Dachau Concentration Camp

In another chapter of Susan Visits Dark History Spots Around the World, we went to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp. My interest in history, specifically Holocaust stories (which was sparked by reading "Number the Stars" in Grade 5) has rubbed off on Tarun, and he was equally engaged in this memorial. I took minimal pictures while there, but those I did take, I will add to this blog.

Dachau was the first permanent concentration camp established by the Nazi regime, opening in March 1933, and it became a model for the concentration camp system that followed. Originally, it primarily housed political prisoners... those who opposed the Nazi regime, including communists and other political opponents, but it soon expanded to imprison many others persecuted by the Nazis (e.g. Jews, Roma, LGBTQ, etc). Over its 12 years of operation, more than 200,000 people were imprisoned at Dachau and its network of subcamps, and at least 41,500 died.

Before you enter the prisoner camp, you can see some of the former SS grounds, which included training facilities, administrative buildings & living quarters. Much of this area isn't part of the memorial today and is currently used by the Bavarian Riot Police.

The site originally had 34 barracks, but today only two have been reconstructed to show what the interiors would have looked like during different periods of the camp's existence. The locations of the others are marked by concrete outlines stretching down the former camp road. 

The expanded camp was designed to hold about 6,000 prisoners, but became incredibly overcrowded as the war progressed. By the time it was liberated by U.S. forces on April 29, 1945, more than 30,000 prisoners were crammed into the main camp. If you need a visual comparison like I did, BMO Field can hold about 30,000 fans during regular Argos/Toronto FC games.

Dachau housed fewer physical artifacts than what I witnessed during my visit to Auschwitz in 2010, but a lot more information. I skimmed a bit because of my finally useful history degree and lost Tarun in the museum area for about an hour. The main museum is housed in the former camp maintenance building, where newly arrived prisoners were registered, stripped of their belongings, forced to undress and processed into the camp system.

One thing that was similar between Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau was the gate bearing the words "Arbeit macht frei", or "Work sets you free." A taunting message of false hope to the people imprisoned there. The historic gate was stolen from the memorial in 2014 and eventually recovered in Norway in 2016. Since then, it has been kept inside the museum for security, while a replica stands at the original entrance.

While Dachau was not primarily an extermination camp, it did have a crematorium and gas chamber on site. The gas chamber, disguised as a shower room, was built inside the newer crematorium known as Barrack X.  Historians generally agree that there is no evidence the gas chamber was used for mass executions (unlike Auschwitz-Birkenau), but some prisoners may have been killed there using poison gas.

The crematoria, on the other hand, were extensively used. As the death toll increased, particularly near the end of the war, the crematorium could not keep up. A shortage of coal eventually stopped it from operating, and thousands of bodies instead had to be buried in mass graves. 😥

We spent about three hours there. It's only about 40 minutes from Munich and is quite a solemn, but important, visit. One I won't quickly forget.

Munich

Onwards to Munich, where I met up with my boyfriend Tarun, who flew in the previous day from Toronto. He'll be joining me for the rest of the trip, and I'm excited to show him a Euro-Summer!

We grabbed a later-start walking tour through GuruWalk and explored Munich's old town. I had crazy déjà vu from the last time I was in Germany, with my friend James on my 2009 backpacking Eurotrip, when we walked through the Hofgarten and saw its Diana Temple. In 2009, I described it as "a gorgeous garden with a wicked gazebo," and I think it still lives up to that name. Here's a quick photo comparison between 2009 and 2026...

We also saw sights like:

• Viscardigasse: During the Nazi era, people used this alley as a shortcut to avoid passing the Nazi memorial on nearby Residenzstraße, where they would have been expected to give the Nazi salute. Today, a trail of golden paving stones commemorates this quiet act of resistance.

• The Munich Residenz: Parts of the palace were heavily damaged during WWII and later reconstructed. In one courtyard, the facade was painted onto the walls rather than fully recreated in stone. The Residenz was also home to King Ludwig I, whose 1810 wedding celebrations  turned into the tradition of Oktoberfest.

• The Bavarian State Chancellery: Some of the historic columns still bears visible holes from the war. Munich was heavily bombed during WWII as symbolically, it was the birthplace of the Nazi movement.

