Before I travel any where I like to do research. Yep... I'm that kind of person. I like to have a general idea of what I would like to see in the places that I go to. Before I left The land down under I did a lot of research into the places I wanted to see in Europe but I didn't do a lot of research into Munich. I just knew it was somewhere I always wanted to go. When my transfer driver was driving me to the hotel the other afternoon his said "what brings you yo Munich?" And I replied with "it's just somewhere I have always wanted to visit." He was a bit startled with my answer and ask "why." I thought about this for a second before I replied. I honestly had no idea why I wanted go go to Munich or anywhere I wanted to travel. I just had the feeling that I had to see those places. But I knew one place I did want to see is Dacahu concentration camp memorial.
I have always been a bit of a history buff and I wanted to see it for myself. I got up early this morning and went to a travel company that was located in the train staton across from my hotel. I brought a ticket to go to the memorial. The ticket included train and bus fair to the site, access and a tour guide. The group had about 20 people in it and I met these 2 sisters and 1 gentleman from Australia. Australians are everywhere in Europe. It took about 20minutes via the train and then we got onto a bus which was jammed packed full of people. Before we got on the bus the tour guide said I hope you don't mind people in your personal space. When he said that I thought how packed could it be. Turns out the answer was VERY!!!!!! We were crammed in this bus with people pressed up against us.
We got to the camp and had a short loo break while the tour guide got our tickets.
The tour was very good but sad. He gave us a lot of information and answered all of our questions. The tour guides very first statement to us is " This is not a concentration camp! This is a memorial. If you want to see a concentration camp you will need to jump in a time machine because this is not one." I thought this was a very powerful statement. A lot of people come to these places to be shocked and learn about the history. But him saying that gave me a real peace about the tour that it was more to remember what happened here and it could easily happen any where.
As we walked in he spoke about a building that was too the left of the camp. He mentioned that this building was used before the camp existed. This building was used in World War One to make weapons, then used by ss soldiers (which were nasty soldiers in the camps) and is now used to train riot police for Germany. Everyone was a bit shocked with this statement but then the tour guide said something that changed our view. He said " We see that as our past. And we have decided to move on and to make a better future."
During the tour it rained on and off. The poncho went on and was pulled off many times.
We the. Walked through the main gate and we're told that this gate will never be locked again which represents that this camp will never happen again.
There is a lot of information that we got given. And a lot of sad information given also. I won't go into details about because I don't won't to wreck your experience if you would like to go here. The tour went for an 1.5 and then we headed back to Munich by bus and train. By the time we got back it was 3pm. I went back down to the markets for a better look and some lunch.
The markets were beautiful. Munich is so beautiful. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and shopping. I spoke to a women in a shop today and she let me know that everything closes in Europe on a Sunday. So tomorrow may be interesting.
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