Terezín Concentration Camp- Czech Republic

     There was another side to my time in Europe that was a very humbling experience; while we were there we went to several different places that showed the devastations of World War II and what it did to Europe. One of these places was Terezín- a fortress turned into a Gestapo prison. 


   The Nazis used Terezin as a model Jewish ghetto to trick the Red Cross into believing that they were treating the prisoners better than they really were and to dispel rumors of death camps. Even though Terezin wasn't a death camp 33,000 prisoners died during their time there from poor treatment. 10,000 of  those are buried outside the camp. 

    Most of the rooms were too dark to take pictures in, but here are some cells that had enough light to take pictures of and other areas of the camp/fortress. The first one below is the living quarters where the Nazis forced hundreds and hundreds of Jewish prisoners in together. 

The Olsons

The Olson Family

 

My Capitolization- more of Capitol Reef

Czeched out to The Czech Republic

We got to spend a day in Prague... I only got to see a tiny sliver of the city, but I can tell you I was quite impressed with what I saw. I would recommend this city if you're ever making your way through Europe.

There's a beautiful astronomical clock that you can pay to get to the top of, and these pictures are from that. Legend has it that the town people blinded the man you made the clock after it was completed so that he would never make anything as beautiful ever again.

 

At night they light some of the buildings up around here.

Russia?

This was during my flight to China. I looked out the window and saw these amazing glaciers. The map on the plane made it look like we were over some obscure part of Russia, but I'm not sure. The sun never set on my way there.

This was the way back. The sun set, but only for a short while. 

Van Trapped in Austria

I got to spend a day in Vienna, and lets just say I fell in love. It was my favorite place we went. Here are some photos from the excursion.

Here are some photos from St. Stephen's Cathedral. If you are ever in Vienna, you should really go here, being there in person was really inspiring.

We also got to check out the Opera House by watching it in the standing section (much cheaper!) I also helped write an article about that- check that out at the Daily Universe's website.

We also explored the market and around town including some more churches. It was incredible.

No Sleep, Just Hungary

So I'm here in Budapest, Hungary following the International Folk Dance Ensemble for the Daily Universe with a professor and a reporter... and it's incredible. We've been on the go most of the time, but we were able to sneak into the city twice during the morning and here are a couple shots. Pretty much we haven't been sleeping so I can only edit a couple photos for now. More to come!

Here is the Fisherman's Bastion.  I tweaked it a bit and took out a tree, but it was really incredible.

 Then we ate some really great dessert here. To add to the title of "No sleep, just Hungary" we've occasionally accidentally skipped a couple meals, but no worries we've had dessert about 3 times today.

And here is the Parliament.

And here are a couple doorways and things I've seen wandering around.