• The Glockenspiel: A musical, animatronic clock in  that looks considerably older than it actually is. The "new" town hall was completed in the early 1900 despite it looking like old gotchic architecture 

Hofbräuhaus

Hofbräuhaus is associated with one of Munich's famous "Big Six" breweries. It's a classic tourist stop while still maintaining its beer-hall traditions. James and I stopped here in 2009, and the big 1-litre glass looked just as big as it did then... but was a lot easier to drink now. 😉 (It's about 2.1 pints!)

Tarun got a Radler and I got the house lager. For dinner, Tarun indulged in sausages and potato salad. I loved the potato salad... it's a more vinegary-sweet version rather than the mayo-heavy kind we're used to in North America. The vegetarian menu has certainly expanded since we were last here (sorry, James), but I was enticed and intrigued by the "3 Brot" bread spread and enjoyed a classic bread-and-beer dinner.

Regulars can keep their personal beer steins in locked compartments called the Maßkrugtresor (beer stein safe). The lockers are exclusive, with spots sometimes remaining in families for generations.

Dark History Fact: Hofbräuhaus also has a darker place in Munich's history. Hitler spoke here during the early years of the Nazi Party. Swastika decorations that once appeared on the ceiling were later painted over with Bavarian flag designs.

Englischer Garten & the Eisbach River Float

We spent an afternoon relaxing in the Englischer Garten, a huge city park that's larger than New York's Central Park. We explored approximately 2% of it, parking ourselves in the dusty shade near the river for a picnic lunch, watching the surfers, and then braving an Eisbach river float!

Locals (and tourists) float down sections of the Eisbach during the summer, despite warning signs and the risks of its strong current. You jump in from the side and float downstream, sometimes with a floatie or dry bag, or just using your own body. I could touch the bottom initially, but after floating under the first bridge, I couldn't anymore (although Tarun said he could). At that point, you lift your feet and let the current take you. It was a lot of fun.

There were scarier rapids farther downstream, but I exited before them. My float was about six minutes downriver and eight minutes walking back to my towel.I did try to get a look at the rapids and then almost got sucked back into the current. I know I probably would have been fine (former lifeguard/strong swimmer), but panic set in and I grabbed onto the wall for dear life while the current pulled at me. Luckily, a kind German teenager took pity on my panicked face and helped pull me out. Only a scrape on my elbow remains. 😂

Pinakothek der Moderne

We found out that on Sundays you can visit several of Munich's major state museums for only €1! This is an expensive town, so that seemed like a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.

We went to the Pinakothek der Moderne and spent about two hours exploring. We saw works by Picasso, Warhol, Ernst and Kandinsky, among many others.

There was also a special exhibition featuring the art of Dana Schutz, and we really liked her unique, bold work. I'm glad to have discovered someone new to look out for art galleries now.

The design section showcased everything from vehicles and robots to glassware, housewares and camping equipment. Two cool discoveries from the robotics section: 1) the Dash and Dot robots we have at my school were showcased, and 2) one of my favourite childhood toys, a talking educational robot named Alphie, was there too! It was the original blue version rather than the white one I had, but still... what a random nostalgia bang.

Olympiapark Sommerfestival

While taking the U-Bahn, I noticed a poster advertising the Sommerfestival at Olympiapark. As a yearly fan of the CNE, I obviously thought this was worth investigating. It was also held on the grounds of the 1972 Munich Olympics. After watching several films about the 1972 terrorist attack that killed members of the Israeli Olympic team, it was interesting and sombre to see the site in person.

The carnival itself wasn't *that* amazing. It was fairly small and much less busy than I expected, especially compared with my experiences at the CNE/Ex and Calgary Stampede. But it had expensive food, carnival rides, games and the same kind of trinkets for sale, so I still enjoyed the wander.

We also swung by BMW Welt at BMW's headquarters. It's free to enter, and we checked out model cars, art cars and a pretty gorgeous Rolls-Royce Ghost. I now know that if I ever win the lottery and buy one, my colour of choice is called "Twilight Purple".

Munich gave us beer halls, modern art, childhood robots, Olympic history, a carnival, luxury cars and an amazing river ride. A pretty solid few days.

There was also one much heavier stop during our time here: Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. That experience deserves more than a paragraph squeezed into the end of a Munich post, so I'll leave it for the next one.

Freiburg & Ulm

Freiburg im Breisgau

We did a day trip to Freiburg, a bustling city only about half an hour away from Offenburg. It was lively and bustling, and we wandered through the Old Town based on a ChatGPT- and tourism-map-suggested route. We saw another gorgeous cathedral (Freiburger Münster), the old cemetery (Alter Friedhof Freiburg), and the historic city gates (Martinstor).

