If our most-recent trip had to have a theme, it would definitely be “same, but different.” For many reasons. It’s fun comparing cultures.
1. A Different Sort of Trip
We’ve been to Belgium four times now. But this time we stayed in that one country for 10 days. And we didn’t do much touristy stuff at all, like visit areas where most people speak English fairly well (shopkeepers, restaurant staff, and such) and food and beverage establishments offer menus in English.
Belgium is a small country (roughly the size of Maryland), yet there are three official languages spoken: Dutch, French, and German. Your geographic location within the country determines the language that will primarily be used. Because Annelies and Yves both speak English fluently, we’ve never made an effort to learn Dutch, their primary language. Normally, that wouldn’t matter. This time, because we weren’t in touristy areas, it did. We survived, but we all agree it’s time Mike and I learned some Dutch.
Of course, there are apps like Google Translate that can help you get by, but the translations you get tend to be very literal. Take this fun sign on the front of a store as an example.
“Come in and your mouth falls open,” says the stork.
The literal translation can usually get you in the neighborhood of the proper meaning, but people don’t talk like that. It probably means something like, “You’ll be amazed at the wide selection or quality of stuff we have.”
We talk about these language differences, usually when we are discussing the fact that we still do not know Dutch. Annelies gave us a great example during our last trip. You know how we say people are anal, meaning they are nit-picky or very obsessed with details? There’s no specific word or term for that in Dutch, no way to translate it literally. The way they describe someone as being anal is to say they are “mier neuken.” Literally translated, that means an ant fucker. Again, people don’t talk like that.
The point is, if we want to spend more time exploring Belgium off-the-beaten-path, we should learn some Dutch. We’ll see how that goes. I seem to remember having said that before. More than once, actually. But, language laziness is a very American trait.
2. Interesting Kiddie Entertainment
A Giraffe Hovercraft!
In the US, we typically see ride-on toys in front of supermarkets and maybe even big-box stores, but I’d never seen one like THIS. The ones we have in the US are stationary. The giraffe this little boy is riding is a hovercraft that moves through the mall. How cool is that?
Of course, I rarely go to shopping malls. Maybe we do have them in the US and I just haven’t seen them? If you’ve seen one here in the States, do tell.
3. The Widest Variety of Doors
The architecture in other places intrigues me. I was going to say “in other countries,” but even among various regions of the US, things can be very different.
I’ve often said the brickwork in Belgium delights and intrigues me, but have I ever mentioned the doors? They have the coolest doors. Really. Here are some images I captured to illustrate that point.
Art-deco(ish) Door
Doors of neighboring houses are rarely alike. (Click for larger image.)
Doorknob in the middle!
Big wooden door.
That wooden door is actually on a restaurant where we had a delicious dinner one evening. Not only is the door unique, check out the roof. It’s a thatched roof.
Check out the Thatched Roof.
One of my favorite doors.
Fancy brickwork around the door plus an embedded statue.
Notice the large size of the doors, too?
Another art-decoish door. Check out that handle.
Another row of houses, all with very distinctive door designs.
See the coverings on the lower-floor windows in the picture immediately above? Those are very common. They’re roll-down shutters (not sure if that’s the right word). Often, they’re electric, and can be opened and closed at the touch of a button.
Even the relatively plain houses have unique doors.
Brick front, clapboard-like side, and a clay tile roof.
Interesting mix of architectural style.
I should mention that this is not a collection of photos from a fancy, touristy area, historical district, etc. These are just regular, everyday, ordinary houses I saw while walking around Grembergen, our friends’ town in central Belgium, which is located in the municipality of Dendermonde, in the province of East Flanders.
Here are some more pics, not so door-focused.
Coolest fence ever.
A barber pole!
See the bicycle lane? It’s between the parked cars and the sidewalk. That’s MUCH safer for cyclists.
The electric shutters on this house are very large.
Plain yet not plain, right?
AN Old house with wooden shutters. I’m guessing they’re not electronically operated.
