Today we woke about 8:00. We tried to be as quiet as possible to get ready and stow our stuff in the lockers. We traipsed down to the main lobby and planned our day. Originally, we had thought we would take the train to Salzburg, Austria (1 1/2 hours away), but since we had seen so little of Munich we decided to stay there and have fun. We had breakfast at the hostel ( a pretty decent one, I was pleasantly surprised) and then walked a few blocks to the train station/metro. We bought two Munich XXL tickets which would take us out of town to Dachau. We caught the S-bahn, and after 30 minutes, caught a bus in Dachau to the Concentration Camp.
Disclaimer: Some of this post is a little heavy and rather descriptive of the Camp. You can skip it or move to the end of the post if you want.
There is a small visitors center from which you can a get map and information. I wasn't sure how ready I was, emotionally, to visit the site, but it's something I feel that everyone should experience at least once.
It was also Sunday. Instead of finding a church, we decided to visit this instead. Definitely a different kind of spiritual.
This is the excavated original road the prisoners walked on as they got off the trains. The main gate is directly ahead. This camp was the very first one and all others were modeled from it. The first prisoners were political opponents of the Nazis and people who were widely outspoken against them. Only a few years later did the Jews, gyspies, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals, and others join them.
The main gate. It says something along the lines of "Work makes you Free".
You can walk around the entire Camp. You can also visit the incredibly intense museum. We viewed a film partway through the exhibits which was very provoking. You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved and saddened by it. The exhibits displayed horrific details of what went on in the camp. It is insane to me that something like the Holocaust could have happened.
One big take away for me was the fact that it would have been so easy for someone to give up-- and many did. But some of these prisoners had such monumental character and faith that they refused to give in to their torturers and let them "win". They did everything they could think of to help others and lighten loads. Their example is amazing to me.
This memorial was placed here to remember them. The English portion reads " May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."
This is a very disturbing sculpture in the middle of compound. You can see it from the Museum and the barracks. In the distance you can see some reconstructed barracks like the ones the prisoners lived in. In the middle ground is the main area where "roll call" was conducted every day. Along with mass beatings and murders.
None of the other barracks were rebuilt. Instead, beams mark the places they stood. The original watch towers remain however.
The most gruesome part of the Camp was the crematorium and gas chambers. Here are two of the giant ovens. There are rooms to either side where the bodies were stacked before burning. Walking through these rooms is a horrible thing.
This is the gas chamber, disguised as a "shower room". See the thick, metal door and frames? There are two of them. And fake shower heads around the ceiling. We didn't linger long.
The motto of the camps is "Never Again". If you get a chance to go to one, please do. It will be hard to see, but good for you to add your witness that it happened.
We left the camp about 2:00 pm. (grateful we could freely walk through the metal gates) We were in the mood for a little rejuvenation, so we went back to the hostel, which was a thousand times more quiet now. We ate a little lunch and then left and took the Underground up to the Marienplatz (or town square). There had been workers out all morning cleaning up the soccer mess and now the city was cleaner and more like the Munich we had envisioned.
We stopped and marveled at some of the neat buildings we saw. There seemed to be a lot of painted buildings here.
Another church with fascinating metal work on the front.
About this time, we ran into more LDS missionaries. Some older couple missionaries and a younger sister missionary. They told us they had met one of Dusty's relations at church that morning. Small world!
We had limited time since everything was going to close so after weighing our options, we settled on seeing the Munich Residenz. We turned and started to find our way there.
The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and was the home of the Wittelsbach family (the Bavarian monarchy) for generations. It is a mighty thing with endless corridors and things to see. We could only see the Residenz and not the treasury as well because of time constraints.
One of the most impressive things is this large room, known as the Hall of Antiquities.
Each wing of the palace was added with each new generation. And all are decorated in the style of their time. All were lovely. We particularly liked this high bed. You'd have to run to get on it. :)
Dusty rockin' his audioguide.
A beautiful hall filled with portraits and chandeliers. I really loved the green damask fabric on the walls.
There are no mirrors in this photo. There really were that many place settings in this enormous room. Lots of silver to go around.
One of the weirdest rooms in the Residenz was the reliquary. At first we didn't realize what we were looking at, but I started to notice that there were skulls underneath the shimmery gauze and tiny baby bodies in the glass cases. Sorry, but I don't need the femur of my grandmother in a gold and crystal case to remember her.
