Day 8: Our Day in Dachau and our Munich Adventures

 

We had a very full day today and as I sit to write tonight's blog, I realize I messed up again and forgot to take a group picture. I replaced it with a taste of home found by a small group of our Eurotrippers.  If you are wondering why we are at Dunkin Donuts, it is because Germany has quite a few and we found one this after noon.  It was nice to taste that sweet perfection of a large black iced coffee even if the coffee was in our traditionally small cup!

Today began with a different cup of coffee and our first experience at the H2 OlympicPark hotel's breakfast.

The H2 Breakfast was pretty good. I kept it small, again with some eggs, sausages, and a sandwich. There were tons of other options though

The breakfast area was packed to the brim by the time we left the hotel today.  We believe a few factors contributed to the crowd. First, it was a Sunday morning and it makes sense that folks' vacations were ending and they wanted to hit the road early. Second, a soccer match had occurred the night before and the stadium is nearby. We think a lot of people were there for the game.  Most likely, I will take pictures of the spread that is available tomorrow morning.

A few of the kids had a technical issue last night and their phones didn't really charge well in their rooms. This also led to their alarms not sounding and them over sleeping a bit. They weren't late, but it made the morning much more hectic than they would normally want.  Even still, they were all here on time and we boarded the bus for our busy day in Germany.

Dachau is a town that is not far from Munich. I liken it to Saugus and Boston.  During World War One, the city was home to an ammunitions factory. When the war ended and Germany had been defeated, the factory hit hard times and so did the community.  As Hitler and the Nazi's rose to power, they re-opened the factory and sadly built a prison camp to put prisoners to work.  The camp at Dachau became the first Concentration Camp that the Nazis' built and it became a model for other camps in the future.  It was not an extermination camp, like Treblinka or Auschwitz, but it still was responsible for horrible tragedies. The exhibit at Dachau is amazing for several reasons.  First, you walk through the administrative building and see all sorts of primary sources that build the foundation of knowledge one might need to know about the camp and the Nazis.  After that, you are able to walk the grounds of the prison camp.  There is a detention center where high value prisoners were kept, tortured, and killed.  There are also two barracks still standing. One was open for examination. I counted roughly 60-75 beds in each room and about 10 rooms per barrack.  The camp would have had 30 barracks in total. If you walk down the camp road, between the barracks, you can feel the severity of where you are.  Today, the camp houses several religious centers for various denominations. I saw a Russian Orthodox service happening in a small chapel. Just on the other side of the perimeter wall, you can walk to the crematorium. As I stated, Dachau wasn't a death camp, but many thousands of prisoners lost their lives at the hands of their guards.  As Dachau was an early camp in the Nazi system, they had not yet begun the gassing of their victims, instead most were killed by firing squad or hanging.  Later, a gas chamber was installed in the new crematorium, but I am not 100% sure that anyone was killed there.

There are other areas to the camp that can be explored.  There are also exhibits within the administrative building that add additional value to one's experience.  An English language movie began at 10:15 and a few of our kids watched it. They said it was great, but they were worried that they'd miss the grounds too. We stayed a little later than expected so that they could see as much as possible.  The kids, as a whole, did exactly as we asked.  They took their visit serious.  They read signs and placards and utilized the new interactive panels too.  I am hoping that they will have questions for me as we go, but I think that the visit helped them understand the Holocaust in a way that a classroom could not. 

Our group walking to the gate

The translation says "work will set you free."

Checking out the exhibits

The prison camp is to the left of the model, the larger factory is to the right.

The firing squad wall.

A hallway in the detention center.

The camp road is lined with Poplar Trees and signifies the rows of prison barracks that used to stand at the camp. 

The crematorium

Entrance to the gas chamber

Inside the gas chamber

The crematorium

As we left Dachau, the weather in Munich began to improve.  Our schedule had us return to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and then off to the BMW center for lunch.  The center contains a museum, but we didn't visit that part of the complex. They have some nice cars out on display and a cafe inside for the kids to grab something to eat. Sara and I headed down the road for a bit to get kebab. It is my favorite street food in Europe and this place didn't disappoint.  I really enjoyed it.

After lunch we boarded our bus for a city tour, but there was a lot of traffic due to an accident. Our guide tried to explain some of the key points, but we didn't really see a lot...but I don't think the kids minded. They were respectful and listened, but they really wanted to get off the bus and explore the city on their own. Most opted to ride bikes, but a few kids decided that walking with purpose was the right way to see Munich.  While we were waiting, we had a surprise visitor with a similar name as one of our kids...they simply had to meet.

Amelie and Amelia

I'll start with the group that stuck we me.

We left the others and headed to the Vicktuallersmart. It is a food mart in the City Center. It was mostly closed due to it being a Sunday.  The area is usually packed during the holiday seasons, but today it was empty. We just missed the Easter season and the Spring celebration will begin soon.  There is actually a May pole in the square too. I was so pleased that they knew what a May Pole was!  We also visited Marienplatz. This is the main square of Munich and houses the Town Hall.  This square was busier and the many restaurants were filled with happy people.  We continued our walk through the streets to finish our trek...which you've already seen. We found a Dunkin Donuts!

While I didn't ride today, I did check in with everyone and the report was that it was a blast. Apparently one bike didn't really work well and a few of us traded it to each other until Kent fixed it. The day was great and a few kids sent me pictures.  Most of the ride skirts through the English Garden and throughout the park they saw a ton of dogs. I must say, there have been a lot of pups on this trip...reminding many of us of our little buddies back at home.

There is a water pump in the Garden and someone figured out you can surf it. The bike tour got a glimpse of this really cool Munich feature.

Our groups reunited and we headed off for dinner. It was a traditional German Spaetzle with chicken and mushroom.  The restaurant was nice and a few kids purchased some souvenirs. Max was also presented with a belated birthday present from Kent. 

Rice, Brussel Sprouts, and Spaetzle

It was empty!!! But I think he loved it!

We arrived back to the hotel fairly early. We informed the kids that 11pm was their curfew (They have fifteen minutes, lol) and that they'd have an extra half hour of sleep tonight as we delayed our departure for Prague a bit....Oddly, about 15 of them just spontaneously got up and went to their rooms, lol.  Good kids!!!

Today was an easy day, logistically, but a busy day for us. Dachau challenged us in a somber reflective kind of way and the rest of the day pushed our limits as we rode through the streets on bicycles or navigated Munich for that perfect cup of Joe. We are day 8. Tomorrow, we make our way to our final city and soon we will be on our way home. 

Thanks again for reading!!!

Mr. Lavoie, currently in the hotel restaurant wrapping up the blog earlier than expected and hoping for a bit more sleep than usual.