The best photos from Europe

I haven't posted photos from Europe since Spain I think.

These ones here I've specially set aside because they totally rock. i.e. they're funny...

Here's me and Sancho Panza hangin' in Alcalá de Henares

The cathedral in Salamanca. When they restored the portico, they included a special touch that identified when the repairs were done.

This tree outside the church of St. Cecilia in Rome was the saddest sight of Christmas. Apparently, someone gave up on decorating the tree halfway up! :(

A statue in the Vatican Museum with a phantom hand.

People in Luxembourg either don't speak English very well, or have some very disgusting habits.

If you can read the graffiti on the right, it says "Read the Bible" in French. Spotted in the church of St. Michael in Luxembourg City.

This is a fine example of art found at the Louvre. Yeah, its a guy ripping the entrails out of a hanging animal corpse. Yum!

This gem seen in Lisieux. I bet you can tell what those businesses are. I would sure trust them to take me to the hospital!

This. Is. The. Worst. Thing. Ever.

Manga, as you may know, are Japanese comic books. This is a manga about the Life of Anime-Jesus. Yeah. The title says "The Messiah" and the words above the title read, "Did He come to destroy the world or to save it?"

Yay, Italian McDonalds!

Picasa Awesomeness

As promised, I have posted photos from my entire two-month trip. I took over 1,000 photos, so I didn't post nearly all of them, but I've put up a few from each place that I thought were moderately representative. They are on my Picasa Web Album , which can be accessed all the time from the link on the side of the blog page. Each city is it's own album, listed with the name "GET", which, because I know you'll ask, stands for "Great European Tour". Let me know if you want to see more photos from a specific location, as I've got a bunch. So, just enjoy vicariously traveling Europe! :)

Chez moi, autre fois

Sorta.

I got to Paris Wednesday afternoon. I'm in a hostel for four nights, until the program starts on Sunday. It's a little bit strange to be here, mostly because of what I'm doing, or, more specifically, what I'm not doing. I'm not being a tourist. Well, not very much. I went on the free tour yesterday, in an effort to acquaint myself with the city a little. Tonight the Louvre is free for students under 26. Tomorrow, I may go to Lisieux for a day trip. But I'm not going to pay to go to museums that are covered by my program. So I'm chilling. I'll see if I can get some photos up on Picassa Web Albums later today. I'll post here when I do.

Love ya!
-Ganchi

15 cm

I've decided that no matter the benefits of the metric system, it's not worth the loss of cultural identity. Pints of beer and foot-long subs, not to mention football, are at stake.

Because I can.

I am writing this post.

I don't have a lot of time to actually write anything. I just wanted to let you know that I still exist. I'm in Luxembourg, in yet another hostel that wants me to pay for wifi, exept this time, it's 2,50 euro for half an hour. Yeah. I'm in an internet café.

I will blog about my trip when I get the chance.
Until then, I'll be practicing my French before the oral exam on Feb 16.
Au revoir!

More Gamingness

This is my confession to you. I am only blogging right now because I need something to do while I wait for my 30.9 MB file to download. Darn crummy internet in Gaming!
However, since I last wrote, I have done some interesting things.
On Saturday, we went for a little walk around the town of Gaming. The Kartause, which houses the Franciscan campus, is just on the edge of town, but it's not a very long walk to get around. It's one of those towns that you miss if you blink. We admired the buildings and the creek and the snow. It's really quite picturesque, especially this time of year, with heaps of fresh white snow covering everything.
On Sunday, we went on a hike up to a frozen waterfall a good ways up a nearby mountain. It couldn't have been more than two miles up to the fall, which was quite a sight. It wasn't completely frozen, so there was a little water trickling down part of it, which fed the creek in town. But the parts of the fall that were frozen looked reminiscent of that scene from the Narnia movie. It's a tower of icicles. Really quite impressive.
The problem was that I've been suffering from quite the cold this week. (Though it's really the best week of my trip to be under the weather, while I'm not traveling non-stop.) And I had slept in really late that morning, so I wasn't hungry for breakfast, and then I had to rush out the door when I found out about the hike. We didn't realize how far of a climb it was, all up-hill, and in deep, soft snow. So by the time I got most of the way to the top, I was out of breath, and by the time we were climbing down again, I was lightheaded. By the time we got back to the Kartause (with Tessa and Erica being so helpful and patient) my hands were absolutely dumb all over. It was agonizing as they defrosted, and then they had to force feed me protein and carbs to regain all the calories I hadn't needed to burn. But I still thought the waterfall was great! I've just learned an important lesson about food and hiking.
It's Tuesday night as I write this. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving Gaming to begin the last leg of my journey. Salzburg, Munich, Cologne, Trier, Luxembourg, Brussels, and finally, Paris.
I've got a lot of business done on this week-long break from traveling. The last faxes have been sent and I'm just about ready (officially) for my semester in Paris. It's coming up faster that I had realized.
Well, I'll hopefully be posting soon about Salzburg and Germany.
   Until then,
      God bless,
         Un beso,
-Ganchi

