Two BMW's in One Place

A visit to the BMW Museum was a must. Why?

Because it is a cool place, but also because those are were Brit's initials. She has since become a BMG (way to ruin the fun, Andrew).

It was a cool building and we looked at lots of neat cars.

Its possible that we didn't appreciate it to the fullest capacity because neither of us are really car people.

But taking photos of it was fun.

Those Germans and their nifty cars and buildings.

I really wish they let us drive some of those cars.

The Tegelberg Hike

Dear readers, I am sorry I have not been updating at the promised time! I had a looming deadline, and the final week of classes, and no mental energy to spare. Please forgive.

Please accept this charming and ethereal photo as a token of my humble apologies. Yes, it is a real photo, and yes I took it. Yes, its not really very clear and in focus but...that's totally what I was going for.

Now. Where were we?
Ah, yes.
Things were going swimmingly after our picture perfect photo op of Neuschwanstein Castle from the Marienbrücke bridge. Most sensible tourists would then turn back and head on down to the castle or the quaint town to see what there is to see.

Not us. We crossed the bridge and saw a small trail heading off into the trees. We thought, I bet there is an even better view just beyond that corner. Let's check it out!

So young. So innocent.
We began to climb. And climb. The further we climbed, the quieter it got. We hadn't really seen anyone for quite a while.

Overlooking the town.

Nothing can be confirmed, but see that distant peak to the right? Just keep that in mind.

Who knows if the Grimm brothers hiked this very trail?

I was only mildly concerned we would get lost in the mountains and never find our way back to the town. At least not in time for the bus. It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere.

The sun went away. It began to rain. Then it rained harder. And harder. Then we ran into some tourists, who did not speak English. They looked far more hardcore than us.

I was not in very good shape (things haven't changed all that much), but Brit managed to convince me to keep going/I started feeling competitive and didn't want to admit I was dying.

What does this mean? We would never find out if we didn't keep going.

 But having come this far, we couldn't turn back. There were signs that maybe there was a destination ahead. Adventure called.

We had to cross sketchy slippery log bridges, climb steep hills, and endure periods of drenching rain.

At last! A real sign! 40 minutes to Tegelberg didn't sound too bad compared to the alternatives. We didn't know what the heck Tegelberg was, but we were going to get there!

Unfortunately, that meant tackling these stairs to nowhere. Did I mention that I was dying?

With trembling legs, and rapidly thumping heart, I did indeed conquer the Stairs of Doom. We reached the top! The sun made a brief appearance to celebrate the victory!

Best of all, we spotted a building of some kind. Civilization! As we got closer we realized there was a restaurant and everything...

The punch line? We had climbed to the top of A FRICKIN SKI MOUNTAIN! 

Neuschwanstein to the Right, Tegelberg top and center-ish.

I don't know about you, but I think that is ridiculous.

We treated ourselves to a plate of crispy fries and hot drinks in the restaurant. Our poor waitress was so distressed that she did not know English, and apologized again and again. We comforted her by telling her that her English was much better than our German, and we were in her country after all. We all had a good laugh trying to place our order. 

Rejuvenated by some hot food, Brit decided to tackle the very tippy-top of the mountain because she is a champ! Climbing a ski mountain was good enough for me, and I knew my limits (literally could not do it even if I had wanted to), so I stayed behind in the warmth of the ski house.

Way to go, Brit!

As we were trying to come up with a plan for the return trip, we noticed a couple guys outside.

Turns out that for a small fee, you can hitch a ride to the bottom via parachute!

I won't lie, I wanted to do it. Luckily for my bank account (the fee wasn't actually that small), the weather turned sour and the guy decided he didn't want to take anyone down after all.

I kind of regret that missed opportunity. Imagine how awesome it would have been to float over that castle! Instead we payed a small (very worth it) fee to take the lift down. Figuring out how to get back to Füssen was another adventure, but not very exciting, so suffice it to say we got there in time for the last bus, and we slept well that night.

It was actually a really fantastic hike, if you have a couple hours day to spare. It was a nice break from the tourist crowds, the scenery was stunning, and it gave me a real sense of accomplishment...just when I thought I couldn't go on any longer, I pushed myself that extra mile (literally).
My legs were also sore forever afterwards. Good times!

Neuschwanstein Castle

One of my favorite parts of our visit to Germany was the day we hopped on a bus and drove many hours (ok, maybe two), to the little town of Füssen. Granted, it is a total tourist trap and you won't catch sight of a genuine local, or a reasonably priced postcard- but there is a reason for the flocking visitors: Neuschwanstein Castle! Some people know it as the prototype for Cinderella's castle in Disneyland. All I knew is that I had to see it for myself.

Is this where the Jagermeister lives?

The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a mountain, so we followed the wide main street and a crowd of tourists. Those with deeper pockets hired a horse-and-buggy to take them up the steep incline.

We catch sight of it from the bottom of the hill.

I had done a teensy bit of research, and knew that the inside of the castle was not all that interesting because the poor baron that owned the place ran out of money and couldn't afford to finish it, and then he died. Armed with this knowledge, we followed our usual policy and skipped paying the exorbitant entrance fee, focusing instead on the great view.

Packed with tourists!

Headed for the Marienbrücke viewpoint...very excited!

Forget Cinderella! I can practically hear the opening music from Beauty & the Beast whenever I see this photo.

It is a short hike from the castle to the beautiful viewpoint, which is a bridge called Marienbrücke over a deep ravine of water. The bridge was packed with tourists snapping the signature photo, and I admit we elbowed our way in to take our turn.
It was worth it.
Please excuse me while I inundate you with similar photos. I think they're all so beautiful.

