Today we had quite a sobering morning on our way to Prague in the Czech Republic, as we visited the famous concentration camp Auschwitz and its sister camp Auschwitz II Birkenau. Having read so many terrible stories about these concentration camps and the things that went on within their walls, it was weird to see it in plain sight. These days however the site doesn't look sinister or dangerous - its just a site you drive past with lush green grass. The walking tour was brief and factual. There was no emotion involved because the tour leaders don't want the site to become a source of entertainment. While I understand not wanting to sensationalise the whole thing, I was hoping to have an emotional response to the site and really feel the impact of what had happened on the ground under my feet, but the tour guide made it very hard to. Some of the things we saw however reduced many of us to silence. For example in one of the barracks in the Auschwitz mother camp we looked upon the hair of 10,000 victims who were killed. After they were taken to the gas chambers, clerks would then come and cut off their hair to be sold by the bundle. We also saw all the used gas canisters and the shoes of both adults and children collected from the gas chambers. While it was very sad, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so glad I paid visit to it. After our tour we got back on the bus and the tour leader gave us all lollipops to recover our spirits. We then drove for the rest of the day until we arrived in Prague in the Czech Republic. When we got there we were then treated to dinner in the hostel and then had a few hours to get ready for a party boat cruise which drifted down the main river. The capacity of the boat was meant to be 200 people but there were at least 400 people on there. Our tour group managed to grab our own area with seats and a table. Behind us however were the windows to the male toilets. Through these many of us observed some interesting sites including someone who was taking cocaine. As I was feeling sick, I didn't drink and was actually excited to get off the boat and go home to bed.