The Hamel Happy Hour

Friday, June 7, 2013

Munich and Dachau

    Oh my heck, I'm so sorry it's been so long, but I have had so so so many doctor's appointments over the past month.   Some weeks I have had three appointments.   Super not my favorite, but we should be pretty well done with that.

     First off Munich is sooooo beautiful. ( Only Northwesterners will really get this next part.)  Imagine Seattle, now imagine really large open pedestrian walking areas, now instead of St. James Cathedral add a beautiful castle at the city center, now imagine an open air Pike Place place, and then take away all the bums.  And now you have Munich.  Even before you get to the city and depending on which way you travel you get to drive through the Swabian Alps.   They look nothing like the Swiss Alps, they are shorter and look more like big rocky giants fell asleep long enough for trees to sprout.
 This happens to be the "old" City Hall.   


And this is a close up of "The Glockenspiel" It's a sort of cuckoo clock with life sized figures that rotate through, I think it takes 12 minutes for the full cycle, it's still really amazing to see even with the bird proof netting.

      There are several churches to visit, I was only able to get to the Frauenkirche (Church of the Women) It was a little bit like a free museum, there are monuments and tombs inside, and absolutely stunning paintings and icons inside.  Also in Munich is a replica Roman square, the Royal gardens and an Art Nouveau bath house, that is said to be like swimming nude in an art museum/gallery. I wasn't able to see any of that, because my time was so short in Munich.   Another thing is that Germans love and I mean LOVE Holidays and festivals, As soon as it gets warm you can usually find some sort of fest every weekend, and in Munich the Lederhosen and Dirndl are still worn to many events, it's pretty fantastic to see a whole group of old men come out of the beer house with Lederhosen on.

As you leave Munich you are very likely to pass one of the remaining city gates, complete with towers and stunning frescoes.

     The next portion of the trip was the Dachau Concentration camp memorial.   It's very important to remember that is a memorial to the people who lost their lives rather than the camp as it was.   I was expecting to have a much more difficult time with the camp, but it was much more peaceful than I could have ever expected.   I did choke up in the "SS" quarters, which is where a lot of the punishments were delivered.   The building itself keeps open doors and has several open windows, but there is a smell unlike anything I have ever experienced, it's not like decay or old book smell, it's almost a sour bitter smell through the whole building, and no where else in the camp.  Passing by the yard where prisoners were flogged and hung was overwhelming, but after leaving the building and seeing the rest of the camp I felt like such a good job was done to respect the dead here. It's not a beautiful memorial, it's very stark and cold but each faith has a chapel or synagogue on the grounds that is neatly kept. 

     Before I left I entered the room where the dead or soon to die were kept, I took off my shoes and socks stood barefoot in the room where so many people where cast aside, and instead of grief I was able to reflect on the thousands that lived...even if it was just to live long enough to know that they were free when the war had ended.   

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