It's been a long, long, long, long, long, good day

This morning started out just like yesterday did. I woke up at 4am and could not get back to sleep. I tossed and turned, got up for an hour, went back to bed, tossed and turned some more, and finally got up at 7am (an hour before my alarm was set). By 7:45 I was clean, dressed, and out the door. I thought, surely I'd find a nice little cafe to sit and have a danish, drink a cup of coffee, and plan my day. No such luck. I actually had to go back to the same block as the train station and found what I think is a bakery chain here. Anyway, I got to use more German than "Sprechen Sie English" and sat down with my pastry, coffee, and tour book.

Five minutes later, I was finished with my pastry and coffee and was bored. So I decided to be daring and try to find a place to go on the train. I read the map and thought I could either go to Dachou or tool around Olympia Park (which I read in a tour book was something interesting to do). I decided I'd save Dachou for Monday and go to Olympia Park. I asked the nice gentleman in the information booth how to purchase a ticket and what platform to go to. Unfortunately (or fortunately it may have wound up to be), I couldn't get the ticket machines to take my bills. They would only take coins and I didn't have enough for the train ride. With a challenge being unmet, I went back outside to go for a lazy walk around town on a Sunday morning. I wandered in to the train station first. Believe it or not, that was the place to be on a Sunday morning! There were more cafes open in there than on the street. But, more noise than I wanted that early, so I decided to walk down Marienplatz again to see what it was like without all of the people.

EMPTY!!!!!!! There was no one around. Which actually made it kind of nice for picture taking.





Outside the entrance to the Deutsches Jagd und Fischereimuseum (German Hunting and Fishing Museum), you are greeted by fearsome hunting and fishing beasts!

Bert was actually able to bond with the wild boar, since they both such hunted and wanted animals.

They shared many stories of escaping wiley hunters and living another day to tell about it. As much as I hated doing it, I had to tear Bert away from his new found friend so we could go back to the tourist center, which opened at 10am.

Walking through Marienplatz in the early morning hours with no one around is really kind of cool. You can hear the church bells of all the surrounding churches ringing at once. It was peaceful and I found another smile on my face. Or it could have been the fact that it was very cold, I had my heavy coat, hat, and scarf on and there were holiday decorations up everywhere. To me, after 10 years of living in California, it was finally Christmas. People (my mom, mostly) say I'm crazy for missing the cold winters of the Midwest. But when you grow up with 30 years of snow, below freezing windchills, and sleet, that's what you come to expect. It's just a part of Christmas that I miss.

I made my way back to the tourist information center and decided to inquire about a city tour on the bus. I found an English speaking tour and bought a ticket. I then asked the very nice man at the counter about information on how to get to Dachou on Monday. He said Dachou was closed on Monday. DOH!!! It was only a 15 minute train ride away, though. So I had enough time to do the city tour and go to Dachou in the same day.

My tour didn't leave for another 45 minutes, so I went in to the train station for lunch. A Bavarian sandwich (which was just ham, pickle, tomato, and mustard on some really good bread), and lots to drink. I was parched!!

I still had time to just sit and watch the trains come in and out for a bit.

It was off to the city tour. I didn't get a seat in the penthouse upstairs on the bus, but that was ok. The tour guide did the tour in three different languages, so if I wasn't paying attention, I would miss the English portion. We made our way out of downtown and past many cool landmarks. If I come back (which I hope I do), I now have ideas for lots of other places to take in. Our first stop was the Nymphenburg Palace. This was the summer residence for the rulers of Bavaria. We had seven minutes to get out and take pictures, or stay there and wait for the next bus in an hour. Since I wanted to get to Dachou as well today, I took the seven minutes and ran.

Could you imagine this being your summer home? And only an hour's walk from your winter home? Some of the "smaller" houses of the palace can now be rented out. Siemens has one permanently rented. Yes, why don't you come in for a meeting with us? We'll meet at our residence at the Palace!

