Eastern Europe

During our fall semester we had a 10-day fall break during which my friends and I decided to explore the Eastern parts of Europe. We flew to Krakow, Poland where we toured the Wawel Castle and from there we bussed and trained everywhere else: We went to Auschwitz and Birkenau for a day to learn more about the concentration and death camps and were almost stranded there. Luckily, we kept our cool and managed to get the last bus in the bitter cold night from Auschwitz back to Krakow from where we took an overnight train to Prague.

After a great breakfast at 6:30 a.m., we finally were able to settle into a place with real beds (a lot more comfortable than the seats in the train I must admit) and got to explore Prague with fantastic views from the Powder Tower and the Prague Castle. We then took a bus to Vienna where we completely immersed into the time of Princess Sissy and Emperor Franz Joseph I: we toured Schloss Schoönbrunn and the Belvedere Castle and more - all by bike!

Then we took a bus to Budapest, where we were lectured about the significance of Buda and Pest (who knew those two were originally two different cities) and were able to peak inside the incredible Hungarian Parliament Building. At the end we got to relax in two of the incredible Turkish Baths, which energized us enough to make our way back to Rome after an incredible 10 days of crazy and mostly weak currencies (the Euro excluded). 

Wawel Castle                             Prague Castle Cathedral            View from the Powder Tower

The John Lennon Wall                Belvedere Castle                       Schlosß Schönbrunn

Vienna City Hall                        Hungarian Parliament                Hungarian Parliament at Night