The hostel that Travis and I stayed at arranged us a tour to Auschwitz. The price included a van, to and from Auschwitz, entry into the camp, and a private tour guide.  We went on the 3p tour.  I am glad we chose that time, for there was NO ONE in the camp.  I think the fact that there wasn't anyone there made it all the more creepy.

Everything in the camp was original, except for this sign. "Work sets you free".  Less than a year ago, three guys stole it! I don't know how they did it, or why, but they did.  They cut the sign in three parts, one word for each of them.  How horrible of them to do that.

Like I said, no one was there. It was sorta hard to get around the fact that we were walking on the same ground that people involved in the Holocaust did.  It's hard to explain how I felt.  I didn't feel sad, I didn't feel angry.  I guess I sorta felt like I wasn't really there.  It all felt unreal to me.  It was hard to imagine the things that took place in such a beautiful atmosphere.  The trees were so green, the air was crisp and fresh...

I guess I didn't really start believing that I was standing in Auschwitz till I saw the exhibit of the collection of shoes and hair cut from the prisoners.  That was sorta weird. 

Gas Chamber.

It was weird, standing in front of it.

Just behind it, about 500 yards away, were these beautiful buildings where the Nazi's and their families lived. It was so crazy. We went inside the gas chamber. Saw the opening on the roof from where they dropped the gas... saw the furnaces...

This was all in Auschwitz I.  If you don't know, there are three parts to Auschwitz.  After visiting the first place, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau II.

Don't really have much more to write.

I have my final exam on the Holocaust tomorrow.

If you ever decide to take a trip to Krakow, Poland, you HAVE to stay at the Mosquito Hostel.

It was soooo nice! Usually hostels are sorta tacky and dirty, but not this one. The people who worked there were sooooo nice, and it was clean, and they offered different activities each night, free tea, free Internet, had a huge tv. It was just really cosy and cute. The colour scheme was blue, orange, gray and white, but they made it work.

This is one of the walls in our room. They had that cute little mosquito painted everywhere.

MMmmmm.....! Breakfast!! It was actually really good

The first day we got there, we ate at a traditional Polish place. It was crazy weird. The decor was, interesting, and EVERYTHING was in Polish. We even had to order in Polski because the lady taking the orders didn't speak English. I swear. No one spoke English. It was rather ridiculous

Rumproast, onions, and mash. It was REALLY good. But, unfortunately for me, this was not my meal. I WAS going to get it, but Travis wanted it as well. I thought that we should get different meals, since we were in a different county. So I maned up and picked something else....

I got some sort of ravioli thing. But. It was WEIRD. It was filled with this white stuff and raisins. It was sweet. The cream stuff on top, I think it was watery/melted sour cream? Sour cream, and sweet doesn't mix in my book. I ate about three of them before I had to give up. Sorta felt like I was going to puke.

We decided that we wanted to try some 'Polish Alkohole'. This is a random beer that we picked off the shelf.

This is St. Mary's Cathedral. The inside was SO pretty. It was unlike any church I've ever seen. Beautiful paintings were everywhere, amongst the intricate carvings, the various chapels (small alters to pray at) around the church.  If you look at the picture below, we climbed around 239steps to the tower that is on the left.

Here are a couple views from the top of St. Mary's Tower:

St. Mary's Tower is also known as the Watch Tower, Wake, Alarm, or Bugle Tower. I would have to agree with the name 'Bugle Tower'. For over 600 years, every hour, on the hour, a bugle has been played from the windows.  This guy played this short excerpt 4 times from 4 different windows. It was a rather stupid song, but it was still pretty cool...

This is the Barbican. It was the forward defence tower for Krakow way back in the day. We got to go inside and explore it, as well as some of the old walls of Krakow.

Behind us is where the draw bridge used to be. There used to be a huge moat around it.

Here is part of the castle. It was too hard to get the whole thing in a picture because it was just so big. We didn't go inside, because there was a HUGE line and it was sorta expensive, but walking around it was enough.

Once upon a time, in the old city of Krakow, when the land was owned by a King and a Queen, there lived a dragon.  This dragon made his home at the bottom of the castle. The people of the town feared his fire breath and scaly skin. Knights from around the land came to earn their honor by killing the Dragon. None had any luck. They were each burned to a crisp and eaten by the mighty dragon.  One day, a young boy, a shoe maker, came to the King and told him that he himself could rid of the Dragon. The King just laughed and told him to leave. Again, the boy begged the King to let him try. He told the King of his plan. Intrigued, the King decided to give him a chance.  That night, the boy worked by candle light in his shoe shop, sewing sulphur and mustard seed inside a fake lamb that he made. The next day, he went to the dragons lair, placed the lamb in front of his cave, and waited behind the trees. The dragon, greedy and hungry, saw the lamb and ate it in one gulp. The sulphur and mustard seed, reacting with the dragons stomach, burned his insides. He went to the near by river and began to drink the water. He drank and drank and drank and could not stop the burning.  Finally, it exploded inside him and he was no more.

