The hills were alive

I got back today from a week travelling with my parents, an aunt, and an uncle. It was plenty of fun, and I love getting around Europe, but by the end of the week, I was definitely missing facebook, as I had no internet access all week. I want you to know what I was up to, so here is a day-by-day summary of what we did with a few pictures. I’ll strive to keep them brief.

Saturday

We started by driving down to Dachau, the first of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps. Now, this was not a death camp like Auschwitz, so people were not sent here specifically to be killed in the gas chambers or otherwise. It was a labor camp, so people were sent here to be separated from society and to work. There are furnaces for body disposal, but as I said, they were used in quite the extreme manner as at other camps.

Above Top: One of the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gates - translates as "Work Makes Freedom" or more practically as "Work Will Set You Free"
Above Bottom: Stones laid on the marker of the location of one of the prisoner barracks and on an Israeli flag. The stones are a Jewish form of memorial - remember the end of Schindler's List? The stones on Schindler's grave are still there, as I'm sure these will be at Dachau for a long time as well.

Below: Some of the furnaces used to cremate dead bodies.

We then progressed to Munich, home of Oktoberfest and a very large, very old beer hall, the Munich Hofbrauhaus. The smallest beers they serve are 1 liter. I finished mine, a dunkelbier (dark beer – tends to be heavy and a tad bitter), and I was proud.

Above: Before, Below: After

The Hofbrauhaus was just a stop, and after finishing our drinks, we drove on to Berchtesgaden in old Bavaria, right near the Austrian border. For those of you who may not know, Berchtesgaden was a sort of domestic capital city for the Hitler and the Third Reich. I suppose Munich is the political capital, Nuremberg is the propaganda capital, and Berchtesgaden is where the Nazi Party’s upper echelon got together to talk Jewish problems, final solutions, and the crisp Alpine weather over drinks.

We got to the hotel, ate dinner, and called it a day.

Sunday

We started the day by walking around a bit in the center of Berchtesgaden, checking out the beautiful Bavarian buildings, and enjoying the view of the mountains. That’s thing about the German countryside. It’s not just like that in tourist towns. It’s like that everywhere. Be it the Alps, the Black Forest, or just any agricultural region with farms and fields as far as you can see, it’s not just like that for postcards. These people live in it every day. We also went through an old Catholic cemetery. There were memorials for soldiers from WWI. They treat their dead so much differently here. It's not like an American graveyard with flat stones, names and dates, and plastic flowers to keep it presentable since it's gonna be a while until we visit them again. These are beautiful, solemn places, with green grass, fresh flowers and candles. There is love and respect, a sense of history and family and bloodlines. There is peace.

Above: the cemetery, Below: a more recent burial

Then we went on a tour up the Obersalzberg, the mountain where Hitler and other top Nazi officials such as Hermann Göring and Martin Bormann all kept their homes and underground bunkers, and on top of which sits The Eagle’s Nest. The Eagle’s Nest was a sort of getaway for Hitler, except he only ever went there about a dozen times and only for meetings. Plus he was afraid of heights. We went to the Eagle’s Nest, which was definitely cool, but a little eerie. To know that you walked around the exact same floor as Hitler, rode in the exact same elevator (because it is the original elevator). It’s the same feeling I got when I went to the Nazi parade stadium in Nuremberg and stood exactly where Hitler did when he led rallies. It’s a little weird.

Above Top: The Eagle's Nest, Above Bottom: Hitler's Eagle's Nest dining room

Below: view from the top of the mountain

Monday

Went to Salzburg, Austria, where Mozart wrote a bunch of music, and where The Sound of Music took place. At my mother insistence, we went on The Sound of Music Tour, which shows you sites where they filmed, and fills you in on some of the actual history of the Trapp family. It was cheesy, yes, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Above: Shots from Salzberg's Mirabel gardens where the cast and crew shot the final scenes of "Do-Re-Mi"

Then we wandered around some, and looked at some old buildings, but nothing that really got me all that excited.

