Aug. 10, 2011
Europe Trip Day 3 (Prague) Photo Gallery
Hello to all the Hawkeye fans from Prague!
Wednesday is our first full day in Europe, but I was pretty excited to get some sleep last night. The travel from Iowa City was pretty exhausting and I went to bed around 10 p.m. last night and slept like a rock. It felt good to sleep!
We woke up this morning and grabbed breakfast at the hotel buffet, which was pretty awesome. They had food there that you would see at a typical American hotel, but had some other stuff as well. I can’t wait to eat breakfast at this hotel for two more days!
The first sight we saw in Prague was the Terezin Concentration Camp, which was about an hour bus ride outside of Prague. I can’t even begin to describe the experience, so I’ll just tell you some of the things we saw.
The entire complex was actually built in the 18th century as a prison for political rebels, but it was transformed into a concentration camp during World War II. The person who assassinated Franz Ferdinand was actually imprisoned in Terezin for two years in this tiny cell about the size of the bathroom in my hotel. I can’t even imagine having to live in a place that small for two years.
The other thing I will remember the most is the Jewish Cemetery at the entrance of the camp. Thousands of grave stones line the front yard of the entrance. It was a tough site to see.
One other interesting part of Terezin was the escape tunnel built during the 1800’s for soldiers who ran the fortress. It was a long, dark tunnel underneath the fortress that we were able to walk through. I don’t think I’ll ever get to walk through a fortress escape tunnel ever again.
We are just getting back into Prague now. We are going to find a place to eat lunch and then do some sightseeing around Prague. There is a huge Jewish synagogue and cemetery close to our hotel that we might go see. We are also going to take a boat tour of Prague around 5 p.m. tonight, so one of my teammates will fill you in on that tomorrow!
Thanks for following along!
Kelly
Editor’s Note – More photos of Day 3 in Europe will be added throughout the day. Continue to check hawkeyesports.com and the Official Iowa Women’s Basketball Facebook page for photos.