I really liked this room that charted the families' ancestry.
The palace was exhaustive, but very interesting. Upon leaving, we walked across the mini square and sat on these stairs to give our feet a rest. People in fancy attire started arriving. It turns out that this is a theater and there was a ballet about to begin. We watched every one walk in, admiring their choice of outfits. There were lots of little girls in pretty dresses too!
All we had left was time, and an entire city at our disposal. We walked and walked. Past all sorts of buildings.
By random statues.
Until we stumbled upon the "English Gardens" of Munich. I would liken them to Central Park of NYC.
Creative bike posts, wouldn't you say?
In this small open building, there were about thirty couples dancing to some really great jazz music. We watched them for awhile. It looked like so much fun!
There were many large, open spaces with people playing games, listening to music, just basically enjoying themselves. We found a nice little spot and enjoyed the surroundings as well. I napped while Dusty read.
This Chinese Tower was at the middle of a giant beer garden.
It was great to see a different part of Munich. We left the garden and took the Underground (which had classical music playing in it) back to the Marienplatz. Everything was closed as it was Sunday, but we did find one thing open. . .
It was St. Michael's Church. We just happened to wander in, and discover that the choir was practicing for Mass later that night. Oh, heavenly music! Such wonderful blend and acoustics. We sat an listened for a long time. They sang many beautiful things, starting and stopping, always with the organ. My favorite was a version of Abide With Me. Truly glorious music. This church, was most of Munich was, was bombed in WWII and then rebuilt to it's original state.
After our private concert, we got back to the hostel. We put a load of laundry in the washer and then attempted to face time again. There were too many people online and we could never get on. The laundry took forever! We waited until past midnight to pack our luggage in preparation for our early train in the morning. We did get to chat for a bit with one of our room mates. He made us excited to visit Ireland some day.
What I want to remember about Munich:
sleeping in a room with 5 guys our loud hostel the soccer final the idyllic park
being sick overcast Sunday Concentration Camp so much German
room after room in the Residenz figuring out the U-bahn and S-bahn dirty/clean city
chicken cordon bleu
What I want to remember about Germany:
the autobahn rain/clouds tiny towns everywhere waffles + caramel
little town squares seeing B&B's church and schools seeing B&B and family
beautiful castles grayish-blue water the fleamarket riding in the van together
fabulous day in Fussen/Linderhof 6 week old baby very high speed trains
manicured forests good weather grocery shopping cream colored taxis
Disclaimer: Some of this post is a little heavy and rather descriptive of the Camp. You can skip it or move to the end of the post if you want.
There is a small visitors center from which you can a get map and information. I wasn't sure how ready I was, emotionally, to visit the site, but it's something I feel that everyone should experience at least once.
It was also Sunday. Instead of finding a church, we decided to visit this instead. Definitely a different kind of spiritual.
This is the excavated original road the prisoners walked on as they got off the trains. The main gate is directly ahead. This camp was the very first one and all others were modeled from it. The first prisoners were political opponents of the Nazis and people who were widely outspoken against them. Only a few years later did the Jews, gyspies, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals, and others join them.
The main gate. It says something along the lines of "Work makes you Free".
You can walk around the entire Camp. You can also visit the incredibly intense museum. We viewed a film partway through the exhibits which was very provoking. You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved and saddened by it. The exhibits displayed horrific details of what went on in the camp. It is insane to me that something like the Holocaust could have happened.
One big take away for me was the fact that it would have been so easy for someone to give up-- and many did. But some of these prisoners had such monumental character and faith that they refused to give in to their torturers and let them "win". They did everything they could think of to help others and lighten loads. Their example is amazing to me.
This memorial was placed here to remember them. The English portion reads " May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."
This is a very disturbing sculpture in the middle of compound. You can see it from the Museum and the barracks. In the distance you can see some reconstructed barracks like the ones the prisoners lived in. In the middle ground is the main area where "roll call" was conducted every day. Along with mass beatings and murders.
None of the other barracks were rebuilt. Instead, beams mark the places they stood. The original watch towers remain however.
The most gruesome part of the Camp was the crematorium and gas chambers. Here are two of the giant ovens. There are rooms to either side where the bodies were stacked before burning. Walking through these rooms is a horrible thing.
This is the gas chamber, disguised as a "shower room". See the thick, metal door and frames? There are two of them. And fake shower heads around the ceiling. We didn't linger long.
