Neuschwanstein

A nice short drive today, to Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria. We took the scenic route, which due to some road closures, resulted in an even more scenic route through the countryside. We stopped to take some photos of the countryside and were treated to a show by a frisky bull. After about an hour and a half, we had arrived at the town below Neuschwanstein. We parked the car and bought tickets to enter the castle. It was a 40 minute walk up the mountain to the Castle, which we did quite easily. I did get pretty puffed but am also hindered by a head cold which I seem to have picked up. The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who died under suspicious circumstances at age 40 while it was still being constructed. As a result not many of the rooms are completed, so the tour was quite short. Afterwards we climbed further up the mountain to a bridge which stretched over a waterfall and also then down a winding path that follows the water. It was some amazing forest and Daniel had a blast using the new camera. We took some pictures of identical scenes using the new and old camera and the new one is just so amazing, with 20x digital zoom meaning you can photograph things not even visible to the naked eye.

(zoom on new camera vs zoom on old camera)

After our pleasant walk, we drove the 7 km to Fussen where we are staying our last night in Germany. We walked into town and enjoyed a fantastic meal, of spare ribs and pork cordon bleu. We will have to hit the gym pretty hard for the next couple of weeks to work off the amazing German food we have enjoyed. An early night tonight as we are so full to the brim and are both a bit under the weather. Tomorrow we will return our hire car and head back to London. Daniel will be back to work on Monday and I will be in Welwyn for about 2 weeks before heading off on my next trip.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

We drove to Dachau in the morning, about 30 minutes from central Munich. Dachau is synonymous with concentration camps. Here, the old concentration camp site is now a memorial site, though many of the original buildings are still complete and intact. You enter the memorial site through the same entrance the prisoners took, passing through a gate which reads in German ‘Work sets you free’. We used an audio guide to guide us around. It too has a museum set up inside some of the buildings. Dachau was one of the original concentration camps, and saw some hundreds of thousands of people die during its use. It was used as a training facility for many SS troops to go to other camps. It’s quite creepy that some of the buildings in the SS living area are still being used, for training of German troops, after being used by the US troops post liberation.
They have recreated examples of the living quarters, whereby thousands of people were crammed into the barracks. It was very solemn to walk the same paths that so many did and never survived. Walking on the gravel and hearing your own footsteps could not compete with the sound of thousands of feet walking the same paths, in the freezing cold, in strict formation and in fear. The most horrific part was going into the crematorium area and seeing the ovens that were used to cremate the dead bodies of countless victims. You also entered a gas chamber, capable of killing 150 people. There was also a path that led you around a garden area, whereby plaques read things like ‘grave of thousands unknown’ and ‘pistol range for execution’. The terror these victims went through is just unimaginable. It was a very moving experience going there and visiting the memorial site and made you think about the terror in the world that still exists and how sick the Nazis were.

Following our visit to Dachau, we returned to the hotel for a small rest before heading back to Marienplatz so I could have a shop. I managed to get a jacket and Daniel some jumpers and chocolates. We were ‘lucky’ enough to see the Glockenspiel go off. Hint if ever in Munich I recommend you don’t plan your day around seeing the Glockenspeil go off. It is this small thing high up on a building where these little characters come out, a bit like on an old time cuckoo clock. It plays this awful tune and goes for about ten minutes. We then went to Haufbraus, Munich’s most famous beer hall. Inside it was immensely busy and noisy and not a spare seat, so we went to the beer garden. We enjoyed a beer and pretzel before heading off. On our way home, we went to the site of Oktoberfest, which starts on Saturday. It is just amazing with huge beer tents and a real carnival complete with rides. We could see how much fun it must be and would like to stick around but have other places to see.

Nuremberg and Munich

We took the underground train (much more efficient than the London Underground) towards the Zeppelin fields, located on the outskirts of Nuremberg. Here was where the Nazis staged their enormous rallies and where Hitler had envisioned even more buildings, most of which never even got started. The stage where Hitler held his ‘Cathedral of Lights’ rally still existed but was quite overgrown. Many of the pillars have been pulled down for safety reasons, but you could actually stand in the place where Hitler conducted his speeches. Standing up there you just got shivers, thinking of how powerful his speeches were and what it might have been like filled with hundreds of thousands of people. It was quite eerie as it now overlooks a football field.
We then went to the congress hall, which had only ever been half built. It has been converted into a museum, which housed information on the Nuremberg rallies and on the rise of Hitler. It was really interesting, as I had learnt a lot about this in Modern History.

From here we hit the road to Munich. It was very easy to drive into Munich and we found our hotel really easily. We asked the lady at the front desk to help us find our way, and using the underground we went to the Marienplatz, or main square. Marienplatz was a busy tourist hub, with lots of shops and interesting architecture. There is also the Glockenspeil. We had a look around and bought a new camera. We had dinner in a beer hall which was buzzing with people and shared our table with a German couple. They were very friendly and spoke good English. I enjoyed a traditional German meal with veal meatballs and an assortment of other foods and a goulash soup, while Daniel had another pork schnitzel. We also had a litre of the local beer.