Dachau and Altes Munich

Friday began with Susanne preparing a big breakfast. I don't each bread or wheat products at home, but I do when I am traveling! She had yogurt, rolls, butter, jam, juice and coffee, and after that and a great night's sleep, I was ready to head out and explore Munich on my own.

After breakfast, Susanne drove me through the Nymphenburg castle grounds, so I could get an idea of how expansive it is, and then she dropped me off at the S-Bahn so I could head to Dachau.

The trains and subways are really easy to navigate, so I easily found my way to the city of Dachau, and then transferred to a bus that took me to the camp - now a museum.

The gate to the camp has the ironic phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei", literally "Work Makes You Free", also seen at several other camps, including Auschwitz. It was a somber visit. The exhibits were presented in German and English, so I could understand everything, and there was a documentary-style film with old footage of the liberation of Dachau. The barracks (rebuilt), the gas chamber (never used, but the Nazis clearly had planned to have used it) and the crematorium were all beyond comprehension. I came here because I think you have to see these things to believe that humans are capable of being this cruel to other humans.

After such a day (it was nearly five hours altogether), I wanted to see the old part of Munich town and maybe catch a concert, so I headed to Marienplatz. The local tourist info office said there was a performance of Die Zauberflote in the opera house, but when I inquired to purchase tickets, they were sold out.

Instead, I climbed up the bell tower at St. Peter's Church. The view was fantastic (good thing because I needed some time to catch my breath!) and going around the top I had a 360 degree view of Munich, including the entire old town at the base of the tower. This photo shows the town hall (Neues Rathaus) right at the base of the tower. The town hall facade has the famous glockenspiel facing the square (Marienplatz).

After descending, I saw a poster at the main entrance of St Peters that said there would be a free organ concert at 8pm that evening. Since it was nearly 7pm, I decided to head over to the square and grab some dinner while waiting. The glockenspiel had already chimed for the last time that day (I missed it), but there were some musicians busking near the fountain, so I went to listen. There was a violin, a cello, a small piano (on a wheeled platform), a bass and a cajon percussionist. They played an imaginative mixture of classical pieces with some jazz and gypsy stuff, too. The drew a big crowd and I had fun listening. The organ concert was nice, too, but this was really fun. Tomorrow I will be heading to the castles in a rented car.