ruthgiroday-blog

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Parking Lot Photoshoot -Naturally, Chris & I needed to do a photoshoot of him and the Audi before we returned it.  So, here're some of the pictures we took.  I know this isn't totally about travelling, but I thought they were funny enough to put up. 

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Jedem Das Seine -I know I already put a photo up of the gates into the actual camp of Buchenwald, but apparently that wasn't enough for me while I  was there, and I went back.  I took a photo of the gates, again, and when I got back to the hostel I searched up what the pictured phrase translated to.  Tragically, it translates to something like "to each what he deserves." by REDLG 

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Tragen Tür -This creepy door is actually a small door for bears to come in and out of. Yeah, that's right.  Yep, it's weird.  Apparently, at Buchenwald concentration camp, the leader (or whoever ran the camp) wanted the guards' spirits to stay high, so he kept a small zoo on the grounds.  Eventually, animal cruelty was outlawed (yes, animal cruelty was considered wrong, but killing humans was okay), and so the zoos had to be shut down. 

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Buchenwald Exterior -This is a photo of the broken down outer fence.   by REDLG 

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Sinti & Romani Memorial by REDLG 

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Buchenwald Gates -This day was all about concentration camps and driving nightmares.  Naturally, the speed obsessed young man that Christopher is decided early on that he wanted to rent a car and drive an autobahn when we were in Germany.  Since he's a boy, he would also want the speediest car that Europcar could give him.  Also being a history buff, Chris had the fantastic idea that we should drive the car to a concentration camp.  I should have known that when we stalled the A6 a dozen times before we left East Berlin that it would be a precursor to the terror I would fear for the rest of the day.  What I didn't fully prepare myself for was going 230km down a highway (twice might I add you, because we had to come back to Berlin).  I mean, don't get me wrong, the highway's straight, but when the advertisement on billboards have children's therapy drawings of their family's with the scribble "Papa" over flames in a car crash, it makes you want to close your eyes and fall the fuck to sleep.  Which is what I tried to do for our five hour drive.  It was funny: the GPS in the car would calculate how long the route was supposed to take us, and every couple of minutes it would shave off 20 minutes to our ETA because Chris was driving so quickly. In any case, when we end up getting to this place (Buchenwald), it's completely freaky.  You have to go down this nearly unmarked street with forest on either side. Both of us, at this point, are pretty sure we're mawfreakin' lost, but we follow the road anyway.  It leads us to a whole lotta buildings with a massive parking lot.  We stretch our legs and head out down the footpath to these giant gates (which is what the picture is of).  Mind you, to get to these gates you pass by a whole lot of crumbling buildings.  I have photos of them, and will mention them later.  This photo is a photo of the entrance to the actual camp itself.   I don't think I had ever felt more removed from an atrocity in my whole life.  I can't tell you why. by REDLG  

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Alexanderplatz, Berlin -Finally, we arrived in Germany.  Or as my little brother refers to it: "Yermany."  This is where C and I started to get chillay.  This is also the country that my camera ran out of memory.  This is a photo of a poster pasted near the trams.  We stayed in East Berlin (where everyone backpacking should stay), and the tram system was incredibly easy to manage.   by REDLG P.S.  Sorry for the long hiatus.  I think I ended up stopping the daily posts because Germany is one of our lasts stops and I didn't want to officially consider my term abroad over.  Alas, it's nearly been a year and a a couple of weeks since I departed on the big flight that started my adult life, so I think it's high time to get this show on the road.  I wish I could have written all these diary posts fresh, but this is just going to have to suffice.  Suck it, Gill. 

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Bridge View -On our way back into the main part of Praha, Christopher and I had to walk across the bridge.  By the time we were making it back, it was pretty dark, and the lights looked gorgeous, so I clearly couldn't help taking a photo to commemorate it. by REDLG 

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Beautiful -Prague rooftops from inside the castle gates. by REDLG 

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Prague Rooftops by REDLG 

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Castle View -Chris and I finally got to the top of the castle & got to take a look at the incredible scenery at sun down! by REDLG 

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Praha Bridge -This photo was taken as Chris and I were trying to find the Prague castle.  We ended up walking all over the city and eventually found it up a giant hill (naturally).  I love the cobblestones in this photo & the tram speeding in our general direction. by REDLG 

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Sugar Rolled Bread -Delicious Prague donuts in the main square. by REDLG 

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Eeeeeverybbody likes a drunk giiirl!

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'Round the Corner by REDLG 

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dobrý den -"Good day" from the Czech Republic!  This is right around the corner from The Mosaic House - Christopher's Inn, or something along those lines.  Either way it is the hotel / hostel where we stayed.  The room was incredibly cramped, but the bathroom was beautiful and spacious.  We stayed in a four person room only knowing each other (Christ and I), and the people that shared our room were incredibly awkward and weird.  I don't know if only weird people go to Prague, or it was just the people staying with us, but we musta got the lemons of the week. by REDLG

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Salutations of a Stone Mermaid -When my cousin and I were trying to desperately find our way back to the hostel after a long day walking around in Budapest, we managed to fall upon an empty fountain with a large selection of stone mermaids.  Chris, naturally, jumped into the fountain and pretended to be one of them, while I photographed the experience.  Unfortunately, they are too hilarious to show, so this one will have to do. by REDLG