I got up around 9 and had my free breakfast, the best free hostel breakfast I've had to date. The standouts were the fruit (which I feel like I haven't had in forever, whoops) and the hot chocolate. The bread and all was pretty standard, but still good.
I showered (which was weird because you had to hold the shower button thing down for the water to come out, so I leaned against it. But at least it was warm.
I realized I didn't have toothpaste so I went to the Sheckler (like a CVS, I have to turn when I see it here, just like in Prague, what are the chances) across the street and got some German Colgate (which I really get a kick out of). I have German toothpaste now.
I made my way down to the Old Town and met up in front of the statue for the Third Reich Tour. Unfortunately, there weren't enough people that wanted to take it, so they didn't have it. Instead I decided to take the Dachau tour. We had to take a train and then a bus to get there, maybe 45 minutes away.
There were a number of people at Dachau, mostly because it was a great day outside. Dachau itself is a massive area, there is a huge open are in the middle of the camp for 'roll call.' On the sides are buildings, some housing different offices and whatnot for the SS (there were a couple original, many reproductions) some reproduced barracks, a large monument (the first I saw here), and the crematorium. On the inside of the offices they had some rooms where the floor (like the shower room) was original, and some where the whole interior was. But once again, much of it was fake, at least this is more justifiable.
The crematorium was supposedly real, with the big ovens and the gas chamber. I waited until everyone left the gas chamber and stood in there by myself for a minute. It's smaller than I expected, dark, and the room was labeled as a shower room. Sort of chilling, although not many lost their lives in the gas chamber, Dachau was a work camp, not a death camp, so many were either worked to death or sent elsewhere. Although we did go by the execution area with the blood ditch where prisoners were killed. It was hard to imagine all that going on there, but I think that talking with Dr. Schmidt about his time in Munich where he could remember seeing the smoke from Dachau and that he himself saved lives, and was destined to end up in a camp himself made it more real. It's just something that seems impossible to believe really truly happened there. I'm not saying it didn't or anything, but how could something so terrible go on there, just a short train and bus ride from Munich? In the 20th century, not during medieval times? It doesn't seem real. You look at the pictures and it is just mind boggling.
After Dachau, we came back and I decided to walk around since it was nice out. I grabbed a pretzel and a cherry pastry and went down to the building where they have their government, an impressive sight. It's right across the river, and I walked along it into the English Gardens, which was nice. I saw people surfing in the river where they had a sort of dam or something and the water was very bumpy. Kinda crazy to watch.
I went by a museum that Hitler laid the cornerstone for and through the part a little. I then walked up into the University of Munich where Dr. Schmidt went to school. The streets were impressive, much like Paris. There were a number of students out, and up a ways was a pretty hip part of town, with cafes and cool stores. It was a surprisingly nice walk, and not very touristy. The amount of English I heard was minimal (although there were a few too many American fast food stores, when I think about it, no other country has fast food).
Back in town I walked through the Residenz courtyard a little until it was dark. I wasn't really sure what to do next since everything was closing up, so I went to the Haufbrauhaus, Germany (and maybe the world's) most famous beer hall. Hitler launched the Nazi party there. There were hundreds of people inside at long tables, maybe with their own liter of beer, which they would hoist in the air and sing songs at various times. There was a traditional Bravarian band there as well, which really made the atmosphere. Sure, it was all tourists, but it was an experience. I had a mushroom dish with mushrooms in a cream sauce and dumplings and a lemonade.
I then wandered the city, going into some strange parts of town by the train station that felt much newer, grittier, with fast food and casinos around, sort of what the current Munich is. It was an interesting walk. My goal was to find some chocolate cake somewhere, but I couldn't, so I ended up going into a store and getting the most German looking chocolate I could find. It tasted like advent calendar chocolate we used to get, I liked it a lot.
At the hostel I went back to the lounge and typed this up. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow, I think I want to look up Nazi sights as well as go to a couple other places here, although I've thought about going to Salzburg or another city for a part of the day. Who knows.
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