Another example of shutters.
How much do you love the architectural details on this one? I do!
I really loved the green-ceramic brick and purplish trim on that old house. Come to find out, it’s historically or culturally significant for some reason.
Emblem of the Hague Convention of 1954 with text “Beschermd Monument”, used to mark protected buildings and other structures.
This house was in a different town, near our friends’ music school.
Busier street, so there’s a wider bicycle path.
I really like that there are distinct bicycle paths. Even in the more suburban areas, lots of people ride their bicycles as a form of transportation, not just for exercise or fun. The red path in the above image is for bikes.
The bike path is narrower on our friends’ smaller street.
This sight tickled me. Three boys bicycling to the skateboard park?
This one made me chuckle.
I really liked this dog mural on the side of a local pub.
And for the final image of this post that got WAY longer than expected…
A Harley Davidson pick-up truck!
Vehicles in Europe are typically much smaller than vehicles in the US, and pick-up trucks aren’t exactly common. So we were really surprised to see this HD-branded extra-large pick-up truck.
I hope y’all enjoyed the pics. Can you understand why I enjoyed walking around, just looking? It’s a glimpse of everyday life in Belgium. Travel doesn’t always have to be to exotic, well-known places to be interesting.
Spring is upon us! Or so the calendar says. As usual around this time of year, the need to get out of the house for a bit hit hard a couple of weeks ago. Since I work remotely and can use my cell phone as a hot-spot for WiFi, at the spur of the moment I decided to visit my Dad and work from his place in Pennsylvania (PA) for a few days. I was curious to see if anyone at work would notice a difference, so I didn’t say anything to my co-workers or bosses.
The Chicken Coop at Turtle Tree Farm
Hubby and I were in Baltimore on March 17 anyway — more than halfway to Dad’s — so it was only a slight diversion. We were in Baltimore helping my mother-in-law get settled in her new apartment. Mike had to be there way earlier than me, so he drove his car. I followed later with Belle in my car. Because Belle isn’t allowed to ride in his fancy-schmancy little roadster, I took his car to PA and he drove my car and Belle home to Virginia.
It took me less than 24 hours to realize I could NOT work from Dad’s. His home is small, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but he’s losing his hearing. That means he talks really loudly and keeps the TV volume at movie-theater levels. I was going to drive home Sunday evening, then I sent my friend Tracey a text about visiting her on the way home. I knew she had some baby goats I wanted to see. At that time she had nine baby goats with two more pregnant mamas due to give birth in the next few days. Once we got to talking about the state of affairs at her farm, I realized she was a little stressed, maybe feeling a tad overwhelmed, and could probably use some help. Knowing she has WiFi and a house that would be more-accommodating than Dad’s (high-speed WiFi and quiet space!) I volunteered to spend a few days, maybe even the week helping out at Turtle Tree Farm. Not only did she agree, she even said she could rearrange the feeding schedule around my working hours.
Big Mama Willow
Five of the Other Adult Females (there are seven total)
It did not interfere with my job at all. AND it was a fun, refreshing change of pace for me.
Elderberry
Morning Glory (and some chickens)
Willow (with Turtle the photo-bomber in the background)
Some of the Kids (in their warming hut)
Tracey and her husband, John, raise and breed Nigerian Dwarf goats. It was awesome getting to see and help care for the goat babies. Two were only a few days old, four were about a week old, and three were about two and a half weeks old when I arrived. It was my job to feed the older ones.
I forgot to mention that all of the babies require bottle feeding. The Mamas are kept as dairy goats. Plus, when the babies are bottle-fed by humans, they become very accustomed to being touched and handled by people, which helps make them great pets.
Clarice and Me
Most of the babies will go live on other farms, so they don’t get real names. But this feisty girl reminded Tracey of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’s girlfriend, Clarice. So that’s what we called her. We had to call them something. How else would we be able to keep them all straight?
Clarice was super-sweet, and VERY nosy.
Me holding Clarice (left) and Frosty Ears.
