http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/flutterby774/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from flutterby774 en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:49:54 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:49:54 +0000 Our pilgrimage to Poland ended with a trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa Europersquos most famous shrine. The shrine gets its fame from the icon of the Black Madonna which has been the source of numerous miracles. The origin of the icon is unknown but one legend says that Saint Luke the Evangelist painted the portrait on a table made by Jesus himself. Saint Helena discovered the i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/blog-29816.html It was our first free weekend to travel anywhere in Europe we wanted. So six of us girls packed our bags and headed off to Switzerland. It was perhaps the best first trip one could ever take because it taught us so many truths about backpacking through Europe. The most important being that the only thing you can really count on is things never going as planned.Gaming Austria where I live is http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Interlaken/blog-29922.html ldquoHere in Austria we want to make sure you have a unique experiencerdquo said Professor Asci. ldquoThatrsquos why yoursquore in class on Thanksgiving.rdquoIt is true for the first time ever in my life and probably the last I had class on Thanksgiving day. It really wasnrsquot too bad but it did contribute to the feeling that Thanksgiving was just another ordinary day.The even http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-29821.html Austria is a pretty crazy place that is all about protecting the environment. So knowing this it is no surprise that they have six different categories for their trash. Therersquos paper plastic metal bio all things that were at one time livinghelliphair bananas orange peels and the like restmll everything that doesnrsquot fit into another category and problem trash if after re http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-29819.html Irsquove read about it in books and watched it in movies but nothing can compare to the reality of being there. I donrsquot even know where to begin writing about the experience. The day I spent at Auschwitz is something that will take a lifetime to process. It put an entirely new dimension on something that I have heard about my entire life. When I walked out of the camp that day any doub http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Auschwitz/blog-26039.html Day 2 in Poland began with a visit to John Paul IIrsquos house in Wadowice Poland. It was amazing to see the place where JPII spent the first eighteen years of his life the years that laid the ground work for the person he would become. Therersquos a thought I walked around on the same ground as JPII did during the years of his formation. We also got to see the Basilica right next to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/blog-24359.html After our visit to Krakow we headed to the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewiniki Poland. The Shrine of the Divine Mercy is where St. Faustina lived when she had several apparitions. I want to say she had somewhere around 72 apparitions but I could be wrong on that one it was a lot though. All of her apparitions are contained in her diary The Diary of Saint Faustina. In one apparition http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/blog-23730.html Saturday we took a day trip to Vienna which was a blast The day began with mass at the ldquoMinorite Churchrdquo which was modeled after St. Stephenrsquos Cathedral and is one of the oldest and most artistic churches in Vienna. Once again I was in awe of the magnificent artwork. They had a mosaic of The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci made out of little tiles which was gorgeous After http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-18689.html Poland has never been a place Irsquove really wanted to go to in all honesty Irsquove given it very little thought and had low expectations when I did actually go. I wasnrsquot surprised that when we arrived in Krakow it was foggy and dreary but in spite of how it started Poland surprised me. I canrsquot say it was a really fun trip it was more of several life changing experiences pil http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-23678.html Well Irsquom sure many of you are thinking that Irsquove been slacking on journaling about my travels. But the real honest truth is that things have been insanely busy on this side of the world. Not only do I find myself buried in school work but Irsquom also on sensory overload. There are so many new things and Irsquove had so many cultural experiences all of which have been fun and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Salzburg-State/Salzburg/blog-20557.html We made our first trip Tuesday to the Danube Valley. It began with a boat ride along the Blue Danube River which surprisingly enough was not blue. I heard it normally is but because of the amount of rainfall it was just an ugly brown The boat took us to the medieval village of Durnstein where we hiked up to twelfthcentury castle ruins that overlook the Danube. I must say it was a pretty http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-18594.html The flight over went off without a hitch. I must say when I landed in Vienna I was quite relieved to be directed to buses that would take me to Gaming. The entire summer I was under the impression that in order to get to Gaming I had to take a train from the airport and then Gaming was a fortyfive minute walk from the train stationhellipwith all my luggage. Needless to say I was a bit conce http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/blog-18592.html