The End

No, but seriously. That is the legend of the Dragon of Krakow. I was rather upset... the dragon's cave was closed because of flooding from the river. :(

There WAS a cool statue of him though!

Just some random piano we found chilling in the MIDDLE of the street... not too sure why...

The whole point of going to Poland was not to see the Dragon, and was not to eat gross Polish food. It was to go to Auschwitz. My post of that experience will come next... I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures there, but Travis took a few. I will post some so you too can see what it was like to walk the streets of those involved in the Holocaust

London. I Love it there. My favourite thing there is the London Eye. Absolutley love it.

As Travis and I were walking around London, we came across a bunch of Elephants! Check out this link to learn more... Here are a few pics. of my favourites...

Took us about an hour to walk to the tower from the eye. Either it was REALLY far or we're just REALLY lazy... But finally we got there. Woo!

Mom, Dad.... Here's what you can expect for a traditional English breakfast.... everything was pretty good....... minus the mushrooms....

Madame Tussauds; Can you guess who these famous people are? (Minus Travis and I, of course...)

Everyday was beautiful and sunny.... There were even a few times where it was HOT out. And humid. It was horrible. Two kids born and raised in Tucson, Arizona are def not used to the 'humid' part of life... Horrible....

But on the bright side (haha. get it? cause it was sunny? ....ya... ) we were able to walk around some REEEEEEEALLLY beautiful gardens/parks.

Inside the London Eye:

Peace out....

Now that it's a bit warmer out, Mikayla and I have been going on more walks around campus. Everyday we find a new spot by the lake or a new trail in the forest that we've yet to discover. It's very exciting. Yesterday we took a nap in a tree (yes...) and danced the waltz and foxtrot out in the middle of no where... we might have even thought we were 8 again, and played 'Robbin Hood' in the forest... you know, the norm for two 21 year olds....

I took this picture at some old cementary/church we found....

 

This has to be one of my favourites... Lisa happened to be with us this day, and this guy with the most muscles I've ever seen ran by....

Lisa decided that she wanted him for herself...

...too bad he ran too fast...

Here are some pics from yesterday's Tea Dance!!!

:)

Today I refined my Waltz, Two Step, Fox Trot, Charleston, and regular ol' Swing dancing technique.

Mikayla and I went to this 'Tea Dance'. When we first got there, we both secretly thought, 'oh. great. what did we get ourselves into? this is NOT going to be fun'. It was full of 80 year ol' grannies, and not very many men to dance with. Turns out, it was a BLAST!!

We got tea, cakes, and cucumber sandwiches.
There were mini lessons, and also a few demonstrations.

Champagne Charlie, Dorthy Shoes, Miss Anna, and Tom were SOOO cool. Charlie and Tom were these VERRRYYYY good looking men, who were PAID to dance all day! Let me tell ya... GOOD LOOKING... And of course, the fact that they can dance makes them even more handsome! What a great gig that would be - to dance and get paid for it!! First they were wearing a tux... the ones with the tails. And eventually changed into navy blue pinstripe suits, with red ties. Charlie had red suspenders. It was sooo cool. LOVED dancing with them...!!

It was set in this portable building sort of thing. Round, sorta like a circus tent. There were real wood floors, stain glass windows, and booths to sit at.

This dancing thing was a part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival...
Mikayla and I got out pictures taken for the EDP Newspaper... and I got pictures taken dancing Fox Trot with Tom... we also got to talk on the BBC Norwich Radio...!!
I got a card with the website to the newspaper so hopefully I have some awesome pictures on there!!


SOOOO MUCH FUN!! <3

If you don't dance... you def should. You don't know what you're missing.

LOOK WHAT WILBUR SENT ME...!!!!!!!

To Kas: Here's a Big Hug from your favorite Wildcat across the Pond

Love, Wilbur the Wildcat

...Now, I just have to figure out how to get it home without crushing it...!

With all the school work and traveling I've been doing... I've been a Bizzzzzzzzy Bee...

What happens when three COMPLETLEY SOBER girls buy bee outfits for an LCR night that they decide not to attend?

Continue scrolling down and you will find out...

 

....Not too sure what the umbrellas or the glasses or the books were about... but it gave us a good 45mins. of pure, clean entertainment. :)