Munich, Germany

I am reminded of the fact that I am not 21 anymore, but the last few days are worth the tiredness I feel now. Cheers to my Wombats family!

I had planned on meeting up with Carrie, from the Sound of Music tour, at the hostel in Munich, but arrived a day early. I had just sat down to email her and look over, and Carrie is there. Yay! We went to find some dinner. Good food, great conversation, and meeting up with a traveler from an earlier journey - great experience.

Monday I went to Nurnberg (Nuremburg in English). There is a museum that focuses on the history of how the Nazies actually got started. It was a great lesson in history and filled in many of the gaps that I don't remember learning in America.  I also walked around the area that was once his presentation area. The pictures in the museum helped you to visualize the thousands upon thousands of soldiers marching down the street and onto the grounds (4 sq miles).

As much as I don't agree with Hitler and detest what he stood for, the man really was intelligent and cunning.  He knew just what to say and give to the German people after WWI and they bought into him. It absolutely amazes me that it took over 10 years for any opposition to Hitler to take hold.

While I, as a traveler, enjoy all the information and signage around in Germany about the war, I realize it is something the German people still feel very shameful about. Except for the museum and a few signs, this area looks nothing like it did 60 years ago. There is a beautiful lake filled with native fish in the place where all the soldiers used to line up to hear Hitler speak. There is a kind of fairground they use for concerts and big community gatherings. The massively wide street the soldiers would march down is a parking lot for the events in the area.  Germans have done a good job of using the space for things that won't remind them of the horrible events every day. I am trying to be aware of their continued guilt surrounding these events as I am visually putting together the events and places in my own head. It proved to be a reflective day, for sure.

I got back to the hostel to meet Carrie for dinner, as she was off to Paris in the morning. She had met a girl named Caroline from Australia. We were talking in the common room about my day and I mentioned wanting to go to Dachau to the concentration camp memorial. Caroline said she would join me, then another American, Aaron, overheard us and wanted to come. Sweet, we were now a group of 3.

However, I wasn't sure they would be open, seeing as it was a holiday, All Saints Day. I went up to the reception desk to find out and got caught up in this hilarious conversation with Ozzie, who worked at the hostel. Customer relations and tour extraordinare. It was kind of like talking with someone with ADD on speed. Inuendos flying everywhere. My stomach was hurting I was laughing so much. Point being, yes the memorial was open tomorrow. The 3 of us decided on a meeting time for tomorrow and off to dinner we went. Aaron was meeting up with some other people, so the 3 girls set off. Knowing it was Halloween, we weren't sure what was in store for the night.

The next morning at breakfast we were discussing how to get to Dachau. There was a group train ticket for 2 -5 people. We had 3 and were joking about needing 2 more. Caroline leans over to 2 boys from Scotland sitting next to us, and just like that we had 2 more. They went upstairs to change and brought down another to join us. While waiting for the Scots we recruited another traveler sitting in the lobby. What had started as just me had quickly grown to a group of 7. Sweet!

We navigated the trams and busses, grabbed our audioguides once we arrived, agreed on a meeting time, and off we went. How to describe Dachau - intense, horrific, powerful, emotional. I walked the grounds of the actual camp, standing where thousands of prisoners stood every morning and night for roll call. They had to remain standing until everyone was accounted for, sometimes taking all night. I walked through the barracks where a room meant for 50 people was stuffed with over 400. Towards the back of the site were the religious monuments set up after the war. And finally to the crematorium and gas chamber they claim was never used for mass killings. They modeled the chamber at Aushwitz after the chamber at Dachau. Talk about a moving experience!

The museum was the most informative, yet emotional part of the memorial site. There was so much information inside, you could spend days there. I think one of the interviews from a survivor summed it up well. He was an American soldier that came to view Dachau during the war. He said it was like being on a different world. This couldn't possibly have been our planet. My whole experience at the site seemed so surreal.

During the course of the day, our group of 7 split into 2 groups, one that stayed at Dachau for a while longer, and one that went back to town. I think I spent about 5 hours at the memorial site. I could have stayed longer, but was emotionally spent, and they were closing soon.

We had dinner that night at the famouse beer hall, The Hafbrauhaus. The food was ok, but who comes for the food? It's all about the beer. I know Rick was there enjoying it with me. :) We got back to the hostel and caught up with the others who had been drinking for awhile. A night of booze, drinking games, and an Italian who couldn't speak a word of English but still managed to be the center of the party ensued. I made some new friends, had lots of laughs and little sleep.

My final day in Munich was filled with museums and the Naples vs. Munich soccer match! First on the list, The Residenz where the royalty of Bavaria once lived. Sadly this whole area was so badly damaged in the war, nothing is original. It has all been restored beautifully though. Two art museums were next up, art from the 17th - 20th centuries. A school group was inside, 2nd and 3rd graders, it looked like. The younger kids were gathered around and drawing one of Van Gogh's sunflowers. The older kids were creating their own version of one of Monet's water lillies. Can you imagine being 7 or 8 and standing in front of such famous works of art? Wow!

That night was the soccer match. We knew there was no way we were getting tickets. We had a group of 8, and it was a Champions League match. But we wanted to be part of the action anyway. We headed down to the stadium fairly early, just to check out the scene. We were hoping for a pub nearby with a tv. No such luck, the stadium is way out in the middle of nowhere. Just getting to walk around and mingle with the fans was exciting. We settled for watching the game from a pub around the corner from the hostel. A Champions League game - what a match! The Munich team won! Then it was back to the hostel for more drinks, and some much needed laundry time for me. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night either.

Munich was a blast! An old city with a lot of history, fun new friends, food and drinks, lots of laughter, and plenty of memories! I was kind of sad to be leaving, but Switzerland is waiting.