[TBD]: Just another German Sunday

Today was a good day, long but worth it.

The day started with breakfast at the hotel which consisted of various cheeses, meats and breads. There also was yogurt (joghurt in German), fruit salad, boiled eggs and cereals. And coffee - it's been so long since I've had coffee. And it was good.

Then, after a short shower, I packed up the car and was on my way for a small road trip. The mission: to see the country side. And castles. I was aimed in the direction of one of the most famous - the Neuschwanstein Castle. If you look at this castle from one angle, it has the resemblance of the Disney Castle.

The drive was an hour and a half on nice highways, including the true Autobahn where this symbol is very exciting:

This symbol means "end of all restrictions" - meaning no passing restrictions or speed restrictions. As exciting as this is, it is very interesting how self-limiting people are. I would set the cruise for 140 km/h and would often be passed as if I were standing still. Even at 140 (which equated to 134 km/h as read by the GPS), I didn't feel the urge to go faster and many were the same, set at around 130 km/h.

The roads were good, some turns and hills but nothing crazy. There were a few small towns to drive through but for the most part it was open fields or forest.

After an hour and a half, I arrived at my destination. Along with thousands of others. I wasn't sure how long I would be as I didn't want to do a tour, just wanted to walk around so I elected to not park in the parking lot for 6 euros ($9 CAD). Instead, I parked along the side of the road where others were parking. I was able bodied and I could walk.

After parking the car, I made my way to the small village of Hohenschwangau and tried to figure out how to get to the castle. I though I would have to buy tickets to even go up the side of the hill but while waiting in line for 5 mins, I read the sign that said next tour was at 5pm and that exploring the outside of the castle is fee.

Well then, I was set and made my way up the hill side. Here are some pictures on the way up:

On the walk to the town

In the town, on my way up

This explained the smell as I was walking up the hill

When I arrived at the drop off spot for the horse carriages, you could see hangliders in the hills/mountains: video at https://youtu.be/3Mqj84-0fzU

The map said the walk up would be 40 mins to this spot, I think I did it faster (and my hips and glut's say so too). It was another short 10 mins up to the castle to get some amazing views of the castle and surrounding countryside:

Selfie!
(I should have wiped the sweat off my face first...)

The village of Hohenschwangau

Hohenschwangau has two castles in the vicinity: Neuschwanstein (the largest) and Hohenschwangau (the yellow one in the picture above).

Opposite of the above view point, you get a good sight of the bigger castle:

Pretty cool. But people kept going up the hillside (which was paved), so I figured I would do the same. And I'm glad I did.

A little ways up, you come to a bridge (Marienbrücke) which spans a valley between the two hillsides overtop of some water falls. My timing was good as the line wasn't too long:

(on the way out the line was at least twice as long as when I entered it)

The views from the bridge were spectacular:

This puppy was curious to see what kind of cookie the girl in front of me was eating

Another selfie!

Across the bridge, I could see more people in the hillside. "Why stop at the bridge?" I thought. So I continued on up the hillside. This path was a little more primitive:

And, again, the trek was worth it for some more incredible views:

Selfie #3!

What an awesome hike. I had more I wanted to do today so I started to make my way back down to the village to grab a bratwurst and a coffee for the drive back.

A map of the hike

The shortcut back to the village - shaved 10 mins off the walk down

From Hohenschwangau, I made my way to Dachau to see the Concentration Camp memorial there - something I've always wanted to see, as grim of a memorial as it is. I only had an hour until it closed so I had to make the most of my time there - I was up to it.

A bunker outside the fence

Part of the original rail lines and receiving platform

The main gate

The memorial was very well done, I thought. The starting point is the "maintenance building" which housed the receiving ward, kitchen, clothing stores and bathing/grooming area. Yes, these terms are being PC. Inside the building was a detailed history of events from the end of WWI, through the fall of the German Economy and Democratic Society to the rise of the Reich. There were many displays that discussed the camp in its earlier stages in the 1930's until its liberation in 1945, talking about conditions, numbers and life/death. From reading the displays, conditions continuously got worse from the start to the end - for instance, in the prisoner bunkhouse these were originally planned to house 200 individuals; at the end they were housing 2,000.

The maintenance building

Outside the maintenance building (North Wing? - I don't know which direction I was facing) - with a spot light

"No Smoking"

The incoming bathing facilities

From the maintenance building I made my way to the rebuilt prisoner barracks (mid-left in the photo):

Inside the sleep quarters

The toilet room - under capacity for the number of people

Looking into a later version of the sleeping quarters

The view outside looking at the space previously occupied by more barracks (34 in total in two rows)

Going from memory, the first two barracks on were for the SS officers. The next 2 or 3 on the right side were for "medical treatment" (read: experiments). The remainder were to house prisoners.

A guard tower

I was awestruck by the size of the camp thinking about how many prisoners were there at a time (over 200,000 in the 12 years of use; almost 32,000 deaths). As you walk towards the back of the camp, you pass the marked foundations of each barrack). One in particular had some flowers on it - tugs on the heartstrings a bit:

At the far end of the camp there are some churches/memorials and outside the fence were the two crematoriums that were used (one small one and another larger one, much larger).

A trench inside the fence to keep the prisoners inside

The small crematorium

The big one

I didn't take any pictures of the inside - didn't feel as if I could/should. It was a very eerie feeling inside - 5 ovens that were capable of disposing of 3-4 corpses at a time; staging and a prep room on one half. The other half were the "cleansing rooms/chambers". The gas chamber was never used but according to the descriptions outside the room, prisoners were to be told it was a shower room. It had a low ceiling and only a couple of lights. I think the prisoners would have known it was not a shower room and felt the impending doom.

Looking back towards the barracks and maintenance building

I had good time management, finishing up right around 5pm. Now it was time to go for dinner. I made my way back downtown. This time I was successful finding street parking. I tried to pay for parking but the machine literally would not take my coin. Another lady was going to try to pay so I asked her if parking was free on Sunday (it was a the Concentration Camp, to which I donated it). The lady didn't know (she spoke Spanish and English). We walked to the other parking machine but no luck there either. So the lady asked a worker in one of the restaurant kitchens whose window was open. Parking is free on Sundays. Good to know.

I made my way to Hofbraühaus München for supper - right across the street from Hard Rock cafe.

The restaurant/pub is an authentic German beerhall dating back to the early 1800's. Inside are rows and rows of tables and a live Bavarian Band. It was quite the experience and the beer was pretty good too.