Rome, Italy

We originally planned to spend our second long weekend in Budapest and Vienna but we were told there was going to be a public transportation strike in Prague on the day we planned to take the train. After searching the internet for different places to travel we decided to book a last minute flight to Rome. We hadn’t considered going to Italy before because we figured it would be somewhere that all of us would eventually travel. However, this last minute decision was one of the best I have ever made! 

 After a metro, a bus, a plane, a train and another metro we walked up the steps of the metro station into Rome and were immediately greeted with the beautiful view of the Colosseum. Our bed and breakfast was only a few blocks away from the Colosseum, it was truly incredible to walk past such an amazing piece of history everyday. Because we hadn’t planned on traveling to Rome we were a little underprepared with travel plans so we just wandered around the city in awe for our first night. 

Our adorable Italian neighborhood

On Saturday we booked a 3-hour tour of Vatican City, which included a personal tour guide through the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.  Vatican city on a Saturday in the middle of the summer is one of the most crowded places I have ever been, besides the mass amount of people our tour was incredible. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the both Michelangelo and Raphael so it was fascinating to hear the stories behind paintings such as The Last Judgment inside the Sistine Chapel and The School of Athens inside the museum. 

St. Peter's Basilica 

After the Vatican we walked to the Trevi Fountain to participate in the coin throwing tradition. The Italian legend holds that if visitors throw 1 coin over their left should into the fountain they will return to Rome someday. The legend also holds that if visitors throw 2 coins in they will fall in love with a Roman man or woman and 3 coins will end the love.  I figured I needed to ensure my chances of returning to Rome so I threw 1 coin over my left shoulder. 

Trevi Fountain

I'll definitely be back to Rome!

Just down the street from the Trevi Fountain was the Pantheon, we had downloaded a free audio tour on our ipods so we walked over and sat inside while we listened to stories behind the architecture and the previous uses of the amazing building. 

The Pantheon

Sunday we decided to take on ancient Rome around the corner from our bed and breakfast starting with the Colosseum and ending with the Roman Forum inside Palentine Hill. We downloaded a free audio tour for the Colosseum so we walked around listening to our ipods in absolute awe. The Colosseum was unlike anything I had ever seen before, the history behind the building and it’s condition thousands of years later was truly astonishing. Palentine Hill and the Roman Forum are literally across the street from the Colesseum so we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the ancient ruins of Rome listening to audio tours.

1st day in Rome 

View from the top of the Roman Forum

View of the Colosseum from Palentine Hill
The words Italy and food really do go hand in hand, my favorite part of the trip was drinking amazing Italian wine and stuffing my face with every type of pasta I could get my hands on. As if the wine and pasta wouldn’t have been enough, the streets of Rome were lined with gelaterias where there were countless flavors of gelato and delicious crepes. 

Lasagna

Spaghetti at the 5th best restaurant in Rome

Banana and Nutella Crepe

Nutella gelato

Terezin Concentration Camp

Throughout grade school and high school you read and are taught about the tragedies of the Holocaust, but nothing quite prepares you for an actual visit to a concentration camp. Part of our study abroad program was to attend the Terezin concentration camp located in the Czech Republic. We all boarded a bus Tuesday morning and took an hour drive outside of Prague to the once Jewish Ghetto of Terezin. Terezin was used by the Nazi’s as a model camp in which they fooled the Red Cross to believe that the living conditions for the exported Jews was acceptable. More than 150,000 Jews were sent to Terezin, and although it was not an extermination camp about 33,000 died in the ghetto mostly because of the horrific conditions. About 88,000 inhabitants were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps and by the end of the war there were only 17,247 survivors.

After our visit to the concentration camp we went into the Jewish Ghetto of Terezin and visited two museums. These museums only reinforced the impact of the concentration camp, we saw many videos of those who had survived and read numerous letters from those who never made it out.

While this was a tough day for myself, many of my classmates and professors, I believe we all learned a valuable lesson—never forget the past and always learn from the mistakes of others.

