Germany Day 7 - Fussen / Dachau

Day 7 - Dec 11


As we were heading out of Fussen early Sunday morning we luckily had clear skies and got some really great shots of the northern Alps in Southern Germany and Austria.  Since our flight out of Munich airport wasn't until 8 pm we decided to make a few stops on our drive from Fussen.  

Alp view outside of Fussen

Yuka excited

Me excited

Our first stop was to be a small church called Wieskirche. This place is in the middle of nowhere, and it made for a pleasant drive through snow-covered hills and it was very foggy.  The history behind the church's creation is interesting... Apparently someone noticed tears coming from a wooden statue of Christ (something to do with the flagellation of Christ {he had gas?}) and the statue became a place of pilgrimage. Apparently the small chapel built there wasn't large, or magestic, enough so in the 1740s the present day structure was erected. The style is called Rococo and it seems the idea behind the style was minimalism on the exterior and extremely non-mininalistic on the interior.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside, so check out the wiki link if you're interested. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wies_Church

Drive to Wieskirche

Drive to Wieskirche

Drive to Wieskirche - It got really foggy as we got closer.

Wieskirche

Wieskirche - These chickens chased us (Yuka) off

After doing some searching for things to see around Munich, we decided to visit the Dachau concentration camp.  We knew before going that this wouldn't be an enjoyable trip, but we decided it would be good for us to see some of the more sobering parts of Germany. The village of Dachau is located several miles north of Munich and is the sight of the longest operating concentration camp in Nazi Germany.  Dachau was the first official Nazi concentration camp, and served as the model camp for numerous future Nazi concentration and extermination camps.


The site was free to the public and even included numerous language tours.  The tour was excellent and quite long, lasting 2.5 hours.  Dachau wasn't the largest concentration camp by far, having (officially) only been the place of ~32,000 deaths compared to Auschwitz with somewhere between 2.5 and 4 million deaths, but it was still sobering. I'm not really sure what else to say about the camp other than it's crazy to think that people could really do such a thing on such a massive scale. If you want to read more I've included a wiki link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp

Main gate into Dachau

Roll call area - up to 40,000 people were on roll call in this area.

Site where the barracks were. 2 sample barracks were rebuilt in later years, as the original buildings were destroyed to prevent disease.

Foundations of the prisoner's quarters

Jail cells on the left and administration buildings on the right.  

In the picture above, there is a wall behind me where Nazis killed prisoners by firing squad. To guard the prisoners, the camp had over 1500 SS troops stationed here.  The tour guide said that many of these men returned to their normal lives after the war without having been prosecuted or punished.  I did a little research after getting home and was happy to hear that the liberating US 42nd and 45th Army Infantry divisions were able to eliminate 600 SS troops by firing squad on the same walls. After the war, General Patton became governor of Bavaria and appropriately pardoned any US soldiers involved. Good. 

I was also happy to hear that the US military made every single person living in the area walk through the camp and see the dead bodies piled up, see the crematorium and dig graves for the dead.  According to military historians, most locals claimed to have no knowledge of what happened in the camp which I'm sure was complete bullshit given the fact that the camp was right next to the town, was there for 13 years and there were 1500 German soldiers stationed there...

Crematorium.

'Killing Zone' Prisoners stepping onto the grass would be shot. It was common for prisoners to commit suicide this way or by jumping into the electrified fence

After the sobering experience, we hopped in the rental car and headed for the airport and the end of a very successful and enjoyable trip.  To cap it all off, we were able to enjoy one last German Hofbrauhaus beer while waiting for our flight. Thanks for reading.

It was a good trip

Day 7 Picasa web album

Germany Day 6 - Ulm / Fussen

Day 6 - Dec 10

Outskirts of Fussen with the alps shaded by cloud.

