Thursday, May 22, 2008

Europe Day 3 (Wednesday)

Right. Well another long day. We took off at around 9:30 to head over to the BMW-Welt to pick up ryan's brand new Beemer. We were able to reasonably swiftly work the Munich Subway to get over there in a timely fashion and due to the early nature of our arrival, we were actually able to arrange for delivery of the car early.

There was an extensive presentation that came with picking up the car that involved a run-down of all the car's features in a really neat presentation area with touch-projection screens and displays. Ryan also took part in a virtual test drive of the car to experience all of the features first hand. This was done because people who buy vehicles in the US never get an adequate test-drive. It is normal in Europe for a person to take abmw out for 2-3 days before purchasing it, much less the 10 minutes we in the states normally get the vehicle for. This was impressive and after we were finished with the presentation, thebmw representative took the three of us down to view the brand new car (0 miles).

This was quite an experience. They had a spotlight on the car and it was on a turning platform. The full treatment. After once against explaining all the dials in the car, they took a picture:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287038

And sent us on our way. Part of the experience is actually driving the car out of the Welt. Ryan did NOT stall the vehicle and we drove it out as intended. After having a snack at the (premium) lounge we headed back out to the car and decided to head out to Dachau for an uplifting (sarcasm) experience. This involved finding petrol for the vehicle and driving the streets of Munich for the first time. With the exception of driving down a two way street obviously intended for only 1 bicycle, the experience wasn't too bad. Gas is probably the equivalent of 8 dollars a gallon here. Probably cost us about 120 dollars to fill the tank from 1/3 full to full. Ouch. Good times though.

Dachau was probably the most sobering moment of the trip so far. The memorials are striking and touching. Although I spent quite a bit of time in school (during the course of the history minor) reading about the horrors and ill treatment of the jewish population during WWII, there is absolutely nothing like experiencing the location first hand. Once you walk in the gloomy looking gate you are blown away by the expanse and enormity of the compound. Most of the barracks were torn down when the camp was liberated in 1945 but several remain where the museum and several memorials are now located. The information areas and displays within the old barracks are very well done and leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. It is incredibly difficult to not at the very least be choked up at the site of the imagery presented and descriptions/captions. We were there for probably an hour and a half and it was very difficult to consider staying much longer.

Dachau was not an extermination camp but a camp where more than 250,000 people were housed and more than 40,000 killed/tortured/murdered. This was one of the earliest camps and when the SS took over in 1939 ( that may be slightly off ) became a model camp for the rest. Regardless, quite an experience.

When we finished here, we moved on to a monestary/brewery/beer garden that was many kilometers outside of Munich called Andech's Monestary/Brewery. I don't know if it was just luck but the three of us seem to have had a knack thus far for finding places that are the bare minimum of 'touristy'. However, this is the first place that we have went where I felt like I was being looked at purely on the basis of the fact that I was speaking english and carrying a camera. I normally don't mind but it made me feel a little awkward here. The monestary itself was actually quite gorgeous. A little too Jesus-Y for my taste but you know how it is. The monestary had a gift shop that sold 75% crucifixes. Seriously. More crucifixes than I have ever seen in my entire life on one wall. I took a picture of it but I actually needed my wide angle lens to get them all inside. Praise Jesus.

I took alot of pictures of the whole place but what was a little more impressive was the beer. Glorious. We also had a slab-o-pork and some potato salad whch was pretty glorious although i did feel my heart exploding inside my chest. Which was good. Right? We are talking one layer of dark meat. One layer of fat. And one layer of fried skin. This is like something Scott would love. Although I must admit it was tasy.

After the what turned out to be extremely strong beer ( I only discovered this during the drive home when I felt exceedingly sleepy), we headed back to the Hostel to relax a bit. My feelings of sleepyness were shared with the other two guys so the Hostel seemed like the best course. Here we hung out and had more beer (probably more beer than I drink in 3 months in 3 days here). Happy hour at the Hostel goes from 6-9pm and during this time beer can be had for 2 euros. Pretty nice. The Champions League cup final (futbol) was on so we decided to watch it there amongst the rest of the young people. We met a few interesting people and had many drinks with them and realized that we all felt a bit old here. I went to bed at around half time as I was bloody tired.

On a final note, Ryan would like me to point out the fact that the weather is crap here. I have not seen the sun since I flew into Heathrow and even there, it dissapered in the time I had there. There doesn't look to be much of a chance that we will see it untill we get to the US as the weather report remains rather grim. I normally enjoy the cloudy weather but it is kind of taking away from the overall incredibly green and fantastic scenery. The roads and scenary in Germany are pretty breathtaking.

Take care for now all.

Ciao!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I would imagine the Dachau experience to be one you will not soon forget. There is nothing like walking the ground of history. I've heard people say they felt the spirits of the victims in those camps.