Cynthia's Euro Adventure: Day 26

Sunday, June 7th - After packing up my luggage I headed down for breakfast and I was feeling pretty much like death. Over the entire weekend in Vienna I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep and obviously none from the night before. The weekend was heaps of fun but it was definitely catching up to me. Alex gave me some kind of miracle pill that killed my cough and put me right to sleep on the coach. I slept uninterrupted until we arrived at out first stop - the Mauthausen Concentration camp. I will be honest, I knew that we were visiting a concentration camp during the tour but I had no idea that we were visiting Mauthausen this morning. It was a bit of a shock to wake-up to. It was a completely sobering experience; horribly sad and very moving. We first got there and watched a film about the history of the camp and then had some free time to wander around. I first went to see the steps that lead up to the Quarry that many victims were pushed or thrown off of. I then went to see the barracks where the prisoners slept and finally the gas chamber. It left me with a sickening feeling to see a place where so many people lost their lives. We only had about 40 minutes to take everything in, I really wish we had more time to spend there.

After Mauthausen we stopped for lunch where Sian warned us that it would be difficult to find a table and get served. Some people were quite lucky and found a table and were served right away but I was lagging a bit behind and wasn't so lucky. Jas, Sukhey, and Kairsten and I finally found a table and it took us forever to flag down a waiter. In the end Sukhey never even got served! We all got back on the coach only to discover that we were blocked in on both sides, I've never seen Katia so angry. She definitely gave a yelling to the guy that blocked us in when he finally came out to move his bus.

Around 4pm we arrived in Munich, although I was exhausted I was excited to be there - I've always wanted to go to Germany! Our hotel was decent and we were given enough time to quickly clean up before we all headed out to Hofbrauhaus House - a traditional beer hall. Sian taught us how to sing the traditional song that ends with slamming our beer mugs together. She made up her own words and I don't remember them at all. We all grabbed beers and ordered dinner. The food was fantastic, especially the suckling pig that Sarah ordered. At this point I was ready to go home, I was beyond exhausted. Sukhey, Rochelle, Lorraine and I grabbed some gelato and then headed to the coach to head back to the hotel. I was all ready for a quiet night in but then Katia got up and said that everyone should go out in the "most fun city in Europe." This was enough to convince me to stay out and I literally dragged Sukhey off the bus and headed back to Hofbrauhaus with a few others. Sian had warned us at the beginning of the trip that some people would have the problem of not wanting to miss out on anything during the trip - I was definitely one of those people!

In the end I was glad I stayed out, Sian was drinking that night and she was heaps of fun. She says the most ridiculous and hilarious things when she's drunk! After a few hours a few people were ready to move onto another bar but I decided it really was time for me to head home. I ended up grabbing a cab with Matty Ray back to our hotel, thankfully this time we were not taken on a tour of city like in Paris! It was finally time for some much needed sleep - I've never been more excited to go to bed!

Mauthausen Concentration Camp