Munchen #2

The Gothic stye church

 October 23, 2010
Although I'd been to Munich, or Munchen, before, it was only for Oktoberfest. This time around we saw the sites of Munich, including the Dachau concentration camp. We had heard a lot of great things about Munich, it being Germany's 3rd largest city and all. However I wasn't overly impressed. We went as a day trip, so when we arrived we headed down the strip to the Marienplatz, which is full of shopping and a big 19th century style church. They had these shows, called a Glockenspiel, of copper statues  at 11 and 12 o'clock that danced. One was a traditional dance of a wedding celebration in the 1400's and the other was a celebration of the plague being over. It was rather interesting, but I really don't know how to even explain it.

Up close picture of the statues that danced

After that, we caught the S Bahn to Dachau to out the concentration camp. Before I came to Germany, I said the one thing I absolutely have to do is visit a concentration camp. Sounds depressing, but WW2 and the Holocaust was always interesting to me. Dachau was one of the best to visit it was the first concentration camp and was like a trial run for the rest. It was the longest ever used, 1933-1945.  We did an audio tour as we went through. The whole experience was very solemn. They had a museum which we went through quickly (you could easily spend a few hours here). At one point, there were over 100,000 Jews at Dachau, more that 206,000 all together. They built gas chambers, or "showers" in 1943 I believe, but apparently never used them at this location. they were only used at other concentration camps. We walked the trail of memorials where ashes were buried, walked through the gas chambers, and bunks of where they slept. Walking through the bunks brought back a memory of junior high when we were learning about the Holocaust. Picture above-art representing Jews who died trying to escape the torture through the barbed wire
<--I remember reading a caption about a picture-it was of the bunks and naked Jews hanging from them, skin and bones, desperate for food. As I walked through, I couldn't get this image out of my head, and suddenly it all became real. Although all the buildings had been demolished because of smell and poor condition and only a few rebuilt for people to experience and walk through, it was still just like the pictures in the textbooks. Throughout most of the tour, I felt like I needed to cry, but never could. I felt for these human beings that were tortured and killed for no good reason at all. I said a prayer as I went into the Catholic memorial. On an ironic note, a friend of mine from camp in Michigan was also visiting Dachau this day as well. We knew we were both going to be in Munich this day, but had made no arrangements to meet up. I walked out of one of the buildings and she spotted me. It was an interesting meet up-to see two people who have not seen each other in 3 years scream with happiness as they ran towards each other. Even their tour guide said he didn't know if he had ever seen people that happy before at the concentration camp :)

On a happier note, we went to the Central Park of Germany, the English Gardens as it is called, after we were finished. It was designed by an American, image that. It was gorgeous with all of the falling orange red, and yellow leaves. We walked up to a hilltop temple and saw a little view of the city. There are also food vendors there, with picnic tables that hold over 6,000 people! The park was so big and it was getting dark, so we never found them.

Next on the agenda was the Hofbrauhaus. This is the famous international tent at Oktoberfest, but they also have a restaurant, which holds several hundred, if not a thousand, I'm sure. There are no hostesses at this place, like many restaurants we've been to before, and there were tons of people waiting outside waiting for tables. People usually sit for hours drinking their beers and getting a table is not easy. Luckily, we made a trip around, got back to where we started, and saw a group of people getting up. Another group of guys wanted the same table, but politely gave it to the ladies in waiting :) The thing about this place is that because it is so crowded, you take what is available, which usually means sitting next to people you don't know. It's a good way to meet new people :)
We left the beer center to catch our train. We took our time and ended up rushing to catch it, only to find out I made a mistake when looking up return train ties. I think USA is the only country that uses AM and PM. Everybody else uses "military time" or apparently normal time. I printed off times at 10, thinking PM, instead of what should have been 2200. It was an honest mistake, and none of the others caught it either when they looked at it. Unfortunately, the next train that left was 2AM! We hung around the bar at the hostel our friend were staying at for a few hours. It turned out to be fun, but a LONG day. By the time we got home, it was shortly after 6am, 24 hours after I had woke up. Now that's what I call a day trip!!