The motto of the camps is "Never Again". If you get a chance to go to one, please do. It will be hard to see, but good for you to add your witness that it happened.
We left the camp about 2:00 pm. (grateful we could freely walk through the metal gates) We were in the mood for a little rejuvenation, so we went back to the hostel, which was a thousand times more quiet now. We ate a little lunch and then left and took the Underground up to the Marienplatz (or town square). There had been workers out all morning cleaning up the soccer mess and now the city was cleaner and more like the Munich we had envisioned.
We stopped and marveled at some of the neat buildings we saw. There seemed to be a lot of painted buildings here.
Another church with fascinating metal work on the front.
About this time, we ran into more LDS missionaries. Some older couple missionaries and a younger sister missionary. They told us they had met one of Dusty's relations at church that morning. Small world!
We had limited time since everything was going to close so after weighing our options, we settled on seeing the Munich Residenz. We turned and started to find our way there.
The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and was the home of the Wittelsbach family (the Bavarian monarchy) for generations. It is a mighty thing with endless corridors and things to see. We could only see the Residenz and not the treasury as well because of time constraints.
One of the most impressive things is this large room, known as the Hall of Antiquities.
Somewhere after this point, I got sick of taking photos with my large camera, and started using our crappy one instead. I will forever regret it, but I did snag a few "decent" photos. Sorry for the quality of the following pictures; I hope to never repeat my mistake. I blame my sick lightheadedness.
Each wing of the palace was added with each new generation. And all are decorated in the style of their time. All were lovely. We particularly liked this high bed. You'd have to run to get on it. :)
Dusty rockin' his audioguide.
A beautiful hall filled with portraits and chandeliers. I really loved the green damask fabric on the walls.
There are no mirrors in this photo. There really were that many place settings in this enormous room. Lots of silver to go around.
One of the weirdest rooms in the Residenz was the reliquary. At first we didn't realize what we were looking at, but I started to notice that there were skulls underneath the shimmery gauze and tiny baby bodies in the glass cases. Sorry, but I don't need the femur of my grandmother in a gold and crystal case to remember her.
I really liked this room that charted the families' ancestry.
The palace was exhaustive, but very interesting. Upon leaving, we walked across the mini square and sat on these stairs to give our feet a rest. People in fancy attire started arriving. It turns out that this is a theater and there was a ballet about to begin. We watched every one walk in, admiring their choice of outfits. There were lots of little girls in pretty dresses too!
All we had left was time, and an entire city at our disposal. We walked and walked. Past all sorts of buildings.
By random statues.
Creative bike posts, wouldn't you say?
In this small open building, there were about thirty couples dancing to some really great jazz music. We watched them for awhile. It looked like so much fun!
There were many large, open spaces with people playing games, listening to music, just basically enjoying themselves. We found a nice little spot and enjoyed the surroundings as well. I napped while Dusty read.
This Chinese Tower was at the middle of a giant beer garden.
It was great to see a different part of Munich. We left the garden and took the Underground (which had classical music playing in it) back to the Marienplatz. Everything was closed as it was Sunday, but we did find one thing open. . .
It was St. Michael's Church. We just happened to wander in, and discover that the choir was practicing for Mass later that night. Oh, heavenly music! Such wonderful blend and acoustics. We sat an listened for a long time. They sang many beautiful things, starting and stopping, always with the organ. My favorite was a version of Abide With Me. Truly glorious music. This church, was most of Munich was, was bombed in WWII and then rebuilt to it's original state.
After our private concert, we got back to the hostel. We put a load of laundry in the washer and then attempted to face time again. There were too many people online and we could never get on. The laundry took forever! We waited until past midnight to pack our luggage in preparation for our early train in the morning. We did get to chat for a bit with one of our room mates. He made us excited to visit Ireland some day.
What I want to remember about Munich:
sleeping in a room with 5 guys our loud hostel the soccer final the idyllic park
being sick overcast Sunday Concentration Camp so much German
room after room in the Residenz figuring out the U-bahn and S-bahn dirty/clean city
chicken cordon bleu
What I want to remember about Germany:
the autobahn rain/clouds tiny towns everywhere waffles + caramel
little town squares seeing B&B's church and schools seeing B&B and family
beautiful castles grayish-blue water the fleamarket riding in the van together
fabulous day in Fussen/Linderhof 6 week old baby very high speed trains
manicured forests good weather grocery shopping cream colored taxis
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