Jumping Jack wanted to join the party, too.
Those photos are not staged. The goats really are very friendly, especially the kids. And nosy. Plus, they love to jump and climb. And there were nine of them in the stall with us! Plus Olive, who’d been due to deliver on Monday along with Willow. Olive had delivered early — on Friday morning, I think. Poor Willow was overdue and looking like she was about to explode.
Tracey in her happy place, singing and milking.
That’s one of my favorite pics from the week. Tracey LOVES being a farmer. I must admit, it was fun being surrounded by animals, literally, all week.
I did not just take pictures all week. I had specific jobs I had to do. In addition to feeding the older babies, and helping with the smaller ones, I had to feed and water all of the adults, too. Morning feedings were the most-hectic. Once all the babies had been fed, Tracey milked the mamas while I stuffed all of the hay bags, distributed pellets to the girls, cleaned and filled water bins, etc. And remember, I was also doing my full-time job from the farm-house kitchen that week, too.
Yes, I was actually working.
Filling the hay bags was one of my jobs.
Things really started to get interesting on Tuesday when it started to snow. We knew the storm was coming, and predictions of severity varied widely, so we shut the goats in the barn Monday night. The snow started around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday and didn’t stop until late in the day on Wednesday, after about 18 inches (46 cm) had fallen.
The good news about the snow? We got to make and enjoy Snow Cream! (A lot of Snow Cream. That’s snow, sugar, vanilla, and milk. YUM!)
Thursday morning
We hadn’t had much snow at all in Virginia this past winter, so I was actually excited to see the snow. Except I had Hubby’s little sports car, which just happens to have tires designed for warm-weather use. No way I’d be going anywhere in the snow in that thing.
The SLK was Buried!
Thursday morning trek to barn.
The Barn Boss
Things got REALLY exciting Thursday morning. When we arrived at the barn, we realized Willow had given birth to three kids, probably only within the previous hour or so. Two were huge, and one was tiny, barely hanging on to life.
We had to scurry to get the kids fed and Willow transferred from the stall with the adults to the nursery stall. Then we had to rig-up a barrier to keep Willow separate from the other babies. It’s important for the kids to nurse immediately after birth as that’s when Mama’s nutrients are most-beneficial.
Willow and her babies.
The big babies were the same size as week-old kids! Meanwhile, their little brother was itty-bitty. Crazy size difference, really.
The Runt, who I nick-named Bitty Baby
Look at that face! He was no more than a couple hours old at that point, still wet from the womb.
Willow and the big girls. (Bitty Baby was in the warming hut.)
Lucky, another barn cat.
The cats don’t just happen along and take up residence in the barn. There’s a very specific method you need to use when they’re kittens to imprint the barn as their home. They, too, have important jobs to do. Mainly, they keep the barn vermin-free. They’re fully vetted, well-fed, and treated like members of the team.
Hi, kids!
The Barn Boss (cat) fits right in.
Cute ears.
When we got back to the house, I had to dig the car out. John was using the snow-blower and tractor to clear the driveway. It’s a LONG driveway.
Long Driveway
I forgot to mention the three resident dogs. Pictured below are, Beatrix Potter (Bea) on left and Piper, the two chocolate-colored girls. George Bailey is in front. He’s 11 months old and a handful! He has a job, too. Impregnating Bea, who is expecting puppies on April 19.
The Pups
They have to sit in that room and dry off a bit before tracking snow and mud through the rest of the house.
About midday, we decided to bring Bitty Baby into the house. Willow wasn’t at all interested in feeding him, so Tracey had to take care of him, otherwise he would die. Actually, it was touch-and-go with him for days because he was so tiny. (Thanks to Farmer Tracey, he pulled through and has since gone to live with his forever family.)
Bitty Baby beside a work glove for scale.
Just look at that face!
Bitty Baby
On Friday morning, Tracey was still in her bedroom enjoying quiet time as I was drinking my coffee. So, when the little guy started hollering, I picked him up and snuggled him on my lap for a while. Meow-Meow, one of three indoor cats, joined us, too.