After that, it was just a few bad pictures through the spotted window of the tour bus.

King Ludwig II.

Olympia Park was supposed to be one of the stops. But it couldn't today because of some big horse show that was there. Good thing the ticket machine wouldn't take my money!!!

Olympic Tower.

One tour down. One to go! I now had enough coins to get my train ticket from the machine for Dachou. I got on the right platform and the right train and in 20 minutes was there. Another short bus ride and I was at the site of the concentration camp. To enter, you have to go through the same gates that the prisoners did.

The gate reads "Arbeit Macht Frei" which means work will set you free. This was a work camp originally for political prisoners. It soon grew to include petty thieves, Russians, homosexuals, religous prisoners, and Jews. Registered deaths were over 30,000, but there is no way of telling how many actual deaths there were. This wasn't a "death camp" like many of the other concentration camps where people were mass murdered or put in gas chambers. Most of the deaths were from undernourishment, disease, human experiments, or guards randomly deciding someone was being a dissident or trying to "escape" and executing them on the spot. I was actually surprised to learn that some prisoners were actually released from Dachau.

After going through the gate, you enter the roll call area. Roll call was twice a day, every day, usually for an hour each time. Sometimes the dead had to be hauled out of the barracks just so they could be accounted for.

New prisoners waited in this area for processing. Then they were brought inside the main building, stripped of their belongings and clothes, showered, and giving prison clothes. This table was one of the tables used for processing.

Group showers.

The barracks had the cramped in beds and lockers for each prisoner.

Today, there are only two barracks still standing. But behind those two, you can see outlines of the rows of rows of barracks that were once there.

There perimeter was lined with barbed wire, electrical fencing, trenches, and guard towers.

The Tomb of the Unknown Prisoner.

The Creamatorium. This was the creepiest and weirdest experience for me today. They did have a shower room that was designed to fool the prisoners in to thinking they were going to be showered, but was actually a gas chamber. There were no known documentations of the gas chamber actually being used (it was a test chamber), but that doesn't mean it wasn't. Also inside were rooms the dead bodies were stored in, and the furnaces where the bodies were burned. Standing in those rooms just gave me chills. To try to picture what went on there, to get a tiny grasp of it, was just unfathomable.

I was awed by Dachau. It wasn't what I expected. And I don't know what I was expecting. I really don't know what to say. I think it's something that can really only be experienced. Looking at everything, reading about it while you're standing there, trying to picture everything. One thing I will remember about this place is while I was walking back across the old barracks, two gunshots rang out (or what sounded like gunshots anyway). It freaked me out!!! Just thinking that that sound was commonplace there. Something heard every day. Something that was used to scare you and intimidate you. It was eerie.

Well, if you've made if this far through this post, you deserve something special!!!

After taking the train back to Munich, I came across her in a store window while looking for dinner. I think I will call her Greta. She will become my muse.

Dinner was at zum Spockmeier. I started off with a nice cup of hot chocolate to warm me up. It was the most decadent hot chocolate I've ever had. It was pure chocolate! Good thing it was a bit noisy in the restaurant because there were sounds of ecstasy coming from my mouth (and no, they weren't caused by Greta).

For my meal, I had the Spockmeier's Sausage Plate. I have no idea what the sausages were, but they schmecht gut!!!

Phew!!! What a day. I'm utterly exhausted and think I will sleep soundly tonight. I have no idea what I will do tomorrow. Especially if I find out many other museums and such are going to be closed like other things. I guess there's no point in fretting about it. It will soon be here and I'll map my day as it comes.

Today's observations:

Germans sleep in on Sundays.

Pepsi is everywhere, but no Mountain Dew.

I've never been so silent.

I don't think it's just German women who like to wear fur coats.

Listening to Asian people speak German is surreal.

Italians are everywhere.

To me, some things learned in class are just part of the history books. To others, it's part of their personal history.