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Marienplatz
This is the main square of the city, very cool 14th century medieval church. Munich, Germany:
STOP THE RAIN! We have yet to experience a full day without rain, and our first days in Munich were by no means an exception. Not only did it rain, it rained significantly harder and longer than it has before. The temperatures dropped into the low 40s for most of the time, only peaking at a maximum of about 55 during the afternoon when the rain subsided. Whatever we did to deserve almost 2 weeks straight of rain, we are truly sorry.
When we woke up our first morning in Munich, the wind was blowing and the rain was pouring. It was so bad that we were forced to abandon the bike tour that we had been planning to go on. It would have been a miserable ride through the city, and the wind definitely would have been brutal. We wanted to go to the Dachau Concentration Camp, but the memorial was closed on Mondays, so we couldn’t do that until Tuesday. The Munich Castle was also on our to do list, but it was an all-day excursion about an hour away from the city, so we couldn’t do that either. We literally spent the next 3
Dachau
The inscription on the gate reads, "Arbeit Macht Frei," literally meaning, "Freedom Through Work." Ironic because there was hardly a chance for freedom, no matter how hard you worked. hours in an internet café uploading pictures and writing in our blogs, and frantically looking for a decent hotel to stay in when we get to Florence next week.
The day was pretty much a waste because of the weather. We did as much walking around the city center as we could handle before coming back to the hotel to take refuge in its warmth. We went out again a few hours later to visit a couple of original Bavarian breweries that we had been told to go to, and to get some dinner. The two breweries we went to both date back into the 15th century, where they have been brewing their own beer sense. One, the Hofbrahaus, features waiters in original Bavarian outfits, serving their beer in massive 1-liter steins. The men looked the most ridiculous in their tall socks, short green shirts and vests with suspenders. It was quite a sight. We tried their sausages and sauerkraut, but they really weren’t that great. They had good pretzels, but nothing special. Munich is apparently the beer capital of the world, so we had to find out for ourselves. After a beer at each brewery, and a Chinese
Dachau
The camp dinner in between, we literally ran back to our hotel as the weather was only deteriorating. I haven’t experienced weather like this in a long time, and its really starting to take a toll on us. We were fully unprepared for this kind of weather, and I have been wearing nearly every outer layer I own when I go outside. Still trying to be optimistic, but the weather is calling for rain for our remaining days in Munich, everyday in Interlaken, and at least our first 2 days in Florence. Hopefully the weathermen are wrong, and we will find our sunshine soon enough!
The next morning, we got up early for a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp, about 20 minutes outside of Munich. This was the first opportunity I have had to see one of the Nazi concentration camps, and we decided to see Dachau instead of doing an overall tour of Munich because we didn’t have time for both. The tour was incredible. It was especially good because this camp had been used as the model for all subsequent camps such as Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka, etc. The whole thing was very moving, and I’m really glad I
Dachau Gas Chamber
Gas was introduced into the chamber through two small doors from the outside was able to see it. The pictures, stories, and videos of the camp really gave me a better understanding of what life was like for the prisoners at the camp. The tour guide kept reinforcing the idea that the point of the tour was not just to prevent something like this from happening again, but to really give the visitors a clear picture of what a concentration camp was, and what daily life was like for the prisoners. They wanted us to see what the reality of a concentration camp was, not just what you get from movies and the media. The guide had a lot of really great stories and tidbits of information that painted a very gruesome picture of life at the camps. We didn’t get back until almost 4 o’clock, and after such a physically and mentally tiring tour, and of course, nearly non stop rain and actually brief periods of good sized hail, we were exhausted. We immediately searched for a good restaurant where we had some food and Hot Chocolate, then retired to the hotel for a nap.
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