Sharing the World

Our Last Big Adventure

smartin1978 — Thu, 5 Oct 2006 21:35:00 GMT

Our time here in Europe is starting to wind down, but before we left, there were a few more places that we had yet to see. This trip began as more of an excuse to see friends, but that really enabled to get to some places that we did not expect to be able to go. We’ll just provide the overview of the trip here and go into details in another blog so this doesn’t become a small novel!

Alessandro, a Brazilian, and Peter, a Slovakian, were going to travel with us to see Kristin in Norway. (All these people work with Shannon at a place that sells itself as an “American” pizza restaurant.) Kristin was at home for the summer break, and would be coming back to Edinburgh shortly after the four of us visited. The plan was for us four to meet her in Norway, stay for a few nights, then we would go to Copenhagen, and then on to Slovakia to stay with Peter for a few days. After Slovakia, Alessandro was coming back to Edinburgh, Peter would stay behind for a couple more weeks, and Shannon and I would continue on to see Austria and Germany.

This was certainly one of our most ambitious trips so far. We had three weeks to try and see 9 cities in 4 countries. In the end I think we outdid ourselves by actually getting to 13 cities. Needless to say we were exhausted by the end and eager to get back home. Here is the beginning of our trip and I’ll keep posting as I get the chance, but there is a lot to talk about and over 200 pictures to go through. I think I’ll start with Norway and Denmark in my next post. Until then…

Life in the UK

smartin1978 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:00:00 GMT

Now that we’ve been settled in Edinburgh for a while, we’ve had a chance to really get to know this town, and what a great town it is. Edinburgh is Scotland’s capital and 2^nd largest city. With only about 500,000 people, it has all the great attractions of a city without all the crowds and craziness. We live right near the center of town, about a 15 minute walk from the castle. The people are friendly and outgoing, the beer is strong, and there is always a place to go to hear live music. Rob is still working over the internet, and Shannon found a job as a waitress at pizza restaurant. (Yes, they actually have really good pizza here!)

For our anniversary in July, we took a short trip to small town called Fort William. The town sits cozily on a loch (or lake, as we say in the States) and gave us a nice break from the “big city.” During the afternoon we decided to try a thing called canyoning. Canyoning is a new sport where you get geared up in a wetsuit, life vest, helmet, and climbing rig, jump in a river, and make your way down the canyon. (Have we ever done anything even remotely normal in our lives?) It really was a ton of fun. We slid down natural waterslides, climbed down waterfalls, and jumped off 30-40 foot cliffs. Since we were the only 2 people on this trip, we were able to have a lot of fun with our guide and take as much time as we wanted on our trip down the canyon. The area was absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately we weren’t able to take any pictures. Afterwards we went to a pub and Shannon was finally able to sing a little karaoke for the first time since leaving Chicago.

During the first weekend of August we took a 3 day trip to the Highlands of Scotland. The Highlands is the mountainous region in the north of the country. With very few roads and difficult terrain, it has a unique culture that has remained strong despite many attempts by invaders to conquer it. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable of Scottish folklore, history, and culture. He was able to take us to the places where William Wallace planned his amazing victory over the English at the battle of Sterling Bridge, tell us stories about Scottish clans massacring each other in the valleys between the mountains, and show us the battlefield where all hopes for Scottish independence was ruthlessly squashed by the British Army. (This last battle, by the way, changed the entire history of the world. Had the Scots won, King George would not have held the throne of England, the American colonies might never have revolted, and the British Empire might never have existed.) Finally, we had tea on the shores of the famous Loch Ness. We didn’t see the monster despite Shannon’s attempts to jump in the loch and try to coax it to the surface. Yes, she actually swam in Loch Ness.

Now that we are in the middle of August, the Edinburgh Festival is in full swing. The festival consists of 3 weeks of plays, musicals, shows, street performers, and any other type of entertainment you can think of. We’ve seen a few shows now, some good, some not so good. In all, there are about 1,800 shows each week to choose from, so we haven’t really even touched the tip of the iceberg.

In a few weeks we will be taking our final big trip through Europe. We will start by going to Norway to visit a friend we met when we arrived, then into Copenhagen, Slovakia (to stay with another friend for a few days), then Austria, and finally Germany. Oktoberfest will be in full swing when we get to Munich, so we’ll have a chance to experience the highlights of German “culture.”