Jewish Cemetery at the front of the camp

Before becoming a concentration camp Terezin was a military fortress

"Labor will set you free" sign at the entrance of the camp

A small room that housed over 600 people

The crematorium 

Inside the camp

High Court, Ballet & Much More

 It’s been brought to my attention that I haven’t update my blog in nearly two weeks, so I figured I would create a couple posts to keep everyone updated with my crazy travel life. Below are some random pictures of dinners and other events we have attended with classmates and professors.  Some of the pictures were taken at the infamous “Pub” across the street from our apartment that has become our “go-to” place for meeting up with friends from school or just having a few drinks.

At the Pub with Professor Weinstein

At dinner with Professor Hargrove

Listening to a garage street band

At an amazing Italian food place in Prague

Quick picture looking over the city after a few drinks at St. Noberts Monastery (Yes, Monks brew beer here)

Erica and I joined a group of girls from our class to see the ballet Swan Lake at a theater in Old Town Prague.  After all the hype about the movie Black Swan I figured Swan Lake would be a good choice for my first ballet. While the ballet wasn’t quite par with Broadway (so I hear) Erica and I really enjoyed ourselves and had a great time.

A group of girls from class outside the ballet

So excited for my first ballet, Swan Lake

Our study abroad program required the class to attend the Czech High Court (the equivalent to the Supreme Court). After an interesting morning of traveling around Prague to find the courthouse we listened to a lecture by the chief director of the court. The director explained the somewhat recent change in the court system since the fall of communism and the impacts communism has had on the Czech justice system. As a law student it was very interesting to learn about the differences between the Czech justice system and the American (for instance are no jury trials in the Czech Republic).  

Getting ready to enter the court room

My study abroad group

Berlin

After our first and only full week of school we had a four-day weekend so we decided to go to Berlin. We caught a train after class and arrived at our hostel late Friday night (it’s about a 5 hour train ride from Prague to Berlin).  Thankfully we had no problems traveling and made it without getting lost, we have termed Erica as “Magellan” due to her amazing navigation skills in figuring our the European railways and streets. 

Train ride to Berlin

Berlin's main train station

Saturday morning we took a “Hop-on Hop-off” city bus tour to quickly see most of the major sites in Berlin (such as the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie, the German White House, Reichstag (German Parliament), and Tiergarten). Halfway through the tour we found ourselves in a shopping district that was hosting a portion of the biking Tour de Berlin. We stopped and did some shopping and enjoyed our first German meal-bratwurst and Berliner beer. Saturday night we stayed in the 40 person dorm room in our hostel, I think we were all a little skeptical about sleeping in a room with 40 other people, but we slept well and didn’t have any crazy experiences.

 Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag

German White House

First German Meal-Bratwurst and Beer

In Downtown Berlin

BaxPax Hostel

Inside the 40 person dorm

 Sunday we checked into the 5-person room in our hostel and met our 2 Canadian roommates. We quickly learned how little we knew about Canada (not one of us knew the capital city) and had a good time talking about the differences between Canadians and Americans. During the afternoon we took the metro to the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie and the Jewish Memorial Museum. The Berlin Wall was incredible, it was amazing to think that nearly 50 years ago the wall stood as a barrier separating a whole city of people. After the wall we went to Check Point Charlie, known as the famous crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Sunday night we went to Berlin’s oldest Biergarten, the garten seats over 600 people and serves traditional German beer and food, we had a great time enjoying the atmosphere and people watching.

At the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

Former leader of the Soviet Union Brezhnev kissing the former leader of East Germany

Check Point Charlie

Prater Biergarten

Monday we walked around downtown Berlin and visited Reichstag (German Parliament), the Holocaust Memorial and the Kennedy Museum. The Holocaust Memorial was definitely interesting the designers main theme was to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and to represent an ordered system that had lost touch with human reason. After wandering around Berlin for most of the day we had dinner and beers with our roommates and eventually made our way to a local bar called Oscar Wilde that was completely empty. We ended up back at the hostel when Erica, the pioneer of the group, took it upon herself to convince the half-English speaking-German front desk guy to let use the hostel’s main fan for our room.  Needless to say we were all thankful because it was miserably hot in our tiny room.  

In front of the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby out the window

Kennedy Museum

Holocaust Memorial

Our roommates

Erica and the infamous fan!

All in all we had a great trip to Berlin, the German people were amazingly friendly, the food was good and the beer was even better. If I ever make it back to central Europe I will definitely visit Germany again.