Spring Break Part 2: Munich (Neuschwanstein & Dachau)

Quick note before getting back to Spring Break activities:
Yesterday was Día del Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalonia and so the day is a pretty big deal. The tradition in Barcelona on this day is that men buy women a rose and women buy men a book. (I'm sure the guy from "Defending the Caveman" could write quite a monologue about that.) The streets were lined with booths and tables of people selling books and roses and the sidewalks were absolutely bustling with people. Scattered throughout the city radio stations had put up stages to host their shows and news casters were filming everywhere. On top of that it was about 80 degrees and sunny-definitely the most gorgeous day I have had here in Barcelona. The city felt truly alive with excitement. With the incredible weather it was easy to pick out the Americans from the crowd-I don't think I saw a single Spanish person wearing shorts or sandals.
Today it was in the mid-80s again and sunny. After my Spanish final this morning I headed straight to the beach. Here again it was easy to tell the Americans apart from the Spaniards-at least the girls...this time it wasn't the Americans wearing less clothing, though.


Now back to Spring Break:
The bus ride to Munich took a little longer than expected and we didn't arrive until around 5:15. We checked into the wonderful Holiday Inn in the Schwabing area of Munich and then contacted Matt and his two roommates, Neel and Bryan, and Jordan Mandel, all of whom we were meeting there. (Group growing to 14) The four of them had already checked in and had gone to the center of the city for a bit. Once we arrived they came back and everyone got ready to head out to dinner.

Per recommendation we headed to a beer hall called "Augustina Keller" for dinner and famous German beer. We walked in to the sound of Polka-like music- there was a band of men dressed in Bavarian garb playing music. Ben and I immediately felt right at home (see: Cádiz costumes). Instead of looking at the menu and deciding what looked good I just asked the waiter, also dressed in Bavarian clothing, what his favorite thing was. "Duck." It was delicious. We then enjoyed our 1 liter German beers and the typical Bavarian music. Being typical tourists, we thought it would be funny if we told the waiter it was one of our birthdays. Without his knowledge, Ben told the waiter it was Matt's birthday and asked if the band knew how to play happy birthday. Boy did they. 5 minutes later the entire band came over to our table and arranged themselves behind Matt before playing an entire chorus of songs-including happy birthday. Quite funny. We remained at the restaurant/beer house for some time playing cards, etc. When we left the girls were going to try and find a club, but after some slight confusion and a reminder that it was Monday night they decided to head home. Neel, Ben, Barkan, Lee and myself decided we wanted to see the city a little bit so we headed to the Marienplatz plaza in the center of Munich. We found an open McDonald's were we learned a little about German culture through some discussion with locals, all of which spoke perfect english, before deciding to call it a night.

Monday morning we woke up relatively early to catch the incredible Holiday Inn buffet, which was included in the room cost. I haven't seen a contintal breakfast buffet as good as this in a long time; another winning hotel decision. We were then ready to head to Fussen: we took two trains, each for an hour each, before we arrived at the city. Most of the group slept. From Fussen we hiked about 5 kilometers through the woods to the small town at the base of the mountain where the two castles are located. We bought our entry tickets for the Neuschwanstein castle and then began the quick climb up the paved path to the castle. It only took about 20 minutes. The view from the castle was truly remarkable and the inner-workings of it were even cooler. Great choice for a location and design for someone to build there castle-I definitely took notes for when I build my castle in Europe. Its no wonder the disney castle is modeled after it. I found it interesting, though, that the castle is still unfinished. It was built in the 1860s, which is very new for Europe's standards, and when the owner died the project was ceased. The unfinished nature took very little away from the asthetics, however.

After our tour we ran back down the mountain to catch the bus back to Fussen to catch the train back to Munich. We barely made it. We had the same train schedule on the way back as we had there; this time everybody slept (except the person making sure we didn't miss our stop...yours truly). We were back at the hotel by around 6:30 and ready to head to dinner by 8:15.

Tonight we went to the famous Hofbrahouse beer house. Again I asked the waiter his recommendation for dinner-a beef dish. Again it turned out great. We hung out at the beer house for a long time before walking around the neighborhood for a bit and then heading back to the hotel. We got cots for two of the girls the second night because they had slept 3-to-a-bed the night before. One of the cots was in my room (with Lee, Ben, and Barkan). Annie must have drawn the short straw and probably got a little education/ had an experience sleeping in the same room as four guys, ha.