Tuesday

Woke up and drove to Venice.

In many major European cities, they have officers clubs/hotels where their military officers can stay when they’re in town. London, Paris, Rome, they all have them, and so does Venice. And because my dad is an officer in the U.S. Army, we stayed there. (Thank you, NATO agreements.)

We wandered around a bit that day and window-shopped a bit, but not much more. We were just taking it in. (Though I have been there once before, it’s still cool.)

That night, near the end of our wandering, I saw a gull kill and eat and pigeon.

It was cool.

Wednesday

This is when we actually checked out the churches (lovely, as always), did a bit of shopping for Murano glass, and got lost a bit (because that’s what’s fun to do in Venice, or anywhere in Europe, for that matter. Seriously, if you ever go to Europe, plan an extra day or half-day in a new place for the purpose of getting lost and finding your way again. It’s totally fun and totally worth the adventure.)

Above Top: some random canal, Above Bottom: some random alley

Below: San Marco Square

Now, Murano is an island near Venice, where they make pretty colored glass. They make it in figurines, chandeliers, and other stuff, but most importantly, jewelry. This is what most people focus on.

Also important to look at in near every Italian city or town is leather. Italian leather is really nice. I got a leather-bound notebook for me to journal in once I fill up my moleskine.

After dinner, I wanted to feed the pigeons, I suppose as a way to apologize for standing idly by, admiring the gull as it devoured one of the pigeons’ own. They liked me. They ate out of my hands and perched atop my head. I was the glorious pigeon-master. I giveth pastry crumbs, I taketh pastry crumbs away, and I was both feared and loved. These two American kids nearby were in awe of my skillz. And in an act of humility and kindness, I gave them the remainder of my pastry, so that they too may experience the wonder and power of feeding the pigeons.

And then I thought I'd dance with my mama a bit.

Thursday

Woke up and drove to Garmisch, home of the 1936 Winter Olympic games. Also home to some beautiful mountains, which we unfortunately could not see due to the weather.

Our hotel was a building that is 300 years old, and the hotel business has been in one family for over 100 years. Seriously, the buildings are older than our country. You can’t understand how cool it is to be sleeping in a place that is older than George Washington.

Friday

Would have caught the cable-car to the top of the Zugspitze (Germany's tallest mountain), but it was still cloudy, and would have been pointless. Instead we went to Oberammergau, where they put on a Passion play every ten years, and have a lot of highly trained wood-carving artisans.

Then we went to the Ettal monastery, where they have yet another breathtaking church and their own brewery. Oh, those monks, they’re such a happy folk.

Then we went back to Garmisch and did more window shopping. This was the time of the week when I really started to feel my lack of facebook and therefore lack of interaction with my friends. It was tough, but I stuck it out through…

…Saturday

When we came back home and I get to tell you all about my week.

It was a good week, and I saw some cool stuff. I also spent some time in the Biblia and read Micah. I read John Eldredge’s Epic, and made more progress in Pride and Prejudice. I mentioned that I would be looking through Deepak Chopra’s The Third Jesus, but I couldn’t keep reading it because the man is foolish and doesn’t understand Christianity. I expected him to be providing an interesting perspective on Jesus, when in fact he was only trying to support his own free-for-all sense of spirituality with Jesus. I won’t go in to details right now, but it was pretty silly.

So yeah, I’m doing well, and I’m glad to be back. I’ll be getting back into Knowing God, and hopefully Exodus, Nahum, and some other short Old Testament books within the next week, as well as getting back to the gym - beer and schnitzel and apple strudel are good things, but not when they take up practically half of your diet for a week.

I feel that my blog has been a bit weak on scripture and focusing on Christ lately, and I wish I could do something about that, but I'm not sure what right now. I can't just force it, and I'm not going to try. But I'll be in the Biblia more and looking around me more, and maybe something will move me to write something worthwhile.

I’ll be back soonish, but until then, enjoy the pictures, and there will hopefully be more complete albums on facebook.

Shalom.