Hello from charming Gaming, Austria!

I am visiting the Franciscan campus in Gaming. (somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Southwestern Austria) Though, technically, I'm visiting my friends here. I haven't seen these people in about 9 months now, and it's been a long time!
So, I'm staying in Tessa, Mary, and Erica's room for the week I'm here. (I arrived Wednesday afternoon and will leave Wednesday morning.) It's so great to see them! It's just like old times, uh, last year, when we'd goof around in Clare.
The campus is cute. It's this old monastary thing from way back or whatever. What I like is that, though there's about two feet of fresh snow on the ground, it's not that cold, so you can go outside in a hoodie if you're only walking to the chapel or the Mensa. (That's what they call their cafeteria. You have to pass an IQ test to get in.)
It's basically just awesome to be around "franciscanism" again. I've missed school a decent amount this past semester, and it's starting to come back again. A little bit.
And the girls may come out to visit me in Paris some time this semester. That would be totally cool.
Yep. That's about it. I'm not doing much this week, which is not such a bad thing. We went and walked around the town today. It's really tiny and pretty cute. But there's not much to see besides the friends who were the reason I came here in the first place. I'm getting a lot of my cross stitch project done. I might finish it soon if I keep up this pace.
-Ganchi

Prague and Vienna

I'd write about Krakow, but I didn't do very much there besides Auschwitz that I'd want to tell you about. But not much that I wouldn't want to tell you about either.

I was in Prague Saturday and Sunday (24-25 Jan). I'd heard from several people before I got there that it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Hearing all these superlatives, I was skeptical. But when I got there, I learned that it was all true. I spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying. Knowing me, it should come as no surprise that the highlight of my weekend was going to Mass in Spanish at the Infant of Prague church. Also up there was listening to a jazz band made up of retired guys while cilling in the town square and sipping mulled wine. Good times.

I went to Vienna after that, but didn't enjoy it as much as I should have because my mind was stuck ahead of me in Gaming with my friends. But I did see St. Steven's Cathedral and the Hofburg palace. It was neat, but nothing any more extraordinary than the rest of what I've seen in the past month. This might be a problem of traveling all of Europe at once.

And I'll tell you about Gaming in a separate and later post.
Cheers!
-Ganchi

Auchwitz

WARNING: This post deals with details of the Holocaust. Parents, please read it before/with your children under about 13. It's not nearly as traumatic as the actual visit, but sensitive kids could be disturbed.

Hey all,
I wrote a pretty good Auschwitz post the evening after I went there, but there were technical issues with blogger (which I knew about ahead of time, which makes it my own fault) that prevented me from posting it then. So, I've been putting it off in the realization that it needs a reasonable amount of time and effort to do it right... but no more. Here is a rewritten account of my recent visit to Auschwitz, which is much better than the first post anyway.

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The town of Oswiecim, whose name was botched in German and given to the camp, is about a 1-1/2 hour train ride from Krakow. Then there was the issue of finding an ATM, then someone willing to break a 100-zloty bill, before I could get on the bus to the camp, so by the time I got into Auschwitz I, it was technically closed (to enter, but they let me in), so I had to come back the next day to see Auschwitz II.

The weather on the days I went to visit Auschwitz couldn't have been more perfect. By that, I mean that the first day was sludgy and raining and the second was snowing with crazy fog. The prisoners were forced to stand at attention for hours in rags and no shoes. Needless to say, I got some perspective just there.

There are two camps open to the public for visits. I think there were other extensions too, but they aren't open, I guess.

The first camp is smaller and more compact. All of the buildings are restored and in good condition (I'm still not sure if they were ever destroyed at all) and house museum exhibits about different aspects of the war and the Holocaust. Some were particularly poignant.