Tuesday morning we woke up relatively early again to get the same incredible breakfast. As everyone packed up their things I went to work on checking out. It only took about 45 minutes to get everyone checked out, but the lady was very kind and helpful. We left our bags at the hotel and then headed to Stephenplatz to walk around the city and get a better feel for Munich. At around 11:00 we found free walking tours of the city starting in Marienplatz and decided to take the guides up on the opportunity. The group offered English and Spanish tours and I debated for a long time which to do. I decided it would be far more beneficial, educational, and interesting to take the English tour. My Scottish tour guide was very friendly and well-informed. He threw in many tidbits about WWII and how it affected the cutlure of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe, and the world. Being very educated about WWII, but from a primarily American and Jewish perspective, it was very interesting to hear him discuss events of the Holocaust and the war in general. I was very pleased with his analysis and everyone's response to it. It was also very interesting to see the quantity and quality of buildings built just after WWII with Marshall Plan dollers- it felt a little like jumping into my 8th grade history textbook.

At 12:45 we tipped the tour guide, grabbed a quick lunch, and then headed back to Marienplatz to catch a tour to Dachau leaving at 1:00. Again, the group dynamic and tour guide made this a unique situation for me. For most of my life I have been surrounded by an extremely high percentage of Jewish people. Most of my best friends from elementary school, high school and college are Jewish, by blood if not by practice, and have similar upbringings, education, and feelings about the Holocaust and WWII. The group we were travelling with was about 1/2 Jewish- a huge percentage by any normal standard, but weirdly 'goy' feeling for me. Additionally, not only to many people throughout the world feel that the Holocaust is a 'Jewish' thing, I think most people think that every Jewish person has a direct link to it, that every Jewish person has a family member or knows someone that perished. Out of the seven Jewish people going to Dachau in our group I was the only one that had family persecuted, which felt very strange. Matt's roommates, Bryan and Neel, decided not to go to Dachau- which I felt was a shame. I think it shows ignorance, but that is a judgement in which I do not wish to divulge.

We took a train and a bus to Dachau before walking around the camp with our tour guide. The emotions running through my veins as went along the stone paths, through the baracks, and into the gas chambers is truly indescribable. Horrific, bone-chilling, surreal...words do not do it justice. Suffice it to say that as I write this now and remember the experience, 1 1/2 weeks later, my hand starts shaking a a tear comes to my eye. Walking around the camp I could not remember whether or not my Great Grandmother had been at that exact camp, but thought that I had been told she had-this made the experience that much more personal and mind-boggling. I would start to describe some of the things I learned and saw while there, but I know this post would not do it justice. While my pictures hardly do it justice, either, I would recommend looking at them to learn a little more. While nothing short of going yourself can elicite the feelings, I will try and summarize mine: As I walked through into the gas chamber, looked at the 'shower heads', through the other side to the crematorium and out of the building to the memorial area I looked around. I saw Lisa Weitzman, Kathy Khazanov, Lee Cohen, Ben Blumenthal, David Barkan, and Matt Kogan and thought to myself, "not one single Nazi ever thought that seven Jews would walk out this door". Though definitely not fun, going to that camp memorial was one of the most beneifical things I have ever done in my life-let alone one of the most important experiences of my trip.

After Dachau we caught a train back to the hotel. We gathered our bags and went to the main train station where we caught our short train to Salzburg.

Overall analysis:
As our bus crossed the border from the Czech Republic to Germany I got chills down my spine. Especially after travelling through Europe where history is always so ancient, it is truly mind-boggling to think about how recent the history of the Holocaust is- that my Grandfather refuses to enter that land and that there are people still living there that were trained in anti-semetism and educated in Hitler youth programs. On one of the trains I was sitting next to Matt and we were talking with three of the non-Jewish girls travelling with us. As we were talking a young German man walked by in an army uniform; we both immediately jumped and lookked at each other- the girls laughed. While it seems rediculous nowadays, the prospect of the persecution being so close in history was truly frightening.

Unrelatedly, everything and everyone in Germany was extremely clean, well-organized, and timely. The trains and busses were incredibly punctual. Germany people were also much more friendly than Czech people and everyone spoke English. The city was very interesting but you can almost tell by walking around that most of it was destroyed during World War II. I never realized how much impact the Marshall Plan and U.S. influence post World War II really had. However, Munich still had a very European feel to it with large plazas, cobblestone streets, uniformly tall buildings, etc.

On one of the trains I had bought group tickets so the lady checking tickets came up to me to see who was in our group. She said that I needed to write my name and sign the ticket-I did. Immediately she looks at my name, looks back at me, and looks back at my name. "Your name is German." She said a little confused, half asking half informing me. I laughed and told her that it was-another weird experience.

The night after we left Munich FC Barcelona played Bayern Munich in the Champions league quarterfinals. I wish I could have been in Munich for that because Barca killed them: 4-0.