Hales is Goin' to Wales: Easter Break

The long and highly anticipated Easter break is well underway! I am currently on an overnight train ride from Krakow, Poland to Vienna, Austria The European tour has been nothing but amazing thus far!!

Easter break started for my friends Natalie, Emily, Sam and myself last Sunday, the 24^th of March. We flew into Venice, Italy from the UK to start our three week long adventure. Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel located outside of the city. We had to pull an all nighter because of a very early flight, so we decided to rest up before dinner. The restaurant connected to our hotel was really nice, with traditional Italian food! We all tried interesting kinds of pizza, the names of which I don’t remember (Italian language barrier), and enjoyed every last bite of it! We had an early night so we could get up and enjoy the next day.

The next couple of days were filled with the typical tourist activities. Due to terrible instructions from the front desk of the hotel (or possibly the language barrier again), we spent about an hour too long trying to figure out the bus system to get to the island. When we finally arrived we set out to explore the city and the shops. I forgot to mention that it was pouring down rain. At one point, the sidewalks turned to ice and it was snowing! It was not the ideal weather for a vacation, but it didn’t matter. Those of you who have been to Venice know that the streets are lined with shops filled with decorative masks used in the festival in February. It’s a week long festival there. Just think, we only missed it by a few weeks!

Aside from looking at all the souvenirs in the shops and spending plenty of Euros, we did the traditional sight seeing. Anyone who knows me really well could tell you all about my secret love of bridges. One of my favorite bridges, which happens to be on a poster hanging in my room at school, is the Bridge of Sighs located in Venice, Italy. Needless to say, I almost started to tear up when we stumbled upon it. It was an absolutely perfect day!!

On the 27^th of March, we took a flight from Venice to Rome, Italy. Thanks to some of Sam’s friends from school in the states who were studying abroad in Rome, we were able to stay with them in their apartment at no cost!

The weather in Rome was much warmer than Venice. We didn’t even need jackets some of the time. While we were there we toured the Colosseum, the ruins, the Sistine Chapel, the Spanish Steps, Vatican City, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and many other things. On the last day we were there, Easter Sunday, Emily and Sam had early flights to meet up with other friends and family, so Natalie and I decided to go to church. We went to mass in one of the cathedrals right in the heart of Rome! We had one final Italian meal and then packed our stuff to head to the airport ourselves.

Italy was a great experience!! I can truthfully say I won’t be craving pizza, pasta, or gelato for quite some time! Next up was Krakow, Poland.

We left Rome knowing that the weather was about to change drastically. We went from 50 or 60 degree weather to icy roads and snow falling from the sky in Krakow! Both Natalie and I were so excited to finally see real snow! Being in Swansea for the winter is nothing like a winter in Iowa. We hadn’t seen snow since the first week we arrived in Swansea.

Check in to our hostel went very smoothly. After we settled in we decided to go to an old Jewish square to find some dinner. As it was Easter Sunday, nothing was really open. We found an American/Mexican food restaurant around one corner and decided that was our only option. If you put that together, our Easter in Europe was filled with spaghetti and burritos! Not ideal, but you gotta do what you gotta do!!

The next day we took a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. They are only about one hours drive from Krakow, and for a good price we were allotted a guided tour of both places lasting approximately four hours. We were given headphones, and our tour guide had a microphone. When the two were programed to the same channel we could hear her voice through our headset. She was a native Polish woman and she gave an excellent tour! As you can probably imagine, the experience was incredible. There aren’t really words to describe what it was like. It was so surreal; I had goose bumps every step of the way. The history, the stories, the photos, the barracks, the fences, the watchtowers, the wall of death… I couldn’t believe I was seeing it with my own eyes. It was a great learning experience in many aspects.

After the tours, we arrived back in Krakow at around dinnertime. I don’t know how Natalie and I were so lucky, but with Easter being the day before, there was a cute little market with traditional Polish food, Polish jewelry, and other little trinkets right in the main city square. We of course wanted to try everything! We tried potato and cheese dumplings, strawberry dumplings, and sweet cheese dumplings. I tried some fried cheese with cranberry sauce while Natalie had some Polish sausage. I even had some chocolate covered kiwi! I highly recommend this snack. Some might even go as far as saying it’s a healthy snack! Later that night we situated ourselves in a place called Harris Jazz Piano Bar to enjoy some live jazz music. It was another perfect day!

Today we started by touring Wawel Castle and cathedral. It was kind of a hodge podge day, as we didn’t have any booked tours. We went to the university near old town and got into the library and museum. We also just wandered the streets taking in the sights of Krakow. Both of us absolutely loved the short amount of time we had in Poland and can’t wait to go back some day. The people were great, the city was great, the food was great, and it all came at a nice price!

As I mentioned earlier, Natalie and I are on the way to Vienna, Austria! We are meeting back up with Sam to tour Austria and the Czech Republic. Austria and the Czech are other countries that none of us have been too and we are very excited! We will see how it compares to Poland! I’m looking forward to updating all of you again after we arrive back to Swansea in less than two weeks! Happy Easter!!