I had heard before coming about the shoes. Some of you may have too. But not even pictures can really prepare you for the emotional impact of that display. Thousands of shoes, piled high behind the glass on both sides of an interminably long hallway, sit in forlorn gray heaps declaring their mournful story. Every shoe had a foot. There was a separate window with a pile of hundreds of children's shoes that broke my heart. There were other displays in that block too. Combs, shoe polish, suitcases (each with family names). Looking around, I was filled with sadness and disgust, and I realized just how meticulously kleptomaniacal the Nazis were. You've seen it in the movies; they took everything. And I had to ask... why? Apparently, a lot of the clothes and things were shipped to Germany and worn by civilians. But even that doesn't explain anything very well. Which is one of the main things I learned in my visit to Auschwitz: When looking at the Holocaust, there is no answer. What they did can not be explained or understood within any sort of human frame of reference. I've concluded that the entire SS must have been either thoroughly depraved, or brainwashed, or possibly both.

Another moving display was a between two blocks. There was a courtyard where they would shoot prisoners. There now is a sort of simple memorial, with flowers. It was so sad and so beautiful.

In a similar note, the hallways of several of the blocks were lined with photos of prisoners. (The Nazis were also meticulous about their records) Some of these had flowers tucked behind the frames, reminding those who pass through of the human connections that still exist to these victims.

In the next block over were some of the most horrific prison conditions in history. There was a room with four tiny cells, each only about a square yard. Each would hold four prisoners at a time, and the door was only a couple feet high.

In another part of the basement was the room where St. Maximilian Kolbe died. These rooms were tiny, cold, dark. If there hadn't been the flood lights, it would have been pitch black. And the men in there with him didn't die of starvation, they suffocated. There was no vent, and they were stuffed in.

A plaque and candle commemorated the martyr.

But enough of the first camp. The next day, I went on to the second camp, which they say is about 2 km away. But in miles, that's really not that much, and I was in hiking boots already.

As I mentioned, Auschwitz II is much bigger. It was built by camp I inmates when the original 

camp wasn't big enough. In some ways, it's a lot like visiting the first camp. They've both got the same solemn atmosphere. But they've got a different focus. Camp I is more academic, historic. Camp II is more emotional.

For one thing, Auschwitz II doesn't have a lot of buildings. There are a few barracks that have been preserved, and which you can go into. The living conditions were horrendous.

There's also the building where all of the incoming prisoners were robbed of their possessions, showered, and dressed in the iconic striped uniform. It's big and, like most of the rest of the camp during my visit, full of huge groups of Italian students. So I didn't go very far through before giving up on coming out again before sunset. So, I can't tell you much more about it. They also had some confiscated possessions on display, but nothing as emotionally jarring as the above-mentioned display at Auschwitz I.

This camp is where the massive operation of gassing and cremating was in full swing. However, as the war was coming to a close, they hastily evacuated the camp, killed many of the prisoners, led the rest on a grueling "death march" that left few survivors, and burned the crematoriums to the ground in a futile attempt to hide their crimes. Today, all that is left in some places are the ruins of these death factories, in others, only the foundations. But the sites are still powerfully emotional.

As I came to the end of the trek around the camp, I made my way clear across half the camp to the entrance. I circled half of the area that once held so many prisoners in rows of prison blocks, and down the last row back to the middle. This whole part must have taken me twenty minutes, and as there was little left to read along the way and I was getting cold with the encroaching sunset, I was walking fairly quickly. This will give you an idea of just how huge the camp was. And at their peak, the barracks were stuffed with bodies. The Polish fog was so thick that I couldn't see much farther than 100 feet in front of me, so I was soon completely alone in the cold dreary camp path, stumbling over the rocky ground and trying to avoid the slushy puddles underfoot. There's no better way to really experience solidarity with the poor souls who once lived there, and countless more who never even made it to the barracks.

The experience of visiting Auschwitz was one that I will not soon forget. I know that most of my readers may never get the chance to make a trip to Krakow to see it for themselves, so I hope that this account of my experience has given you a little bit of an idea of what it's like.

God bless you.

Guinness

I went on the Guinness Brewery tour today and learned a few things...

Roasted barley tastes like coffee beans. Sorta.

I had no idea that the world record book was the same Guinness. Apparently, it was started on the premise that these kinds of questions come up often in pubs (what's the fastest game bird, for example) and the book could help bar keepers to prevent brawls.