Once this trip is over, our stay here in Europe will be near its end. More to come later on those details, though…

Killer Cows in Switzerland

smartin1978 — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:00:00 GMT

The last time we visited the Swiss Alps it was the middle of winter and the snowfall was being measured in meters—not exactly ideal hiking weather. As beautiful as it was in February, being in the Alps in the summer was amazing. The snow had retreated up to the peaks, the mountain streams were gushing with the spring melt, and it was the perfect temperature for hiking.

After some discussion about which route to take for our hike, we decided that an 8 hour hike might be too much, so we settled for a path that, according to our map, would be a 4-6 hour loop through a valley, up a mountain, and back down to the little town we were staying in. Oh, and we should mention that we were sleeping in someone’s barn at the time. During the summer months the farmers take their cattle up the mountains and let them stay there to graze. A very nice woman named Esther cleans out her barn after the cows go up and lets travelers stay there for much cheaper than any hostel or B&B.

The hike through the valley and up into the mountains was amazing. Although it was difficult at times, we were rewarded with some of the most breath-taking scenery on the planet. We hiked for quite some time, and when going uphill, it always seemed like it would never end, but eventually we reached the half-way point in our hike. This was a restaurant about 2,040 meters (6,100 feet) above sea level and in the middle of nothing more than a rocky mountain face and grassy field. Getting there was a bit of a challenge, though, as the path we were following often disappeared in the tall grasses and private fields we had to hike through. However, once we arrived at the restaurant, we all ate a delicious meal made exclusively for the 5 of us, and had a chance to rest our weary feet. Talking with the restaurant owner we learned that all his supplies have to be brought up by helicopter a few times a week. There are no real roads going up the mountain, and we were probably his only customers all day.

After being fed and watered, we noticed that we had already been hiking for about 4 hours, and being half-way through a 4 hour hike, it didn’t look too promising for our hike down. The clouds had also come in while we were eating, so all the beautiful scenery was just a large wall of whiteness only allowing us about 100 meters of visibility. The fog did eventually lift, though. Well, actually, what happened was we descended far enough down the mountain that we were now below the cloud. Lucky us, this cloud was producing rain. Even though we were now tired, wet, and ready to get back to town, we encountered a very large waterfall flowing over a rock face and into the valley. Our path led behind the waterfall and reminded us that this long hike was worth it.

As we were nearing the end of this long and tiring trip, we still had one more obstacle in our way—the cows. Our path led downhill and through a gate in the fence surrounding the field we were hiking through. About half a mile down the mountain we could see the town we were staying in. The end was in sight, if only we could get past the 10-12 cows blocking our path. Now, cows do seem like peaceful creatures, but us city folk were reluctant to try and push a 1,200 pound animal out of our way. And yes, they were physically in our way. As we were standing there trying to find a way around the cows, Dawn suddenly starting walking towards to cows clapping and telling them to “moooo-ve” out of her way. They obediently did and she was through the gate. The rest of us just stood there laughing and marveling at her bravery (which was really just frustration at being out on the mountain for 8 hours! No cow was going to stop her now that we could see the end!) Following Dawn’s lead, Mike was next to try and wind his way though the herd, but he was less vocal and the cows did not get out of his way quite so eagerly. One cow in particular decided that Mike was in her way. As Mike moved toward the cow, it moved at him and head-butt him almost knocking him to the ground. Shaken and a bit startled, Mike ran back up the mountain and out of the cow’s way. This cow we named Bossy.

To our rescue, Dawn walks back inside the gate clapping and yelling at the cows and cleared the path long enough for the rest of us to move down the mountain and out of the gate. Our hero! Because of Dawn we were all able to get back to town and rest without a single cow-related fatality.

Italy

smartin1978 — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 01:20:00 GMT

After a week in Greece we were planning to spend another week in Italy visiting the smaller towns as we made our way back to Spain. Our first stop was the town of Salerno. Salerno is in southern Italy about an hour from Naples. It sits with the coast on side and with mountains and extinct volcanoes on the other. We arrived at night and after walking down the main road through the center of town, we decided that just staying one night in this town would not be enough. Salerno was one of the quaintest and peaceful little towns we have visited. Everyone we met was friendly regardless of our inability to speak the language, and nowhere else could we buy a whole pizza for less than 4 Euros!