Coffee-time Cuddles
Not many people get to sit drinking their morning coffee with a beautiful, day-old goat on their lap!
Tracey had to force formula down his throat. Literally. He just did not want to eat. But he sure did like hollering.
Tracey, force-feeding the little guy.
Below is another of my favorite captures from the week.
Tracey and George
One is rarely ever alone at Turtle Tree Farm, inside or out!
A Peaceful Moment
Tracey did manage to get out to feed the chickens on Wednesday as the storm was winding down. As she re-entered the barn, a large wad of snow fell right on her head. She was not hurt, but she also wasn’t happy. Just another day at the farm!
The Overhang
Could things get any more exciting?
Actually, yes. During dinner on Friday, we were discussing our plan to spend a quiet evening sitting by the fire with wine, sewing. But when we got to the barn for the 8:00 p.m. feeding, we discovered that Myrtle Brown was in active labor! Never a dull moment.
We had to get Myrtle sequestered in the nursery stall and get the babies fed. Then we waited. You could tell we were making her nervous — Tracey’s granddaughter (age 17) and a friend had stopped by to see the babies — so we all went back to the house for a bit to give Myrtle her privacy. We returned to the barn about an hour later, not long before Myrtle started birthing her kids.
Yep, I got to see the whole thing! It was super-cool. The first kid was huge. Tracey said it was the longest she’d ever seen. Two others followed pretty quickly. Myrtle wasn’t doing the clean-up thing that mama goats are supposed to do, so Tracey not only had to burst at least one of the sacs, she had to dry-off all three kids, too. Once she placed them by Myrtle’s head, Mama started loving on the babies just as she was supposed to. Meanwhile, I was watching Myrtle and told Tracey I thought there was another kid coming. She said it was the afterbirth, which also had to be delivered. Poor Myrtle was making the weirdest faces as contractions wracked her body. The stuff that was coming out the business end looked pretty solid to me.
“I think that’s another one,” I said. Sure enough, Tracey reached down there and felt kid number four! She burst that sac, too, dried the kid off, and gave it to Mama. Four babies for Myrtle Brown! That meant 16 total kids in the nursery stall, plus two Mamas, a Goat Farmer, and the temporary Farmhand. Hannah and her girlfriend watched from outside the stall. What a way for two teens to spend a Friday evening, but they acted like it was all normal stuff.
Two older kids, watching the excitement.
The older kids were romping and cavorting the whole time Myrtle was in labor. They were also interested in what was happening in the neighboring stall. The barn was too dark and busy for many pics, but I got a bunch the next morning.
One of Myrtle’s kids.
Myrtle’s other three kids.
One of her kids was all black.
Myrtle Brown
She’s such a sweet goat.
Play-time!
Play-time!
Play-time!
I could sit and watch for hours.
Fun times.
Such beautiful kids!
Curious Kids
Playful and Curious!
The final walk back to the house.
It was not a relaxing week by any stretch of the imagination — farmhands work hard! — but it was a good week. Since I wasn’t able to participate in girls’ weekend back in February, I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with Tracey. It would have been nice had Carol been able to join us, but she has some health issues that currently prevent her from driving and minimize her level of physical activity.
It was fun spending time with Tracey’s hubby John, too. I chuckle to myself every time I think of him returning from work on Friday, saying “Honeys, I’m home!” as he came in the door. He contributed to our eating really well, too.
All in all, it was one of the coolest, most-tiring weeks I have ever enjoyed. I am so grateful to have such amazing friends. I am honored that Tracey trusted me enough to play such an active role taking care of her precious babies that whole week.
I am hoping I get to help next year, too!
More pics are online in a shared Google Photos folder for those who are interested:ToadMama the Farmhand.
Mike and I are home after a lovely week in Belgium. We went to visit Annelies and Yves, who moved into their newly renovated house after a three-year renovation. It’s not completely finished — they are doing most of the work themselves — but it is fabulous.
