Back to Munich!!!!!

August 4^th and 5^th

Saturday morning was once again another early 5:30 am train to start our way back out to Munich. Thankfully I was able to get some sleep the night before because man was it a long day! Once we got in to Munich we went straight to our tour at Dachau. The tour took 5 hours and it was all standing and walking! But it was all very interesting and our tour guide really knew his history. If it wasn’t so hot and there were more places to sit I may have like it a lot more, but nonetheless it was definitely an intense experience. Our guide really knew all the straight facts that were all so different from the perspective we get in our history classes. He talked about the good, the bad, and the ugly that all the countries did throughout this time and I learned a lot more about how Dachau came to opening and how Hilter came to so much power. Before it was a concentration camp it was a factory and at the time of the depression everyone lost their jobs. Then when it first opened it was called a “reeducation center” for people that had political views that were not the Nazi’s views. I also then learned all about the different physical and psychological tortures of the camp and what it would have been like to be there. It was just absolutely mind blowing. Our tour guide told us about these pictures he saw of when they hung someone by the wrists and then a Nazi guard literally tore the guys body off leaving his arms dangling and his body on the ground. The guard then proceeded to stand on top on the prisoner and pose for a picture with thumbs up. I just will never be able to understand how anyone could ever do something like that. I could honestly go on for hours (especially since I was on the tour for five listening to constant stories) about the camp there. They had dark rooms where they just held prisoners for a year at a time and the prisoners could only keep track of time because thye got hot soup every 4 days. Men went insane in there and would commit suicide, and if they survived they were brought out into the sun and forced to stare at the sun in which they would go blind in 20 seconds. If you were injured or sick on inable to work for some reason or another you were killed. With every room I walked through and the more I learned I started to be in disbelief that anyone could have ever survived. Then of course it really got to me when we finally got to the gas chamber and crematorium. Our tour guide would even walk us through there because he said one time was one too many. It was just absolutely insane and I got really choked up and teared a little. It was just so hard to see and it is insane to me that there are still genocides and killings every day. There are memorials that say things like never again and warn the living and yet somehow mankind just doesn’t learn. It was very sad and depressing but also very worthwhile to see.

                After that sad trip we then went on a fun beer challenge (except not really a challenge more just like a beer tour) through the city of Munich. We met so many people from all around the world and that was the best part of the tour. Of course we could have gone to the different beer houses on our own but the experience of meeting people from everywhere was so cool. We first had a beer made in Munich in a bottle that we just walked down the street with. In Germany you can seriously go anywhere with any sort of open container of alcohol and it just felt so weird to walk down the street drinking a beer! Then we headed to an outdoor beer garden and that was such a cool atmosphere. These older gentlemen just loved the crowd of young people that came in and wanted to chat it up. Then as we were leaving the beer garden our entire tour group sang happy birthday to me and a few other people that had birthdays in August. It was super embarrassing and one of my roommates has a picture so hopefully I will get that soon. After that we headed to a few more places and we got to experience all types of different beer house atmospheres. We saw people in the traditional lederhosen (or however you spell it) and saw some traditional dancing and the Haufbrau house. I even tried the Pope’s beer which I am not sure why it is called that; it was really loud in the bar and could not hear the tour guide talk about the beer. All in all it was a really fun night and even though I did not drink a lot (cuz the beers we had to buy ourselves were expensive and I really do not drink a lot of beer) I still had an amazing time. We then got on the tram and headed to our hsotel

The tent was the coolest hostel ever! It was super laid back and everyone was so nice! When we go there there was a bonfire and the bar at the hostel was still open. People were playing music and singing and just having a relaxing night that you would if you were camping in the woods. But all of us were so tired that we just got our blankets and went to bed. Where we slept was literally a huge party tent with 100 bunk beds in the room. Since we got there late we all had top bunks and it was really interesting to try to get into them because there wasn’t a ladder to get up onto the bed.

                In the morning we were able to see more of the grounds and I thought it was really cool. It was just a giant area for people to camp out at and they had a huge bathroom and shower area, a kitchen, pinics areas, a volley ball court, a bar, and a café that was super cheap. I got a ton of food and coffee for only 2 Euro and it was a great way to start the morning. We then headed to our tour of Neuschwanstein. It was a two hour train ride there plus a bus to get the the base. It was the most beautiful area I have ever seen in my life! We then took a carriage ride almost to the actaul castle and then walked the rest of the way up. It was just so beautiful and it’s understandable why Disney used the design. Of course now Disney pays the castle owners and Germany every year for stealing the design but it was just gorgeous. Only 30% of the castle is complete inside and Kind Ludwig of Bavaria was just a nut who built all these catsles he didn’t have money for and so they were never finished when he died, but man it was just so cool. I was also able to eat ablskeevers and drink the fresh spring water from the Alps. It was awesome! After seeing the outside, getting some souviner shopping done, and eating, our tour group went down the back way and hiked down the mountain through the forest. It was gorgeous! The most beautiful water fall ever and the best walk of my life! We got down to the base and back to the bus just in time because without warning we watched a curtain or pouring rain just come at us. It was completely dry not even sprinkling where we were and we just watched the storm come down the mountain and a minute later without any warning rain it was absolutely pouring.

                All weekend we had great luck of getting everywhere on time and making all the trains until that afternoon. Because of the storm and a road block our 5 minute bus ride took over an hour and because of that delay we missed every train going back to Munich. We then had to get on another bus for another hour to catch back up with the train to get to Munich. From there we got back on a train and headed home.

It was definitely a long and grueling weekend but probably my best trip yet. I had the BEST time with the girls I went with and I really learned so much about the places I went to. I could go on forever about what I learned at Dachau and about crazy Ludwig whose death is still a mystery, but because it was such a long weekend I can’t even remember. It was an amazing weekend and I am so glad I went.