Visited Mauthausen concentration camp today. Was extremely gut-wrenchingly difficult. I wrote tons in my journal but am going to make this quick, because I’m still processing my thoughts and they’re kind of fuzzy. I guess I’m feeling sort of shell-shocked, since I wasn’t emotionally prepared for today and it really caught me off guard. Elie, too. I’m sure I’ll have lots to say about today later, and I also took a lot of photos because I think it’s important to bear witness, but I just can’t get it out right now.
We went to a town called Mondsee for lunch, where a lot of scenes from the Sound of Music were filmed, and normally I would’ve really enjoyed that but I didn’t really have an appetite. Most of the others on the tour seem to have recovered quickly, maybe for them it was just another tourist stop, because they were all happily drinking beer at one of Munich’s famous beer halls tonight. But my heart hasn’t really been in it.
Tomorrow we’re going whitewater rafting, so I hope I’m able to enjoy it.