Anyway, like I said we woke up today to beautiful weather and also to our friends Tom and Brian parting ways with us for now. It was great to spend a few days with them in Munich, we had plenty of great times between the 5 of us! After we woke up and got going we decided to go see Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp near Munich. We took a 20-ish minute train ride and then a 10-ish minute bus ride to get there which took us out of the city and into the very beautiful German country side. We arrived at Dachau not know what to really expect and it ended up being a pretty sobering experince.
It was free admission and we guided ourselves around which was a good way to go. Dachau was built in 1933 as a prison for political opposition of the Nazi party and eventually came to be a concentration camp. When Dachau was liberated they knocked down the majority of the prisoner and troop barracks that housed the prisoners and troops. There were 34 prisoner barracks meant to house about 200 prisoners each, but with thee stagering number of prisoners entering the camp near the end of the war, the barracks were housing 2,000+ people per barrack, 10x the amount of people meant to live in them... As we walked into the camp through the entrance gate, the infamous Nazi phrase, "Arbeit Macht Fre" or "Work makes you free", in english, was emblazoned on the gate. I could not help to think of how bizarre it was that not even a lifetime ago, people were being murder on the plot of land I was walking on today. It was a very sobering thought in the least. I think the hardest part of the visit and tour was seeing the creamatorium and gas chambers... The flow of people led us through the actual gas chamber and it was really hard to walk through the room with thoughts of what had happened there, but that is why you go, to pay respect and gain knowledge of what happened so things like that don't happen again.
The thing that both Thomas and I commented on was the beauty of the place where all these terrible things happened. The lush green trees and grass alng with the flowers and surrounding town, it was hard to imagine such terrible, terrible things happening there. Although it was a sad place it felt like something that had to be done and I am very glad I went. Like I said, it makes you really think about things like that and think how lucky you really are, it raises the hair on my arms just thinking that I set foot in a place where approximately 206,200 people were murdered without a second thought. It was definitely a good place to see.
On a happier note, we went out to the Augstiener Brau beer hall last night for dinner and a beer. The food was amazing as was the beer! We got a sampler kind of meal that consisted of 1 dumpling, roast pork, 1/4 of a duck, and 1 pigs knuckle! Not to mention very, very good pretzels! It was very, very good but a litle pricey, so we are working on spending less money to nourish ourselves otherwise we will be broke in no time!
Speaking of food, it is time to go get some dinner here in Munich as most of you at home are maybe just waking up and preparing for a relaxing saturday or a Johnnie football game! I hope all is well and that I didn't forget to tell you too much! OH! and I am trying to get a Picasa web album up for pictures so be patient!
Have a great weekend!
Matt
A flower growing in the remains of a prisoner barrack
Me at Dachau, smiling didn't seem appropriate
The entrance to Dachau. That stone road was only unearthed in 2004.
This is what the countryside looks like
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