The ICE train was really nice inside. Seating was comfortable with big seats, head pillows, plenty of leg room. We had four seats that faced each other with a table between us. The fifth person was just across the aisle.. asleep. It was so nice. The whole interiors are nice. The bathrooms are really nice for train bathrooms. And they're quiet. There is even a food and drink service you can opt to purchase, like an airplane when the attendant comes up and down the aisles. The ride is smooth, too.
Once we got to Munich, we tried to find out hostel in the dark. Luckily, I printed off walking directions and a little map earlier that day. We arrived at the Wombat City Hostel to find out they'd messed up our room arrangements. Jenna, Kristen (who rode in a car to Munich with four other people), and I were in one room. Emma and Brittany (who also rode in the car) had a different room. In my room, the three other people were already asleep. They basically were always asleep it seemed. Emma and Brittany didn't have as much luck with their roommates: drunk/naked/LOUD snoring. The hostel itself was really pretty nice and even had lockers in our rooms we could put our stuff in for safety.
A few of us decided to go out and get a drink at a hip, non-dancing bar down the street. Because of my charm, our drinks were free. Haha... actually it was because Dennis Morgan thought I was cute, but whatever. It was pretty funny.
After a drink, we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep. The next morning, Emma, Quintin, Jenna, and I departed from the central bahnhof to Salzburg, Austria. It was a two hour train ride. Salzburg is beautiful. Salz means salt. There's a lot of salt in the area... obviously.
It is very old; people have lived on that land for a very long time, especially because of the salt (i.e. meat preservation). It was gorgeous there, just north of the Alps, so the views were beautiful. In Salzburg, we saw some sights from The Sound of Music movie, lovely old buildings, the Alps, a couple very old churches, the huge fortress from the ground looking up, a very old cemetery, the oldest restaurant in Europe (St. Peter's restaurant), and Mozart's two houses. Mozart lived in Salzburg and so did Charles Doppler (the Doppler effect). We took a walking tour of the city and then Emma, Quintin, and I hiked up to the fortress. It was a tough walk uphill, but the views of Salzburg and the distant scenery was breathtaking. Quintin paid to go inside the fortress, but Emma and I walked back down.
She and I ate a quick bite for lunch then went to the Mozart museum. There are actually two houses and museums of Mozart in Salzburg. We went to the house he lived in for the first 17 years of his life. That museum had artifacts, such as original oil paintings from his life, a harpsichord, a little piano, his first violin, other trinkets of his, and three locks of his hair. No, I'm not kidding.
The four of us all ended up finding each other at the Mozart museum. After that, we set off to find some chocolate torte, a dessert Salzburg is known for. It is a very rich chocolate cake with a slight tanginess to it. We each got a little piece... and it took me a couple different eatings to finish it. It was good, though.
After the afternoon, we got back on the train to head back to Munich. We arrived around 7:15 p.m. We went back to the hostel and met up with everyone. We all decided to go get dinner together at 8:30. We went down the street to indulge in doner kebobs. Doner is usually made by people who have moved to Germany from Turkey. It is either lamb or chicken shaven (like a gyro), with tzatziki sauce, lots of vegetables.. all messy in a wrap or on a sandwich. It is SO good. So that's what we ate for dinner.
After dinner we walked across town (for much longer than we were told it would take us) to the Haufbrauhaus. On the way, we were able to see some pretty platzs and the Glockenspiel. The Haufbrauhaus is where beer was once brewed for only the kings. Now anyone can go there! So we went. It is a huge building FULL of people talking and singing. [Not to mention there had been a futball game earlier that day, so many people were dressed up in their yellow and black and were jolly and yelling and singing. Many of these fans were at the Haufbrauhaus.] Some people are dressed in traditional German clothing and there is a traditional German polka-type band playing. It is so awesome. It took us a while to find a table, but we did find one finally. We each got a mug of beer. They. are. huge. And it's actually good. I usually don't like beer, but this stuff was pretty good. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then left.
Liz and Brittany had left early because they weren't feeling well; Liz had a migraine since Friday afternoon and Brittany was coming down with what I had last week. Oh, by the way, I'm not sick anymore! I awfully sick last week with a virusy, cold thing. I felt like crap. Coughing galore, some nose blowing, just feeling pretty sickly. A lot of people at school have had it. Anyhow, so then the rest of us left the Haufbrauhaus later. Jenna and I walked back to our hostel, while the others went out somewhere else.
I got a nice amount of sleep Saturday night, so that was great. We all left the next morning to go to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was definitely a sobering experience. Dachau was a work camp, not a death camp. So people were sent there to work, which the work ended up killing them. Prisoners were not sent there to be sent to the gas chambers, especially straight away when they arrived. Dachau was in operation from 1933-1945 (I believe) when it was liberated by the Americans. Dachau was a camp for men, except during the last year when women and children were there too.
The front gate to the camp greets you with "Arbeit Macht Frei," meaning work sets you free. We saw the maintenance building, where prisoners were registered and processed. We saw the showers, where they were beaten, the gas chambers (which were used for individuals or small groups, not for mass murder), and the crematorium. It was horrible.
We saw the two barracks that are still standing. We saw a reconstruction of the bunks they would have slept in. As years went on, the camp became more and more crowded, so we saw the three different "eras" of bunks. It was horrible how these prisoners had to live and the treatment they received.... all for no reason.
We learned about the conditions they lived in, about the work they were forced to do. In the maintenance building, there were a lot of displays. I saw a photograph of a man who had hung himself while on his knees using the bathroom sink. Right next to it was a photograph of a man who had committed suicide by tangling himself in the electric fence surrounding the camp. That was how most people killed themselves. There were usually two to three suicides a day. Those two photos made my stomach turn. I gasped aloud when I saw them. It was just horrible.
I can't think of any better words to describe Dachau. I think I barely said anything while I was there. It was hard to take it all in. It was hard to comprehend. I took pictures while I was there; I also figured those photos may be useful someday if I'm working with a class about the Holocaust. Some things, though, I just couldn't take pictures of.
So after that we went back to Munich and then left for home. The five of us got on an ICE train after grabbing a quick dinner at the train station. We took the ICE train to Frankfurt, then got on the regional train to Neubrucke. From there, we took a van taxi back to Baumholder. It was a smooth trip home with some girls I really enjoy. It was nice to be home after a long, fun, educational weekend.
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