Auschwitz-Birkenau

The whole reason for us taking the time to go to Poland was to go to Auschwitz and see firsthand the largest concentration/extermination camp of the holocaust. More than 1 million people were deported to Aushwitz during the war. We have seen so many of the important sites of World War II that we felt that we couldn't leave Europe without seeing this place. Words cannot even begin to describe how we felt walking the grounds of this terrible place. Over 1 million people visit this historic site every year.

The camp is divided into two parts- Auschwitz and Birkenau. Auschwitz was used first as a concentration camp with the average length of survival for the prisoners was 6 months. It wasn't until 1942 that the camp also became an extermination camp with the gas chambers. On the grounds of Aushwitz we saw where the prisoners slept, their barely functional wash rooms, and rooms with displays of actual shoes, personal items, and luggage that were all taken from people when they arrived at the camp. However, one of the hardest displays to see was the area that displayed 2 tons of hair that had been shaven from the prisoners heads. It was hard to walk through this room! We also walked through the actual gas chamber where people were put to death. The last picture is taken outside the gas chamber. No pictures were allowed inside the buildings at Aushwitz.

Krakow Poland

This past weekend we flew to Krakow Poland. This was where we needed to fly in to on our way to visit Aushwitz, however we took the extra time to explore the city and eat very good Polish food!!! Krakow is one of the few cities in Poland not completely devasted during World War II. It has the largest open square in all of Europe and an enormous amount of catholic churches. Krakow is also where Pope John Paul II was from. It was fun to visit the sites and take a horse drawn carriage ride through the old part of town.

Easter

I'm really late in getting this post up. Life has been a bit crazy here. Between family visiting and our travels the time has just escaped us. In addition the weather has definately changed in Luxembourg. It's been sunny and in the low 70's for the past few weeks!

For Easter this year we had Mark's sister Annah visiting. We were very fortunate to have been invited to our friends' house for dinner who are from Seattle. They are such kind and wonderful people(friends), and they have 2 daughters the same ages as Ericka and Lauren. We had fantastic food, lots of laughs, and the girls really enjoyed hunting for easter eggs in their back yard. A HUGE thank you to Katy and Bryce!!!

On Monday, which is a public holiday here, we went to the Luxembourg Easter market. This is our favorite time of the year in Luxembourg and the weather was absolutely beautiful this year, sunny and in the 70's. Last year- it snowed!! We purchased the famous bird whistles, had yummy sausages and waffles, and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Road Signs in Luxembourg

Well I've mentioned this many times before, but driving in Luxembourg is definately an experience. It's been an ongoing project of mine to take pictures of the various road signs (of course which neither Mark nor I understood when we first moved here) and post them for you all to see. Do you think you know what they mean? I'll let you all try and figure them out for yourselves. If your really curious just email me and I'll share the information with you!! :)

The first picture is of parking in Luxembourg. You can park on either side of the road and in either direction. Very confusing at first, and I must admit that I don't like to pull across a lane of traffic to park on the other side of the road and then be facing the wrong direction. But it's VERY common here, in addition to parking on the sidewalks. I'll need to get a picture of that sometime and post it for you all to see as well.

Happy 5th Birthday Ericka!

We were very busy this past weekend celebrating Ericka's 5th birthday! On Saturday the family went bowling and the girls had a really good time. They even beat their mother the first game!! On Sunday we had a birthday party for Ericka at an indoor play park with 10 of her friends from school. Whew....we were all exhausted on Sunday evening after an afternoon with that many 5 year olds! We can't believe Ericka is 5 already- she's growing up so fast!!!

London, England

We just returned from spending the past 5 days in London. We saw all the big touristy sites such as the London Bridge, Big Ben, the London Eye (rode the London Eye), Buckingham Palace and the changing of the Gaurd just to name a few. It was so nice to be able to speak English, although with their thick English accents, we couldn't always understand them! Ahhhh...what a simple luxury to be able to read a menu in a restaurant and actually know what you are ordering!!!! Although, we must admit, that fish and chips with mushy peas is NOT one of our favorites. But their sticky toffee pudding definately makes up for that!

Ericka will tell you the biggest highlight of our trip was going to see The Sound of Music at the London Palladium theater. What a treat for both her and mom!!!! We both really enjoyed the show and the whole experience of the London theater.

I just had to include a picture of the messages painted on the street corners to remind you which way to look for oncoming traffic before you cross the street. Being that they drive on the other side of the road (the left) in addition to driving on the right hand side of the car- it's all so very confusing! We were very thankful that we had these constant reminders for ourselves!!

Fun with Food in Luxembourg and Belgium

We always like to share pictures of the very delicious and wide assortment of desserts that they have here. Here is a picture of my birthday cake this year. Unfortunately it isn't what Mark (his secretary) ordered, but he couldn't speak French well enough to convey this when he picked it up. The cake is actually a carnival cake, which is a celebration right before the beginning of lent. The children dress up in costumes and there are usually many parades throughout the cities and small towns.

The next picture is a picture of my dessert that we had when Mark and I actually went out for a nice dinner for my birthday. Sorry that it's not the clearest picture, that's what happens when you take it with a cell phone camera. I thought I was ordering something with banana's, but obviously my french needs some work because there were no banana's here!!!!! I wasn't quite sure what it was.

The last picture was taken when we went out to eat at a pizzeria in Bastogne Belgium. Yes- it is a pizza with french fries on top. They serve it with sides of ketchup and mayonnaise. It's actually very good, and yes we did know what we were ordering with this one. The Belgians do love their "pommes frites".