Munich

We have spent the last two days in Munich. Yesterday, upon arrival we decided to go to the Deutches Museum, the German equivalent to the Smithsonian. It is over ten miles of science and technology exhibits, much different than the museums we saw in Italy. We only had a couple of hours so we followed Rick Steves´book and set out to explore the mining, navigation, areonatics, and space sections. There was much more to see, but seeing how the museum closes at 5 p.m. we ran out of time. It was a great way to spend our first rainy day in Munich.

Today, we started our day with a great Bavarian breakfast and set out to see Dachau Concentration Camp. We spent about four hours listening to the audiotour and reading about the horrific things that were done there. The camp was a model for all the other German concentration camps used by the SS (Nazis). There really isn´t much left of the original, but you did get a feel for how large and crowded the camp was during its time. When the allies came for liberation there were 30,000 prisoners at the camp and the SS went running. Once the Americans had come through, they made the Dachau citizens look at the piles of dead malnourished bodies.



When we got back to Munich this afternoon we set out to see Marienplatz (the main square of Munich) and the English Garden. It ended up being a great end to our time in Munich as we walked through the massive green garden with somewhat clear skies. It allowed us to end our day in a romantic paddle boat that we rented for a half hour.

We are off to see castles tomorrow and then up to go on the Rhine for a tour of more castles. We also lost our Rick Steves book, sucks because it has been such a help in our planning.

Rainy Salzburg

Yes we finally left Italy and have arrived in Salzburg. We took a train ride for about 5 hours from Venice to Salzburg and went through the most gorgeous mountain terrain we´ve seen yet. We couldn´t believe how green and beautiful everything was. Now that we have been in Salzburg for two days we know why it´s so green here! It has rained constantly. We´re not complaining after coming from the heat and sweat of Italy, but it does make it a little difficult to see what you want to see.

We ended up having Canadian roommates which we spent the last two days with. Yesterday we all decided to go to the Salt mines in Hallein. On the way, we hooked up with two Aussies who toured with us. We put on old fashioned salt mine clothes and trekked from Austria to Germany underground through the salt mines. We took a miner´s train in and slid down old wooden slides to go from cavern to cavern. The topper was watching cheesy German videos about Wolf Dietrich and his love for money and the salt mining business.


Today, Dave, Stacy (the Canadians), Chris, and I went to Berchtesgaden to Hitler´s Eagle´s Nest. This was were Hitler used his propoganda to show that he was for the people. It was at the top of this beautiful mountain and was used for Hitler´s meetings and such. After WWII, the allies bombed it and later used as a resort for American troops. Seems like a pretty crazy place for a resort apart from the beautiful scenery. It was 2 degrees Celsius at the top with plenty of wind and snow. Quite a change from 42 degrees Celsius in Rome! (A welcomed change!)

As it has rained pretty much the entire time we have been in Salzburg, we have been limited to what we´ve seen around the town. Because of the rain and not truly being prepared, Chris had to resort to buying large garbage bags and finding a broken umbrella in a wastebasket to keep himself dry. A strange site to much of Austria.

Tonight is our last night here and we head to Munich for two days. There we plan to visit the Dachau concentration camp, see the beer gardens, drink a Liter of beer for Jeremy, and then head for some castles in the Bavarian alp area. We did not make it to see the Sound of Music tour, although our hostel does play the movie everyday.