On the Gletcherbahn platform

hard time clearing the snow

View on the way down

That night we returned to Munich, where we picked Hofbräuhaus for a drink as it was the first on the list of places to drink. We were greeted by a live band and a market-like beer hall on the first floor, a quiet and more mature tone on the second and on the third, we drank 1 litre of beer each in the exact hall where the first political rallies by the Nazi party were held, as we enjoyed the folk music, accompanied with singing, dancing, prost-ing and merry-making all around us. I have always hated beer but the Hofbräuhaus Original was smooth and easy, or I would not have been able to finish it myself. Uhh, how my tummy is going to expand to contain all the beer. What surprised us though, was that the place was closing at 11pm.

1 litre of beer each!

The beer mugs are heavy!

Xinyu was made a victim by the busker.

we ran off without dropping money in the umbrella

so drunk in the squeezy little lift

Three. Castles. Everyone who’d been to Munich told me I must visit the “Disney” castle – first it was Kenneth, then it was the Let’s Go book, then Melinda and finally Kelvin – and so I was all excited about it even before coming to Germany. In fact the castles are probably 2 hours away from Munich, near this town called Füßen. It was sad day to begin with, as it was the first time we see Germany pouring instead of drizzling. I was in my woolen coat, no rain coat, and we had to wait for the bus in the cold. Bus 9606 came – we were convinced it goes to Garmish – and left, which we found out later, went to the castles too. So we had to wait for yet another bus, before reaching the area.

Tickets cost 15eur for 2 castles and we only had 35 minutes in each, as there are hoards of tourists every day dying to see King Ludwig II’s grand castles and we could only enter with a guided tour.

The first of the 2 was the Hohenschwangau. It was yellow in colour and was not in every way, how I expected a fairy tale castle to be. Where was the road that horses could gallop up to the castle entrance. What about the vast garden and the maze below the castle grounds, the dungeons and the moat? Hohenschwangau meant swan town on high grounds, and so the view from the castle was awesome. You could just imagine the king looking out of the window and feeling the sense of possession of the vast land and alps before him. We visited the elaborately designed rooms, albeit small, including the Queen’s and the King’s rooms. My room in Hattenheim is definitely bigger than the King’s, except that I do not have everything gold-plated.

Hohenschwangau castle

Before heading to the Disney castle, we took a walk to the Alpsee (lake) as we felt the heavy gloomy clouds clearing above us.

View of Neuschwanstein castle from Hohenschwangau

breathtaking sight of Alpsee

Neuschwanstein castle was built by King Ludwig II on even higher grounds, but the view from the bottom of the castle was kinda underwhelming. It was supposed to be the “WOW” kind. In the end we figured that the castle looked nicer only on one side of the hill, which is probably the direction most people would arrive from before ascending up the hill on the other side on their horse carriages.

Neuschwanstein castle, after the fog cleared

The queuing system

The climb up the spiral tower reminded me of princesses scurrying down the stairs in fairy tales, to run away from monsters, other terrible things, or to save their loved ones. The interior of the castle was elaborate, and every way you’d imagine a royal castle to be, except that it was perhaps a little cosier than I thought. I mean, if I were a king, I would ask for a room the size of maybe my flat? What I remembered from the tour was just chandeliers, paintings of naked women in the king’s room, elaborate drawings and decors in the rooms and the great view from the castle.

my castle

smart way to park for a smart car

Playing monopoly in the Wombat lounge at night

Four. Dachau. The first time I came across the Nazi concentration camps had to be history classes in sec school. The next time was last year when I had to do a video for our presentation on Herzberg and his motivation theories, who was urged to motivate his men when liberating the prisoners of Dachau camp. And then I came across it in Let’s Go Germany, and I knew I had to go and see it for myself after hearing so much about it.

Entrance was free but we paid 18eur for the guided tour, and man it was a depressing place. The wind was blowing so strongly and the sky was overcast with rainclouds, making the atmosphere even more solemn. The floor, the buildings, the sky, everything there was grey. As we walked towards the gate that says “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work sets you free), I could feel the heavy footsteps of the prisoners 60 years ago, as they trudged dreadfully towards the black gate.

a walk towards the entrance

Arbeit Macht Frei?

It was emotional having to go through what the prisoners had to go through, and coming to terms to how the Nazis could bring themselves to commit such heinous acts on fellow human beings.

The prisoners had to stand with their feet together, hands by the side, during roll call, for long hours, be it the cold winter or the scorching summer, on the granite dirt

remains of the camp

bathing area

the Dachau song

sad view out of the window

memorial before the admin building

bunk beds prisoners had to sleep in

bunk beds soon transformed to mere platforms to squeeze more pple

toilet bowls

what remained of the barracks - stone platforms to mark the location of the demolished barracks

to escape, one had to cross the grass and risk getting shot, before jumping into the deep ditch and getting onto the other side

after climbing over the barbed wire fence, one has to wade across the water

the crematorium was too small to get rid of the bodies; they had to build a bigger one

disinfecting area before the "shower"

waiting for the "shower"

"shower" room - one gets gassed in the chamber

a free man

As much as we would love to spend another day in Munich to complete our sightseeing at Nymphenburg Palace (yet another castle of King Ludwig II) and Englischer Garten, we had to return on Sunday itself for classes on Monday and Xinyu’s exam. Whatever the case is, Munich is a place I’ll want to go back again, for Oktoberfest!

It was just our bad luck that our train from Würzburg to Frankfurt was delayed by 13min, causing us to miss our train to Wiesbaden and thus the last train to Hattenheim. So we thought we could take the last bus back at 0125, and to our horror we had to realize that the bus only operate on certain days for the timeslot, which meant we had to take a cab back, which cost 30eur. Tips to travelers in Germany: if you failed to catch your connecting train due to a delayed train, please go to Information to obtain a taxi claim!

we've gotten used to loading and unloading our backpacks on the train during the transfers