Mt Juneau

A few months ago, Brian and I decided to go to Juneau, Alaska since we hadn't been there for almost two years. So, a few days ago we flew into town. No jobs yet, so we might as well travel more, right?

And while here, of course I have to hike like a crazy woman. Here we are climbing Mt Juneau and following the ridge. Brian and Brian Ewing are lagging. :) Just kidding. I had to kick my butt to stay in front of them both.

We didn't have the sunniest of days, but the mountains were all visible and wonderful to look at. Like a feast for the eyes.

This marmot held his ground as our three dogs looked at him from the trail above. I was impressed that he didn't run off. Our first wildlife picture. We did see a lot of mountain goats, but they were all too far away to get a good picture.

Some snow over the creeks and rivers form some really cool shapes. And...our next picture is the best wildlife we saw!

This bear scuttled off pretty soon after he spotted us. He has a glossy coat and was really pretty. After all my hikes in Juneau, this was the first I have seen on a trail!

Then as soon as we rounded the corner on the trail we saw tons of berries. So, one reason the bear liked this area. Sweet berries! Not the best tasting, but good enough when you're on the trail.

Out of all the places I have been, Juneau is still at the top of the list for most beautiful places. It is a wonderful place to visit. 

Life in the States

     Three weeks ago we were on a plane headed to the USA. Hard to believe that we were even abroad a month ago! In our three weeks, we have purchased a car, been backpacking, car camping, gone to a wedding, seen the ocean, visited with numerous friends and family and started the long search for jobs. Currently we are living with my mom in Salem, Oregon. Possibly the city we will live in once we find jobs.
It has been good being back in Oregon. I love summer time here, sunshine, fresh fruit to pick, sleeping outside under the stars and family. Part of me kind of expects to return to Russia soon and start work there again. Although I am much more excited to be a nurse than a pre-school teacher assistant.

     We've had the question: "How was Russia?" a few times now and I always struggle with how to answer it. It was a great experience. Hard at times, long and lonely at times, but full of different people, food, stores and culture. Both Brian and I enjoyed learning about the Russian people and the things that make their culture so different from ours. Brian excelled in learning the Russian language and I only learned a few words (which I am totally satisfied with). We made some great friends who we already miss and hope to see someday again.

Here is a few pictures of our last three weeks in Oregon.

Slip-n-slide with tarps and dish soap! The best way to go!

The kids had a great time with the soap bubbles!

Backpacking at Duffy Lake. Brian and I with FIVE boys. WHEW!

It's not every day I get a good picture of Isaac (see above).

And, we celebrated Noah's tenth birthday with a little cupcake and candle!

Krakow, Part 2

Our trip is over, our year abroad is over. Life will change, yet it will go back to the "normal" that we knew prior to leaving. But, just a few more pictures of Krakow...It was such a lovely city. 

This building and square were right outside our studio. Strange to imagine we were there just 17 hours ago.

Cute couple playing music together on the street. Maybe this will be Brian and I someday...

There were so many horse and carriages. It was hard to not take pictures of all of them! The horses were so beautiful. These were two of my favorites.

Goodbye Poland!

We now sit in the JFK airport in New York City. I keep looking at my watch and yet we have another two hours before the plane leaves. Then a 6 hour flight to Portland. I am thankful we fly directly to PDX though. We have already made plane changes in Warsaw, Helsinki and now JFK. Too many planes.

Thanks for reading our posts. It has been fun to put them up for everyone to read. I'm sure that we will continue them, just not as often. Life will now be about buying a car, getting jobs and figuring out where to live eventually. 

The City of Krakow

It is hard to follow Brian's post about Auschwitz with beautiful pictures of Krakow, but here we go.

Krakow was a wonderful place for us to end our trip. We had a studio with a kitchen just a few minutes walk from the main square and Krakow is a nice size for us.

First up: one of the oldest buildings in the city. St Andrew's Church. Built almost 1000 years ago. 

The main square in Krakow is a wonderful place to eat, wander. listen to street performers and watch the beautiful horses as they pull the grand carriages.

Krakow also has a castle. Of course. It is a massive building, set on a small rise, perfect for protecting the city back in the day. 

Inside the castle grounds was a cathedral, here it is in the above picture.

One of my favorite buildings, another picture to come later, is the round one with towers you see behind the statue. It used to be a defensive tower, set right in the wall that surrounded the city. The wall is now gone, as well as the moat. In its place is a wonderful park that wraps around the old part of the city.

I think that most cities in Europe have a bridge that newly married couples put locks on. Here is the one in Krakow.

St Mary's Church, above picture has massive towers that watch over the main square. Every hour a trumpet signal is played from the tallest tower. The tune always breaks off in mid-stream, to commemorate the famous 13th century trumpeter, who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city. 

This building is in the middle of the square and contains so fun shops and tourist items to buy! 

One more post on Krakow...maybe we will work on it in the NYC airport. We are traveling home to Oregon now after being away for 11 months. Should be a fun reunion with all our friends and family!

