Jackie is frowning at me over the title of this post, but as we spent the bulk of our time in Germany visiting Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, castle Schloss Neuschwanstein, and the English Garden, it is an accurate account of our time here. (At least I lead with the castle, right?!) We also saw Marienplatz (the Central Square in the heart of Munich, which houses new and old City Halls), and to a biergarten (with the largest and most expensive beers & pretzel I’ve ever consumed).
Dachau – From “Arbeit macht frei” to “Never Forget”: The kids and I spent Day 1 of our time in Germany visiting Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial — the museum and preserved grounds and buildings of the Dachau concentration camp. Jackie opted to take a tour of Munich because she thought she would be “too emotional” to see Dachau — she was right. Gruesome, tragic, monstrous, horrific, depressing, angering, important, and deeply emotional don’t quite capture the experience. It was the first concentration camp built by the Nazis, just weeks after Hitler took power in 1933. It was the model for all other concentration camps built by the Nazis throughout Germany and invaded territories. I was unaware just how quickly the Nazis rounded up political opponents after being elected and assuming power (mere days/weeks, not months). While demonization and outlawing of various aspects of Jewish life started early in the regime, the mass round-ups and shipping off to concentration camps followed for years thereafter. I was not surprised to learn that other groups were imprisoned at Dachau or that the cruelest, harshest conditions were reserved for Jews, but I was suprised to learn how many other specific groups were targeted/brought to the camp: Political prisoners, Jehova’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Germans who tried to leave Germany but were turned away by other countries, and “a-social” people. There are plenty of sources of good information about the camp, so I won’t repeat it here, but we spent over 4 hours at Dachau, toured just about every part of it, and had a “live” English-speaking guide to provide important context and detail, including accounts from prisoners and American soldiers from the day the camp was liberated. It was deeply emotional for us — not least of which is because of the parallels we see between the demagoguery and demonization of “other” that led up to Nazi’s assuming power, and what we see in the U.S. today with Trump and his “followers” and in other parts of the world.
Below are a handful of the pictures I took:
Love the beer! Germany really does have great beer! We went to a number of places that served great beer — Naturally, Max joined me for one or two… including the ginormous ones at the biergarten at the English Garden.
The “Disney” Castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein): This particular stop on our journey is due to Jackie’s insistence on seeing “castles” — in fact, seeing castles was her highest priority on the European leg of our trip. So, she investigated the most castle-like castles in Europe, learning that Disney based its Cinderella castle on Schloss Neuschwanstein about 80 miles southwest of Munich, ensconced in the Bavarian Alps. Mostly built between 1872-1886, It was the vanity project of King Ludwig II of the Bavarian royal family, an eccentric (but beloved) character, according to our tour guide. Ludwig dedicated the castle to composer Richard Wagner (believed to be Ludwig’s love-interest). He had multiple other castle projects, but this is the one most people visit and it is, I can say, a quintessential “castle.”
This was the crowd on the overlook bridge 
A bike and a hike: We also took a lovely bike ride through the Bavarian Alps, within spitting distance of the Austrian Alps, followed (for Max and me) by a hike up to the Castle (Jackie and Zoe took the bus):
Last day, walking around Munich: On our last day in Munich, we just walked around, first to Marienplatz (where, at noon, the Glockenspiel clock with life-sized figures “perform” a mechanized show to memorialize events from Bavarian history), and then to the English Garden, a lovely, peaceful & enormous park — where there also happen to be a number of biergartens. (Max and I rose to the challenge).
Germany is one of the places I feel we should have booked more time. I would have liked to take the kids to Berlin, but that will have to wait for another day and trip. I was last there for a few days over 30 years ago — before the wall fell — and I’d like to see it again. Overall, though, I’m definitely glad we came here, saw Dachau, Jackie’s castle, and the parts of Munich we saw.
Next up: Croatia!
