Munich began with a somber trip the the concentration camp Dachau. Dachau was the first concentration camp that was built during WW2 and was an absolute hell. We got there and it was quiet with only a few whispers breaking the silence. The first thing we saw was the gate doors which in iron spelled out “Arbeit macht frei”, which means in English “work will make you free.” The prisoners were told if they worked extremely hard they would be free, but in reality they would only be freed if they died or eventually when the allies came and freed them. We saw the showers that were built for mass killings, however in Dachau they were not used. The guards would kill the people instead. And we also saw the ovens they used for cremation. It awful to think about what happened under a century ago. We then walked through the museum areas and read stories of some of the prisoners, and it was just staggering to think that people could be capable of such evil. It was such a terrible place, but I think it is still an important place to go because we all know the Holocaust is something that happened and it was terrible, but to be where it actually happened makes it much more real.

The day took a total weird 180 after Dachau. Our next stop was the BMW world. We weren’t there very long, but we sat in cars definitely cost like a billion times more than my 2003 Nissan Frontier. We walked around for awhile looking at all the Rolls Royce and Mini Coopers (those are the only names I could remember; I am not a car person) and then we found a crepe stand! I got one with Nutella, bananas and strawberries. I can not emphasize enough how good they are. Those crepes are honestly perfection, and I am glad that is how I ended my time at BMW world.

Next we went to downtown Munich. We walked around and saw the gorgeous Marienplatz and saw a beautiful view from the top of a church (I do not know its name, it felt like I had been in a thousand churches on that trip). Then we dragged Caleb shopping. He was a really good sport about it, we went into too many stores that he did not have any interest in at all. So then we were heading off to a McDonald’s solely to see if they were like the ones in America, and we saw a homeless man with a dog. Also I haven’t mentioned it yet, but on this entire trip Shannon has literally been taking pictures of every dog she has seen. And by every dog, I mean every dog. Now of course we felt bad for the man and his dog, but Shannon was absolutely distraught. We still kept going to McDonald’s, but once we finished eating we still had some fries left. Now it was our mission to find that homeless man and his dog and give them the french fries. So we went back to where we saw him, but he was gone. Shannon again was deeply upset. Now it was our job to track this man down in a massive foreign city. We spent the entire remainder of our time in downtown Munich searching for this one man. We looked everywhere without any luck. I say that with total regret, but time was up and we had to get back to Heinrich and our big blue bus.

Our last touristy stop was the Hofbrauhaus. It was amazing! There was folk music playing, the crowd was huge and very loud. We sat on the third floor balcony and I ordered my first beer. It was quite the milestone in my life, my parents were so proud. But is was nice to relax and just hang out with the group. That’s where I decided to start buying souvenirs for my family. So I bought my dad a shirt, my mom a pin, and my thirteen year old brother a shot glass that looked like a stein. He loved it, and he knows to keep it legal.