From Salerno we took a day-trip to the town of Pompeii. Famous for being destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, the city of Pompeii is a sleepy little town with an extraordinary tourist attraction on one side. One inside the old city, it is amazing to think that this was once buried under 20 feet of ash. Everything is so well preserved from the grooves in the stone of the streets to the mosaic tile floors, to the bodies lying where they fell the day Vesuvius erupted almost 2000 years ago. Most of the ruins that we have seen up to this point were, well, ruins. This city looks as though it could have been lived in only 50 or 100 years ago.

After enjoying the peacefulness of southern Italy, we made our way up to Siena to spend a few days in the Tuscany region. And while in Tuscany, we had to go to a vineyard. Our trip to a wine tasting began with a short tour through the rolling hills and small towns. There were only three of us on this tour, and the third person was a rather eccentric, if not amusing, elderly woman from California who was originally from Spain. While she certainly had the gift of gab, we all had a great time going to the less-touristed places and had a chance to sample some amazing wines.

From Siena we took a trip over to Florence and spent a day wandering through the medieval streets and going to see Michelangelo’s David. And David was an amazing sight to see. The statue is much larger than we thought it was (it’s over 15 feet tall), and the level of detail blew us away. You could even make out the veins running through David’s arms and legs! After seeing such an amazing work of art, we still had a little time to kill, and decided to rest after the 1 ½ hour wait just to get into the museum.

This is where we learned a vital lesson when traveling. Always, ALWAYS, know how much something costs before you buy it. After finding a cozy little café along the side of the river, we ordered a couple of beers. When asked if we wanted to small or large, we, of course, said large. These large beers, which were average size for most beers that you could buy, ended up costing 12 Euros each. i.e. - WE PAID $30 FOR TWO BEERS!! After being outraged and Rob threatening to knock things over in the store, it was time to leave Florence before we went broke, or got arrested.

Our last stop in Italy was in an area called the Cinque Terre, or five lands. This is an area in northern Italy often referred to as the Italian Riviera. These are five small fishing villages sandwiched between the mountains and the Mediterranean Coast. Trains connect all five towns, but so does a hiking trail that takes visitors along 5 miles of the most beautiful scenery in Europe. And this really was the most beautiful place we have been to date. Hiking along the trails brings you up the sides of the mountain and along cliffs above the sea. The entire area is picture-perfect and nowhere else have we seen such an amazing landscape surrounding quaint little towns. We even met some of the friendliest people.

When arriving in the Cinque Terre, we were a little confused on how to get to a recommended hostel. Standing there at an intersection with our large packs on, we were approached by woman who asked us (in Italian) if she could help. We pointed to the name of the hostel on our sheet of paper, and she took her time to walk us to the staircase leading to where we wanted to go. (Yes, it was a staircase. Half the town was build on the side of the mountain, so many of the houses and hotels could only be reached by going up stairs carved into the rock.) When we arrived at the hostel, we found out from the owner, who actually showed up 5 minutes behind us, that it was booked. However, he had just spoken to the woman who led us here, and he told us that she was waiting for us down at the street to take us to another hostel which probably had room. Sure enough, our guide was there and she led us to a hotel with a free room.

Leaving the Cinque Terre was very difficult, but we had friends to meet in Barcelona. So it was back to Spain for us, and time to start thinking ahead to the next leg of our trip: Scotland.

Rome

smartin1978 — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:08:00 GMT

Any trip to Italy just isn’t complete without going to Rome. Rome, however, is just another large city with some really cool sights. Our plan was to only be in Rome long enough to see those sights, head over to Greece, and then come back to Italy to spend most of our time in the smaller towns. But the ancient city of Rome was before us, and there are some must-sees.

One of the first things to notice when going to Italy is all the pizza shops! We soon learned that paying more than 1 Euro for a slice is a rip-off, and for 1 Euro more you can buy a half-liter of beer. Our kind of place.

