While we were in Munich we went to Dachau, which is the first concentration camp set up by the Nazi’s prior to World War II. The entire site has been designated a memorial, however only a few of the actual buildings of the time remain, one of these now houses a museum. It is very hard to know what to think. One of the buildings that remains intact, has the ovens where the cremations took place. I found it impossible to stand in the same room without feeling very uncomfortable. When the Americans liberated the camp, they made the local towns people look at all the bodies waiting for the ovens and help with the burials. Prior to that many people tried to say they were ignorant of what was happening there. While I find that hard to believe, it is very easy for Americans to lay the blame and say “I wouldn’t have let that happen”. Several places that we have been on this trip have had connections with World War II and they present a much more balanced view than I received in history class because they know they are addressing the children of the people and at times the people themselves who participated in the situation. I am sure there were citizens in the town of Dachau who suspected something atrocious was happening in the camp but felt powerless to stop it, or at least were unwilling to risk their own families lives to try to stop it. Of course there were some people who supported everything that happened and that is another story entirely. I just think that it is easy for us Americans to judge because all of our relatives were automatically on the “correct” side. If they had been closer to the situation what kind of choice would they have made?

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I am writing to you about our recent trip to Munich.

Overall it was a fairly enjoyable experience, blighted only by your sons/daugthers constant vomiting. Granted, given lax alcohol legislation and the excitement of you son/daughter being on a trip, it is understandable that a little overindulgence may occur.

The “Euro Youth Hotel” was surprisingly quiet and comfortable, but our first experience of a hostel, one with shared bathroom facilities, also meant that we had to share those facilities with your son’s/daughters’s copious amounts of vomit, which by miraculous happenstance and great aim missed the toilet entirely on each occasion, on each night of our stay.

We managed to drink merrily in many of Munich’s fine drinking establishments; on our first night we went on an enjoyable “beer tour” eating sausage at the Pauliner brewery, sitting with the regulars at the “Stammtisch” table at the Schneider beer hall, and supping on October-fest brew at the crowded but fun Hofbräuhaus. We did not carpet the floor!

We toured the city by foot, having a beer and pretzel lunch in the Viktualien market, dinner in a rustic pub, organ recital in the Cathederal, and happy hour in the hostel bar. We did not clog the sink.

We visited the fascinating “Deutches Museum”, the Botanical Gardens and the quaint Hirschgarten beer garden, where Sarah washed our beerglasses in the traditional manner. We did not, however, redecorate the bathroom!

Why then did your son/daughter?

Galleries from Colmar and Neuschwanstein now added!

We spent this past weekend in the town of Füssen, which is at the base of the Bavarian Alps. The only reason we had planned on going there was because we couldn’t find any kind of accommodation in Munich for those two days. I looked at the rail map and Füssen was the end of the line for going to see the castle of Neuschwanstein, so that is how we ended up staying there. It turned out to be a really good happenstance. The town itself was very charming and not overly touristy, since many people come to see the castle on day trips from Munich and do not stay in the area. We were up at the crack of dawn for our 9:15 am appointment at the first castle. You might think that this was because I was excited, since I have had a poster of the castle over my bed since I was twelve, but it was Andy who was anxious to go! There are actually two castles, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Both castles are on the top of hills so first we walked up to Hohenschwangau then we had to walk back down into the valley and up the opposite hill to Neuschwanstein! Neuschwanstein was never finished so the interior is not that impressive but the view of the valley and of the Alps is amazing. After we walked down from the castle we walked across the valley for three miles to reach a cable car that went up to the top of the mountains. We actually walked through a field of cows with cow bells on to get there. Their musicality was quite a thing to hear! We took the cable car to the top of the mountain which was very scary since it really is just a cable, there is only one pylon supporting it for the whole way. The view from the top was indescribable; we stood for a while and watched crazy fools launch themselves off a ramp to paraglide to the base, 6000-some feet below. When we returned to the bottom we decided to walk back to Füssen instead of taking the bus. There are all kinds of really nice, well marked walking paths in the Bavarian Alps and we were rewarded with views of the castles the whole way. It was another five miles, however, so by the time we got back to the hotel I only had the energy to fall into bed!