And I learned that I can't handle one pint of beer on an empty stomach very well. At least not without friends around. Tipsy by yourself isn't that much fun.

So, yeah. Off to Krakow tomorrow, to a land where three złoty equal one dollar and hostels cost 15 of 'em a night. Oh yeah!
You're still doing the math, I know you are. Hee.

TTYL.

Belated photo goodness

I promised you this photo a while ago. It was in the Piazza del Duomo in Milan. And I was prepping to fly to London the next day. Nothing like this to put you in the mood.

Family can be complicated, but it's still awesome

I'm in Dublin again. I just got back this evening from Co. Mayo, where I spent the last three days quite tangibly tracing my family roots.
I stayed with my 3rd and 4th cousins (I think) in Castlebar. It was really cool just to be able to meet such distant relatives, and it was also really neat that they happened to be really cool people and housed me for three nights and drove me around. Yep, family is awesome. So, shout out to Claire and Michelle and the rest, who are probably reading this.
We drove out to Beltra (not the one in Co. Sligo) where the family (I won't bore you with the specifics) still owns my mother's mother's mother's land. There's not much there if you didn't grow up hearing about that 38-acre plot as a sort of legend. But I did, and it was pretty sweet to see it, even from the road.
And the girls also brought me to see their family's old land, where Mom's Nana's siblings/cousins/nephews/whatever were born. See? I told you it was complicated.
Went to the museum of country life nearby, which was interesting and taught me a lot about the history and culture of the country around the time Bridgit/Beatrice Doherty lived there. (Even that's not simple!)
Then we hopped over to Knock, where Mary appeared. Yes, that is quite cool, even though (through my own fault) we didn't get there till after dark.
Overall, it was a successful few days. The Irish countryside is really beautiful, even in this rainy, windy January weather. And, yep. I'm going to the Guinness brewery tomorrow. Post again soonishy!
Ciao,
-Ganchi

Mostly About London

I don't really have the inclination to write any kind of well-organized post. So here are a few disjointed thoughts about all of the traveling I've been doing and not blogging about.

"Mind the gap"

"To Let"

"Give Way"

"meant to"

driving on the left side of the road

Ireland has UK power outlets!

I've started thinking with random accents.

The Downers had never heard of high-fives.

Walkers Salt & Vinegar potato crisps come in a green packet.

"loo"

Did you know that pub is short for public house?

"TYRES" (what da?)

Most of what I knew about London before showing up came from H2G2. *Sigh*

Blackcurrant Skittles.

I know, those were just disjointed phrases. Whatever.

I am in Dublin, now. It's quite cool just to realize, excuse me, realise it. I'm sort of lying low tonight and enjoying the return of steady internet. No! Don't yell at me! By the end of tonight, I should have my whole week in Ireland pretty well planned out and a better grip on the world as a whole. This includes a lot of new podcast episodes. Plus, be glad that I'm taking some time out to blog for you! Speaking of... Shout out to Michaela, Grandma, and the Cunninghams for their recent comments. There was a three week gap there. I feel unloved, and unloved bloggers don't blog. *nods sagely*

England

No other way to title this post.

My flight out of Milan was delayed quite a bit due to snow, but I got in OK. I'm staying with my uncle's friend for the day, and will go home with his other friends this evening. So far, it's really cool. I ate a mince pie this afternoon, which was quite good. And everything is so British. I'm geeking out left and right, especially over the road signs, but speaking of left and right and roads, I get a little heart attack every time we turn a corner. Anyway, I'll be posting more this week, hopefully from my own computer, so I can post the funny Abbey Rd. Christmas lights I saw in Milan.
Alright, Ciao!
-Rebekah

As promised... some of my photos from Rome. (btw, I think Picasa is about to gain a new testimonial story)

Beth and I stradled the Italian/Vatican border outside S. John Lateran.

On the bridge over the Tiber by Castel Santangelo. He's got the sponge.

Il foro (Oh yeah - I speak Italian now) (not)

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva - cool lighting over the altar.

Many more photos can be seen at my Picasa web album. And I'll post more soon too.

La navidad, más de Roma, Asís, &c.