On our first day in Rome we went to all the ancient sights. They weren’t hard to find because the Romans didn’t build anything on a small scale. The Coliseum is really an amazing sight when you consider that it could allow people to move through it as efficiently as any modern football stadium. (We also learned that the Coliseum is named as it is for the colossal statue of Emperor Nero that used to stand in front.) Up the street from the Coliseum is the Circus Maximus which used to be the place for chariot races, but now it’s just a large oval park where we ate a picnic lunch. The next place to see is the old Roman Forum. This was the large market area which was considered the “downtown” of Ancient Rome. There are ruins of temples, shops, baths, homes, and anything else central to daily life in Ancient Rome.

On our way over to see the Pantheon, we came across the ruins of 4 ancient temples. The area was sunken into the ground a bit and closed off from the public, but we still stopped to take a look. After a minute or two we noticed all the cats that had made this area home. We were able to count over 20 in one glance. As we walked a little farther we noticed a sign stating that the area was residence to lost and/or abandoned cats from all over the city. An organization kept track of the cats, spayed and neutered them, and helped some of them find homes. What used to be places for worship was now home to dozens of cats!

One of the most impressive sights of Ancient Rome is the Pantheon. Built long before Christ was born, it is the oldest temple in Rome and was even consecrated as a Christian church once Christianity became the religion of the empire. It has a massive domed ceiling that stumped architects for centuries because no one knew how such a large dome could be constructed out of stone. Inside the Pantheon is a very strange mix of ancient pagan and modern Christian decorations. And most important to note, the best gelato in Rome is just 2 blocks away!

Our second day in Rome was meant to be spent at the Vatican. When we arrived, however, the line to get through security was half-way around St. Peter’s Square. (This is one of the largest squares in Europe, by the way.) Being mildly hung-over from partying it up the night before with people at our hostel, standing in line for a couple of hours was not something we were too inclined to do. So we skipped the Vatican for this day, planning to come by the next morning at 8 a.m. when it opens, and spent the afternoon visiting the other squares and fountains scattered throughout the city.

Getting to the Vatican by 8 was necessary because we had to make it back to the train station by 1 p.m. in order to catch the train needed to make it to the ferry to Greece on time. If we missed that train, we would have to wait another day in Rome. Unfortunately we overslept and didn’t make it to the Vatican until 9:30. What was worse, the line to get in was even longer than the afternoon before! But this was our last day here and we had no other choice but to wait. During our wait in line, though, we joined a free tour group and skipped ahead of people waiting for individual admission and got in with a free tour of St. Peter’s Basilica.

No words can describe the sensation of entering this cathedral. During Easter Mass it holds over 60,000 people. It is adorned from top to bottom with the greatest works of art ever produced. The height of the High Alter is 26 meters (80 feet) and it would fit entirely within the dome above it. There are markings on the floor showing where next largest cathedrals in the world would come to if they were placed inside. And the most amazing feature is that it doesn’t feel massive.

When the construction of St. Peter’s began in the 15^th century, it was meant to be placed over the general area of the supposed tomb of St. Peter. The actual location of the tomb was unknown at this point. During the 1970’s the Vatican was doing some excavations beneath the cathedral and discovered a tomb. A wall unearthed near the tomb proclaimed the tomb to be that of St. Peter himself, and the body found in the tomb did not have any feet. (When a person was crucified upside down, as St. Peter was, he was cut off the cross by just having his feet lopped off.) What was truly amazing about this find was that the tomb was directly below the High Alter.

St. Peter’s Basilica was one of the most amazing sights on our trip so far. Within the Basilica are the remains of most of the Popes (there was quite a line to see the tomb of John Paul II), the very spot where Charlemagne was made Holy Roman Emperor, Michelangelo’s Pieta, pieces of the spear that pierced Christ’s side as he hung on the cross, pieces of the cross itself, and so much more. We could have spent hours in St. Peter’s, but we had a train to catch and we still had to see the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel is one of the last sights to see in the Vatican Museum. With only 45 minutes before we had to leave, we skipped right through all of the exhibits in the museum and went straight for the Chapel. This is another one of those sights that you have to actually see to believe. The ceiling is painted with scenes from the Book of Genesis. The ceiling is also painted to look as though it is arched. One of the most amazing aspects to the ceiling of the Chapel is that it is actually a flat ceiling painted to look as though it is arched. We stared up at this ceiling until our necks ached, but as I said, there was a train to catch and we had already had enough delays in this trip.

