London

By the time we arrived in London I was sort of tired of traveling, but nonetheless managed to do at least the minimum required of a tourist in London:

Saw a show

Took a red double decker bus tour

Rode the London Eye

Saw Buckingham Palace

Drank lots of tea

We also spent time in the suburbs of Chiswick and Hampstead, which was a lot more relaxing than fighting crowds in London. 

Kew Gardens was beautiful

Hampstead Heath was a good place to frolic around and pretend you are Elizabeth Bennett. 

St. Andrews, Scotland

I met my mom & friends in Edinburgh last Saturday but pretty much was only there 12 hours and had to sleep before getting back on the train to go up to St. Andrews. 

St. Andrews is a cute little town famous for a few things- the first ever golf course (hole 18 above), the filming of Chariots of Fire, but perhaps most importantly it is where Prince William went to college. ;) 

The highlight of our time was hiking along the Fife Coastal Path. It was so gorgeous!

We also checked out the ruins of the castle and cathedral which were destroyed by the protestants back in the day (1500s?). Those pesky protestants. There is a lot of ugly history on both sides. 

The view of the cathedral, cemetery & town from the cathedral tower. 

My mom crawling through the mine tunnels underneath the castle!!

Lennon Wall

Of course we had to go hippie it up at the Lennon Wall, a little bit of more recent Prague history that my roommate Christine directed us to. Its really close to the Charles Bridge but otherwise off the beaten path. 

The graffiti started in the 80's by kids who were"alcoholics, mentally deranged, sociopathic, and agents of Western capitalism" according to the government (according to Wikipedia). In other words, against communism. 

"Today, the wall represents a symbol of youth ideals such as love and peace" Aww, those darn youth are so idealistic. 

Terezin

The last piece of World War II history we visited was the town of Terezin. The town is a fortress that was built long long ago by Maria Tereza to protect the royal family in the event that Prussia invaded the Czech lands. After that never happened, it just became a normal town until the Nazi's took it over, since it was an ideal location for a concentration camp. 

"work makes you free"

This was one of the first concentration camps put into use, and was in use even before Auschwitz was built. It's purpose was to literally concentrate the Jews until they figured out what to do with them next. It was not a death camp like Auschwitz (meaning they did not have facilities for or clear intent for killing) but still many died because of the living conditions. 

Terezin was the model camp that the Nazis showed to the Red Cross upon their inquires into the living conditions of the camps. They cleaned up parts of it and made it look like a fun little Jewish town, and apparently their trick worked.

The place had an interesting feel to it. Since it used to be a fortress, it was fun to explore. Even had secret underground tunnels we got to do in. 

But I guess after Auschwitz it seemed not too bad, even though awful things happened there too.  I guess we're a little numb. 

Terezin Memorial garden