A Day in the Life

I have been in Poland for business for the past two weeks and I had the opportunity to go to the Auschwitz concentration camp on Saturday. It was a neat experience, similar to Andrea and my visit to Dachau earlier in the year. Auschwitz, however, was focused more on the terror and pain of the holocaust as opposed to our tour at Dachau. The sheer magnitude of the events evokes emotion from anyone but as I walked around the grounds I couldn’t help but wonder what terrible things those walls and buildings had seen. I took hundreds of photos and tried to take some which showed the importance of the memorial while maintaining the dignity the site deserves. I wanted to share some of those photos with you here. I edited these photos in a nostalgic style because I felt they more accurately conveyed the deeper meanings and historical context behind the photos. I hope you enjoy these photos and they encourage you to learn more about these events. Please click on the photos to view a larger version for a more dramatic effect.

Zyklon B - Poison Gas used in the Gas Chambers

When the liberators arrived at the camp they found numerous evidences of the terror inflicted at these camps one of which was massive reserves of Giftgas, which translated from German means poison gas. This gas was Zyklon B, the poison gas used to take the lives of countless individuals.

Luggage packed but never used

This suitcase just one of the hundreds on display, belonged to Gertrude Neubauer, an orphan child. These bags were packed but never opened by those who packed them.

Barracks lining the road

Auschwitz I was the original camp, serving as the administrative center for the whole complex. The site for the camp—16 one-story buildings—had earlier served as Polish army artillery barracks.

Block 10 - Medical Experimentation

Each building was identified by a block number. Block 10 was the site of horrific medical experimentation.

The Fences

Surrounding the camp were miles of barbed wire fences which at the time the camp was active were electrified. I couldn’t help but think of what each barb on that fence had been through.

Administrative Offices

This building processed each new arrival to the camp.

We also visited Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which was built in October 1941. This facility dwarfed the original Auschwitz. It was massive and although very little is left, the sheer magnitude of the facility is powerful.

The Gate of Death

This gate was the entrance to the camp. Through this gate passed countless trains jammed full of prisoners, where upon arrival were inspected, sorted, and if determined not fit for work, placed in a line leading to the gas chambers.

The Bathroom

The facilities were primitive and too few for the prisoners in the camp.

A Barrack at Birkenau

Unlike Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II – Birkenau did not have brick barracks for the prisoners. They were crammed into these wooden barracks not suited for the rigors of the Polish countryside.

These tracks led people in but never out

My trip to Auschwitz was emotional and gave me a greater appreciation for the events of the past. Seeing Auschwitz is an event never to be forgotten.

We really saved the best for last. Sorrento is about an hour south of Naples, right on the coast. The most beautiful drive in the world has got to be the cliffs of the Amalfi coast, where the Mediterranean sparkles and the towns spring up out of the mountain. We had a beautiful view of the ocean from our hotel, which maybe made Sorrento my favorite place of the trip. Rome is still duking it out with Sorrento in my mind.

Favorite Sorrento things:

• Shopping and walking around town. Sorrento is small compared to the other tourist towns we visited. It has shops and restaurants and gelaterias (very important), and not much else. We walked down to the pier, we shopped, we ate, we watched the sun set from our balcony.
• Pompeii – an ancient city that was covered in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. The town was buried and preserved until the 1700s, when excavations began. It was amazing to walk the streets of this city and imagine what life was like back then. This city was at its height during Jesus’ lifetime, so although I’m pretty sure Christ never visited Pompeii, I’m sure the lifestyle was similar.
• Along with that, we went to the Archeological Museum in Naples, which has artifacts from Pompeii that survived – paintings, frescoes, mosaics, dishes, silverware, vases, statues, etc. Unfortunately the Mosaics room was closed, but we got to see everything else. It was neat. Although it’s too bad we had to go all the way to Naples to see it. Naples is kinda rough…
• Amalfi Coast drive. Wow. So beautiful. We took a bus, which wound around the cliffs of the coastal mountains in a one lane highway, squeezing past cars and mopeds going the other way. Scary. But it was really beautiful, especially Positano, where we walked down to the beach and stuck our fingers in. The beaches are really pebbly there!
• Pizza in Naples. I wanted to go to the famous L’Antica da Michele pizza place, but the only day we were in Naples was Sunday, and they were closed. But the pizza place across the street was open, so we grabbed some pizza there, and it was delish! I love my American Pizza, but Italian pizza is so yummy! I swear their tomatoes are different than ours.

