Munich : Contemplation and History

Sunday, July 27, 1997
11:30AM

I arrived in Munich, Germany with a sense of extreme relief. Although there were considerable questions in my mind at the beginning of the trip concerning the degree to which we would be able to complete our journey the way I had planned, those questions have now been answered. The train to Munich was the last one I did not have a reservation for and it involved a tricky scheme to go through Austria which was not one of the countries on my Eurorail pass (I bought a point-to-point ticket.)

Munich is very understated. It almost seems residential. The streets are broad and spacious, the atmosphere is clean and fresh, and the buildings display wonderful architectural design. In the morning, I went out in search of some good weisswurst, but was unable to find any so I ended up eating at McDonald’s instead. I did happen to find a wonderful gourmet bakery where I had a fluffy, lite, pastry.

After breakfast, Shola and I relaxed and had a little quiet time. At 9:00AM, we were able to take a tour around the city in an open-air bus. On the tour, we ran into a family of Americans visiting from Salt Lake City. They immediately started a conversation with me because I was wearing a Michael Jordan jersey (The Chicago Bulls had defeated the Utah Jazz to win the NBA championship a month or so prior.) They seemed to have a "plan for the day" which was quite appealing to us. We have befriended them over the last couple of hours and continue to stay with them now.

	One of many beautiful museums in Munich	During the tour, I formulated a very positive feeling toward Munich. The city is not a cluster of large buildings or skyscrapers like many of the cities in America, nor was it falling apart and ancient like several of the other cities I have been to here. No, Munich is definitely different. It is small, quiet, and it has a strange innocence. It reminds me of my neighborhood back home. There are birds chirping and oversized shade trees, the neighborhoods have front yards with sidewalks and driveways, and the buildings are well kept and nicely maintained (granted they were built in the past couple centuries.) It seems you could eat off the streets and the air is cool, pure, and refreshing.
	Glaukenshpeil	After the tour, I was able to walk to the middle of town, where the famous Glaukenshpeil is located. The size of the area was quite impressive. There were several churches and towers that we admired, yet nothing seemed to soar to the sky like this tower. It was certainly impressive enough to warrant a photo yet, I couldn't get a very good viewpoint of the clock portion. Half way up the building lies a clock that chimes once an hour and plays an extended version of chimes once a day. The people we were traveling with had planned it so they would be able to hear and see the extended version. During the chiming, several scenarios took place in the clock portion of the building. In the upper of the two scenes there were men dancing in circles and below there were two knights jousting among other things. The chimes were reminiscent of a little girl’s music box and they seemed to remind me of the innocence of childhood.

	2:45 PM
	I am now sitting on a slight incline at Dachau Concentration Camp. This was one of the places on my list that I had resolved to go yet I never would have done it had it not been for the planning of "our friends from Utah." They knew what subway to take and what bus to ride to get there. Once we arrived here, we went our separate ways.

	I didn’t really want to come to Dachau, but I felt that I needed to come. There’s an odd poignancy here. It is certainly one of death, but also one of depression. The lack of hope and the torment of the human spirit seems to permeate every aspect of this place. The persecution seems so ripe here. Observing the same yard that was used by the Nazi Third Reich to call out "roll" and seeing the barracks that housed the prisoners seems too much for my soul to bare. I have shed tears at several places I have seen here and I think that may be the point. I haven’t been here very long and I have no desire to stay any further. Dachau is historical and important to view, but it has really upset me emotionally and now I want to go.	Outside the "barracks" at Dachau

8:00PM

From Dachau, Shola and I traveled back to the main portion of the city (Dachau is about 30 minutes outside of town.) Once back in Munich, Shola and I spent a couple of hours leisurely walking around the town and we had a descent dinner.

We sat down at a restaurant just off the main thoroughfare called, "Donisi." Restaurants are quite different than in the states. Most of them have outdoor seating here and it is quite easy to end up eating in the midst of scores of pedestrians. no one will seat you either. It is customary to pick a seat at one of their very long tables and a waitress will get to you eventually. Shola and I both had wiener schneitzel and we found the meal to be quite good.

I have got to go now, its time to leave Germany. It's off to Paris!

Next day