It’s confirmed that our flight from Singapore to Sydney is on the new airbus A380, as seen here

update: yes it’s the big one, and it will be operated by singapore airways

…and I picked to go to the one with a view of the ultra quaint industrial park! (See photo gallery Alsace)

This is from several days ago at Fontainebleau, one of the former homes of the French kings… When you refer to the ladies room as the “powder room” that comes from the French court. Instead of taking a bath with water (horrors!) they would go into a special room and powder themselves from head to toe and emerge from that “clean” and ready to face a new day. Who knew!

In Strasbourg we are staying at a “quaint” 2 star hotel, that as Andy mentioned has a best feature of being close to the train station so that we didn’t have to walk very far with our luggage! In general, it really is a fine hotel (although since we used “points” to stay at a 5 star hotel in Paris coming here was a little more of a shock). First off, the bed. It is too small for Andy. His feet hang off the end and all of the bedding comes un-tucked when he tries to get in it. When he finally accomplishes it I have to skinny thru the three inches of space between where his feet are hanging off the end and the wall, climb in next to the other wall and try not to move for the next 8 hours. Super comfortable. The other issue is the heat. There isn’t any. The bedroom remains bearable if you keep a sweater on at all times, the bathroom, however, is another story. It seems to be about 33 degrees at all times. Best of all there is no hair dryer. I have stayed in B&B’s in Ireland with 4 rooms that provided a hairdryer, how can this place not have one!! That means that I have had to get out of my shower into an icy cold bathroom and then go out with wet hair. We do have a TV in our room. It gets two channels, both in French of course. That’s a real benefit! Oh, and the same girl is always on duty downstairs. She checked us in, she fills the breakfast bar, and she served us drinks later at the bar next door (it is connected to the reception desk, by a curtained doorway, so she doesn’t have to go far for that!). She does make it easy on us by wearing the same gray shirt everyday so she is easy to identify.

Bit of a change from Paris, right off the train and none of the hustle and bustle! It proved to be true in many ways, Strasbourg is quaint and quiet, rustic and well worn. We arrived at the hotel, conveniently located to the station, and found it to be conveniently located to the station – little more than that, thank god it’s cheap!

On our first full day, I was a little concerned. The city was overrun by old ladies with blue rinses. The vicious sort, with canes, not for walking with, but for prodding the unfortunate souls who get in their way. We came up with a plan to thwart them, we would climb the 9 million steps to the top of the cathedral spire (for a long time the highest one in Europe). Up there we were free to enjoy the pleasant, clean air and the view of surroundings.

Upon getting down I came up with a plan, maybe we could outrun them! We rented a couple of Segways to roam the city streets, and with little effort could easily avoid a pointy, dig in the ribs.

The next day Sarah woke me at the crack of dawn to embark on a death march through and around the Alsacian villages of Obernai and Barr. Both are extremely small, with historic centers and surrounded by vineyards. Whilst Obernai is the more visited, for having the quaintiest shops and eateries, Barr has a superb array of trails over the surrounding hills to castles and monasteries aplenty (but not for the faint of heart).

More Strasbourg on the third day, this time a boat tour and a couple of museums – actually interesting, at no time did I feel the need to stick something into my eye.

Fourth day the slightly disappointing town of Colmar. It is pretty and we had a great lunch from a fantastic bakery (pretzels and sandwiches), but tourist laden, and probably more for the bus tours than for people with easy access to the smaller towns (ie us, with our train passes).

Local wine and a good book by the river finished a fine visit to Alsace.

I must admit I am somewhat charmed by Strasbourg, and the Alsace region!

You lucky, lucky people! New photos are now posted!