The best laid plans...

smartin1978 — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:00:00 GMT

Sometimes when traveling, things don’t work out the way you plan them to. This last trip had us feeling like the Griswalds on European Vacation and at times we wondered if anything would go right at all. How bad could it be? Well, let’s start this way: it took us 4 days just to get out of Spain…

The trouble began even before we started packing. With Rob working remotely via the internet, the worst possible scenario occurred: the laptop crashed. Fortunately for us it is still under warranty, but it would take a while to get fixed. This gave us the perfect window to go see Greece and Italy. (And the perfect excuse for not having the website updated!)

Our plan was to go leave Friday morning (the 17^th of March, St. Patrick’s Day), spend a few days in Rome, take a ferry to Greece, and then stop in at a few more places in Italy on our back to Spain. Friday morning comes and no sooner did we get in the taxi to the train station when we realized that we forgot our train tickets. By the time Rob jumped out of the cab, ran home, grabbed the tickets, and took another taxi to the train station, the train was just pulling out of the station. To get to Italy from Sevilla, the best way is to go through Barcelona. On this particular day, though, the rest of the trains to Barcelona from Sevilla were sold out. Still determined to leave, we took the next train to Madrid hoping that we could find a train from there.

On our way to Madrid we realized that we had misread the train schedule. The train from Barcelona to Milan, Italy doesn’t leave on Fridays. It doesn’t leave on Saturdays, either. If we were going to take the train to Italy, we would have to wait until Sunday night. After a little research, we found out that there is a ferry from Barcelona to Rome that leaves on Saturdays. If we could get to Barcelona, then there was hope that we could get to Italy by Sunday morning.

But we would not be getting to Barcelona to work that out, at least not yet. All the trains from Madrid were sold out as well. The closest we could get was a city called Zaragosa on a train that left 6 hours later, so we bought the tickets and found ourselves a tiny Irish bar in Madrid where we celebrated St. Paddy’s Day the best way we knew how.

To cap off our night, we arrived in Zaragosa just before midnight, waited 45 minutes for a taxi, and had the driver take us to hostel which we soon found out was booked. Oh, and did I mention that it has started raining by this point? Tired, wet, and sick of carrying very heavy backpacks, we shelled out the extra cash to stay in a hotel hoping that the next day would bring us better luck.

It didn’t. Although we were able to get to Barcelona without a problem, the ferry to Rome was sold out. Our final option for getting to Italy was now to wait one more day and take the train. Fortunately for us we had been in Barcelona before (it’s where we started this whole trip back in December), and knew of a decent and cheap place to stay. Unfortunately for us, we were given two beds that were setup in a hallway leading to the bathroom. After a horrible night of sleep, and there was no way we were going to use the nasty showers, we fled the hostel and hid out at a movie theater showing original language movies until our train left for Milan, Italy.

Welcome to Italy! So after 4 days and 400 Euros, we finally arrived in Milan, 2 hours late. At this point in the trip, so much had already happened we thought that we had exhausted our bad luck. Not quite. There is much more to tell, but you’ll have to read about it in the Greece and Italy sections as this one is running long. But here we will leave you with one final note on the bad luck of our journey. The train station in Milan has hundred of pigeons living in its rafters. As we were within arms reach of our first destination of Rome, adding insult to injury, the pigeons of Milan decided to drop gifts from the sky which landed on both of us. And this trip had only just begun.

Eastern Europe

smartin1978 — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:00:00 GMT

Going to Eastern Europe is an experience neither of us will ever forget. The trip started with an overnight train from Bern, Switzerland to Budapest, Hungary. Having an armed border patrol guard pound on your door at 2 a.m. asking to see your passport was an instant reminder that we were in former communist countries. Once we got off the train, though, it was instantly obvious how different the next few days would be.

In most Western European countries, only the passengers stand on the train platforms waiting to either get on the train or walking off the train. Arriving in Budapest, we were bombarded with people all standing at the train door asking us if we wanted a place to stay, a taxi, or to change money. There were so many people, and we had just woken up from a very bad night’s sleep, that the entire scene seemed surreal. Fortunately we were not in need of any of those services and were able to push our way through the mob towards the exit of the train station. Stepping out into the street was another overwhelming experience in and of itself. The sky was gray, the streets were filled with melting, dirty snow, and the people moved very slowly without much expression on their faces. It was like Chicago in winter, with less color.