I didn’t take a bunch of pics of their house to share because there are still a lot of finishing touches needed. I’ll do that on our next visit.
For now, just a few pics. I hope to share more in future posts.
Final Dinner in Belgium (Chinese takeaway!)
The trip was all about visiting with our friends and seeing the new house, so we didn’t do much touristy stuff. And it was actually a really fun visit. We explored the local area a bit, helped do little things around the house, got to meet some of their family, which was awesome, and basically just hung out.
On Saturday morning, I accompanied Annelies to the nearby town of Lokeren, where she had a two-hour band practice followed by a one-hour private music lesson (she plays bass guitar and sings). The music school is on the outskirts of town near a nature preserve called The Molsbroak (Het Moelsbroek on the map), so I roamed around there for a couple of hours and then drove around a bit until she was finished.
I was really surprised to discover a large community of expats from Canada living there.
Canadian Expats
I saw several Great Blue Herons, too.
Great Blue Heron
There were other birds, too, but I have to figure out what they were before I can share more pics.
And here’s a picture captured near the center of their town, Dendermonde, on Friday afternoon.
Dendermonde, Belgium
I’ll share more pics from the trip in future posts. For now, it’s time to get to work.
Now that we’ve been home from vacation for several MONTHS, I figured it was about time I get some more pics posted.
I took a LOT of pics. But there was so much to see! Prague really is a colorful city, full of old, new, and just-plain-interesting architecture, art works of all shapes and sizes, people, fabulous views, cheap beer, yummy food, etc. Some of the architecture is famous, some not so much.
I could go on and on. Instead, I’ll sum it up briefly by saying…I loved Prague. The pretty weather helped, though it could have been a tad cooler. The fact that the beer is basically cheaper than water in all of the restaurants didn’t hurt either.
Random Art
I really did take lots of pics. I shared about 50 of my favorites here.
Rather than include a bunch of explanatory text, I’ll just say that we basically roamed the city on foot for about two and a half days. It was exhausting, but so worth it. I’m already ready to return to the Czech Republic.
Pink Bear in front of the Dancing House
HELP… this is my first post using a Mac. If the following image or any other image in this post appears sideways to you, please let me know. It appears correctly on the Mac and on the Windows PC, but not on my iPhone. Let me know what device you are using, too. Thanks!
The Dancing House
Riverfront View
Random Interestingness
Prague Castle
Pretty View
Random Interestingness
Painted Facade (those are not blocks)
I love European signage.
View from my seat at lunch.
Not a bad spot for a lunch break, eh? Yes, we lingered.
View in the other direction.
I forgot to mention that lunch was within the walls of the Prague Castle.
Prague Castle Guard
Another view from the hilltop.
Also inside of the castle is The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert, a Roman Catholic cathedral, which is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. It’s huge. I never did get a good shot of the whole thing because it’s just so darn big. I did capture lots of shots of its stunning architectural elements.
Stained Glass Close-up
The sun was streaming in through the windows, resulting in some pretty amazing light inside the building.
Unusual Light
One “small” piece of the building.
Tile Roof
The place is stunning, inside and out.
Exterior of the building.
A few of the cathedral’s MANY spires.
Silly Hubby
Random Visual Interestingness
I guess the city could be drab-looking on cloudy days, and I’m sure the hills and cobblestones are a bitch in the winter, but Prague was shining in all of its colorful glory while we were there.
Red Roofs
Our Favorite Czech beer.
I did say Prague was artsy, right? These are some of David Cerny’s famous crawling baby statues.
Annelies’ “WTF” look.
I’d only told Annelies we were looking for some of Cerny’s baby statues. I didn’t warn her that Cerny’s art is a bit unique. (He is most famous for these giant space-age babies that crawl up the Zizkov TV tower a hundred meters or so above Prague, which we didn’t visit.)
I couldn’t resist capturing this shot!
Oh, baby!
