The Swingset Goes International, Part Three: Depression at Dachau

I'm definitely a history lover and WWII was always one of the most riveting periods of the past to me. So, of course, when planning our trip to Germany I knew I would be visiting one (or multiple) concentration camps. Dachau (Germans pronounce it "duh-cow", not like Americans who say "dahhk-ow), was the closest concentration camp to Munich, and we spent about half a day here.

Visiting a concentration camp and learning what actually happened there, how many people were actually inside vs. the number of people the camp was actually built for is a whole a different experience.

Dachau was originally opened to hold political prisoners but as the years went on it also held ordinary criminals. They were separated in the camps by red or green tags - red was those opposed to Nazi rule, green was actual criminals. The camp was built to hold approx. 6,000 people but at the end of WWII when the camp was liberated it had 33,000!!!

The prisoners were brought to the camp by trains and marched through iron gates that read, "Arbeit Macht Frei" or Work Will Set You Free. This is where the life was literally sucked from them...

 

This is one of the barracks from the camp. Each barrack had one room of toilets, I believe only 6 total, with no seats, walls or privacy. They also had a small "common area" and rooms of beds.

Each "bed" was supposed to hold one person; however, towards the end of the war they were bunking 3 - 4 people in each space. Imagine that... three bunks at 3 - 4 people each space. Unbelievable.

 

The perimeter had multiple "fences." You had the outside fence, a barbed wire fence and a trench. Any prisoner who made it as far as the trench was shot instantly. Many prisoners ran into the trench on purpose. They no longer wanted to live in misery.

The original foundations (below) of each barracks are still there in Dachau. As you walk through them, you can just imagine the despair from the thousands of people there. Imagine if it rained... the mud, the cold, it's just horrible.

Like all concentration camps, Dachau had working crematoriums and they used them daily. They also had gas chambers but the SS in this camp never actually used them. I don't even want to imagine these being used. It's horrific.

Lastly, this is a memorial statue made to help us remember what happened in the camp. To walk there, to know what happened and people died NO MATTER WHERE I STOOD is powerful. Everyone should experience this type of history and never forget, never let it happen again.

The Swingset Goes International, Pt. 2: Mom and Dad Get the Participation Award

Our second day in Munich started off bright and early by visiting the Viktualienmarkt which could be equated to Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. There were a lot of open air food shops that were serving sandwiches, pretzels, cheese and even fresh hand-squeezed juice made that morning. We had our Munich tour, by Mike's Bike Tours, an hour or so later so we decided to rustle up a nice German breakfast.

German breakfast does not equal American breakfast in many places. Americans want hot eggs next to bacon and sausage or carbs, carbs, carbs covered in sugar (!!) but it was hard to find these things in the Viktualienmarkt. The monkeys helped us pick a nice sandwich though which, as you can see, had pausenbrot mit schinken + kase. From memory, this means a cold sandwich with barely an egg, cucumbers some kind of meat and cheese! That's all I got, people. Don't hold your breath for my fluency in the German language.

Hey, hey we're the Monkeys! People say we... oh wait a minute, wrong monkeys.

Now, I'm not really sure why but Germany sure does love it's squirrels. There were squirrel statues evvv-aa-reee-where and I was not thrilled by having to look terror in the eye at every corner. Squirrels are the devil. They will jump from a tree onto your exposed neck and suck your blood like Bunnicula (remember that book?). And yes, for the record... rabbits are evil too. My father took a lot of squirrel pictures for me while on vacation; however, this fake wicker one is all you get.

 

Not all animals in the markt were horrific though. For example, you have Leonardo the Lobster, my friendly friend outside the seafood stand. You also have a pile of dead Wilburs, no harm for me there! Just delightful bacon or porkchops!

Finally, after all the markt fun, it was time for the bike tour. Our tour guides were pretty funny and when the group broke off into two smaller groups we got paired with Chris, the guide who grew up in Australia and moved to Munich, haha, cool. He made us aware of all the important things that, as tourists in Europe, we should know. For example, what is the most overrated tourist attraction in Europe?? The answer: France -- bah, dum, dum, ching!

The tour was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip because it took us through different portions of the city (city center, suburbs, gardens) but it also earned Mom and Dad the "Participation Award." After parking our bikes in a square, we walked through a pretty detailed and decorative Catholic Church (to which I said "meh" because church and I? we don't get along) and sat with Chris, the tour guide, outside. He described what the square was like back in the WWII days which was really interesting and pointed out places where Jews or those not supporting Hitler would be shot if they tried to walk past. It can be kind of breathtaking in a way to know that where you were walking, where you were standing, people died or stood up for their beliefs during one of the darkest times of history. It was one of those moments where history hits you.

But enough of that sorrow because it's time for Mom and Dad's award! Chris wanted to explain to us one of the buildings and its statues that was in the square - but first, he needed volunteers!! Naturally, my parents tried to do the whole "if we cower and not make eye contact, we'll never get chosen" act but Chris was onto them and up they went as volunteers #1 & #2. They were to be the main attraction and had to stand as the statue behind them did.

That man to the right? He is their servant just laying at their feet, clearly worshiping the ground that my glorious and illustrious father stood on. The blonde woman and the hoodlum in the hat? Yup, the pet lion and the knight who was to serve and protect. Now, I don't know what story the statue told because I was too busy laughing hysterically but aren't they just precious?

Sidebar: I'd like to take a moment and discuss my father in more detail because looking at this picture, I remembered something (you're welcome for what's about to happen, Pops). See his pants? Well, at the knee there is a zipper that could turn them from pants to shorts. The entire 10 days he kept calling them "his options." 

Hey Christine, I got my options on. I also have grey colored options. 