Lake Hopfensee and the Alps

Our last planned overnight stay was in Fussen, home of one of the most famous castles in the world, Schloss Neuschwanstein.  Fussen is a small town nestled next to the Alps and just 3 miles from the Austrian border.  During the Middle Ages, the area was home to 3 castles within a few mile radius: Schwanstein, Vorderhohenschwangau and Hinterhohenschwangau Castles.  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fussen


In the early 1830s, King Ludwig II's father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria,  purchased the ruins of Schwanstein castle and had the castle Hohenschwangau (otherwise known as the yellow castle) built there.  Several years later, in 1890, his son, King Ludwig II assumed power and dedicated much of his life to the construction of Medieval castles.  He had become very interested in the Middle Ages and dedicated the rest of his life to romanticizing the Middle Ages through the building of fine Medieval castles. I'll leave the wikipedia page for you to read more about the castle's history, but in a single word the castle was impressive. I recommend looking at the pictures of the castle interior as we were unable to use camera's inside.  The detail was amazing and had Ludwig lived to see it's completion I imagine it would have been so much nicer. Check it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Neuschwanstein

Hohenschwangau (Yellow castle) less than a mile from Neuschwanstein

Both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are located less than a mile from each other, as Ludwig II had grown up in Hohenschwangau and personally chosen the sight of Neuschwanstein.  The tours of each castle were seperate and we decided only to buy the tour of Neuschwanstein.  I'm glad we did as we were pretty tired after all the walking.


I had read this was the most visited tourist destination in all of Germany and I'm not surprised after seeing so many people on a chilly December day.  It seemed like most of the people came via tour bus and the only way inside the castle was to buy a tour ticket. We arrived around 10:30 and weren't able to get a tour until 1:05 it was that busy. The tours had a lot of people too... I'd say at least 100 people.

Neuschwanstein from the viewing bridge. A rare clear shot on this foggy day.
Austria is 1km away on the right.

This castle was a the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle.

We had a great time.

I'm not pissed... Oh wait, there were Chinese tourists, so I was annoyed.
Learn some freaking manners.

The bridge were we had the nice view. Also, the hill on the left is where the castle got it's running water supply, quite and advancement of it's time.

The castle from the front entrance.  I'm not sure why they used red and yellow brick in the front.

The castle interior was really impressive. Unfortunately our tour guide wasn't very good and the tour was so large it was hard to hear what was being said.  Also, because there were so many people, it seemed like we were being herded like cattle and didn't get much chance to really appreciate what we were seeing. Oh well, it was still worth seeing.

The most impressive room was the king's bedroom. The entire room (walls, ceiling, bed, etc) consisted of intricate wood carvings. Bob, I'm sure you would love it and should definitely check this out on your way to Nuremberg.

After seeing the castle, we made our way to the hotel and walked around the town and Christmas market.  The market was tiny and we only spent a few minutes there.  The town was also not that impressive, though the real draw was the castle anyways. So ended our last full day in Germany.

Picasa web album of Day 6

Germany - Day 5 - Stuttgart / Ulm

Day 5, Dec 9 - Stuttgart / Ulm

View of the Black Forest on the road from Stuttgart to Ulm

We slept in the next day and headed out from Stuttgart. Our next destination was the small town of Ulm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm

Ulm is a small town nestled along the Danube River and was founded in the mid 8th century. Internationally, Ulm has 2 major claims to fame.  The more important being that Ulm is the birthplace of Albert Einstein.  The other being Ulm Minster.  When planning our trip to Germany there were two churches I was really interested in seeing: one was Cologne Cathedral (too far away), the other Ulm Minster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_Minster


Ulm Minster is a true marvel of it's time. It was begun in the early Gothic era (1200-1600AD) and not completed until the 19th century.  It is the 4th tallest structure built before the 19th century and stands an impressive 530 ft, all of which is open for the public to climb.  It's funny, when we got to our hotel the nice guy at the front desk asked us if we were going to climb the Munster.  We told him that was our first stop he mentioned that you have to be in pretty good shape to make it to the top.  Ha, that reminded me about the scene in 'In Bruges' with the large American family who wanted to climb the church tower... 

side of Ulm Minster.

Gothic-style Ulm Minster from below

One of the statues going up the
side. They were all very detailed

When we arrived at the city center it was hard to miss the Minster.  It dominates the surrounding area. I have to admit that I'm not much of a church person, but I really love the Gothic architecture. It seems like everything is so detailed and I really like the complex geometric shapes that are formed. The sheer number and detail of the statues attached to the church is also astounding.  It definitely makes sense why it took a few hundred years to complete this place.

Gothic style architecture is so intricate. Notice the statues
on the sides going up the arches. Impressive.

I'm sure Bob would appreciate this door. There
were 2 doors like this, extremely detailed.

