Saturday Day 20 June 9, 2012

Another bus day today and we were in route to Germany. Austria was a blast so I can't wait to see Munich. One of my good friends is from Germany and lived in Munich for awhile so I hoped to meet up with him. His wallet was stolen last weekend and he had to go back to his hometown to get it all figured out...next time. On our way to Munich, we stopped at Dachau Concentration camp to look around. Past books and classes have informed me about some of the things that went on in the camps, but actually being there was an entirely different story. I wasn't really emotionally prepared for some of the stories and sights of Dachau. We listened to an audio guide and walked around the roll call area, the barracks, and the crematory. It was a struggle to hold back tears and the whole thing was absolutely horrible. We read some of the stories and articles from survivors in the Dachau museum...I'll never understand how anyone in their right mind would ever think that torture and killing is ok. Our class pitched in and bought beautiful flower arrangement to leave for the thousands who suffered and died at Dachau. I have to say I'm glad I went though, it was a real eye opening/changing experience. Munich wasn't too far and after orientation we went to explore the city. Dr. Dan gave us a brief overview of the metro and MarienPlatz was our destination. The Marienplatz square is home to St. Peters, Haufbrauhaus, and plenty of shops. Most things were closed by the time we arrived, but we all wanted some good German food and HB was the place to go. I ordered the a brat-worst plate and their famous liter Radler (lemonade and beer). The food and beer was delicious and the whole table was having a blast. Euro 2012 (soccer) has taken over Europe and we were eating just I'm time for the game. HB had projectors up with the game and you could tell how tense the room was as Germany and Portugal battled it out. Luckily Germany won, so everyone was happy. As we made our way back to hotel we fund these really great street performers. They had a violin, cello, accordion, and other instruments in their street band. The performers really put on a show for our group and they were amazing. Especially the violinist, he did a great job. Their variation of Cannon in D was my favorite, I have a classical music weak spot haha. We walked around some more and eventually went back to the hotel. Tomorrow is a free day so hopefully we will find some fun things to get into here in Munich.