Reflections

St Stephen’s Cathedral was one of the most stunning cathedrals I have seen. We even went to the top of the tower for a view of the whole of Vienna. The roof was bombed in WW2 and replaced with a beautiful mosaic tiling. It shows the destruction of WW2. It shows how infrastructure changes in time as we rebuild destroyed buildings. It also shows the horrors of losing historical artefacts as a result of war.

When I visited Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace, its Baroque halls and well-kept grounds brought me back to the luxury of Austria's imperial past and made me reflect on the Habsburg dynasty's influence and dominance over European history.

We visited the salt mine in Hallstatt, which proclaims a history of over 7000 years. It certainly shows how vast human history can be. Personally, renting a boat with my buddies, having fun in the lake while taking in the natural scenery we don’t get to see in Hong Kong, and also talking to the locals provided me with a chance to relax. Linking back to literature, I wrote a lot about Hallstatt and its beauty, which was inspiring.

While one big focus of our history curriculum is on World War II, visiting a concentration camp provides us a completely unique perspective towards history. The devastating horrors was tangible and more relatable once we witnessed the places and environments that prisoners were kept in, creating a stronger image of what happened during wartime. Together with the clear explanation of the tour guide, it allowed us to better understand the broader societal conditions caused by war and be reminded to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

The visit to the Terezín concentration camp is the most memorable site as it allows me to look into the history of the Nazi Party’s rule over Czechoslovakia, and to learn about the infamous Holocaust.

This trip was amazing experience for both history and literature - especially the breathtaking churches and natural scenery that we have visited in Prague, Vienna and Hallstatt.

The Mauthausen Concentration Camp was where the weight of history felt palable in every corner. Throughout the visit the stories of sufferings constanty reminds me of one of the darkest chapters in human history.

The Wenceslas Square really shocked me regarding how people were willing to sacrifice themselves in such a horrible way, by burning themselves alive, just to fight for an ideal which was quite impossible to come true. Nowadays, it is quite a rare action, but it does allow me to feel the extreme stress that the Czechs lived under in the past.