If it gets hot, I'll just switch my options.

Yup, we get it. You're a fashionista.

And check: end sidebar 

After riding through the city for a few hours, we moved into what is called the Englisher Garden in Munich. It is the equivalent of Central Park in New York with the exception of one meadow being a complete nudie-fest on hot days. I am really upset that I missed this nudie-fest because Chris described some of the people I'd see and where they might have their piercings. I'm not sure what I would have loved more - seeing hundreds of naked people basking in the sun with no cares in the world or Kyle and my Dad's faces when they had to look at the old gentleman aptly named "The Tripod." I'll let you figure that one out.

Another part of the gardens was where you would find Munich's city sport of river surfing. They installed a wall at one part of the river to make a giant wave that people could use. It looks completely dangerous if you don't know what you're doing and also completely awesome! I could have brought my pausenbrot and kase sandwich and sat there for hours.

Everybody's going suuurfin', surfin' M-U-C!

Also, please note: You are not allowed to high five in Germany. 

Look at them... breaking the law!! 

As if this tour didn't get rip-roaring crazy enough about midway through we stopped at a biergarten for 45 minutes to grab a liter and some pretzels. I was sipping my beer gently (aka guzzling because who doesn't like a buzzed bike ride) through my liter when somehow it came up that there were others in our group from Philadelphia. This young guy lived in a town about 30 - 40 minutes from my parents and was taking this trip as a graduation present to himself... c'mon, guess where he graduated from... thousands of miles away from home, in the middle of Munich, I am shouting:

WE ARE! PENN STATE!!

We're everywhere. Like the creepy family who won't leave you alone? Everywhere.

Penn State is da bomb dot com and don't you forget it.

Alongside of meeting PSU alums so far away from home, I'd like to say that dreams do really come true. 

Beer and a pretzel I can't fully wrap my hand around? It makes me wanna tap dance.

YAAASSS!!! 

Chugging contest? I think so.

At the end of the tour, I was telling Chris that I was going to put a review about him on TripAdvisor.com and he wanted to make sure I made him sound "rockin'." He wanted to be the rockstar of Mike's Bike Tours, the one everyone wants to come and see... so he is now "The Barry Manilow" of all bike tours in Munich and that, my friends, is serious business.

We finished up our last night in Munich by taking a trip to the famous Hofbrauhaus, where I met a legit non-speaking, dressed in lederhosen because that's how he rolls German guy, and then by going to another bar to try their Augustiner beer and eat more bratwurst.

Guten Tag! Rostzwiebel? Ja! (Hey! Roasted Onions? Yes!) Told you not to rely on my German.

So, to sum up: We ate, we drank, we exercised. I stood next next to a giant German with knitted calf compression sleeves and we stopped outside of the Apple Store, like all German people do, to get some free wifi access and email home. HUZZAH!!

[German Awkward thigh picture]

Next Up: Depression on Vacation: Dachau Concentration Camp

The Swingset Goes International - Pt. 1

Two months ago - oh it hurts to say that - Kyle and I, along with my parents, took our first international trip. After months of planning and telling my Mom, "Yes, I did read the travel disclaimers and refund polices" (shh, don't tell her I didn't, muhaha), we finally took off on an 8 hour flight across the Atlantic. Our trip was 10 days and 900+ miles in the southern part of the country - Bavaria, the Black Forest, medieval cities missed during WWII and let us not forget Heidelberg, the city of small child thievery!

 Now, sit back and relax because Swingalingadingdong is proud to present:

PART ONE: HIS PANTS ARE DOWN IN MUNICH

Yup, I wasn't kidding... they're really down! Hofbrauhaus, ftw!

Okay, okay... that didn't actually happen on our first day. Our first day was more like exhaustion and overload but I thought I'd rope you in with that. Did it work?

After landing in Munich we rented our beautiful Volkswagen Caddy which was incredibly small by American standards but try parking that silver elephant in Europe. Do you have 20 minutes? Because it took Mom 20 minutes to park that sucker in the lot of our hotel. However, I digress because parking in Europe could be it's own post... so, we drove out of the airport to our first destination - LANDSHUT (Lands-hoot [phonetic pronunciation for you, Dad])!!

Don't be fooled by my size. I am a European minivan.

Landshut is a Bavarian town about 35 minutes from Munich and is home to a medieval castle called the Trausnitz Castle. It was founded in 1204 and is now home to.... nothing, haha. You can wander through the grounds, viewing the architecture and can also eat at the handy dandy restaurant they so nicely provided for the tourists in the middle of the courtyard.

The view of Landshut from the castle grounds

We didn't really spend a lot of time here in Landshut. Personally, I think we were all really tired from the overnight flight and ordering pizza in German can make people turn into a crankapotamus. So, after a couple of hours we headed back to Munich for a nice nap, a view of the town hall in the Marienplatz and our first biergarten of the trip.

The town hall of Marienplatz.

Um, yeah... this is the new town hall of Munich. Yup, new. Construction started in 1867, finishing in 1909 and it became and is now home to all government officials in the city. Personally, I think the building could use a serious power wash but some people might whine about the history of all that dirt. Yeah, because dirt has a history and the clean freak inside me is crying.

But I guess even I could get past a little bit of dirt if you sit me in a biergarten with a giant hefweizen, a German cheese plate and a pile bratwurst with saurkraut, and so... it begins...

Random and amusing side story of Munich: Our hotel was located in the Turkish section of the city. So, if you felt so inclined to smoke a hookah on the way to your beer guzzling, you can do it practically on every corner. However, no matter how much hookah you smoke, you cannot purchase a toothbrush in the Turkish supermarket. Don't even try! Kyle's teeth were diiiirty, eww.