Along the way...

...to Prague we stopped in Salzburg for lunch. Abigail and I were watching The Sound Of Music the night before we left to make the trip there a bit more interesting for her. I think everytime I've been to Salzburg the fountain has been covered like this, making it difficult to get a picture of it! We took one anyway though. Then we made our way to the famous shopping street with it's golden & metal signs. Elijah found his favorite shop right away! We got some lunch at McDonalds and got back on the road!After several more hours of driving we stopped at Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Mauthausen, Austria. I've read a couple Historical Fiction books based on this camp and was particularly interested in going there. I've been to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland a couple of times and each time find it a very sobering experience. This time, at Mauthausen, the visit felt so personal, I was crying off and on throughout my time there and many times just couldn't even talk. Granted...I am pregnant and emotional...but I think having read stories of people associated with the horrors of that place, I felt the pain and sadness of what had occurred there more personally.

One thing that really struck me was the incredible natural beauty that surrounds the camp. Rolling hills, scattered with farmhouses situated on farms face the hill that Mauthausen sets atop. I just can't imagine living there...even in that beauty...facing a place such as that. It made me think of who lived there during those dark years that the camp was being used and how hard it must have been for them. Surely, they must have seen the smoke from the smokestacks and heard gunshots every day. Maybe sometimes faintly in the distance...but gunshots nonetheless. It must have been difficult to live there and feel helpless to save the lives of the people there.

Here are just a few pictures from our time there.Throughout the camp were memorials for loved ones that were in Mauthausen. This wall in particular caught my eyes and heart. I was really drawn to these pictures. I've read many stories online about Mauthausen and have seen many pictures of either survivors or those who died there and their faces never look this alive. It was deeply touching to see photos of the people before they suffered such atrocities that changed their appearances. It was striking to me to see such life in Abigail as she walked, sometimes ran, around this death camp. If I knew how to do it, I would take this photo and turn it into a black and white one, except for Abigail's little body with her blue shorts and pink shirt. Such a contrast to what these memorials represent.