Exploring Bavaria: Part 1 and 2

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Guten Tag!

There were two parts to today. Where do I begin? How about at the morning....

I wake up to another wonderful breakfast at the hostel in Munich. Getting another sugar buzz from the hot chocolate, I decide that I want to leave Munich today, but not before seeing one more memorial that I came to see.

PART 1: ANOTHER NAZI EXPERIENCE
Dachau concentration camp is approximately 25km north of Munich. Dachau was one of the first, if not THE first, concentration camp set up by the Nazi leaders. Dachau was built to be the model camp that all other camps were to be designed from, and since I was just at Sachsenhausen Camp a few days ago in Berlin, I can say that it was strange that both places were similar. Dachau was also the only camp to exist during the entire Nazi regime (1933-1945). I have a picture of the front gate of both camps, and they are almost exactly the same! Dachau has been preserved a bit better with a few more buildings, a few new churches have gone up at the location, but the crematorium is intact. It was a tour that gave me goosebumps walking into the gas chamber. The Dachau Memorial has many explicit photos and even video of the camp around 1945. Again, words and photos cannot express my emotions here.

PART 2: YOU EVER JUST NOT QUITE FEEL RIGHT?
Making my way back to Munich around 4pm, I decide to go to a small, medieval town in the middle of nowhere that my guidebook recommended called Rothenburg. In the Middle Ages, when Frankfurt and Munich were just wide spots on the road, Rothenburg ob der Tauber was a huge city with a population of 6000. Today, it is a preserved medieval walled town with a charm of the Middle Ages. I run to get my bags that were stored at my hostel, and I ask the front desk clerk about a train schedule to Steinach (then you get a small train there to Rothenburg...). He looks up on the Internet, and prints me off a schedule with a train that leaves in 15 minutes with 2 other connections (train changes) to the town of Steinach! Perfect timing! I say "Danke!", and head for the Munich Haptbanof (main train station). I get to my train, that ends after multiple stops in Zurich, and confirm my first connection with the conductor, and she agrees this is the correct train. When the train begins rolling, I pull out a map to follow my connections. (Rothenburg is about 2-3 hours northwest of Munich) I don't see my first connection town... hmmm... it has to be here... Ah there it is. Wow, that's way west, almost to Switzerland. Oh well, where is the next connection town? Hmm, it is south of the first connection, on the Switzerland border.... Oh oh, I think I am on the wrong train! I inquire with the conductor, and she finds out that I have a schedule for Steinach alright.... Steinach Switzerland! (sigh...) She quickly finds me a schedule of 3 different trains from the next stop that will get me to Steinach Germany, and still before dark! Yeah! Short story long, I made it to Rothenburg! I get to a small bed and breakfast and ring the doorbell. A very old hunched over lady walking with a cane opens the door, and gives me a quick look up and down. I ask if she has a room available, and with another look up and down, she says "Ja", and lets me in. The building I am staying in is over 500 years old, and she gives me a key that must have been one of the originals as it is the old 'skeleton key' style (I have a picture...). My room is hardly more than a bed and chair, but I do have a sink! I leave to walk the town a bit. At dark with no tourists around, it is a very romantic town with cobblestone streets, and small shops that are closed, but their windows keep displaying everything from medieval armor and weapons to baked goods (Rothenburg is famous for Schneeballen, I have a picture...) and anything inbetween. Walking the streets of a tiny walled town at night with minimal people around is a treat. (I walked the entire town in about 25 minutes).

Here are some funny random things about my trip so far...

-There was 2000 years old graffiti at the ruins of Pompeii that said things like "The Emperor is a eunich", and other funny lines. Even then....

-Since it is very hard to read the foreign languages, I am never QUITE sure that I am going the right direction.... ANYWHERE. Train, walking, bus, subway... everytime, there is always a little hesitation that makes me wonder.... It has always worked out though, except for today.

-Ordering food based on what I THINK sounds good.

-When I thought I was at the peak of Tegelburg mountain, only to find out I was maybe halfway!

-Any door in Europe that you think to open it you should push.... PULL!

Pictures soon, I uploaded a ton of photos over the last week... go back to my previous days and view them.

Tschüss!

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Photos

Rothenburg at Night
I began playing with long term exposure photos, and this was my first attempt! I love this photo! 10 sec exposure on a cobblestone road.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial
Work will set you free

Front gate
Looks just like Sachsenhausen!

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial
crematorium

Rothenburg at Night
Clocktower with moon in background. This pic is a great representation of the real light level at night (without the long term exposure photos). It was dark, and the lights were faint!

Rothenburg at Night
10 sec exposure

Rothenburg at Night
10 sec exposure

Schneeballen!
About the size of my fist!