Auschwitz-Birkenaeu

 The day I (brian) had been looking forward to for many years finally came. In school, I read a book called "Beyond the Wire" by Ellie Wiesel in which he wrote about what happened at the death camp Auschwitz. Ever since this book, this place has been on the top of my "to see" list. I was actually super nervous when we were standing in line waiting for tickets, yet all of my heart pounding, nervousness for what was about to come could never compare to how those who actually came here to live must have felt. This experience was one in a lifetime. The things that took place here must live on so that people will always remember what is possible for men to do and stand up against it.

 The entrance to the main camp which says in German "Work will make you free." which was an absolute lie because no one really ever made it out of the camp alive.

 One thing you see immediately is that escape wasn't really an option. They had two barbed wire fences that were electrified as well as guard towers. Plus prisoners worked 12-16 hour days, so there was no time to plan an escape.

 Roll call was performed on these gravel roads two times a day. If anyone came up missing, the remaining prisoners were punished as a deterrent.

 When prisoners arrived they were sorted into two categories: 1. Those who could be worked to death in time. 2. Those who would be sent to the gas chamber. These are walking sticks, crutches, and artificial limbs of elderly and unfit prisoners. Truly difficult to look at.

 The firing squad wall. This was where prisoners who tried to rebel were executed in front of the others as examples.

 Here is the gallows where Rudolf Hirsch was hanged. This was the first in command for the Nazi army. He was caught after the war, tried, and sentenced to be hanged here in Auschwitz (50 meters from his house). He never regretted or apologized for any of his acts.

 This is the second camp called Birkenau, which means "the place of Birch". It was 4 times larger than Auschwitz and was still in construction when the Allied powers defeated the Nazi army. These are the one and  only set of tracks that prisoners came in on. Over 1.5 million Jews came in on these tracks and were put to death. Standing here is one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

Over 422 acres, this camp was the main site of all Nazi death camps. There is no way that a photo can even show the size of this place. I am the small spec halfway down the road when Wendy snapped this picture. Walking 1/3 of this camp took over 8 minutes to walk. At it's largest point 60,000 prisoners were held here. When the Russians reached the camp only 7,000 were left. 

Wieliczka Salt Mine

After our fun train ride, we arrived to Krakow at 6:30 AM. What to do that early? Well, we would have loved a bed, but we couldn't get into our studio until 2 pm...So we locked up our bags at the train station and got on a city bus to these famous salt mines we had heard about.

History: Wieliczka Salt Mine. The mine was started in the 13th century and produced table salt continuously until 2007. 

The mine reaches a depth of 1,073 feet and is over 178 miles long. WOW. Our tour consisted of about 2.2 miles.

The main purpose of the mines now is a tourist attraction. There is a lot of historical importance down there and some fun salt sculptures too! 

The miners from the past made many of the sculptures. They even created huge rooms! Chapels, caverns and an underground lake. 

Horses were a big part of the mine and basically lived down below for their whole lives. It was too much work to get them up each day after work. So, there was stables and food and people to care for them. 

A chandelier made of rock salt!

Carvings all over, see the picture below and you see a huge room! A huge chapel, they still have mass here on Sundays and weddings even. On the walls are carvings of Jesus' life and death and resurrection. 

It was a fun way to spend a few hours. Below the Earth...and to see all the workmanship of the miners. Crazy to think there are miles and miles of tunnels and we only saw less than 2%.

Night Trains

 Now, those who read our blog know we have written about trains before. Mostly Russian trains since that is where all our experience is so far. Well, Russian trains can't quite compare to the night train we took to Poland. We bought our tickets just two days before the actual trip (problem number 1). All the "couchettes" or beds were sold out, so we had to purchase seats. We hoped and prayed that we would have a little room, maybe a few open seats to stretch out...Not quite. We even got to share our little cabin with a small dog.

For the trip, we were in a cabin similar in size to a Harry Potter train cabin. Seats facing each other with a sliding door. And a hallway. For the first hour we had six people in our little cabin. Full enough we decided...Then, three more guys came along with their backpacks. Don't forget, this is true backpacker season for Europe, so picture eight people and all their luggage crammed into a little cabin. Not a good place to sleep from 10:30 pm - 6:30 am.

No one really slept good. I think finally at 4:00 am, we were all so tired that we fell asleep for two hours or so. I took this picture at about 6. Can you sleep sitting up? I find it very difficult. 

Knees touching and everything.

So, to explain the picture below, for the first four hours of the trip, a few people went to sleep in the hallway. I almost did, just because by 2 o'clock, all I could think about was laying down! But, it never happened. Because at 2 am, about 15 more travelers got on our carriage (that was already full by the way) and had to sleep, sit, lay in the hallway with their luggage for four hours. UGH. So, this little hallway was full! Could hardly get to the bathroom. I'm not really sure why they sold more tickets than they had seats...

Here is a young guy sleeping on his backpack, right outside our little cabin. I was amazed that he could sleep perched on it, holding his phone with one hand. 

Lesson of the day? Don't complain about the Russian 3rd class trains. At least we had a bed.