After Paris, I wandered off on a solo adventure to Munich, Germany, and really had no idea what to expect. I had spent most of my energy researching Paris, and had not done much research on Munich for me was a pleasant surprise, everyone I met was nice, the food was fantastic, the history interesting, and beer was everywhere!

Munich started out wonderfully, my first full day I awoke fresh and ready to see the city. First however, I started out my day with an amazing breakfast at the hotel (yay free breakfast). A big breakfast was quite a treat for me, normally in Italy breakfast is an espresso and some form of small cookie–which normally means I am hungry within the hour. So while in Munich, I took my time at breakfast, ate everything given to me…and may or may not have drinking a whole pot of coffee to myself every day. Anyway…After breakfast, I decided to bypass the metro and walk to the city center (I had so much energy).  One of the first buildings I ran into was the New Town Hall…which had been constructed to actually look old by using a gothic style…but was just gorgeous! The picture below, was taken while the sun was setting, which made it even more beautiful to see. The greatest part about Munich was, there are beer gardens EVERYWHERE… in the warm months, there is even one in the Town Hall… I am thinking this is the only goverment building with a beer garden in it–Maybe that’s why Germans are so efficient?!

After doing some of my own wandering, I ran across a free tour of Munich, and decided to join–it quickly became the best decision of the day. The tour mainly attracted young people seeing Europe, along with a few other solo travelers–which was perfect for me. After a bit, I met two girls one from Australia and one from Canada, both also traveling alone.  Once the tour was over (and seriously had learned a ton), we decided we should probably go enjoy one of the many beer gardens we were shown, and have a my first (not last) bratwurst of the trip. While sitting in the garden and rehashing the tour, we all decided one of the most interesting parts was the story about the picture below..

The story goes…When the Nazis were in power, there was a main street where many people had to walk. During the war, the Nazis always had soldiers posted here, and whenever anybody went by they had to do the salute. In Munich there were many people who did not support the Nazi troops, so to show rebellion they would walk down the street and not salute. Unfortunately, those people were punished in harsh ways, some even sent to Dachau concentration camp due to “speaking out” against the Nazi party. When people started realizing the punishments, they decided to find a route that could bypass the soldiers…which was a small Alley way (pictured above). Sadly after a few weeks, the soldiers caught on and realized people were bypassing the street, and then posted another soldier in the Alley Way. People who were caught taking the Alley, were then also cited for going against the Nazi Party and were punished. Although, people knew they would be punished…they continued to take the path to show they would not change their allegiance. So today, in the alley, they have the path many people took, in gold to remember the people and their actions during that time. I thought it was a very interesting story!

The next day, after another wonderful breakfast, I met up with my new friends to walk around the city. We had all agreed the prior day to see the river surfers…so that was our first stop. So if you don’t know (which I did not) River surfing is a sport the people in Munich have created. The people, literally surf on the river! The picture below will hopefully help you understand better. If nursing doesn’t work for me, maybe I will take up this new sport.

After spending quite some time staring in awe at the surfers and walking through the beautiful english gardens (where the surfing took place) we decided it was time for a pretzel and beer at the famous Haufbrau house! Picture below is the best pretzel, and probably the largest,  I have ever eaten in my life! The Haufbrau house was a fun site to see and taste! The place was MASSIVE. There were tables on tables, and people and beer everywhere. The tables you sit at, are very large, so you end up sitting with a bunch of people you don’t know, but by the end of it, you are all raising your beer yelling “prost” and making even more friends!

After a few hours in the Haufbrau house, we decided it would be a good idea to do some shopping do some more wandering, and then head to dinner. We had a very  un-italian dinner, we ate at 7, which is probably the earliest I have eaten dinner since August. For dinner we all decided we had to get the famous pork knuckle, which every German we had talked to, said we had to try one…so we did. A pork knunckle is a huge piece of pork, cooked so the outside is crunchy (yum) and the covered in an incredible sauce– with the bone still intact. It was so unhealthy..and so good! Pictured below is my dinner… I ate every last bit!

My last day in Munich, I did something I have been wanting to do since learning about the holocaust in school..I went and saw the concentration camp  Dachau. My trip to Dachau, was an incredibly intense and emotional experience, and since my visit I have been trying to decide if i should share about it on my Blog, and if I did, how? So what I have decided is to show you a few pictures, and talk a bit about the camp. However, there really is no way for me to put into words everything I learned and felt during the visit. With that said, Dachau was the first concentration camp started, and was the camp all the others were modeled after originally and the last to be liberated. To visit the camp, you walk the same path, thousands of people did when they were completing their death march. Before walking into the camp itself, you come to a door, and written in german is “work will set you free” sadly that was rarely the case.

I toured the camp with a guide (which I highly recommend), who was incredibly knowledgable about the history of Dachau as well as the entire war and events surrounding. The guide had done research for years, and had taken time to sit down with survivors of the camps to hear their stories, so he was able to explain the time at Dachau factually. After entering the camp, the size itself was overwhelming…it was massive. We first walked into the area where the twice a day roll call was done, and immediately everyone in the group shivered (not because it was cold). For the next three hours we toured, the camp, with a continuous level of shock and sadness. Pictured below were the sleeping conditions. Towards the end of the war, the “beds” held so many people, they were unable to turn over. So each night someones job was to blow a whistle every few hours, so everyone could turn over at once!

The most shocking and devastating part of the tour was seeing the gas chambers. Although at Dachau, the chambers were never used as a mass killing like at Aushcwitz, they were still used to carry out  medical experiments on humans. Still, when walking through the building, and realizing what it had originally been constructed for as well as what it was used for, it was impossible not to feel overwhlemed. The fact that humans constructed this to take the life of other humans, was devastating. After seeing the chambers we continued the tour, spent time in the museum, and the guide recounted stories from survivors he had met. After three hours, I was drained emotionally and physically, as well as everyone else in the group. I was ready to head back to Munich…and reflect on the day.

Although seeing Dachau, was an emotionally intense experience, I am glad I went, and I will hold onto the visit for a long time… and if I learned one thing, I hope it never happens again. Below: the picture from the memorial  inside of Dachau, in honor of all the people who suffered within the walls as well as throughout the war.

In conclusion my time in Munich was wonderful, informative, and exhausting, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Learning and seeing the history, was a great experience for me. In the future Munich will absolutely be a city I will be returning to. As always my time was too short, but it was time to head off for my next adventure in the Italian Alps with Case and friends. My visit to the Alps is again, worthy of another blog post (so much writing), so until then…

Auf Wiedersehen