Final Day in Munich

Fortunately, today was much less stressful than yesterday! We checked the weather and saw that it was supposed to rain later in the day so we went to the English Garden this morning when it was finally sunny.

The English Garden was absolutely gorgeous! It was very peaceful and there were lots of cute dogs. The woods were very rich in leaves and color and we strolled along until about noon. We also happened upon a naked man getting some sun... I'm not really sure why someone would be naked...in a park...on a chilly day... but we got a good chuckle out of it.

This is a river in the English Garden where people take turns surfing! I bet the water was really cold, but they did lots of awesome tricks.

                                                                                      

There were also many geese in the garden including babies!

I absolutely loved all the willow trees.

I'm not sure what this actually was but we walked up to it and the picture below is the inside.

This is the view from the structure above of the city of Munich.

A structure in the city that looks very similar to the L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, except someone is holding lions at the top.

We decided to spend the other half of the day at the Dachau Concentration Camp just outside of Munich. It was very easy to get there by the subway system and then a bus. We got an audio tour and we had brought our U of A student IDs so we got a discount! I have learned so much about World War II, the Holocaust, and the Nazis in school, but actually seeing and standing on the ground of the places that these atrocities and murders occurred gives you a perspective that no book can. We went through every room in the museum and learned so much about how the prisoners lived, the tortures they feared every day, and the ubiquity of death. As I walked through and listened to these unbearable realities, I couldn't understand how anyone could remain hopeful in such circumstances. I really gained an appreciation for this Memorial Site. Even though I will never fully be able to comprehend the horrors and fears these prisoners felt every day, I was able to walk their path and made aware of the conditions they were in. The entire time I was kind of numb to what I was feeling inside. We walked down the rows of barracks and at the end there were three memorials. All of them were very well done and very touching. However, I still felt numb to any emotions. But when we walked into the Crematorium, every emotion that I had shut out washed over me at the site of human ovens. I took a look at the gas rooms and an awful feeling of dread went through me like ice. All of a sudden it all became real for me and I had to get out. I couldn't face the rest of it and my feelings and fears for all those people who became ash became tears. As if on cue, it began to rain. However, it felt like the Earth was trying to comfort me and I knew that it was okay and right to be sad.

This is a site of ashes of the many unknown dead.

This is a memorial designed by the Yugoslavian artist and concentration camp survivor, Nandor Glid. It looks like the skeleton corpses tangled in the barbed wire of the fences that surround the camp.

"Never Again" is this reminder with the ashes of an unknown prisoner.

This is the international monument that says, "May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945, because they resisted Nazism, help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow man."

I have never seen or felt anything that powerful before in my life. Everyone should experience the sites in a concentration camp so that this, and other human injustices, should be understood and "never again" be tolerated.

On a happier note, we picked up each others' spirits on the return to our hotel. Anne and Mark were a little exhausted...

Haha! We had a wonderful time in Munich and I would highly recommend it to any traveler. Three days was the perfect amount of time to see what we wanted to. Tomorrow we are off to Salzburg, Austria by train. Hopefully I will be able to find some wifi to post again but if not, I will try to post when we get to Vienna, Austria on Thursday!

Auf Wiedersehen Munich!