Crisp Bavarian Air

Where did I last leave off? Oh yea, doing laundry in my hostel room. I went to the Pinakotheke der Moderne (a modern art museum) and explored the city. Unlike the UK it costs to get into museums here in Germany. I miss that. It was like 10 euro to get in. I wouldn't be visiting all the museums here. There are a lot and I'd spend a small fortune. I magically found my way into the special exhibition. Not wanting to salmon to get out I went with the flow of traffic to the end. The exhibition was a collection of portraits of women by Picasso, Max Beckmann, and Willem De Kooning. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Portraits aren't my cup of tea. It was cool as it was free though. One that really stood out for me was by Picasso, it was of his wife and it was weird to not see a mind bending painting of his. In the limited photography section was a collection titled "Hotelarbieten". In it the artists went to various hotels and made forts out of flipped furniture, mattresses, doors taken off the hinges, basically anything that was available in the room. Pretty nifty. Afterwards I explored the city as I am wont to do.

Visiting a concentration camp was one of the things that I absolutely needed to do. The first concectration camp, Dachau, is located 10 miles outside of Munich. It was opened in 1933 and active all through the war. Putting my emotions into words seems near impossible. I felt the deepest of sorrow for the prisoners and nothing but outrage that such a thing could have ever happened. I can't imagine the horror of enduring life an existence there. It was a day I won't forget.

Today I went to Schloss Nymphenburg, the summer palace of the Wittelbach's. I'm under the impression it was one of those places that "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." haha. It was huge. It was beautiful. Extravagant is an understatement. One of the princes connected all of the families palaces with a series of canals and hired Venetian gondoliers to pilot the gondolas between them. I can't even fathom how these people lived. All in all Munich has been wonderful but I'm off to a small town in the Alps tomorrow. I'll come back after that. I gotta have another deep fried pork leg and stein of housebrewed Bavarian beer.

Ha! Just realized I ate at that burrito place on the corner. Not bad for being a continent removed from the origin of burrito's

Sweet cruiser

Inside the Pinakotheke der Moderne

It's a shame the second tower is undergoing renovations. Killed my photo ops

I was enamored with this building

There was some sort of pole vaulting competition. He was successful, others not so much

Made in the camp by a prisoner

I found it touching that despite being in Dachau he still found the strength to make a card, let alone such a beautiful one.

Plaques of rememberance

Bunks

Looking down the main road of Dachau

Inside the Jewish memorial

Looking out the Jewish memorial

Inside the Catholic Carmelite convent

This was the Madonna that was housed in the priests barracks at Dachau

Originally that trench ran all the way around the perimeter

Inside the bunker. It was a place for "special cases". It was hell inside of hell. You did not want to end up here.

Schloss Nymphenburg

Beautiful and gaudy. I would never live here but mannn was it impressive.

Closing that door only makes me want to go in there more.

Bayern coat of arms

Gardens in the back

Heh