Munich
Thursday 28th June
After catching a lunch time flight from Amsterdam we arrived in Munich Germany.
We picked up the hire car and made our way to the Novotel Hotel where we were to be staying in Munich.
We decided to do a little exploring and found ourselves a little lost but had a yummy dinner at one of the many pubs that line the streets here in Munich.
One of the city fountains
One of the buildings near the weir
Where are we Ben?
Friday 29th June Friday
After our first breakfast in Munich we jumped in the hire car and headed to Fussen and then onto Schwangau where we visited two castles, Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein.
Our hire car
Schloss Hohenschwangau Castle
One of the rooms in the castle
The fountain in the garden at the castle
It was interesting to find out that the famous Sleeping Beauty castle located in California’s Disneyland Park was based on Schloss Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein, which literally means ‘new swan stone’ in German. Commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as his personal refuge, the reclusive king spent less than six months here in his still unfinished castle before he was captured and fell from power. The barely-lived in symbol of 19th century Romanticism was an extravagantly designed homage to classical composer Richard Wagner and also contains thousands of depictions of swans sewn into pillows, drawn into wallpaper and carved into wooden door handles and frames.
Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle
One of the rooms in the castle
The area was quite large and we had to book tours to visit both castles as tourists can not walk through the castles on their own. As Ben says, “It’s good to be the king”. Both castles were beautifully decorated with walls completely cover in art work. On both tours we learnt more of the royal families who at one stage lived in the castles. Our favourite castle was the Scholss Neuschwanstein as the art work on the walls were more to our taste and it is kind of like a fairy tale castle.
Paige in the garden
The view from the castle
Ben drinking another very nice beer
Saturday 30th June
Today we visited Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The actual site was a lot larger than I expected and the actual site as you walked through the whole area gave you a very good in sight to the camps history. It's hard to express in words about feelings about visiting the site, it's hard to believe human beings could have been treated the way they were.
History and Facts about the camp, 1933 - 1945
Dachau was the first and longest operating Konzentrationslager.
The camp opened on 22nd March 1933 to keep German "political prisoners", people who were real or potential opponents to the Nazi regime (Communists, Social Democrats, Trade Unionists). The first Jews were sent to Dachau because of their political opinions, not because of the fact they were Jews. In the following years Gypsies, Homosexuals and Priests were imprisoned at Dachau.
It was the first concentration camp and the prototype for those that followed, and also a school for SS officers who supervised other camps. Dachau was never a "death camp" like Ausschwitz and Treblinka, although more than 40,000 of the approximate 200,000 (numbers vary slightly from different sources) inmates in Dachau died. They were murdered, or died from disease and malnutrition. Following the "Reichskristallnacht" (night of broken glass) in 1938 more than 10,000 Jews were sent to Dachau concentration camp. They were forced to sign over their houses and leave the country. Those who agreed, and it was the majority, were released from the camp within a few weeks. With the begin of WW II more and more prisoners from Poland, Austria, and Soviet republic, as well as Sinti and Roma, were transported to Dachau. The camp was overcrowded and conditions for the inmates became even more terrible.
From 1943 more than 100 subsidiary camps were built, thousands were killed through forced labour and a typhus epidemic. Dachau concentration camp was liberated by American troops on 29th April 1945. At that time the camp was crammed with approximately 32,000 inmates.
"Dachau - the significance of this name will never be erased from German history. It stands for all concentration camps which the Nazis established in their territory."
Entry sign
Entry building
The trench that went around the camp
Gate to the crematorium
Looking down the main road at the camp
Pictures from the 1940's of the main road of the camp
One of the signs in the old crematorium
Inside the Old Crematorium
One of the plagues to the four English women who were killed at the camp
Picture of how the sleeping quarters were for the prisoners
The three levels of bunks in the sleeping quarters
One of the memorial stones
The memorial sculpture
After driving back to Munich we went to explore the city center.
We ventured into Marienplatz , Mary's square which is the heart of Munich where we saw the glockenspiel (clock) and ventured to the Viktualien Market where we saw many types of foods for sale. After walking around we stopped at a Brauhaus for a beer. I even had a half a litre of beer myself.
Marienplatz clock tower
Part of the clock tower
Viktualien Market
One of the stales at Viktualien Market
Some of the vegetables on sale in the market
Paige amazed at her mummy drinking beer
Salzberg
Sunday 1st July
We drove down to Salzburg, Austria the home of Mozart and the Sound of Music. The drive took us about 2 hours and on the way we even got to see part of the alps. Being a Sunday we strolled around the city centre and had a leisurely lunch we can now say we have been to Austria.
On the drive to Salzburg
On the drive to Salzberg
Paige standing in the heart of the heart next to the Mozart statue
Looking up at the city castle
One of the many streets
Beer Steins
Monday 2nd July
We left Munich behind and drove to Nuremberg followed the "Romantic Road" and on the way we stopped at Landsberg am Lech and Dinkelbuels. The road was given its name as many people at taken back by the views along the way.
Landsberg am Lech
We found a nice town with some very old buildings.
Part of the town
Paige playing around
One of the town buildings
The weir
Road through the arch
Dinkelbuels
What can be said about this town, except it was a lovely old town, once again had many old buildings which were surround by a city wall and a 15th century church which was very impressive inside
Part of the city wall
One of the many pretty houses that line the street
The biggest beer mug I have ever seen
The 15th Century Church
Inside the 15th Century Church
One of the gardens near the river
Nuremberg
Tuesday 3rd July
We walked around Nuremberg and then went on the beer cellars tour that took us under the city to see where beer used to be stored. As the tour was only in German we were supplied with audio guides. It was interesting tour but we found it a bit long in time.
St Lorenz Church
Der Schoene Brunnen fountain
One of the many pretty buildings
One of the decorations on the side of the buildings
Paige waiting to tour the beer cellars
Part of the beer cellars
Inside the brewing room
We travelled to Bamberg and explored the city. Bamberg was a quaint town which once again very picturesque just like the other towns in Germany.
One of the churches at Bamberg
Paige greeting her subjects
Some of the stone work on one of the doors
View from one of the bridges
Paige at the laundromat
The Oldest Sausage Restaurant in the world
After exploring Bamberg we found the most trendiest laundromats we have ever visited to do some much needed laundry. The theme inside was 1970's so it made doing our washing quite fun.
For dinner we decided to try the oldest recorded sausage restaurant in the world, the sausages where very nice followed by some apple strudel.
Thursday 5th July
We walked around the city again and visited the Toy Museum where we found a range of toys that represented the history of toys in Germany.
Another view of the river
Outside the toy museum
Friday 6th July
Our last day in Germany and we decided to travel to the town of Nordlingen where we saw a pretty little town. It seemed to have decorated pigs every where which we found quite fun to spot. We spent a couple of hours exploring the city before heading back to our hotel.
The clock tower Ben and Paige climbed
View of the town from the top of the clock tower
Paige with one of the town's pigs
We have had a wonderful time driving through Germany. We were so glad we had our gps unit with the maps loaded onto it of Germany. The towns we stopped at were all so interesting to visit and as Ben has said the beer was really nice and he didn't have a bad beer at all while we were in Germany.
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