All throughout Freiburg's Old Town, there were stone mosaics embedded in the pavement in front of shops and stores. Although they didn't always line up perfectly, Jill and I realized that, more often than not, they hinted at what each business was selling... a pretzel for a bakery, a wine glass for a wine shop, an lamb for a butcher, and so on. I later learned that these were Freiburg's famous Gehwegmosaike (sidewalk mosaics) which had been in Freiburg since the 1800s and experienced a revival in the 1970s when the old town became pedestrianized. 

I saw that there was another funicular we could take up to a viewpoint on the Schlossberg hill and we all know how much I love these little cable cars. We took the three-minute ride up, wandered to a few different lookouts, and then walked back down.

We had a refreshing break in the beer garden at Hausbrauerei Feierling. Jill ordered a Helles and I had a radler. It was the perfect way to cool off before buying heaps of cosmetics and skincare items at dm (a must stop for cheaper products!) and heading back to Offenburg.

Ulm

Jill and I went our separate ways in the morning, with her off to Switzerland and me continuing through Germany. My next destination was Ulm, famed for its towering Gothic church and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein. It was the perfect place to spend a day and night solo before moving on to Munich.

Ulm Münster

The Ulm Münster is a dominating presence in the city. It has the tallest church steeple in the world, standing at 161.5 m (530 ft). While the Sagrada Família in Barcelona is now taller overall following the completion of its central tower and cross, Ulm still holds the record for the tallest church steeple.

Unfortunately, as is often my luck during my Euro trips, the Münster is undergoing restoration work, so scaffolding surrounds it both inside and out. The steep €9 price to climb the tower didn't seem quite worth it when visitors could only go partway up, so I stayed on the ground. Maybe next time. However, I did get to see a Lego version of the Münster (made out of 112,000 bricks!).

Albert Einstein's Birthplace

Next up was visiting Ulm's Einstein monuments. Einstein was born in Ulm, although he only lived here for about a year before his family moved to Munich. The house where he was born was destroyed during WWII, but an artistic memorial now stands on its former location in a pedestrian shopping area. I also tracked down the rather odd-looking Einstein Fountain, which features his head emerging from a snail riding a rocket.

Brot und Kunst

The quirky art in Ulm doesn't stop with the Snail Einstein. There's also the Museum Brot und Kunst (Museum of Bread and Art), and I do love a quirky, oddly specific museum. The museum was almost completely empty, likely because the upper floors were a brutal 30°C due to the lack of air conditioning. The clerk was incredibly friendly, and in addition to bilingual English explanations beside every exhibit, there was also an English audio guide.

The museum explores the history of bread, breadmaking, and the cultural and human significance of this staple food. It also showcases an impressive collection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures inspired by bread.

Some of the quirkier highlights included pairings of chairs and bread (for example, a Kaiser roll displayed beside a chair that also debuted at the 1867 Paris World's Fair, or a Richard Riemerschmid chair compared to a loaf of rye bread), a head sculpted entirely from bread dough ("Busts of important historical figures are usually made from bronze or marble, materials intended to stand the test of time. But if art is to be alive, then shouldn't it age and decay, just like all living things?"), and a wonderfully bizarre sculpture by Dalí.

There was also a temporary exhibit on honey. While I was honestly too sweaty to give it the attention it deserved, I particularly liked the work of artist Bärbel Rothhaar, who creates portraits of beekeepers out of beeswax before returning them to active hives, where the bees gradually reshape and transform the sculptures.

After a cold shower reset and a jacket potato dinner, I explored a little more of the town, even though my energy meter was rapidly failing. I saw the world's "most crooked hotel" (Hotel Schiefes Haus) and wandered through the picturesque Fischerviertel district to the river during my evening stroll.

Onwards to Munich, next!

Offenburg & Sasbachwalden - Gateway to the Black Forest

One of my main reasons for exploring the Black Forest was an Instagram reel I saw where you could do a hike and drink schnapps along the way. While Jill is already an avid hiker, I need a little more encouragement, and I think €2 schnapps shots made by local farmers and left in cooling huts throughout the hike are quite the enticement. 😏

Welcome to Sasbachwalden, a cute little town full of vineyards and orchards (for the aforementioned schnapps!) that lies on the western slopes of the Northern Black Forest. 

