Munchen

After our 1st free weekend, I feel so incredibly independent and accomplished (I know I've said that many times before). To be honest, before we left, I was feeling quite worried about how Catherine and I would navigate Munchen on our own. But my fears were unfounded because we made it there and back with no problem!

We visited the English Garden first and enjoyed a nice walk around the garden then some ribs (I know I know, NOT very German haha), some beers, and a large pretzel. Afterwards, we visited Dachau, the first ever concentration camp (see insert below), then the hofbrauhaus! The hofbrauhaus was probably the most fun. In the craziness of a large tourist attraction, we were finally able to sit down, and enjoy our own liters of beer! They always say the best way to make new American friends is to go to a foreign country, and true to form that is exactly what happened to us! We ended up sitting in front of 2 Americans from Wisconsin and were able to enjoy conversation and beers with them! We even danced and took photos with the hofbrauhaus regulars who were very friendly and willing to play along with us.

The hotel we stayed at actually offered us a free breakfast if we wrote a blog about something we did or visited in Munich. Below is my blog entry for the Dachau concentration camp memorial site:

When visiting Munich, one absolutely must visit the Dachau concentration camp memorial site. A quick ride on the S2 out of the Munich Hauptbahnhof and then another short bus ride on the 724 or 725 will bring any visitor to the very steps of the camp. Upon walking in, one is completely shocked into silence by the camp and the atrocities that took place within the walls of various undersized, overcrowded barracks and the prisoner-feared 'bunker'. The whole goal of the memorial site is to pay respects to and address directly what happened to those imprisoned there. Therefore the extensive museum does a very thorough job explaining how such a ruthless party could have taken power (the failing economy and plethora of starving people post WWI), what life in the camps was really like (daily beatings and forms of torture, a constant lack of food and healthcare, and constant fear of death), and even what types of human medical experiments were allowed to transpire under Nazi rule. The most ironic aspect of visiting Dachau on a summer day is the weather: bright and sunny with birds chirping. One almost forgets where he really is. This feeling, however, does not last too long as you walk past hundreds of markings showing the numerous barracks and large, ominous guard towers at each end. After leaving the main barracks area, you see the new and old crematoriums used to incinerate bodies post-mortem. Those forced to their deaths at the crematoriums were also forced to disrobe so the camp could reuse their clothes for new prisoners. Various memorials have also been added after the closure of the camps to honor the 6 million Jews persecuted and murdered by the Nazis and even the construction of a Russian Orthodox chapel to honor the Russian Army members taken prisoner by the party. After spending 3 or 4 hours at the camp, it is almost strange to return to reality. It takes a little while to get use to signs for, restaurants, sandwiches, and cell phones again. Overall, this site is not just for history or WWII buffs. It is a must see for all people (of the appropriate age) to see and understand what really happened behind those closed gates.