Making our flight out of Poland to Italy was a crazy experience! We left Auschwitz on a late bus and everyone at the airport said we had missed our flight. Well, were determined to make it so we checked our bags nonetheless and we ran as fast as we possibly could to the gate. Luckily, when we got there the flight was delayed and we had time to grab some dinner. Whew! 

On our flight south, we caught a magnificent glimpse of the Alps from our window. 

We spent our first night in Bergamo, Italy before heading out to Venezia. And with our 24 hour whirlwind tour of Krakow, we were so exhausted. We didn't get to sit together on our train and so Landon managed to catch some of this immense fatigue. It's so good that you can't see that my mouth is completely open!! I was too tired to hold it shut! 

We were rewarded with our first taste of Gelato in Milano where we would catch the train to Venezia the next morning! Exhausted but in love with Italy already!

The next morning we felt refreshed and alive again! Ready to start our seven day adventure in Italy. Italy was the only country we decided to do a train pass in and so we knew we were going to be in for a hard travel experience. Driving was impossible though with the country being so large and well the driving being ridiculously crazy! So we had our Eurail pass and went from town to town enjoying the view of the countryside along the way. We actually really enjoyed the train experience. The car was so special because we had a "home" base from which we would go exploring. But the train was so relaxing once we caught it because we didn't have to worry about how to get from place to place. 

Landing in heaven. Venezia is known for having the most supreme, pure light of anywhere else in the world. It is the main reason why so many of the greatest artists chose to paint here. This photo has no filter or editing. It shows how true and rich all the colors are because of the incredible light. 

I think Landon was the most excited I had seen him when we pulled into Venezia. We stood with our faces pressed against the train windows and he squeezed me so hard saying he was so happy we decided to do this trip. Gosh, it was so amazing being able to be with him when he saw this part of the world. There is nothing like it anywhere else and to see his eyes opened to it's beauty and uniqueness was amazing. What really amazes me is how much my happiness is tied to Mr. Finter's. All I want in life now is to see him fulfilled and happy. 

 

Venezia is such a romantic city. No cars, little noise and such beauty. You feel so detached from the bustle of modern society as you wander the windy streets and canals. And windy is an understatement. Even with gps you have to expect to get lost for about 15-20 minutes every time you walk. 

Here we are at a dead end. Ummm... I think we need to be at that bridge. Do you think we can swim?

We stopped to get pizza before heading to our hostel and coming straight from the stone oven it sure was hot! 

As we ate, we watched these three men carry the remains of a fallen building out to a boat on the canal. It was incredible to see how some parts of life in Venezia stand still in time without modern improvements.

We caught an afternoon sprinkle and I loved the way the droplets fell across this photo. 

Another dead end. 

Dusk was such a beautiful time in this city. We wandered the streets for hours our first day enjoying street performers and the beautiful architecture. 

We watched the sun set over the city after we ran through all the pigeons at the Piazza San Marco. 

Then we had dinner on the banks of the major canal by Pont Rialto and had some delicious raviolis.

We spent the walk home talking about how beautiful it was to be on this trip together and have all this time to be in each other's company. I went on and on rambling about how we need to live in Europe and have babies with accents and eat chocolate and bread all day. And Landon just pulled me in closer and kissed the top of my head saying "Nina, you really are my best friend. I want to share every day with you no matter where we are." 

I remember a good friend of mine saying she knew she was going to marry the boy she was dating because date after date she still wasn't sick of him. hahaha! Well, day after day married I still find myself counting the minutes before he walks in the door home from work. 

Our time together never seems to be enough. 

Remembering The Tragedy At Auschwitz

Ever since I can remember I have loved and admired Jewish history. Not only is it precious to me because it is my faith and my people's history and thus a great part of who I am, but also it is a remarkable illustration of the resilience, strength and beauty of humanity. We took a great interest in war history after our marriage and began reading and watching documentaries of WWII while we were dating. When we began planning for our Europe trip, we knew that we had to visit Auschwitz. Our time there was incredibly sacred and life changing. 

Because we were only in Europe for a month we only had less than 24 hours to be in Poland. We arrived about 11pm to a small, dark, empty airport. The moment we grabbed our bags, our fellow passengers disappeared and all services at the airport closed. I had gathered information about how to get from the airport to our lodging online but it was the most stressful part of planning I experienced. Websites about the details of Poland for the most part are in Polish and translations of those sites are practically senseless. It was completely impossible! So I did as much research as I possibly could and we prayed everything would work out. We had four different options of getting to Krakow city center from Krakow Airport: A bus line that never came, a shuttle service that no one knew about a bus line that required tickets and a taxi service. Since the first two did not work out and the amount of people at the airport was dwindling fast (which made us very uncomfortable), we rushed to catch the other bus. We got polish cash, the smallest bills possible, at the ATM machine but the bus ticket machine refused to take them and the bus driver couldn't speak any English. The bus left and we were forced to take a taxi. We were really quite nervous about taking a taxi this late at night without speaking a word of Polish but we stayed calm and fought for a low price. Once everything was agreed, Landon followed us with his GPS to make sure we weren't kidnapped. The streets into town were dark. No lights anywhere. Street signs were in terrible condition and this central city was was relatively unstructured. We arrived to our lodging and were so grateful we were safe. 

Our lodging was an interesting experience too. The room we let was in an apartment next to a gay strip club and for a while we thought we might have to walk the street at night to find a safer place to stay. But it actually turned out to be safe and very comfortable. 

The next morning we got up early and went hunting for the bus to Auschwitz. No one spoke any English which made for a lot of walking in circles but we finally found our way.

The entrance to Auschwitz I "work makes one free."

The view towards heaven while entering hell.

A display of glasses taken from prisoners. 

Records.

Firing squad wall.

This was one of the first of the Nazi gas chambers. Smaller than the ones at Birkenau.

The second part of our day was at the Auschwitz II - Birkenau camp which is the second camp and larger camp build and involved more heavily in the Nazi's Final Solution. 

The famous train tracks.

All that remains of the largest gas chamber. The Nazis destroyed it before the war was over to hide what was really going on.

 A view of a guard tower.

Sleeping quarters. The barns were made to hold 50 horses but they kept 180 people. 

This is a cattle car used to drop off prisoners in the camp. It now stands as a monument to those who lost their lives in those cars and at the camp. We can't quite remember the stone's significance but we think they represent a pledge to never again let such a thing happen in human life. 

We thought that going to Auschwitz would be an experience of incredible sadness. While it was so hard to witness the horrors of these camps, the experience of being there actually was full of much more hope and amazement than we expected. We learned so much of the resilience of those kept prisoner in these camps and of their acts of sacrifice for others, demonstrations of faith and belief in a better future which will inspire us throughout our lives. I hope we can always remember the mistakes of this historical past and never again repeat them.

One of our favorite stories from the tour was of incredible sacrifice. In the Auschwitz I camp (which was for the stronger individuals and behaved more similar to a POW camp than Auschwitz II - Birkenau) the rule of the camp was that if someone had escaped while working, then another member of their work group was taken and thrown into a dungeon to starve to death. In this story, such an event had occurred and then man chosen at random to be thrown in the dungeon had a wife and children who were still alive. This man pled for his life and a beloved rabbi came forward offering to take his place. At this, and only at this time, the camp director let them make this switch. So the rabbi and a few other men were taken to starve. However, the man who was replaced by the rabbi survived Auschwitz and WWII and was reunited with his family.

 While waiting for our bus back to the airport we enjoyed some Polish dogs and a kiss of gratitude for a life much less difficult than that of the couples who lived in Auschwitz.