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.

Nordlingen

Day 3, we took a short stroll through the small Heidelberg streets, then hit the road as today was our longest driving day. We drove to Nordlingen, Wagga’s Sister city. On google maps, it said it would take us 2 and a half hours, but via the very scenic route, we took closer to 4. We drove through some fairly windy roads and thick forest. It was a real challenge to drive, but much more interesting than just taking the Autobahn. We got to Nordlingen and headed towards the tourist information centre and decided to climb the clock tower, whose name was ‘Daniel’. After climbing 70 metres, It would give us views of the city, which still has a wall around it, and also to see how Nordlingen is set inside a crater formed millions of years ago from a meteorite. When we got to the top, I told the gentleman we were from Wagga so he waived the 2 euro fee in return for us signing the visitors book.

We then got on the road to Nuremberg and after dealing with some pretty heavy traffic, we arrived in our hotel located in central Nuremberg. We stayed in a Hotel One, a chain motel that is quite basic and affordable. It certainly did the job for us and was comfortable and had free wi-fi. We asked a staff member where was close for dinner, but unfortunately he told us to go to a place that was almost deserted except for a Mcdonalds, so we settled for that.

Koblenz and Rhine Cruise

We had a bit of a sleep in to catch up before heading to town for a scenic river cruise, which was due to depart at 11AM. We bought our tickets and had a short stroll along the river front before coming to our dock. On the way, I decided to read the brochure and learnt that the cruise we were about to take did not in fact take a few hours as we thought, rather would be a six hour round trip, returning at 5PM. We decided to take it anyway and just get to Heidelberg, our next destination a bit later than planned.

During the cruise, it rained on and off the whole time, but it was still really enjoyable. There were plenty of lovely towns to see and castles too. Daniel went very snap happy, taking about 200 photos, only being stopped by a flat camera battery. We stayed inside mostly as it was pretty cold and wet outside. We got lunch on the boat, once again a really good meal.

After the cruise we hit the autobahn for a fast drive to Heidelberg As I didn’t want to drive in the dark. For the two hour drive it rained the whole way, sometimes so heavily that I could barely see. Funny, while driving along on th autbahn in the torrential rain John Farnham's 'You're the voice' came on the radio. I thought that was a bit random, except that I heard the song about 4 times while in Germany- he must be huge there. It was a challenge, but not too stressful and our GPS was handy. The GPS led us right to our hotel, right next to the river and Heidelberg’s main bridge. Heidelberg is quite a traditional city, with a castle on the hill and I think one of the worlds oldest universities. We went to a walk along the streets and had dinner in a pub. The meal was nice once again.

We have really noticed how friendly the people are, and how happy they are to help it also helps that most people speak English quite fluently- much better than Daniel or I speak German. The roads are of such a good quality, with clear signs and courteous drivers. It is also very clean everywhere we have been. So two thumbs up for Germany!