  

  Pompeii street

  

  Chariot ruts in the road, Pompeii

  

  Original pots from Pompeii

  
  

  

  Fresco on a wall in a home, Pompeii

  

  Doorways in Pompeii

  

  Basilica ruins, Pompeii

  
  

  

  Pompeii painting, preserved in the museum

  

  Amalfi Coast/Mediterranean Sea

  

  Climbing down the steps to Positano

  
  

  

  Touching the Mediterranean

  

  City of Positano

  

  View of Sorrento and Mt Vesuvius from our balcony

  
  

  

  Trevi Fountain, Rome

  

  Overview of the Forum, Ancient Rome

  

  Ancient Rome

  
  

  

  Temple of Saturn in Ancient Rome

  

  Basilica in Ancient Rome

  

  Colosseum, Rome

  
  

  

  Can you see where the steps used to be? (Colosseum)

  

  Interior of Colosseum

  

  Arch of Constantine, Rome

  
  

  

  St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

  

  Dome of St Peters from the inside, Vatican City

  

  Ceiling of St Peters, Vatican City

  
  

  

  Michelangelo’s Pieta, St. Peters, Vatican City

  

  Ceiling detail, St Peters, Vatican City

  

  Outside St Peters on a rainy day

  
  

  

  Raphael’s “School of Athens”, Vatican Museum

  

  Best Gelato EVER.

  

  Della Palma Gelato. We went here every day multiple times.

  
  
  

Roma – The Eternal City, The City of Love, etc

• Rome is seriously magical. We got there in the afternoon, ate dinner, and then walked around Rome until it got dark. Rome at night is another world. The lighting is all orange light, so that it resembles torchlight. So Rome honestly feels like an old city, since there are no LED screens or florescent lighting anywhere. you feel like you are walking through ancient Rome. We saw St. Peters, Castel Sant Angelo, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona that night.
• Ancient Rome – the Imperial Forum, Arch of Constantine, Palatine Hill, Arches of Titus and Septimius Severus. This is where Rome began and was ruled. The Senate where Julius Caesar was killed, the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Saturn, the Via Sacra (Main Street), the Basilica (governmental seat), the church where Peter the Apostle was (maybe) imprisoned, the COLOSSEUM. It’s all here. Right smack dab in the middle of modern Rome. We spent all morning here, taking audiotours and learning all about the beginning and end of the Roman Empire.
• St Peters/Vatican City. This was an all day event. St Peters Basilica is the largest Catholic church in the world, and probably the most decorated. It houses Michelangelo’s Pieta, and multiple works by Bernini, including the altar and the huge brass canopy over the altar. It also houses the tomb of St. Peter, and the tombs of many Popes. It is so ornately decorated, you really have to see it to believe it. We toured the Vatican Museums as well, and ended in the Sistine Chapel. I feel like Michelangelo and I should be friends at this point, as now I’ve been to his hometown, his tomb, and all of his greatest works. Great job on the Sistine Chapel, buddy. Really, it is amazing. To think that he literally craned his neck to paint a ceiling for four years, and on fresco! It is almost emotional. Once again, you have to see it to believe it. It was so beautiful, we stayed in there for a half hour just looking and looking.
• Catacombs! We went to the Catacombs of Domitilla, and did some underground hiking. This is where the early Christians buried their dead, instead of cremating them like the Romans did in that time. This was a sacred burial, because they were buried near family members and martyrs for the Christian religion. Romans did not treat Christians well at that point in time. Now, there are no bodies there, just holes in the walls. But what I liked were the frescoes and writings that have survived all these years.
• We were SO EXHAUSTED by the end of our trip, that we spent a good portion of time in the hotel spa and relaxation room. At first I was worried about wasting time that could have been spent sightseeing, but as one of our reasons for this trip was to just be together, we decided this was a worthwhile usage of time. We missed our little girl a lot, but to just be together, without any responsibilities, was refreshing.