One of the first “touristy” things that we did in Budapest was to go to the Terror Museum. This museum is located in the same building that the Arrow Cross Party (the Hungarian Nazi Party) occupied in the early 40’s as their headquarters and, strangely enough, the Hungarian Communist Party occupied as their headquarters from the end of WWII until the early 90’s. Probably one of the most moving museums in the world, the Terror Museum informs you of all the horrible atrocities committed in Hungary by both the Nazi’s and Communists. After leaving the museum and walking through the streets of Budapest, we were able to see some of the scars left by those horrible events. Bullet holes in the bricks and partially refurbished walls are reminders of the 1956 Revolution and the deadly Soviet response. One of the most interesting things that we noticed in this city is that the people of Budapest don’t want to forget all the horrible things that happened. They want people to see and know what it was like in the hopes that such events never happen again. After the fall of Communism, the residents of Budapest decided to keep all of the mammoth statues erected by the communists and placed them all in park. Some of these were 20 foot statues dedicated to Soviet-Hungarian “friendship,” and others were 35 foot statues of Lenin or “the worker”. After a couple of days and the sun coming out, we really began to see Budapest as a very beautiful city struggling to come out of the shadow of its past to look forward to the future.

Another overnight train and 2 border patrols later, we arrived in Krakow, Poland. The biggest reason for us to choose to go to Krakow was to see the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. We soon found out that this city has so much more, though. In fact, it ranks as one of our favorite places in Europe so far. Not being a capitol city, Krakow escaped heavy destruction in WWII. It has the largest medieval town squares in all of Europe, and it was one of the friendliest places we have been to. (I would also like to mention that it was, by far, the cheapest city we have been to!) One of the really cool things we saw in Krakow was the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This mine has been in operation for over 700 years has been one of the reasons of prosperity for Krakow. The mine is entirely made of salt and extends over 150 meters (450 feet) underground (remember that this was all done by hand!) The mine is broken into different chambers and each chamber is named for a saint or king or famous visitor. Miners would often carve images or statues from the salt to indicate who the chamber is dedicated to. About 100 meters below ground is a chapel, carved completely from the salt in the mine. Rather than frescos and icons, though, this chapel has salt carvings of Mary, Jesus, Pope John Paul II, a perfect rendition of The Last Supper, and quite a few other “paintings.” A few of the statues have lights behind them and because they are carved from pure salt, the light makes them glow. After leaving the mine by going up a very scary and rickety miner’s elevator, we proceeded to explore Krakow’s finer establishments and ended our trip with a pub crawl.

The last city in Eastern Europe on this trip was Prague. Another city to escape heavy bombing in WWII, Prague completely lives up to its romantic reputation. The city is beautiful. Standing in the center of the Old Town Square, you can see the entire evolution of architecture in Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque style churches, homes, and government buildings. The clock tower in the square still has a 500 year old Astrological clock that chimes every hour with an elaborate display of Christian and Pagan symbols that move and dance. And then there is the Charles Bridge. This pedestrian bridge is lined with statues, depicting Jesus, different saints, and one statue is of a martyr who was thrown off the bridge to his death (there is a myth that if you pet the engraving of the dog on this statue while making a wish, that wish will come true). On our last day in Prague we took a trip to the small town of Kutna Hora. In this town is a small church filled with the remains of 40,000 people, most of which died from the plague. Since there was no room in the cemetery to bury all these people, a blind monk spent years “stacking” the bones and creating different displays of all these human bones. There are pyramids 15-20 feet high of bones. There is a chandelier hanging in the center of the church that has at least one of each bone from the human body, and there are even chalices and other “decorations” all over this church constructed out of human bone.

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

smartin1978 — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 01:37:00 GMT

Riding on the train to Oswiecim, Poland (the site of the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camps) was an eerie experience. I couldn’t help but think that these were the very same tracks that innocent people rode to their horrible deaths just a little over 60 years ago. Although nervous about what we might discover there, Rob and I felt compelled to visit this place.

Upon arriving in Auschwitz I (we discovered that there were actually 3 camps within a few kilometres of one another—Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenou and a Chemical Factory—which is no longer there) Rob and I hastily joined the last English-speaking tour group of the day and were immediately put on a bus and taken to Auschwitz II- Birkenou. I was struck by how desolate it seemed. In the distance, we could see only a few barracks, but up close, only the foundation of these buildings remained. We found out along our tour that the Nazi´s tried to burn this camp down when they realized they were losing the war in an attempt to cover up the atrocities they had committed. This camp had 4 different gas chambers/crematoriums and over 200 barracks. The sole purpose of this camp was to ¨exterminate¨ people.

