Day 56 (August 3rd): Munich & Dachau

We woke up at 8:45 AM, showered and got dressed. There was a bakery down the street from the hotel so I waited in the car as Al and the kids bought some baked goods, i.e. croissants and danishes. Our destination for the morning was the Dachau Concentration Camp. We debated whether or not we should bring the kids, but decided that it would be a good opportunity for them to learn more about the Holocaust first hand. Dachau is a 30 minute drive from Munich. Before we got to the Concentration Camp, Zach got hungry so we stopped at a Kaufland (big supermarket) to pick up some food. The last thing Al and I wanted was Zach complaining about being hungry at Dachau, so Zach and I ran in to the store and bought some salami, rolls and bananas. We got to Dachau around 11:30 AM just in time to see a 30 minute documentary about Dachau in English. Then we went back to the visitors center and got audio sets that provided a self guided tour of the facility. As you approach the main entrance to the Camp there are words on the metal gate in German that say "Work Will Set You Free" (see picture on left). It's at this point that reality sets in and you realize what transpired here. Only a few of the original buildings still remain and you walk around the grounds listening to the audio description from prior inmates and historical commentators. There is no point in providing any details or descriptions of some of the things I saw or heard on the audio, but needless to say it was a very emotional day. We finally left around 3:00 PM completely emotionally drained. Our next stop was the Biergarden in the English Garden park outside of Munich which is one of the largest Biergardens in Europe. It provided us a fun and lively environment where the kids were able to run around in a playground, while Al and I enjoyed a cold beverage and food. We split some fries and red cabbage and I had a tall beer. Soon the sky became dark and we headed back to the car before it started raining. We got back to the room and relaxed for a little bit before heading out to dinner. It had stopped raining and we walked 15 minutes to an Italian restaurant called Grisini. We were told there was a free wireless connection so I took our laptop in a backpack so we could try and book a hotel for Baden Baden. For dinner, Zach had a pizza (which he ate some of even though he said it didn't have any flavor, which it didn't), Hannah had buffalo mozzarella and tomato, Al had a pasta with a marinara sauce and white wine and I had a penne with sausage and garlic along with a tall Spaten beer. The food was ok and it was starting to get warm inside the restaurant so we didn't prolong dinner. We tried out the wireless internet but it didn't work so we walked back to the hotel. The kids were excited to go swimming so we put on our bathing suits and went down to the pool. Ten minutes before we planned to go back to the room (10:00 PM) the family we had seen the night before from Raleigh showed up with their three daughters. The kids were very happy to see them again. While the kids played, the adults talked and we all left the pool at 10:20 PM and went back to our respective rooms. The kids showered up and everybody was sleeping by 12:00AM.