Our first day we did an Auschwitz Birkenau tour. It was such an interesting day, but you never really know how to reply when someone asks "how was Auschwitz?"
There were tons of these photos telling the persons nationality, how old they were , profession and when they arrived and died in Auschwitz.
Everyone was told to bring a suitcase with their name and age, but all their stuff was taken on their arrival to the camps.
Everything was taken from the people brought to the camps from shoes to women's hair, anything they could make money off of.
"bathroom"
A destroyed gas chamber
Our tour guide told us at the end why he works at Auschwitz is because his great grandfather was a survivor. He also told us about a tour his friend gave there and one of the men in the tour recognized his dad in one of the pictures in the museum. They searched the archives and found it was his father who was a nazi guard in charge of sorting the people as they entered the camp choosing who went to the camp and who went straight to the gas chamber.
On a lighter note...
John's friend he met in China lives in Poland and met up with us in Krakow. We all went out to dinner and a karaoke bar.
From Poland we took a train to Vienna, Austria. Catie is all about the hop on hop off tours so we signed up for one...best decision we ever made.
John enjoying the tour
climbing to the top of the cathedral tower
View from the top
Highlight of Vienna and the bus tour: The Schonbrunn Palace
Sushi for lunch
Catie was dying to see Harry Potter so we found an english cinema. This is after she sobbed in the middle of the theatre because her childhood is over.
Late dinner at Centimeter, the best and cheapest place to eat. We made the mistake the first night of getting 3 things for 3 people. Still, we didn't finish the schnitzel and mishmash but it was good.
Catie with the shovel full of mishmash
Leaving Vienna we caught a quick 3 hour train to Budapest where we were totally immersing ourselves by couchsurfing. For those of you who have never heard of it, its a website where you can find people to stay with and literally sleep on their couch for free. It actually turned out GREAT and we got so lucky with the nicest couple. They showed us this neighborhood restaurant the first night we got there where we ordered this meal that said it fed 2.5 people...we had a ton leftover. Just like Austria, Poland and Germany, Hungary is big on fried meat and potatoes as well.
The bakery Evelin told us to go to. Best bakery I've been to in Europe. We stopped here in the mornings before sightseeing and the pastries were just out of the oven, still warm.
Heroes Square
Parliament
Castle on the Buda side
View of Pest from the Buda side
Of course, we took the hop on hop off tour
Our room for 3 nights!
Traditional Hungarian meal: veal paprikash with potato dumplings
Night cruise
Chain bridge at night
The Szechenyi Baths and Pools- There were three huge outdoor pools and inside were tons of little baths all with varying temperatures, saunas, thermal baths, everything.
Last night in Budapest
Budapest was a pretty big city with so much to do, we were busy the whole time. I think everyone was surprised how great Budapest really was. Couchsurfing was so different too. We spent the last night drinking wine with the hosts and talking about Hungary, everything from the history to crazy pig slaughtering traditions! We also got to try homemade Hungarian alcohol her grandpa made...it was so strong...Hungarians definitely know how to drink!
I wanted to put Amsterdam on here but I'm falling asleep so I'll have to add that tomorrow with Ireland!
To Be Continued...
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