DPhiEatalot

After reviewing my blog a little bit, I realized I hadn't mentioned food that much. And as I am in DPhiEatalot I realized that I was doing a disservice to my sisterhood as well as my stomach who has digested all of this food.

Best Desserts:
Trdelnik: A Hungarian doughnut. I mispronounce them and call them turtlenecks. So delicious.
Crepes: It may not be France, but the czechs do make a mean crepe
Gelato: Well that goes to the gelato in Vienna, specifically. But I mean I'm down for ice cream anytime.
Chocolate: Milka chocolate is the best

Best Meals:
Mexican: For some reason Prague has the best Mexican food I've ever had despite the fact that Mexico is very far from Prague. Go figure. Read: Get the nachos. 
Italian: Always a yes. ALWAYS. Doesn't matter what it is. It will be good.
Czech cusine: ehhhhh, it's okay. It really consists of beer and some type of meat. Nothing super fancy.

So now you know my diet while I was here. So healthy...

Welcome to DPhiEatalot

Dresden

On Monday we took a day trip to Dresden, Germany. It is a small, gorgeous city right across the border between the Czech Republic and Germany. During WWII the entire city was leveled. Fortunately the city was restored in its original style and some buildings incorporated pieces of the original structures that survived. We saw the main cathedral of Dresden called Frauenkirche as well as the imperial palace, gardens and the exterior of the art gallery. A few of us climbed to the top of the cathedral to get an overview of the city which was incredible. Here are a few shots from Monday!

Interior of cathedral

Frau & me :)

One view of Dresden

Exterior of cathedral, we climbed to the top of the Dome

Exterior of the art gallery

So many brides

I really love weddings. Just everything about them. I am just so happy because I hope that the bride & groom are having one of the happiest days of their lives and that they will have an awesome life together and what not. I also hope that they will never divorce. I just think it's so exciting to witness one of the biggest days of their life. And admire the bride's dress. So I took it upon myself to photograph as many weddings that we came across because there have been so many!

Terezin Concentration Camp

On Thursday we went to the village of Terezin in the Czech Republic. Terezin was built in 1780 as a fortress. The entire town is surrounded by a moat and a river cuts right through it. It is located about an hour from the German border and is Northeast of Prague. In 1940 the gestapo were assigned to turn Terezin into a ghetto. Terezin was not an extermination camp although many people did die there. Its intent was to be a "holding cell" for the transport of Jews. It also contained the small fortress which was for prisoners of war. Except for the small fortress, Terezin did not look like the other concentration camps because the Nazis used the exterior structures of the town buildings. Just the interiors were changed to house up 50,000 persons at one time. In other words, it was not built in the style displayed in TV and movies. Terezin was the concentration camp that was used for propaganda to show the Red Cross that the isolated Jews were not being mistreated. The Red Cross stayed for only six hours and never entered the small fortress. 

  After visiting Terezin Concentration camp the theoretical illusions that surrounded Nazism and its existence were shattered. I never doubted that the Holocaust had occurred, it just never seemed like a past reality because I had only seen pictures and heard testimonies. I am more afraid to utter Adolph Hitler’s name than I am to say a curse word. Concentration camps like Terezin are proof of how destructive and evil mankind can be to one another and that is a very scary thought. People do not want to accept that every single person has the potential to enact this horror and become a part of something like this. I don’t believe that I would have had the guts to stand up to the Nazis regime if they had forced my family to help their cause. I believe everybody would like to think that they would do something and be the hero we were all taught to be, but I doubt many would in reality. That is another reason why the Holocaust haunts us. We don’t want to think that we are anything like the people who supported or were the Nazis regime, but we are. We will always share that we are all human no matter how many times history paints Hitler and his followers as demonic creatures and tries to separate humans from Nazis. 

 

Map of Terezin

Drawings by the children of Terezin concentration camp

Small fortress where prisoners of war were held

one of the entrances to the small fortress

Big fortress where the concentration camp was

Big fortress

showers in the small fortress

Karlstein Castle

Yesterday we visited Karlstein Castle in the village of Karlstein in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1348 and housed Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor-elect and King of Bohemia. The castle has an imperial palace part, and more of a "fort" part. The well was very creepy looking & deep considering it was 78 m in depth. I would not like to ever fall that far. The well tower was the first part of the castle to be built. The castle does not have an independent water source, which is a massive weakness. To keep this a secret from his enemies, the king allegedly had all the construction workers killed after they constructed an underground channel that feeds into the well. The views from a top the castle were breath taking. It was really fun to roam around within the castle walls in its courtyards and what not. The village was reminescent of the ones painted in Walt Disney fairytales. There were charming shops and restaurants all along the main street. Personally I would never want to live in a castle. It's rather drafty and there's so much space that just isn't used. You also wouldn't know if an intruder was in there because it's so large.
That evening we went to a classical music concert in a concert hall just off of Old Town Square. It was a delightful concert that consisted of 2 violins, a viola & cello player plus an opera singer.

The Well Tower

Glass Factories

On Monday we went to two glass factories. The Czech Republic is known for their crystal glass industry. Observing how glass was made was so cool. One factory was a small, family owned company and the other was more of a power house. I had been in a factory before, but it has been rather infrequent because overall there aren't that many functioning factories left in the US. I found it to be a very informative experience. I couldn't have the patience to do any of if day in and day out. The designing of the glass looks so tedious that I wouldn't be able to keep myself interested for longer than a week. It is quite impressive. I also realize how lucky I am to be part of a country where factory work is not the most normal profession. A lot of the professions in the US revolve around working with people whether it be in retail, medical care, pharmacy, engineering, etc.. Even if it's the same job, people come in with all different problems expecting you to solve them, so there is variety within the job. I like that a lot better than an assembly line style work. We also got to see the molten glass all gooey and honey-like. It was really neat because the glass was glowing yellow-orange it was so hot.

Example of the glass produced

Schonbrunn Palace

We went to Schonbrunn on Wednesday, June 5. Schonbrun Palace was the summer residence of the Hapsburg family. Prior to that it was used as a hunting "lodge" for the royal family. The palace is built in the baroque style and has 1,441 rooms. No photos were allowed of the interior of the palace.
The Hapsburg family ruled until 1918. Some notable royals that lived there were Marie Antoinette. She spent her summers there until she was married to Louis XIV at the age of 15. FYI her last words were not "Let them eat cake". Another is Empress Elisabeth who was one of the first royals to have a private work out center. She was obsessed with her weight and kept her weight to 110 lbs although she was over 5'8". Her marriage was arranged with her cousin Francis Joseph who would become king of the Hapsburg empire. Initially he was supposed to marry Elisabeth's older sister, so she was raised and bred for court, but Francis preferred Elisabeth to Helene. Elisabeth's story is a lot like Princess Diana's in that she was not ready to be part of the court. She most likely suffered from depression all her life.
We were able to tour 40 of the rooms in the palace and all of the gardens were open for public viewing. Afterwards we went to a strudel where we were given strudel and we learned how to make it. It was quite tasty. However it has not been my favorite dessert here. That goes to the gelato.

Up close & personal with Schonbrunn

View from the balcony of the main entrance

A nice shot of everyone