My Trip to Europe & Souvenirs

Last month I had the pleasure of travelling to Europe!  I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful places I saw, and some of the little things I brought home with me!  I hope you won't mind, while some of these photos are beautiful and funny, others are dark and heavy.  I hope that I can share a small fraction of what I learned with you here!

The courtyard of the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz in Berlin, Germany.  This museum has a lot of great information about how the Holocaust came to be.  I was really struck by the contrast of the beautiful gardens and lake-side-view and the horror that was directed from here not so long ago.  

A closeup of some of the flowers at the museum.  Germany had beautiful flowers and wonderful forests. 

Part of the Berlin Wall that still stands.  I was able to purchase some pieces of the wall at a gift shop to bring home for my brother and boyfriend. 

A church in Berlin.

Some of the many possessions stolen from the Jewish victims of the Holocaust at Auschwitz.  There were rooms full of glasses, shoes, human hair, suitcases, and other personal effects, and yet these rooms only represent a snapshot of the lives lost, and a tiny fraction of all the thing stolen.

Behind these flowers stands one of the few remaining, intact walls of the Warsaw Ghetto.

On a lighter note, I had a good laugh over this can of Diet Coke in Berlin!

Of course, I couldn't help but pose for a photo at this Sephora outside of Krakow.  This Sephora was much smaller than I am use to, with more higher end brands, and a much greater focus on skincare.  I had a laugh here when I asked if the lady spoke English and she said "No.  You speak Russian."

While in Warsaw I came across a shop that sold Traditional Polish Ceramics.  I instantly fell in love with the blue and white pattern, and the whimsical feeling of having nothing that quite matches.  Currently I use the mugs as make-up brush holders, and the dish as a place to hold my rings and bracelets each night. 

Essence Make-Up is a German brand, so of course I had to pick up some while I was in Berlin!  I was excited by their (so far not in Canada) no light gel nail polish system, which I look forward to reviewing this month!  I also picked up this eyeshadow palette that I had never seen before in Canada!  Essence has literally 5x as many options in Europe as they do here at Shoppers Drug Mart!

Milka Bars ever since my first trip to Europe when I was 17 I have always had to get my hands on some Milka bars while I was away.  Milka is a German chocolate brand that reminds me of Cadbury...kinda.  Their chocolate is divine and available literally everywhere in Europe!  While I of course purchased some larger bars, I was also able to purchase a bag with 80 minis at the airport for next to nothing!

Ingolt is a Polish make-up brand that is with out a doubt cheaper there than it is in Canada!  If I had more than seven minutes before my flight departed in Warsaw I would have purchased way more!  I am already thinking of ways to route my flight through Warsaw for a future trip to Eastern or Southern Europe.  The prices were that good.  This is a liquid bronzer-shimmer that reminds me of a recent Chanel release.  I can't wait to play around with this once it finally gets hot outside!

So there you have it: a very brief overview of my recent trip to Germany and Poland!  The beautiful, the challenging, the funny, and the souvenirs.  I had a really touching trip where I learned more than I  could have imagined about The Holocaust, but I don't really feel up to sharing it all out here on the Internet.  If you do have questions, or want to learn more about what I learned there please send me an email at classyontherun@gmail.com and I would be happy to chat privately.

And on that challenging note...

Where do you want to go on your next vacation?  Currently I am thinking Florida, but in terms of far away places, I would love to go to Spain!