Interior of the Minster. It's weird saying this, but we've seen so many old churches
that they seem to blend together. For the most part they are quite similar.

After looking around inside the church, we began the ascent. We didn't know it at the time, but it was 768 steps to the top and it definitely got a bit scary towards the end.  The weather was decent (not raining yet) but it was pretty windy (I'd say gusting to about 30-40mph) which made it scarier as we got towards the top. I took quite a few pictures on the way up which should give a pretty decent idea of the height. 


Thinking about the height a bit more, the grain bins at my parents' farm in Kansas are 43 ft tall.  They seem pretty tall. At 530 ft, that's 12.3 grain bins stacked on top of each other...

~1/2 way up

~3/4 of the way up

At the top - freakin high...

On the way up we couldn't really see much aside from a seemingly neverending spiral staircase and the occasional window. We finally reached the base of the spire (pics below) and it was quite impressive.  I never really knew what a Gothic spire looked like and it was well worth the journey. I mentioned the wind and you can tell it was pretty open to the elements.  We were so high, and the structure kept getting smaller and thinner as we went up. I have to admit I got a bit cautious as we kept going up. This final staircase was a pretty tight squeeze.

View up into the top of the spire.
Awesome Gothic architecture

Notice the stairs we climbed toward the top...

This looked like a monk or abbot
hanging off the side

We made it!

It was colder than it looked.

Spiral staircase all the way up.

Gothic details on one of the side spires.

After spending some time at the top, we started getting cold and headed back down to explore the rest of Ulm. From the picture below you can tell the Christmas market was relatively small, so we decided not to spend much time there and explore the city.

Main Christmas Market from ~3/4 up the Minster. The circular
building on the left is the tourist info center and meeting hall.

Schweinshaxe at Barfusser brewhouse

Yuka enjoying the food

We stopped by the tourist info center and found out where another local brewhouse was and had another nice lunch.  Yuka had the Schweinshaxe (on the right).  It's a pork shoulder with a crispy skin, but nice an tender on the inside.  You can tell it was good because Yuka ate all of it and had a big smile on her face. It was quite tasty, and as usual the beer was good.


We stopped by the tourist info center and found out where another local brewhouse was and had another nice lunch.  Yuka had the Schweinshaxe (on the right).  It's a pork shoulder with a crispy skin, but nice an tender on the inside.  You can tell it was good because Yuka ate all of it and had a big smile on her face. It was quite tasty, and as usual the beer was good.


The old part of Ulm was quaint and really nice.  There was a small canal running through this part of town with lots of little bridges and old contemporary looking houses. One of the houses we really wanted to see was the Schiefes House, otherwise known as the Crooked House. The name says it all... It's just a really crooked house. I'd say the entire thing is leaning a good 5 to 10 degrees. 

Old Ulm and the Canal

This house was surrounded on both sides by water
We saw quite a few houses like this in Ulm.

Another view of the canal.

Schiefes House (Crooked House)

After seeing a few more of the sights we headed to the Christmas market.  It wasn't that impressive so we decided to go check out the 'famous' Einstein statue.  Yuka had heard about it online. We asked for directions in the info center and thought it would be easy to find.  This started a rather irritating journey that had us walking all over Ulm.


We followed our map to where the info center person told us the statue was. We couldn't find it. We did happen upon a rather unimpressive statue that looked like a rocket with some crap on top so we kept pressing on. Apparently this part of town was famous for Einstein and when we asked a young girl where the Einstein statue was, she proceeded to walk us several minutes to a pub called 'Einstein's'. After asking a few more people we ended up back at the unimpressive poop statue. Upon further inspection (we looked at the other side) we saw the Einstein face on the back of the poop. I was pissed that we had walked around so much for such a farce of a monumnet.  I was really surprised and disappointed that someone would let a statue be placed in their town that had Einstein's face on the back of poop. WTF.

Disgraceful statue that's supposed to be a tribute
to Einstein. Shit (with Einstein's face) on top of a rocket...

After the trek to see the statue, we were pretty much worn out and uninspired to see more. We headed back to the Hotel and relaxed the rest of the evening. Ulm was a nice little town and the Minster was definitely worth seeing. (Don't go see the statue if you're thinking about going, definitely not worth it).


Day 5 Picasa web album