The best and worst (wurst) of Munich

Yesterday was an eventful day for Rob and I!!

We started the day off by taking a guided tour of the Dachau Memorial, formerly a Nazi concentration camp. Our tour guide was the same dude as before, Matt, and again, he did an outstanding job showing us around.

The experience was definitely memorable. Dachau was the longest running Nazi concentration camp, operating for 12 years or the entire period of the Third Reich. In addition, it has 1 of only 4 remaining gas chambers in Germany.

We were able to walk through the barracks where prisoners lived... and suffice to say, it was amazing how many people they would cram into one room. You thought your college dorm room was small - you should take a look at these barracks! Towards the end of WW2, a room the size of a triple garage housed approximately 500 people, if not more. Even after being in the room, it is almost unbelievable that so many people could live in such cramped quarters.

We were also able to walk through the gas chamber, which was the most striking part of the memorial by far. Most of you already know that the Nazis would tell prisoners that they were going to have a shower, when in reality they were being sent to the gas chambers. While we were standing in the gas chamber, our guide told us to look up at the shower heads on the ceiling. The shower heads were not even operational - they were not attached to any pipes or plumbing, rather the shower head was simply mounted into a sort of upside-down bowl in the ceiling.

We were also able to see the original crematoriums used by the Nazis. The saddest part is that they original started with a small crematorium, where approximately 11 000 people were cremated. However, by the height of the war there were too many people to fit into this first crematorium, so a larger one was built.

Our guide was also amazing at pointing out the memorials that were left to honour those who died. The original barracks are no longer there, however cement foundations have been laid in the original places of the barracks, each with a number reflecting the original barrack´s number. This is so family members and friends can return to the exact location of the barrack where their loved ones were imprisoned.

All in all, Dachau was an amazing experience. Sad, scary, and very depressing, but something that I will remember doing for the rest of my life.

On a lighter note, we took a tour of some of Munich´s best beer halls last night. Our group was awesome, and we ended up meeting a girl who went to Laurier and was in Rob´s program, and also a girl who is studying at Carleton (Go Ravens!). The highlight of our night was meeting a guy who is the spitting image of a guy we all know (name not to be disclosed... hahaha). Rob and I will show you the photos later and you can be the judge. But let´s just say, the lookalike was a great sport and even humoured us by imitating the original. Hilarious.

I also ate my first German bratwurst, and it was delicious. Rob sampled a Dunkel beer (dark beer) from the world-reknowned HofBrau Haus, built in 1589. The best part about the tour is that we learned that German beer, by law, can only have 3 ingredients - hops, water, and wheat OR barley. This is why the beer is so amazing! Good times were had by all!

Today we will be visiting the Olympic Park and also the memorial for the anti-Nazi White Rose movement. Tonight we will catch an overnight train to Berlin where we will spend 5 days learning about even more history!

Doug - you will be thrilled to know that we have decided to head back to Normandy at the end of our trip for a tour of Juno Beach. Sadly, we will get there 6 days after the 65th anniversary, but it will still be amazing. Thanks for sending us the tour info!!