We then got ready and left the house at 8. The place we are staying is a 20 minute walk from the train station and a 40 minute train ride to Munich. On our walk we stopped at a bakery and got chocolate milk and a cherry pudding croissant! Both were delicious!! Also, the lady loved speaking/practicing her English there! Her face was priceless and she tried to squeeze in as much English as possible. We loved it too! Especially after coming from Poland, where many don't want to give the time of day to English speakers.
Anyways, we are our breakfast and caught our train. We first went to the tourist office to figure out what we wanted to do today and what our options were for getting to a castle or Dachau. Note to self and everyone else, it is so much cheaper and better to do it yourself than going through a tourist office. If you can do something alone without a guided tour...than do it. You will save a fortune!
After the tourist office, we went and bought a one day transportation pass for about 15 euros. We then traveled to the Dachau concentration camp. It only takes about 20 minutes to get there from Munich main station, and then you take bus 726 from Dachau. Everything is really easy to find!
Once at Dachau, we went in free. You can pay for an audio guide, but it wasn't worth it to us. We went in and followed a guided tour for a little bit, until some rude person told us it was a paid tour and we shouldn't be listening. Interesting how I've met some of the rudest people at the concentration camps. What happened to be kind to one another? We didn't know you had to pay! Anyways...
We find out that people in Germany just thought Dachau was a prison. They had no idea it was a concentration camp and what was going on there. In the very early years of Dachau opening, it was used to hold prisoner and kill Germans...real Germans...that disagreed with the Nazi party. So all through school when you ask yourself...why didn't prior fight back? They did! Then they were considered criminals and went to Dachau to die.
The SS did a great job with concealing Dachau of what it really was. They built tons of SS buildings around it, almost like an SS city. It was meant to blend in. Unlike Auschwitz and Birkenau, which were hidden in a forest, farm land, or in the middle of nowhere...so it was unusual for city folk to see or find them.
From what I figured out, Dachau wasn't made for mass murder. So many died here because it was the longest operating concentration than all the others. They didn't even really use their gas chamber like Auschwitz did, and especially not like Birkenau. They mostly used their crematorium for burning the dead. Still awful. Sometimes they even hung or shot people in the crematorium...this was known as clearing the bunks. It happened in the other camps too. At Dachau, you were worked and starved to death, even working for 12-14 hours on what seemed like less food than Auschwitz.
We did watch the documentary here. It showed how the SS got started and how the US liberated the camp. Sadly, the SS knew we were coming and killed many. However, the prisoners knew we were coming too and fought back, killing as many SS as they could...even if that meant dying in the process. The movie was very eye opening. It showed how America FORCED the citizens of Dachau to visit the concentration camp to see what was really going on there and that it wasn't a prison. The look on their faces were priceless as they saw all the death. If only they knew sooner, maybe more lives could've been saved.
The feeling at Dachau was very different than Auschwitz. If Dachau is the only one you can visit, than do it...but if you can make it out to Auschwitz, than do that more. The atmosphere is extremely different, and you don't realize that until you've visited all three.
It was shocking to see all the German youth at Dachau. The even more shocking part was when we were in the crematorium/gas chamber, they were talking and laughing until their guide quieted them down. Even then, some were still talking. They seemed to have a lack of respect or understanding of the severity of the situation.
When we were at Auschwitz, silence was expected and kept. If someone talked, it was at a whisper...but there was definitely no laughing. If you needed to say something, it was done outside the crematorium and no guides were being done inside. The plaques on the wall and the rooms themselves tell most of the story. There were no laughs or smiles at Auschwitz, and guided tours were done very softly as people listened through headsets. The atmosphere was very solemn. We even saw several Jewish groups, old and young at Auschwitz and Birkenau...again very solemn and attentive as guides were given. There was never laughter and sometimes tears as they learned their history. I wish the German students could've seen this.
We left Dachau soon after the crematorium as it began to rain. It rained for the rest of our day, but we did not stop our travel in Munich :-)
We next grabbed lunch! I had promised Kevin kebab in Germany as now we were paying in euros. Kebab is a mystery meat, but very good! We got kebab wraps, and as my first time eating it, I was not disappointed! The man serving our food found out we were from Texas and had to ask if there are still cowboys and people riding around on horses! I love how people think this and I was sad to say that you won't find those kinds of people very often. It isn't the old west anymore.
We then headed back to Munich and visited the BMW Welt! That place is super awesome and free to enter! We saw many sweet cars, motor cycles, and rolls Royce. Sadly, we did not buy anything. We then walked up to the Olympic park. We were able to go into the swimming pool area, but were not able to go to their museum. It was raining extremely hard by this point and there was a cold front with it...and apparently the museum is outside, so we were not prepared to take on this adventure. Maybe another day.
We then traveled to marienplatz. A very cool street in old town Munich. We went into two beautiful churches, and one very expensive store and decided it was time to go home. It was nearly 6 PM at this point and we were very cold, wet, and done. So sad. At the train station, I grabbed chocolate delicious gelato and Kevin got a bratwurst hot dog. Both very amazing! We then rode the train and walked home in the rain. The warm shower almost felt as good as the one in Prague after the night train from Poland...but not quite!
Ta ta for now!
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