Pictures from My Phone: European Edition

A little late coming, but here at last, I give you Pictures from My Phone: The European Edition. I know, I know. I'm in Palau now. I should be posting pictures of myself on the beach doing this (picture me doing something that people on the beach usually do, but that also makes me look super hot). Life has been a bit crazy for me for the last 2 months, but things are finally settling down. Or, rather, my days are turning into a more consistent and manageable level of strange.

You know the drill. I'm no photographer, and I'm not really trying to be one. Each of the images below are shots I've captured on my phone during the course of a normal day. Except these images were all taken during my recent Eastern European backpacking trip with Daniel and Krishelle.



I don't really understand this phenomenon. But it seems that no matter where I go anymore, I see signs of the Queen of Colors. I always view these signs as threats. And reminders that the Q of C is truly capable of unspeakable evil. This shot glass was spotted in Krakow, Poland.

This fence sits out in the Auschwitz concentration camp area in Poland. It sections off the barracks the prisoners lived in before being gassed just a hundred meters or so from this spot. I've been out to Auschwitz a couple of times now and both times were sobering and horrific.

Train tracks entering the camp, just next to the barracks at Auschwitz.

This is part of Krakow center square in the evening. Krakow is perhaps the most enchanting town I've ever seen, complete with a castle atop a hill on the edge of center, with its very own dragon tale.

Train station in L'viv Ukraine, late at night, as you can see from the clock.  I have so many memories and so much emotion tied up in this pictures.  Countless hellos and goodbyes, sometimes for the last time, on these platforms, as the loud speaker announces arrivals and departures. For some reason that I can't really explain, being in and seeing pictures of train stations in Eastern Europe is Ukraine to me. And it brings out so many emotions that remind me of all things I love and hate about Ukraine.

Daniel climbing a tall clock tower in L'viv, Ukraine. I don't think he knew I was snapping this shot and so probably didn't mean for such a dramatic pose to be captured. But now you have evidence that he tends to look dramatic when not posing.

Good friends and more sweet memories in L'viv, Ukraine. Lena, the young girl on my left arm in the picture, has a very special place in my family's hearts. She took care of me and Daniel on this trip after a few couchsurfing mishaps left us tired, dirty, and a little miserable.

 

Daniel sleeping on a narrow bench in a Ukrainian park after spending the night on a very dirty communal train. In this picture we were waiting to meet our next couchsurfing host, who turned out to be a HUGE mistake.

 

A shaky shot of the sink in the bathroom on the train from Kyiv to L'viv. I tried desperately to take a shot of the much more horrific toilet but it was too dark and this was the only image that turned out. I still, one month later, swallow a squirt of hand-sanitizer a few times a day, just hoping that bathroom experience will be erased from my memory.

 

The Blue Mosque from the top of a building in Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul was full of mosques, seemingly on every corner, but this one was the most impressive to us.

 

Church steeple just outside of center in Krakow.

 

Water view in Istanbul during a long afternoon stroll.

 

The Queen of Colors in Sofia Bulgaria, looking at us menacingly.

 

Daniel making his bed on the top bunk (of three) on a long train ride to Poland.

 

Hotel room in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Surprisingly inexpensive despite its SEVEN chandeliers, two bedrooms, and impressive views. This hotel was possibly the only thing I liked about Bulgaria. (Unless you happen to be from there, in which case, oh my gosh I loved it so much!).

~It Just Gets Stranger