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.

Back from the ABYSS

It sure has been a long time since I last posted but at least I didn't let a full year go by, right? RIGHT! Excuses, excuses, excuses. Those are my reasons for not updating the world on my life; that or I'm just not that interesting. So, what has happened since July 2012? Well, I haven't been back to Hawaii yet - wahhh! - and I think about it every day. I also haven't been back to Disney - double wahhh! I guess more importantly than both of those is that my sister had her second baby, Juliet Teresa, in February. This kid is the spitting image of her father (whereas Miranda is a McLoughlin girl through and through).

OMG SO DARN CUTE.

Since Juliet was born her sister, Miranda, has gotten really animated and turned into a little walking, talking person. She'll run around my front yard screaming "EMBER! THERE'S A CAR COMING! COME HERE NOW!" at my dog or she'll tell her mother to "FaceTime Christine?" You're two, not twenty... haha, she knows what FaceTime is. Is that sad or awesome? I'm not sure yet.

She also enjoys the occasional picture-text war:

Follow the picture text leader!

Anyway, back to me! Since the beginning of the year I've started running 5K races throughout the area. It all started randomly with the ThinMint 5K because it came with an (ugly) shirt and a box of cookies! Who wouldn't run for cookies!? I ran that race without training; just doing my normal walk a lot (about 90 minutes a day) and stairclimbing at the gym. Somehow, I managed to finish the 5K with a decent pace of 12:30 per mile -  YOU GO SHORT LEGS - and on a runner's high decided to do more, more, more.

Give me all of the cookies!

For the next race, I enlisted Kyle and my sister, Teresa, to join me. It was the Paws For Life race in Chesapeake City, MD where you get to run with your dog! Woohoo!! I didn't actually run with her because she'd pull me over, but Kyle did. They ran the entire thing in 27 minutes and the dog was still hyper.

This was Teresa's first 5K in years, she also popped out two kids, so hooray for running!

Oh look at those hips, they don't lie!

Before Picture: Ember has no idea she's about to run 3.1

The run itself was harder than I expected. It was trail running and the trails were incredibly muddy from the week of rain we had right before the race. There were sections of trail where your shoes would actually sink about 1 - 2" into the mud. Just a little bit dangerous, no biggie! But in the words of Teresa, "I'm never running again!" and "Oh god, my expensive shoes are a mess!" I'm not so sure she had fun.

Next up? The B+ 5K which raises money for kids with cancer, the Color Run in Philadelphia and probably 800 more because I've turned into a running monster. I'm currently hovering around 5 miles in 55 minutes which is pretty awesome for someone who just decided to pick this up a month ago.

A big reason I keep going is because I, honestly, cannot believe that I am this good at it. I've never been athletic and always hated the gym so why do I love running? Who knows.

I have a secret though... and I'm not telling yet! Holla!

WE STILL ARE PENN STATE

I'm a huge talker... I never shut up. It's a problem. I am also highly opinionated. This is also a problem (sometimes). But because I am emotional and have a tendency to get hyper and/or excited about things I'm not exactly articulate.

This is especially true when it comes to the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the subsequent fallout at Penn State. I've had family members ask me what I think on multiple occasions but at the time I was conflicted and dumbfounded. I really just didn't want to talk about it; not because I was supporting the football program or mad at the country for bashing Joe Paterno, but because PSU is like a family and this was a huge blow.

My college roommate, Michele, sent me this article last week and and it is everything I wanted to say to people when I was asked, "what do you think." This person read my mind along with all other alums, current students and lovers of all things Penn State.

WE ARE MORE THAN THIS TRAGEDY 

(click link)

 "The actions of a few do not define us. The knee-jerk reactions of others will not end us. Our school taught us more than organic chemistry and music theory. It taught us to persevere. To overcome. To succeed – with honor. That is who WE are. That is what WE are."

THE NOTHING CAN'T STOP KAUAI

One of the biggest attractions on Kauai is Waimea Canyon a.k.a. the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It's the largest canyon in the Pacific and was carved by flooding on Mt. Waialeale's summit. The landscape in the area changes pretty dramatically depending on how far you drive into it. We passed through a dry mountainous region, saw sections of red clay with almost no vegetation and stopped at the gorgeous Kalalau Valley Lookout for the most beautiful view of my life!

I could stare at the first picture forever. The way the ocean blends into the sky so you don't know where one ends/begins. OMG. Heaven. This place is a pure slice of heaven. I will say that Kyle almost had some minor heart attacks as I took pictures of the view because I was illegal and hopped the safety railing to get closer past the tree line. It's all fun and games until you're in peril, I suppose.

