- I can't wait for all of the wonderful destinations I have yet to explore!