And Regis needs his time to shine.

Tune in next Monday to hear about what happened next!

Schloss Nymphenberg

Today's post is short because I've been working on (waitforit) Regis Reads! Because I can't contain my love of books, and I needed an outlet. Hope you join in.
Ok, I'm done. Focusing...

Pre-Hirschgarten, Brit and I took the tram to see Schloss Nymphenburg (actually spelled with a character not found on my very white, middle-class Canadian keyboard), which can be described as the German version of Versailles. No, really...it was modeled after Versailles. Which makes me wonder why we wanted to visit it.

In comparison, it was much smaller and much less crowded. We didn't spend a lot of time there, probably because it cost money to get inside. So really, we just walked about the gardens and admired the statues.

Not much to report here.

But it was a really pretty place to take a walk!

The History Lesson

This post is less fun, but I felt it wouldn't be right to leave it out. Travel is about experiences, and this daytrip definitely fell under that category.

Pre-visit we are in high spirits!

Because we had only planned a few days in Germany, we had to get down to business right after our arrival in Munich. Our first stop was to visit an important historical site: the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. After we dropped our luggage off at our hostel we caught the metro to the quiet town where the site is located. It took a while for us to find the route to the Memorial from the terminal, but eventually we arrived and got ourselves some electronic audio guides (3.50 EURO). 

A little ways off from the memorial site you can see these tracks.
The trains that ran on them were used to bring prisoners into the concentration camp.

It was an absolutely stunning day weather-wise, and though the memorial was relatively busy with tourists, it was a very quiet and respectful atmosphere. I had difficulty reconciling my knowledge of its nightmarish past with the bright sunny day, where the birds chirped and a soft breeze rustled the leaves. It was a weird contrast to experience.

The officer's houses were not far from the work camp.
In fact the entire camp was hardly 10 minutes walk from the town of Dachau.

Walking up to the front gates.

"Arbeit macht frei" 

Wrought into the front gates are the German words, "Arbeit macht frei", which mean "work will make you free", which was the propaganda for the labour and "re-education" camps. Every prisoner who came into Dachau, entered through these gates.

Their details were recorded, they were made to give up their valuables and to undress completely, their heads were shaved, and then they were disinfected, showered, and given a uniform with a different colored badge being awarded for every different "crime" (ie: being Jewish, a priest, a political prisoner, homosexual, etc).

The ditch and electrified barbed wire fence made escape almost impossible, even if it weren't for the armed guards.
To the left you can see the outlines of where the barracks used to be.

Prisoners were registered at the gatehouse. All the perimeters were patrolled by armed guards, and anyone trying to escape was shot on sight. Many prisoners intentionally threw themselves into the ditch or the barbed wire, choosing suicide over continuing to live inside the work camp

Prisoners barracks, and the "courtyard"

The courtyard was a prominent feature in the prisoners' life. Roll call was taken every day, and though it took hours, they were forced to stand there in all types of weather. This was also where the public executions took place. The original 34 barracks were destroyed after the war, but a model has been constructed to allow visitors to envision what it would have looked like.

Bunks inside the barracks.

As time went by, the barracks were packed well beyond their original capacity. Needless to say, conditions inside the barracks were atrocious. The camp was designed to hold 6,000 prisoners, but when the Americans liberated Dachau at the end of the war, there were over 30,000 prisoners inside. That doesn't include the many that had been recently executed, or died from starvation, disease, or exposure.

The building that used to have the kitchen, laundry, and showering facilities now serves as a museum. There is a lot of memorabilia and information. There are tour guides that will walk groups through which are great. I eavesdropped for a couple minutes on a group nearby, and then the guide yelled at me. So...no, they are not free :)
It was extremely interesting, but after a couple hours, it really becomes too much to take in...I felt drained afterward. It is very depressing.

Cells.

Behind the kitchen building, cut off from the rest of the camp, was the "bunker", which for all intents and purposes served as a jail. I was actually shocked that a concentration camp needed a jail, it seemed bad enough already. But worse things happened here. Rebellious and defiant prisoners were sent here, and often did not leave alive. I won't go into a lot of detail, but this is where prisoners were sent for solitary confinement, torture, beatings, and the infamous standing cells.

It is a very unpleasant place, and it gave me the creeps.

At the very end of my visit, I reached the crematorium. I almost didn't go in, because it is a really horrifying place. Ok, so the building is just a building. But terrible things happened there, and I felt sick just thinking about it.

The crematorium. 

I didn't take any photos once inside, because it felt disrespectful somehow. Walking through and reading the descriptions of what each room was used for, and the process used to execute countless prisoners was extremely emotional. Actually, writing this post and looking up details I had forgotten about the camp has been a bit depressing. It is that much harder when you are actually standing there knowing what happened in that exact spot.

"Never Again" The International Memorial

Having said that, I highly recommend visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. It is kept up very well, the museum is full of in-depth information, the staff are wonderful, and the bistro is a nice place to grab a bite to eat when you need some downtime from all the emotional upheaval.

It is a great place for some reflection on the past, and to pay respects to the thousands of innocents that died there, and in places like it. It is terrible to realize what humanity is capable of doing to its own kind. As I study Social Psychology in university this semester, it becomes clear that this is not an isolated phenomenon, but something that could happen anywhere to anyone, if there is enough fear and power at work. Dachau becomes a warning and a lesson against blind obedience to authority and pluralistic ignorance as a society.
I hope it is a lesson that will never have to be relearned.