Grove European Vacation

School was finally over; let the summer begin!  Before getting back to the States for our normal festivities, we met up with several of Rachel’s family members for an Eastern European adventure.  Our first stop was Prague in the Czech Republic, a somewhat familiar city, having visited it during Christmas two years ago.  The hilltop Castle is such an icon, as are the many bridges to chose from in order to get to it from across the river.  The downtown has a main square, and the entire old city is walkable, so we spent our days there taking one sidestreet after another and exploring the many unique cafes, shops and historical sights.  The city is a real hotspot for music, art, and culture, within a wonderfully preserved sense of the past.  We heard some incredible chamber music, some lively outdoor music, and were very impressed by the public sculpture and architecture – some of which is quite… interesting.

Loved celebrating this guy on Father's Day!

We attended a string quartet concert in King Charles' birth house.

Renting a car, we drove north to Krakow, Poland.  The city has a similar feel to Prague, but much poorer and plain.  It actually pleasantly surprised us.  The people are some of the nicest, most animated bunch.  The city is full of amazing little quirks, such as a huge medieval market in the middle of the town square, a fire-breathing dragon sculpture on the riverwalk around the city, a modern office building built over the top of some older historical building like a bridge, and a trumpeter who plays the same tune on the hour from the top of the church clocktower – but the tune ends abruptly and unfinished in honor of the original player who was struck with an arrow mid-song long ago.  We took a day and went to Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi extermination camp.  There is no amount of textbook reading about the torture methods and large death tolls that can prepare you for actually standing in a real gas chamber, or next to an oven.

After a long drive back through Austria, we landed in Semmering, a small mountain village in the Austrian pre-Alps for a few days of secluded nature relaxation therapy. It was wonderful to go on long walks through the forests, with the trains going past every now and then. After some good rest, we headed into Vienna. There, we went into music history overload as we visited the Mozart house, went to the incredible Musikhaus museum, attended both a Vienna Philharmonic concert in the very famous Musikvieren and a local boys choir concert, and had coffee in numerous cafes frequented by some of the most famous composers and performers in history. We finished our time by taking a bike ride along a lush green island just outside the downtown area, and it was great fun walking the streets at night seeing the beautiful public works.

Our mountain home.

This mountain was known for the famous, picturesque railways.

They're definitely still used!

This should be a postcard.

At the end of the trip,  our minds were full with new thoughts and understandings after experiencing such significant World War 2 sites (like Dresden, Berlin, and Auschwitz) as well as music history cities (Leipzig, Vienna, Prague). We loved having our family join us on the travels, and were looking forward to continuing time with them in the U.S.