I Don't Know What Country I'm in on a Daily Basis

Just kidding.  I usually do.  Today we drove through Slovakia from Krakow to Budapest.  I spent a lot of time on a bus... doing nothing is exhausting.

I was in Prague for a few days last weekend!  It was beautiful but too touristy for me.  My friend Siena and I went to the Modern Art Museum and wrote on the John Lennon wall.  I also saw La Traviata at the National Opera something or other Theatre....  Every opera house over here is named close the the same thing, and I mix them up.  I know, what an amateur.  It was pretty good except the tenor had about four different voices that he switched into depending on how high or low he was singing, and Violetta didn't really have the right kind of voice to sing the role.  I guess that makes it sound bad.  Haha.  The first act wasn't too good, but I liked it by the end.

After Prague we were in Krakow until this morning.  I have never made a "Bucket List" because I think that is kind of stupid sounding (no offense to those of you who have made one).  If, however,  I had made such a list, visiting a concentration camp would be at the top of it.  I was really into reading Holocaust literature when I was in middle and high school and always thought it was so imperative that I get to see one some day.  On Tuesday we went to Auschwitz and toured two of the main camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau.  It isn't really something you photograph or talk about on the bus back or even try to describe to anyone.  You know what happened there, and then suddenly you realize that it is all very real.  You are standing where millions of people died.  You are entering an execution courtyard and seeing the last thing thousands of people saw before they were shot in the head.  You are passing through a cold, grey room where 800 naked people were gassed to death at one time.  It isn't pictures in books or the stories you read that can really make you realize that such an unfathomable thing actually happened to real people not very long ago.

Tomorrow we are touring Budapest a bit in the morning, and then we have a free afternoon.  I have no idea what I'm doing yet, but this city is huge and I will definitely make good use of my time.  I will post more when I get home on Sunday.  I'll be way funnier in that post, too, so don't worry you should keep reading this blog.