I’m glad were we able to find the babies on our way back from the castle. I would have been so disappointed if I hadn’t gotten to see them in person.
Yet another pretty streetscape.
Great mural!
Pretty Building
Interesting architectural detail.
Chandelier inside of a church.
Pretty Stained Glass
Square in Old Town
Astronomical Clock
One of the highlights of Day Two in Prague was seeing the astronomical clock. It’s the third-oldest in the world — first installed in 1410 — and the oldest one that is still operating. I even captured a video, which you should be able to watch by clicking here (make sure your speakers are on, but set at low volume).
Not bad for a 600+ year old clock!
Random herd of school children, all clad in high-vis vests.
Beautiful building.
Random Interestingness
The highlight of our third and final day in Prague was visiting the remains of the Jewish ghetto.
Jewish Cemetery (dates back to the 15th century!)
According to one Czech tourism website…
Even the mere fraction remaining of the Prague ghetto is amongst the most valuable Jewish monument in Europe. One of the most admired places, apart from the Old Jewish Cemetery from the beginning of the 15th century, the Jewish Museum and several synagogues is the Old-New Synagogue…
I don’t think any of us knew what to expect of the synagogues. We only went into one, the Spanish synagogue, which looks rather plain on the outside. The newest of the six historic Prague synagogues, it was built in the Spanish Moorish style in the second half of the 19th century. The inside was anything BUT plain.
Inside the Spanish Synagogue
Ceiling of the Spanish Synagogue
Inside the Spanish Synagogue
Inside the Spanish Synagogue
Inside the Spanish Synagogue
After that, we meandered through Old Town, making our way back to the hotel.
Random Interestingness
Random Interestingness
Random Interestingness
Random Interestingness
Prague really is a great city to visit. As are other parts of the CR, which you’ll see in my next post.
If you’d like to see all of the pics from Prague, you’ll either have to visit my photo sharing site or look at smaller versions of the images embedded in the slideshow below.
A photo posted by Kathy Kirkpatrick (@vatoadmama) on
I’ve given up trying to understand why. Truth is, I just don’t know.
One thing I do know is that I am thankful for each and every one of my followers. Folks like you. Blog friends who haven’t given up on me. Even though I’ve been noticeably absent from your blogs, too. If you follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram, you know I’m still alive. Still getting out and about in the world, more on four wheels than two.
I’m going to make a real concerted effort to be more present for all of you. Both writing more posts here and reading what you all have to say. You folks “get” parts of me that other friends and loved ones don’t understand.
So, thanks for sticking with me. You may never know just how grateful I am for each and every one of you.
When Annelies and I are planning our trips, we have to take a bunch of stuff into consideration. How much time we have, where we want to go, who do we want to visit, what we want to see/do, etc. We start with a broader view then narrow it down by thinking about cost, transportation logistics, whether or not there’s anything specific any of us want to see, etc.
It was Hubby Mike who expressed the desire to see a concentration camp. Annelies and I were both of the opinion that wanting to see a concentration camp felt sort of wrong. But then I read something that basically said Holocaust survivors want people to see the sites, read the books, etc. It is important to remember the atrocities.
The Holocaust should always serve as a brutal reminder of what can happen when one group of individuals stops seeing another group as human beings. Perhaps the most important reason to remember is so that the millions who suffered during this bleak time in world history did not die or suffer in vain.
I actually left it up to Hubby to choose a site or two in Germany, the Czech Republic, or Austria of interest so that Annelies and I could work one or more into our plan. We chose Terezin (Theresienstadt),a camp-ghetto established in the town of Terezin, northwest of Prague. (Terezin was originally built in 1780 to serve as a fortress to protect Prague from invaders to the north.)
Terezin isn’t a typical concentration camp. It wasn’t equipped or used to exterminate massive numbers of Jews. It first served as a transit camp/distribution facility. Later it was used as a ghetto/labor camp and prison to hide deportees in order to help conceal their actual fate.