Most of the information on the tour of this camp was given inside one of the barracks (pictured). These barracks were modelled after horse stables intended to house 52 horses. Here, however, 400 people were shoved into one barrack. The barracks were lined with 3-tiered bunk beds in which 2 people were forced to share each straw covered bed. The barracks were monitored by German political prisoners, most of whom were particularly cruel and sadistic to the other ¨prisoners¨. We were also told of the latrines, housed in other building similar to those of the barracks, except instead of beds, it was lined with open holes to the ground. The people were only allowed to use the latrines twice a day, which wasn’t enough, especially for the vast amount of people suffering from illnesses. Those who accidentally soiled themselves were beaten.

After leaving this barrack, we were allowed to wander by ourselves for 15 minutes before the bus was to leave to take us back to Auschwitz I. Rob and I soon stumbled upon the railroad tracks (pictured), which we had learned were re-routed directly to the camp. As many as 70-90% of those who arrived in Birkenou were immediately taken to the gas chambers to be killed. These people (mostly women, elderly and children) were told that they were going to be allowed to shower. They were instructed to leave all of their belongings on the train, which were later removed, shipped to another area of the camp and sorted into piles of similar items. In order to keep the people from suspecting anything as they were undressing for the shower, they were told to neatly fold up their clothes, put them by their shoes and remember where they had left them in order to insure a speedy recovery of their items after their shower. Most never suspected that their life was about to end.

When we arrived back at Auschwitz I, I stopped in my tracks when I saw the sign over the entrance to the camp (pictured) which states in German ¨Work Makes You Free¨. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people, upon entering the camp and seeing that sign, were actually given hope that things might not be so bad afterall. This camp held prisoners as well as the offices and homes of many Nazi officers and their families. It was broken up into different ¨blocks¨, each of which had it’s own purpose.

The most horrifying block, referred to as the death block, housed mainly political prisoners and those who had been caught conspiring to escape from the camp. Those unlucky enough to make to this block were experimented upon in cruel ways which eventually ended in their deaths. In the basement of this block, the Nazis experimented on the best way to exterminate people. Some of the prisoners were kept in starvation cells and studied to see how long it would take for them to die without food. Others, after and exhausting day of work, were put into small, square cells (pictured) only big enough for 4 people to stand. They were sentenced to stand there for 12 nights in a row, or until they died of exhaustion or suffocation. The basement of this block was also where the first people were gassed with Zyklon B which caused people to suffocated to death. They experimented on 850 people here before they got the gas just right to be used in later in the gas chambers. Those not experimented on in the death block were immediately sent to the ¨death wall¨ (pictured), instructed to be stripped naked and then shot to death in front of the wall. The windows from the block next to the death wall were covered with black panelling (pictured) so that the pregnant women housed here to be experimented on to figure out how to sterilize the Jewish race would not see those being executed.

Today, many of the buildings in the other blocks contain artifacts from the time of the Holocaust. The most memorable and shocking room was the room of hair. Enclosed in a glass case from floor to ceiling is a display of human hair. After people were gassed to death, other prisoners were instructed to remove the gold (jewellery and teeth) from the bodies, as well as to shave the heads of the corpses. The hair was then made into a textile for commercial use. Some of the other articles on display were those that were taken away from the prisoners upon arrival. One case is filled with luggage marked with the name of the person, their country of origin and deportation date on it. Another case is filled with twisted pairs of eyeglasses. Still others are filled with dishes, baby clothes, shoes and even prosthetic body parts. All of these items begin to give an idea of the sheer number of people murdered there.

Being at Auschwitz was a very powerful experience. Rob and I wished that we had more time alone to absorb what we were seeing instead of being rushed from place to place by a tour guide. It was unbelievable to learn just how horrible Auschwitz really was, especially to discover that Hitler originally planned on killing 11 million Jews. At Auschwitz he managed to kill 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and Political Dissidents, some from as far away as Greece and Norway. When travelling in Prague, we visited one of the few Jewish areas to survive WWII. Hitler, it turns out, was preserving this area as a museum for his ¨Extinct Jewish Race¨ exhibit. I still can’t fathom how one person could have so much hatred for other human beings.