Primero, lo que había olvidado el otro día fue mi regalo de navidad. Mis padres me lo dieron temprano para que yo pudiera usarlo. ¡Es una camera! Mi antigua tenía 3 años, y el zoom no funccionaba. Entonces, tengo unas fotos bastante buenas de Roma que poner aquí. PERO, voy a esperar un nuevo post. Vale. También... Si no lo habiais notado ya, este post es en español y inglés. PORQUE PUEDO. Por favor, si estudias la lengua, por lo menos intenta leerlo en español. Espero que no sea muy difícil, pero si es, la falta puede estar corregida por un semestre en España... :) Pues, la navidad fue ayer, aunque me sentía como cualquier día casi normal. Esto es lo que hemos sacrificado para pasar tiempo juntos en ROMA, entonces, está bien. Hablando de Roma,  (Cosa chistosa... hay una estación de metro aquí que se llama "Re di Roma" - me hace reír.) Italiano es una lengua un poco rara, que sólo me hace echar de menos español más. Pero estoy aprendiendo unas pocas palabras. "Aceto" significa "vinagre", que me confunde bastante. Ahora las noticias. Hoy fuimos a Asís. Hacía tanto  F R I O. Pero todavía lo pasamos bien. Vimos las basílicas de S. Francisco y Sta. Clara, la "Porziuncola", ¡y (por fin) San Damiano! Hay una historia sobre eso del viaje de 2005. Y... creo que es todo. Espero que os ha gustado este formato. Es increíblemente probable que no voy a hacerlo muy habitualmente. Pero he dado la dirección del blog a Concha. Y, pues, Ya echo a menos la lengua, que sentimiento sólo puede aumentar tanto en itensidad y como en importancia en los siguientes meses. Entonces... sí. ¡O! Y todos sabéis de cualquier forma que voy a viajar por Europa pronto. Ayer, reservé mis hoteles en Italia. A partir del primer de enero, voy a Siena, Padua, Turín, y Milano. No os preocupéis. ¡Voy a escribirlo todo en el blog! Hasta entonces, (o más pronto)

First, what I had forgotten the other day was my Christmas present. My parents gave it to me early so I could use it. It's a camera! My old one was 3 years old, and the zoom didn't work. So, I have some pretty good photos of Rome to put here. BUT, I'm going to wait for a new post. OK. Also... If you hadn't noticed yet, this post is in Spanish and English. BECAUSE I CAN. Please, if you study the language, at least try to read it in Spanish. I hope that it's not too difficult, but if it is, the lack can be rectified by a semester in Spain... :) So, Christmas was yesterday, even though it felt almost like any normal day to me. This is what we've given up to spend time together in ROME, so, it's all right. Speaking of Rome, [You'd only get this if you spoke Spanish, so if you don't, tough beans.] Italian is a pretty weird language, which only makes me miss Spanish more. But I'm picking up a few words. [Again, sorry!] Now the news. Today we went to Assisi. It was so C O L D. But we still enjoyed ourselves. We saw the basilicas of St. Francis and St. Clare, the "Porziuncola", and (finally) San Damiano! There's a story behind that from 2005's trip. And... I think that's it. I hope that you've liked this format. Though it's incredibly likely that I won't do it that often. But I gave Concha the blog address. And, well, I already miss the language, which feeling can only increase both in intensity and in importance in the next months. So... yeah. Oh! And you all know in one way or another that I'll be traveling throughout Europe soon. Yesterday, I booked my hotels in Italy. Starting the first of January, I'll be going to Sienna, Padua, Turin, and Milan. Don't worry. I'll write about it all on the blog! Until then, (or sooner)

-Rebekah

A quick post about things vaguely relating to Rome

...which city I am currently in. (losing my mind slowly due to not being in bed. Have you ever noticed that when your brain works more slowly, music sounds faster?)

Left the homestay at 3:30 am on Saturday, and was with my family in the immortal city (that's this one, right?) around noon.

We've been spending the past few days seeing interesting stuff and forgetting that Christmas is Thursday.

So, I'm working on planning my big Euro Tour in earnest, which is a lot of work which should probably be requiring some of the time we're spending at tourist sites, but that's OK.

Belated birthday shout-outs to Anna and Mary Joy Cunningham!

And there was something else I wanted to say but can't remember.

Ciao!

Mailing Address in Rome

I've had some requests recently for my mailing address in Rome.
So, it's...

c/o Paolo Marroccu
Via Labicana, 80
00184 Rome, Italy

I will be in Rome from 20-31 Dec. So you know, it takes about a week for a letter to cross the Atlantic. Before that, I'm still at my host family in Madrid. See here.