We’re breaking Italy up into two portions, because there is just too much good stuff to post about! Venice was first, and we only spent a day there. But it was so beautiful that we took many, many pictures. We didn’t need to even do anything in Venice but ride the water bus and eat gelato to soak up the best that Venice has to offer. The Grand Canal is lined with apartment buildings, hotels, and office buildings that all convey the same message: ‘We are Authentic Italy. We don’t need to repaint our buildings, fix the weathered wood, or rebuild in a modern style to attract people to our city.’ And seriously, walking around you feel like you are transported back in time. Of course people dress in modern clothes, and there are tourists EVERYWHERE, but if you get lost in a back alleyway, you could mistake the year 2010 for the year 1910 pretty easily.

Venice activities included:

• St Marks Square: the Byzantine style of St. Marks Cathedral was so different from every other church we’d seen. It reminded me of something you’d see in Moscow or something (not that I’ve been there, but I can imagine). No pictures inside that one.
• Doge’s Palace and Correr Museum – Neither were particularly inspiring, except that through the Doge’s Palace you get to walk across the “Bridge of Sighs” and into the prisons. I think that bridge is famous from a movie, but I’m not sure which one. No picture of that either, it was covered by scaffolding and advertisements.
• Cruising the Grand Canal – we were cheap and didn’t take a gondola ride, but even riding the water bus with 100 other people, you can find a corner and watch the world go by in a slightly romantic setting.
• Frari Church – we took an audio tour from Rick Steves on this one, and it was good we did. Don’t you think that the more you know about a place, the more you appreciate it? That is how we felt about this one. And by the way, if you EVER go to Italy, you MUST consult Rick Steves’ website, and download any audio tours he has on iTunes. They will save you money and give you all the information you could want for wherever you are going.

  

  Venice at night

  

  Sunset from St Marks Square, Venice

  

  View of St. Marks from the Doge’s Palace courtyard, Venice

  
  

  

  Doge’s Palace, Venice

  

  

  House covered in vines, Venice

  
  

  

  Traffic in the Grand Canal, Venice

  

  Restaurant in Venice

  

  Zac’s Pizza Diavola, Venice

  
  

  

  Andrea’s Pizza Capricciosa, Venice

  

  Boat parking lot, Venice

  

  Pretty Alleyway, Venice

  
  

  

  Duomo in Florence

  

  Detail on the facade of the Duomo, Florence

  

  Sitting in front of the Duomo doors

  
  

  

  Campanile (bell tower) in Florence

  

  Copy of Michelangelo’s David, Florence

  

  Florence

  
  

  

  Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

  

  View of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

  

  Another view of Florence

  
  

  

  Statue of Michelangelo and the rainbow, Florence

  

  In front of the Ponte Vecchio

  

  Michelangelo’s tomb, Florence

  
  

  

  Touristy Leaning Tower of Pisa

  

  City of Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

  

  It was cold and rainy in the Cinque Terre

  
  

  

  Flowers in the rain, Cinque Terre

  

  Climbing the steps to Manorola, Cinque Terre

  

  
  
  

We had 3 days in Florence, and spent the first two exploring the city, and the 3rd out in the Cinque Terre, or “Five Lands”, out on the coast.

