Dachau, KZ and city

Dachau, 14.08.10

Yesterday, we all magically woke up simultaneously (probablydue to the lack of clean oxygen in our room) and left for Dachau about 30minutes later. We had very little idea how to get there, and I still considerit a miracle that we figured out which S-bahn it was—trying to keep all the S'sand U's straight here is difficult, haha. For those of you who don't know,Dachau is a small town located about 20-25 minutes outside of München, andsince we're all small town kids- we loved it immediately. We first paid ourrespects at the KZ for two hours or so, and then we explored the actual town ofDachau, which according to our wanderings is a town full of female clothingboutiques, apothekes, and ice cream shops. Of course, we located a grocery store,bought some food and looked for the nearest park. We found a little path and afountain and followed it to-get this- the Dachau city celebration. It was thecutest quaintest damn thing I've ever seen, it was practically out of astorybook. The first thing we heard was the oom-pa-pa german band, which leadus to an enormous beer hall tent, complete with thousands of Dachau residents-no tourists. Most of the Dachau...ians were dressed in traditional Bavarianattire, and I think we spotted a wedding party, because they were all drunkenly(at 5pm) dancing on a table, and one of the people had a little veil/hat thingon. I had to get out of there before I mauled the girl with the giant prezels,so we left out the other door and we found a carnival, compltete with a farriswheel, booths where kids throw darts at balloons, and food booth after foodbooth. I think at this point we were all in total shock and before we knew it we had piled intoa ferris wheel cart. It was so cute. When I was young, I didn't really ride theferris wheel, especially with friends, so this was fantastic for me. Yes, there were shrieks of fear (Jacob),we made it rock and shake (group photo attempts) and we even could see the TVtower from München.

Bavaria is flatter than I remember, and coming from atourist-who-can-speak-german perspective, I don't find it to be anyfriendlier/less friendly than northern Germany. This trip has been differentthan my GAPP trip in one important way: when I attempt to speak german togermans, they speak it back! Last time they basically refused an I was stuckspeaking english. It's also hilarious that I've seen so many people inLederhosen und so weiter because many Bavarians hate that stereotype, haha. And for my parents and teachers thatread this, you'll be pleased to know that my comprehention so far has beenright around 100%, and communicating with germans has come surprisingly easy.

After we revisited our childhoods, we attempted to locatethe castle looking thing on top of a hill we saw from the ferris wheel. Wenever found it, but we certainly tried, and enjoyed zipping between less-than-amused natives,I forced us to hop a small wall into a grassy field (read: someone's back yard-oops!), and naturally, we ended up at a park. Love it. We rounded out our timein Dachau at a small café, eating schnitzel (coughandburgerscough) outside asthe sun was setting. What a perfect day, and it happened more or less byaccident.

Last night we decided to do a free bar crawl, and much to mydelight, it was a very small group and we all got along famously. We hit up asmall bar, the Hofbräuhaus, another non-descript bar, and after that it getsfuzzy. It was really fun though, and everyone got home safe and sound. What Iloved most about the evening was talking to local germans- they're so nice! Andreally open and talkative. I guess I've always had some degree of anxiety wheninteracting with men, but I don't have to here.

Now we're waiting to find Jen and then we'll head out to theEnglischergarten, have dinner in a famous beer hall there, and then give thenightscene one last shot (pun fully intended!)