Munich

We had a nice warm welcome into Munich, a terrible rain storm. We had our huge bags and bad shoes for the event. It was sunny when we left Salzburg and it was very warm outside. It was so bad that it was coming through the walls of the main train station. Everyone was just looking at each other and had no idea what to do. We decided to run as fast as we can because we were already soaking wet. We got to our hostel and jumped straight into the shower. By the time we both got out the rain had stopped and it was sunny outside. Crazy Germany!

Munich Rathaus

We went to the Hofbrauhaus because Mike, my brother, said it would be cool. We

sat down to try and eat and it was way too crazy for me. We left and went to a doener shop. 

Germans sure do love their beer. 

The entertainment was great, that would have been the best 

part about staying. 

Sightseeing downtown 

The next day we went to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was the very first one and what they used to know how to build all the ones that followed. This door is at the entry way it says "Work Makes You Free." They would tell them that if they were hard workers they would eventually get out, this would keep them working everyday they were there.

All the memorials that they built were crazy and nothing had order. It was to 

contrast what they had when they were stuck there. 

This is the outside gate. They made it so hard to escape with multiple fences,

ditches, and watch towers. 

This is where all the building were where they slept and showered. They had 2,000 people in a room that was made for about 200. It was so over crowded that they were starving and would die if they were weak.

Catholic Memorial 

Jewish Memorial 

This is inside the Jewish Memorial symbolizing light from the darkness that 

used to exist in this camp. 

Evangelisch Memorial 

These are the gas chambers. They said that they were never used at this location. 

They just patterned other locations after it. Then when they didn't have room they

would send them to other locations where they would be killed in gas chambers there.  

This is where they would burn the dead bodies. They could do four of them at a time. 

The prison. They would keep prisoners here and try and get information out 

of them by torture. They would have to speak if they wanted to live. 

This is where they did role call. They would have to stand for hours and if they 

moved at all or fell down they were shot. This was a way for them to eliminate 

the weak ones that could no longer work. 

Olympic TV Tower 

View of Munich from the top of the TV tower. If you look close you can 

see the BMW headquarters. 

All three of the Olympic stadiums 

The Olympic Village where the athletes stay during the games in 1972. 

Inside the Olympic Stadium

Inside the Englischer Garden, the Chinese Tower. They have huge park 

areas because most of the places they live don't have grass areas. This is by

far the biggest one I have ever seen. 

We had to eat at a biergarten or beer garden. We shared a big pretzel and 

a blueberry amazing drink. 

Silly Spencer....

The next day was our tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle. I am so glad that we did a guided tour because we never would have saw everything without help of knowing where to go where. It has so much history that comes with it that it was fun to have someone there that had read all the stories and let us make our own decision about what we really believed. We have a lot of pictures from this day, but I think they are all very important. 

This is the Hohenschwangau Castle. This is where King Ludwig II grew up as a child. It was designed more as a summer home and never served as a place where they could go for safety. He never showed much interest in becoming the king so his dad never took him with him on trips. His dad died an early death and he was forced to take over with little training. 

King Ludwig II had a play put on just for him by this pond. He was the only one that attended. It was all about swans because that is what a lot of the city is named after. They are very important in this city and they are everywhere.

This is a fun thing during October Fest, it is call the Maple Pool and every city has one. They say that if you can steal this whole pool plus everything on it then you get free beer at your own table at October Fest for the rest of your life. Plus it also includes your whole family. Pretty sweet deal right? Only one family has been able to do it and that was awhile ago when they first started doing it. Now it is guarded day and night during October Fest.

On our way up to the castle. Such a pretty view. 

Neuschwanstein Castle 

King Ludwig's mom loved hiking. There was one part where she would have to go all the way down the mountain and then back up again. There was a perfect view of his castle from this hike. He decided that he would build her a bridge so that she didn't have to do that anymore and also so she could enjoy the view.

This is the view of the castle from the bridge. Now do you see why he built it? He was a very private man and spent a lot of his time as his castle designing more castles. That was where his love was, he ended up starting eight castles and only finished one of them because he ran out of money. Neuschwanstein is actually only one-third of the way built. They stopped construction when he died because they were already in so much debt. It was supposed to have a lot more details and the inside is empty in many parts. 

Inside the castle waiting to go on our tour. It was a long wait, but with our tour guide we timed it perfectly and got there just in time to go in. We learned a lot about the type of person King Ludwig II was. He was very nice to his workers and treated them very well while they were working for him and for the rest of his life. He didn't know anything about being a king and tried his best with what he knew. He lead a very lonely life and would pretend that he would have dinner with other kings that he admired. He was tricked and his power was taken away from him. This made him start to go crazy and they wanted to help him get back to normal. They think that he killed himself when he went on a walk with his doctor when they were alone. They were by a lake and it is told that he killed his doctor first and then drowned himself.  Such a sad story of a man that never got to really live his life the way he wanted to. 

Waiting outside for the rest of our group

Marien Bridge from the castle. 

The old mill from building the castle. 

Munich was such a fun city. Other than the crazy roommate that we had that yelled in German in the middle of the night (he was sleep talking but it woke me right up) we had a lot of luck. It stopped raining an hour after we got there and was perfect temperatures the whole time we were there. Plus German won their soccer game against Greece while we were there and as you can guess the Germans were going crazy! For sure a place where I would visit again.