• Duomo – HUGE church, complete with a tall bell tower (campanile) and a baptistery across the square. This place is covered with statues, green and white striped marble, sculptures, gold-leafing, and more. We went to the Duomo Museum to see all the original sculptures from the 1500s (the ones on the church now are copies), and the original doors to the baptistery, which were made out of GOLD, and depicted Bible scenes (made by Ghiberti).
• Michelangelo’s David – WORTH EVERY PENNY. Go see this in the Accademia Museum. It really is amazing. It is 17 feet tall, and the detail and emotion that Michelangelo sculpted into this piece of marble is incredible. The fake one out in the Uffizi Square is cool too, but the real one is stunning.
• Churches – Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce – both include tombs of famous people, Michelangelo being one of them, and were beautiful and worth visiting.
• Uffizi Gallery – This museum traces the history of art from Medieval times (1300s) to Renaissance (1400-1520) all the way through to modern art. But the focus is on the Renaissance, since it started in Florence. It was cool to see how art evolved, and how new ideas and techniques caught on like wildfire with all these artists once the Renaissance began. I can now tell you at least 3 differences between pre-Renaissance art, and post-Renaissance art. I felt very educated after touring this museum.
• Ponte Vecchio Bridge – The only bridge to make it through WWII undamaged, and it is chock full of gold and jewelry merchants. It looks like there are little houses on it when you see it from the outside.
• Piazzale Michelangelo has the best view of the city, across the river and up quite a few stairs. We made the trek in the rain, but we were rewarded once we made it to the top with a beautiful rainbow over the city as the rain stopped and the clouds thinned.

Our next stop was Austria. We spent one day in Salzburg, and two in Vienna. We LOVED Salzburg. It is a big town, but feels small and quaint. Vienna on the other hand is a big city, and it feels that way. Salzburg and Vienna have musical significance, and as a music major, I wanted to see experience some of the music culture here in Austria. Zac was a great sport, even though I think he was a little less than enthusiastic about some of the stuff I had planned. Our activities in order:

• Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg, where the “Sound of Music” kids sung “Do Re Mi”. It was really beautiful. Oh and we saw two brides taking pictures there – one in a modern white wedding gown, and one in a dirndl.
• Salzburg Dom – this was our favorite Cathedral so far, although the exterior isn’t really amazing. The interior, especially the ceiling, was amazing! The artwork was beautiful, but the sculpted ceilings and walls were so detailed. I can’t believe they did all of that by hand!
• Mozart’s birth house – there is a museum there that tells about his family life, and has some original artifacts, letters from him, and one of his harpsichords. Very cool.
• Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg – The palace wasn’t that great, but the Trick Fountains around it were hilarious. Apparently the archbishop who built it had a sense of humor, and would surprise his guests while out walking in his garden with hidden fountains of water. It is all natural, built near a spring that still supplies water to the fountains today. Most fun tour of a palace ever!
• Hohensalzburg Fortress – Original fort on the hill, and had a great view of Salzburg
• Vienna Haus der Musik – Music museum which included exhibits on the great Viennese composers, and where I got to conduct the Viennese Orchestra.
• Vienna Boys Choir – this was something I was really excited about. We ended up seeing them in a Mass on Sunday morning, and I loved it.
• Boat Tour along the Danube – not recommended. Mostly we just saw graffiti along the walls. But it was nice to get off our feet, since we were walking everywhere.
• Speaking of walking, the public transport in Germany and Austria were awesome, and easy to figure out. Subways, buses, and trains! Who needs a car?

We spent the first three days of our vacation in Munich Germany. Here are some of our favorite things from Munich:

• Schloss Nyphenburg, which was the summer residence for the Bavarian Royalty.
• Touring historic Munich, or what was rebuilt after the American’s leveled Munich in WWII.
• Residenz which was the Bavarian seat of government.
• The Dachau concentration camp memorial.
• Toured the BMW factory in and watched how the robots build BMW 3 series. (Sorry no photos allowed there, darn, this was one of Zac’s favorite things!)
• Castle day in Hohenschwangau, Germany.
• Eating huge pretzels and wiener schnitzel.
• Driving on the autobahn fearing for our lives… driving 140 km/h = 87 mph.
• By the way, German public transportation was the best.