As we walked around the ridge of the canyon the clouds kept moving in and taking over. We joked that it was The Nothing from "The Neverending Story" coming in to destroy everything. Unfortunately, if The Nothing did take over Falkor wasn't around to save us.

We tried to stick around to see if the view came back but once the clouds descended into madness there was no view for quite awhile. I'm just happy we got to see a short glimpse because if I had driven all the way up there for clouds I would have been upset. Outside of the canyon, the sky turned back into it's brilliant blue self; The Nothing hadn't taken over the beaches so we headed to the coast.

Lydgate Beach Park is touted as one of the best beach parks on the island. It was nice, I guess, but covered in driftwood making less room to sit on the sand. We ended up sitting farther back and having to climb over the driftwood each time we wanted to get into the water. To beat the heat (and to avoid the burning of the sun), Kyle sat in the shade of some trees while in the distance I saw that someone had built an A-frame fort to lay under. I'm kicking myself for not getting a closer look, maybe playing a rousing game of indians in a wigwam, but I was preoccupied with some Fire Rock Ale and a book about WWII. That's a hardcore vacation read!

The one big adventure we planned began the following morning... a 5 hour zipline through the rainforests of Kauai. The ziplining was done on the Kipa Ranch which is where they filmed a bunch of movies, most recently "The Descendents" with George Clooney. Holla back, Georgie! One of the ziplines was 1,800' long straight across a valley. You flew above the canopy of trees and had a gorgeous mountain view. Quite possibly the best view though was Kyle in his snug outfit and helmet. Am I right?

The company, Outfitters Kauai, also has exclusive rights to a "blue pool" on the ranch. They built a water zip over it along with a couple diving platforms; one of them was 16' high! Looking down at the water from that platform was nothing short of scary. But after psyching myself out for a couple of minutes I finally decided to jump off... halfway down, I started screaming and it wasn't because I was scared! It was because I was like "OMG WHY HAVEN'T I HIT THE WATER YET!" I hit the water with a giant splash, my bathing suit bottoms went right up my rear end and all I wanted to do was jump off again.

Five hours of adventure was enough for one day though. Afterwards, I was pretty tired so we hit up a food stand called "Puka Dog" where they carve a hole in a Hawaiian sweet roll, plop a giant hotdog inside and cover it with lilikoi mustard, if you so desire. It was easily the best hotdog I've ever had.

Magnificently delicious!

We closed out the first week of vacation by hanging out at the sand pool with the resident chickens, local pig and each other. I was trying to infuse the last drops of relaxation into my blood.

I absolutely loved this island and it's chill level; I know I don't have much to compare it to since I've only been to two islands but that just means I need to invest in visiting all of them! What's next? MAUI!

Anyone want to help me earn more Hawaiian Airline miles so I can afford to go back ASAP? 

I'm not kidding!

LIVING IN A KAUAIIAN PARADISE

Our first stop on Hawaii: Part Two was (obviously) the Honolulu Airport where we were picked up by my favorite locals, The Riveras! That first day on Oahu I was running on four hours of sleep, all on the plane, but you couldn't tell. On top of getting to see the Riveras again it's like once you get to your vacation destination adrenaline kicks in and it's one big "yayyyy!" We had a couple beers at a local brewery, Gordon Biersch, and I sat back laughing while Kyle and Deana argued politics. Elephant vs. donkey who will be the ultimate ass?

Kyle and I didn't get too comfortable on Oahu though because it was off to Kauai the next morning! The flight was only 30 minutes long. It is basically take off, fly for 15 minutes and prepare for landing at the Lihue Airport.

Wham, bam, get your vacation on ma'am! (haha)

We stayed at the Kauai Beach Resort for the next few days and it was the nicest hotel I've stayed in, cheap too! Just driving up to the front of the place and seeing the landscaping was enough to make you fall in love. They even had a koi pond with a waterfall right outside the open-air lobby.

But if gorgeous landscaping isn't up your alley the view from our room was nice too. 

Our first stop for relaxation on Kauai? A delicious breakfast at the Art Hemingway Cafe in Kapaa. The cafe was more of an upscale breakfast joint and they made me a very happy girl by putting my muesli in a martini glass. Nothing else says "fancy oatmeal" quite like a long-stemmed glass, right?

We capped off the first day on Kauai by driving up the eastern coast towards the Kilauea Lighthouse. We originally didn't plan on visiting the lighthouse but when we saw a sign that said "9 Miles" I figured why not. As we got closer, the road opened to a straightaway jam-packed with cars; apparently, we had found the locals favorite spot to view the sunset.

It was pretty amazing to see the sun go down over the water while behind us the locals were singing and playing ukeleles.