Morocco

smartin1978 — Thu, 9 Feb 2006 22:31:00 GMT

Morocco was a country unlike any we have ever seen before. The people, the culture and the architecture in this Muslim country are far from what we are used to in “Western societies”. Being in Morocco is an overload of the senses from the sounds of the Muslim call to prayer 5 times/day and the shopkeepers shouting their “final offer” as they follow you out of the store after a round of price haggling (there are no fixed prices), the spicy smells of couscous mixing with the pungent odors of freshly tanned leather, the sweet-minty taste of the traditional mint tea, the sight of women walking with their heads covered and men wearing the elfin-like yellow, pointed slippers, the feel of people and burros rushing past you in the tiny winding streets of the city centers all intermingle to create an environment that is worlds away from everyday American or European life.

Our first visitor, our friend Dave from Chicago, joined us in experiencing Morocco. We visited the country with a Spanish tour company who promised to take us away from the tourist traps and show us the “real Morocco”…and that they did! We visited three cities that were all unique in their own way. The first, Chefchaouen, was settled by Jewish and Muslim refugees who fled Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. It’s nestled in the Rif mountains where most of the world’s hash supply is grown (hence the slang term “reefer”). The walls in the center of the town, painted by Jewish settlers, are a brilliant, sky blue color. Blue paint on the ground indicates that the walkway is a dead-end. The second city we toured, Fez, is the cultural heart of Morocco and dates back 1500 years. Inside the walls of the old city, called the Medina, are 9,500 winding paths or alleyways. It is as if time has stood still within the Medina. Cars cannot fit inside the walls, so everything is transported via cart and donkey. The skins of camels, goats and cows are still dyed the old fashioned way in the tannery of the city. Men spend all day standing waist-high in vats of dye (from pomegranate, saffron, cedar and henna) performing back-breaking labor by repeatedly dunking the leather into the dye. Scarves and rugs are still made on old-fashioned looms worked by the hands and feet. Houses, which appear to be shacks on the outside, open up to grand rooms with indoor balconies. The pharmacy, a chemist dependent upon traditional herbal remedies (ever tried saffron for cramps or aragon---derived from a tree in which goats live---for treating arthritis, wrinkles and weight loss?), is far removed from the Walgreens we are used to on every corner. The only hint that the year is actually 2006 instead of 1006 are the occasionl people seen dressed in a more Western style of clothing such as jeans and t-shirts instead of the traditional hooded "Chalabah" robe.

Morocco is a mixture old and new, rich and poor, familiar and foreign. The McDonald's outiside of the Medina is a sad reminder of the increasing globalization of our world. The gold-plated palace of the royal family, standing in stark contrast to the run-down shacks outside of our hotel, attest to the struggles that this developing country faces. The farmers in the fields laying prostrate on blankets, praying in the fields facing East (Mecca) reminded us that we were a world away from home (or at least what we are used to at home).

Sweet Home Sevilla

smartin1978 — Thu, 2 Feb 2006 21:46:00 GMT

We really lucked out with our apartment in Sevilla. Our only stipulation when looking was to find a place with a roommate who speaks Spanish. Brad, our roommate, is actually a New York native who has been living in Sevilla for 13 years. He does speak Spanish fluently and after 2 weeks of taking Spanish classes here, we established a “let’s only speak Spanish rule” with one another (okay, we cheat sometimes). The daily practice is definitely necessary! Another bonus to living with Brad is that he has a dog (Little Bear) that we have “adopted” as our own.

Through Spanish classes, we have finally begun meeting some people. Since our place is a little roomier than most, we have hosted get-togethers at our apt with a Spanish “theme”. Our first was a movie night where we watched a movie in Spanish with Spanish sub-titles. Everyone brought cheese and wine to share. We also had a tapas night where we tried to recreate some of the appetizers we have eaten since living here. We ended up with a yummy spread of food. The only down-side to this is that most of the people we have met through our Spanish class are only in Sevilla for 4 weeks (just long enough to finish the course). However, now that our Spanish is getting stronger, it’s getting easier to communicate with native Spaniards.