Today's itinerary took us on a journey through Vienna's rich tapestry of history and culture, with each stop offering new insights into the city's vibrant heritage. Our first stop was the Jewish Museum of Vienna, followed by some time spent in the historic Judenplatz, or Jewish square. Here, we stood in front of the Holocaust Memorial, a powerful tribute to the thousands of Viennese Jews who lost their lives during World War II. 

Jonah, what have been your impressions of Vienna so far? What have you noticed about the city?

I remember the first time we drove into Vienna and I saw all of the architecture that looked beautiful. There were a lot of big, important buildings, statues, and beautiful designs on the bricks. I wondered how long it took to build these buildings because they are so huge and detailed. When I was walking around I could tell that this place is special and has lots of meaning. It is interesting to be around people not from the U.S. I feel really safe here. It was nice to see all of the Jewish museums and know that people care about Judaism. It's almost like Israel where I don't feel judged being Jewish here. To my family, I hope you're doing well. I'm having a lot of fun and I hope Cosmo is not too depressed without me. 

As lunchtime approached, we made our way to Schwedenplatz, a bustling square where we took the opportunity to explore some of the local street food, shops, and boutiques. 

Frankie, tell us about the markets!

So far we have gone to two separate places for lunch. The first day we were lucky enough to go to an authentic Austrian Market. There was cheese, fruit, candy, and of course juicy sausage that we were not allowed to partake in. But the other food was amazing. The second day we ventured to a street where there were bakeries and other restaurants. There were also candy shops where most of the kids spent their time instead of going for some healthy options (myself included). It's great here in Vienna and I can't wait to experience the different cuisine in the other places too.

We then boarded the bus and headed south of Vienna to the Seegrotte caves. These caves used to be a gypsum mine, running from the 1840s until 1912. However, about 105 years ago, a blasting operation accidentally hit a natural water reservoir, and boom! 20 million liters of water came flooding out, turning the mine into Europe's biggest underground lake. During World War II, these caves became a top-secret aircraft production site for the German army. In 1943, they even set up a forced labor factory there, as a branch of the Mauthausen concentration camp.During the war, prisoners built dozens of Heinkel HE162 fuselages, and we were able to see some of the remnants still on display in the caves. We also discovered that various vaults opened to a water labyrinth where we were able to board a boat and take a short ride over the crystal clear water. 

Ilai, what was it like inside the caves?

When we were at Seegrotte, we had a great time exploring the caves. It was really cool to see the water was clear and blue and had reflections of the caves.  It was also so cool to see how the caves were blown up to make the mine. It was crazy to see that there were even horses and 1500 people in there to build planes during WW2. During the boat ride, we looked into the water itself and I think it was fun, in general, to be on a boat! Hey fam- miss you! I'm having fun. 

Shockingly, we still had some energy to burn so we jumped on over to a local trampoline park and closed out the night with some fries, schnitzel, and discussion. 

Ethan, tell us about the end of the today.

(Hey Mom and David-  love you guys.) At dinner tonight we were asked a few questions by Doc Ellison, including things like: What's the point of us coming to Vienna? Why these cities out of all the possibilities? How has what we have done so far helped us better understand that? And how do we connect Jewishly to what we have learned so far? We responded with our personal journals and then shared with each other ideas about recognizing our past but also celebrating our present. We finished the night with a rundown of tomorrow's action packed day, and we are now at the hotel getting ready to go to bed.

We are gearing up for some more learning and fun tomorrow!