Munich, Germany

This weekend was another boys weekend.  There were six of us who traveled to Munich for Kyle's 21st birthday.  It was my room (John, Steve, and Tim) plus Kyle and Chris Masla.  Friday night was Kyle's actual birthday.  We heard about an authentic German meal at this restaurant and decided to check it out.  We ate real Bavarian food and it was delicious.  The place reminded me a lot of Oktoberfest.  There were really neat kegs in actually barrels that needed to be tapped.  We stuck with liter beers that were really cheap and very good.  For my meal I had two different kinds of pork, duck, red cabbage, and dumplings.  It was the best pork I have ever had and the whole meal was great.  After dinner we went back to our hostel and had some drinks before going out to a local bar to celebrate with Kyle.  He had a really fun time.

The next day was our site seeing day, but not of Munich.  We took a train to Dachau, where the first concentration camp was implemented.  It was a very humbling experience and our tour guide was amazing.  We learned there was a difference between a concentration camp and an extermination camp.  Concentration camps were not for the purpose of killing, however, they estimate that about 30,000 died or were killed at Dachau. Records were not very clean and that is why there is a discrepancy in how many people came in and out of the camp.  Before the war, prisoners were actually released if they behaved according to standards, but this was very rare.

We took a three hour tour of the camp.  Many of the original buildings are not still standing.

This is the "Whipping Table."  The whip is made of a bulls tail and prisoners were placed on this until they were hit 40 times each by two different officers.  Sometimes they even made friends of the prisoners do the whipping.  

Dachau was heavily guarded.  Only two people ever escaped.  One was later found and brought back to the camp. 

The bunks that prisoners slept on.  At one point the camp was so over crowded that three people were to sleep in one little section at once.  

The darker patch of stones are where the buildings used to be.  They were very long and housed a lot of people.  

One of the things that caught my attention was the number of different memorials at this camp.  Naturally when thinking of concentration camps I think of the Jewish religion but they were not only against the Jewish religion but anyone who didn't follow their ideals.  This is a picture of a catholic memorial. 

This was the last row of houses.  This building housed all of the religious  priests.  

This is the Jewish Memorial

This is the one that shocked me the most.  This is a Lutheran memorial. 

A Russian Synagogue

By far the most eye opening part of the trip was the crematorium.  It was very eerie just to be around it all.  There was a separate crematorium building and then a larger one which had a disinfecting room, a waiting room, a gas chamber, a crematorium, and then a room to put the bodies in.  Outside, there is a walking area with a path through the woods where all of the ashes were spread.  

After our concentration camp experience we went back to Munich for dinner.  We were really excited throughout the day for it because we found a Mexican restaurant that had all you can eat burritos, fajitas, and more.  We went in and they told us that deal was only on the weekdays... we went on a Saturday.  We still ate there and it was very good, just not as much as we were hoping for.  

None of us did too much that night.  I think starting this weekend is when it hit me that I was tired from the long month and a half of management class.  There were a lot of late nights.  So we all stayed in and watched a pretty bad football game against Duke, but we still won so that's all that matters.  

Sunday we actually walked around and saw the city, took in the sights, and of course at some fast food before our train home.  We had a nice time in Munich together.