Jews were typically gathered in the adjacent ghetto and the ones who tried to escape or were involved in the resistance were sent to the small fortress for brutal punishment.
As you can see on this map, Terezin consisted of a ghetto in the town and a small fortress just outside of town that housed the Prague Gestapo Police Prison.
The Small Fortress was not a happy place to see, as the pics in this post will show, but it was an important place to see. The various links explain stuff better, for those who want to know more.
Star of David at The National Cemetery
This is an artificial cemetery, created after liberation in 1945. There are 2,386 graves, containing the remains of about 10,000 souls (only 1,133 of the bodies buried here could be identified).
Yves and Mike looking at The National Cemetery
One of the few who were identified.
The stones placed on the headstone are not disrespectful as they may appear. According to Shiva.com…
Within the Jewish faith, it is customary to leave a small stone on the grave. The visitor positions the stone on the grave using his or her left hand. Placing a stone on the grave serves as a sign to others that someone has visited the grave. It also enables visitors to partake in the mitzvah tradition of commemorating the burial and the deceased.
Pile of Stones beneath Star of David (part of memorial) and tributes
The sky was fittingly somber during our visit.
Entrance Gate
Work Makes You Free
Apparently that sign was common at the concentration camps, which were supposed to be labor camps, not places to facilitate the murder of hundreds upon thousands of Jews and other insurgents. It was unusual for a Gestapo prison.
Maybe the office of the Commander of the First Yard.
The First Yard is divided into Blocks A and B, housing 17 mass cells and 20 solitary cells. Up to 1,500 inmates lived in The First Yard at any one time.
The First Yard
Block A
As explained in a Prague Blog I came across while preparing this post:
In the first courtyard for men, roll call took place in the morning and evening. Visitors can see 17 cells. Prisoners were separated by nationality with often 60 to 90 people per cell. Wooden planks made up bunk beds that were three tiers high. Narrow shelves held personal belongings. There was one toilet and one sink, and water had to be reused. The prisoners were not allowed to use light. There was rarely any heating, and humidity tormented the inmates during the summer. Lice and insects contributed to the bad hygiene.
One of the cells.
Picture yourself and 59 to 89 others crammed into and living in that small space with one toilet and one sink (remember water often had to be re-used).
During 1943 a central shower room was installed with a delousing station for clothes, where two vats or cylinders that worked on hot steam were set up. During the 10 to 12 minutes that the machines killed the insects on the clothes, up to 100 inmates were allowed to shower together. Women sometimes had hot water, but men always had cold water. Then they had to wear the wet clothes, sometimes going straight to work. The longest break between showers was four months.
Washroom the the Nazis built just for show.
This washroom was one of many tricks the Nazis used to fool the Red Cross into thinking detainees were being treated humanely.
The Hospital Ward
Mortuary
The Mortuary is where the bodies of prisoners tortured to death were stored.
Statue honoring those who died at Terezin.
Where the prison commander and some of the guards with their families lived.
The Death Gate through which prisoners were taken to the execution ground.
There’s a swimming pool to the right of The Death Gate, which was built to hold water for fighting fires, but was also used by the guards and their families for bathing.
Memorial Sculpture
The Fourth Courtyard
Thanks to the Prague Blog I mentioned previously for this horrific bit of info I hadn’t known before…
The fourth courtyard was built in 1943. Prisoners living there were forced to watch executions. The huge cells held from 400 to 600 people, who slept on the floors or in beds. There were two toilets in each cell and a glass roof added some light but made it hotter during the summer. During 1945 there were no showers in this courtyard, and typhus broke out.
Up to 20 people were held in each of the 125 solitary confinement cells, which did not have toilets or seating.
Group Cell in The Fourth Courtyard
Doors of the solitary cells.
Inside one of the solitary cells.
I wouldn’t want to be alone in that cell much less share it with up to 19 others.
Execution Ground
Outer Wall
I did say it wasn’t a happy place to see, right?
I am glad we did see it, though. It really IS important to remember.
