brace yourselves...its a long one

i am awful at blogging. lo siento. TWO weeks ago we had our break for carnavales. celina, liv, and i went on our mega trip to london, paris, prague and poland. Recap...

1) london
we flew into brussles and then took the train to london. i rolled my suitcase in dog poo on the way to the hotel...booooooooo. we stayed in a hotel in the newbury park area so we were masters of the london underground (mind the gap). we went to buckingham palace, westminster abbey, the tower of london, big ben and the house of parliament, the london eye, the tower bridge, and saw various other places on our lil bus tour

big ben/house of parliament

phone booth!

london taxis

at westminster abbey

the london eye

tower bridge

2) paris

we took the train again from london to paris. that means we went UNDER the english channel to get there! in paris we saw the louvre museum where the mona lisa is, the sacre couer (highest point in france), the eiffel tower (liv and i went to the top of the tower!), the arc de triomphe, notre dame (we went to ash wednesday mass there), and a cemetery where ocsar wilde and jim morrison are buried.

at moulin rouge

the eiffel tower

arc de triomphe

paris from the top of the tower

the tower at night - we were inside when the lights came on

notre dame on ash wednesday

at the louvre

the stained glass in notre dame

the mona lisa

walkin like an egyptian in the louvre

3) prague

we flew from paris to prague. my favorite city by far. not only was it BEAUTIFUL but we also had the best food (and beer :]) there. we saw the castle, the bridge, and the john lennon wall.  i would go to prague again in an instant.

budvar (aka budweiser) on the train to poland

the king had the clockmaker killed after he completed this so no one could have the same clock. ever.

central prague

statues on the bridge

the lennon wall

the city

the dancing house

4) auschwitz

our last stop was the krakow, poland to go to auschwitz and birkenau.  we took an overnight train from prague to poland.  i slept pretty much at the top of a tree fort in our midget room on the train.  the bed was TOO SHORT for me (hope y'all are as excited about this as i was :]) we got to krakow at about 7am and went to our hostel to relax a little before we headed to the camps which were about an hour away.  it was an unbelievable experience to be at the camps.

work makes you free

cans from the gas used in the chambers

30,000 shoes were found when auschwitz was liberated

pictures of the people in the camp

the courtyard between blocks 10 and 11 where prisoners were shot

site of the largest public hanging in auschwitz

the entrance to birkenau

whats left of the crematorium at birkenau. it was destroyed by nazi soldiers before the camp was liberated.

the monument near the crematorium. this is written in 20 languages - one for every language spoken by people in the camp

the end of the railroad tracks used to bring prisoners into birkenau. prisoners sent straight to the gas chambers upon arrival waked this path along the tracks

this was truly the trip of a lifetime and one i will NEVER forget.  there are more stories to share once i get home but are far too long to share on here. miss you all! xoxo

ps - the countdown is at 43 days...in case you were wondering :)