It was about a 40-minute transit ride from Offenburg (train to Achern, then bus to Sasbachwalden Gaishölle). Unfortunately, our train was delayed, which made us miss our bus, leading to an unfortunate one-hour pit stop at the bus station while we waited for the next one.

Our hike started at the visitor centre in town before following the Schnapsbrunnenweg 1 trail (7.44 km). We climbed some big hills and then took a wooden walkway up to the Gaishöll Waterfalls. I say "waterfalls" loosely, as the severe drought in Germany had turned them more into a bubbling stream. Jill continued on to see the actual "waterfalls," but the extra hike and elevation weren't worth it for out-of-breath me (and it turns out they weren't worth it for Jill either!).

We then exited the forested area and made our way through farmhouses, vineyards, and the Schnapsbrunnen. Schnapsbrunnen are self-serve, trailside honour-system stations where hikers can grab local fruit brandy (schnapps) and other drinks (water, beer) chilled in fresh mountain spring water. Each drink is 1.50 - 2 € and you drop your coins into an honesty box. I also bought two medium bottles of snapps (blueberry and cherry) for 5€ each. We visited five Schnapsbrunnen over the following few hours. They were run by the families of Fischer, Rösch, Brenner-Decker, Haus Zink, and one near the Fatima Grotto. I think my favourite was Rösch because the drinks were kept inside this cute little cupboard that you opened up, helping them stay cool in the 36-degree heat.

I also learned the hard way the difference between the drinks labelled "Wasser" and "liquer." The Wasser was disgusting and tasted like a shot of 40% hard liquor, like vodka, and nothing like the sweet 25–30% fruit liqueur we had been sipping. Later, I learned that Wasser is a clear, completely dry fruit spirit with no added sugar, while liqueur is a sweet, lower-alcohol drink made by adding sugar and flavourings to a neutral spirit base. So if you're there in the future, avoid the schnapps Wasser!

Surprisingly, we weren't too tipsy after all those drinks, but I think the heat zapped it right out of us. We had tried to avoid the midday sun, but our hour-long delay meant we were walking through the orchards and fields during the hottest part of the day, trying not to bake. Bless Jill for lending me her umbrella to walk under in the blazing sun and for attempting to find shortcuts back into town by cutting through random fields.

I really wanted a piece of Black Forest cake, but alas, the bakery we went to was completely sold out. They did, however, have a Black Forest roll! There is a noticeable difference compared to the ones back home, as the German version is flavoured with cherry brandy. Still, it was delicious, and I can officially say I had Black Forest cake near the Black Forest!

Offenburg

We used the town of Offenburg as a transit hub and grabbed a hotel right near the train station for our day trips. But while planning our afternoon there the day before we arrived, we realized that all the shops in Germany are closed on Sundays. So, other than wandering around the shuttered old town, we didn't really know what we were going to do.

Luckily, Jill had the idea to search for lakes to swim in, and we came across Strandbad Gifiz. This is a man-made lake with paid (€4) swimming access that includes lifeguards, washrooms, showers, lockers, a waterslide, ping-pong tables, volleyball courts, and a snack bar. It was the absolute perfect slow afternoon in Offenburg! Thankfully, it wasn't too crowded, so we laid out our towels, swam, went down the waterslide, drank Radlers, and relaxed.

When we got back from our day hike in Sasbachwalden, we wandered around the old town a bit more before dinner. During our two nights there, we had expensive (but delicious) sushi at Taumi and bowls and burgers at Celsius. We also highly recommend the train station-adjacent restaurant, Offenburger, whose name—a play on the town itself and its culinary offerings—made me smile.

Next up: day trips to Freiburg & Ulm!

Strasbourg & Colmar: A Jaunt into France

Bienvenue and Willkommen to Strasbourg. It is in the Alsace region of France, sharing a border with Germany. A town of dual identity, it has been passed back and forth between French and German rule throughout its history. A brief, summarized history would be that it was German in the Middle Ages, French when Louis XIV took it over during the Nine Years' War, German after the Franco-Prussian War, French after WWI, German during WWII, and then French again after WWII.

This unique dual identity is present everywhere. It borrows the classic half-timbered houses from Germany, has patisseries serving both pretzels and croissants, and even features dual-language street signs. It is not officially bilingual in that people are not required to speak both German and French, but hearing either language is pretty common.

It seems that I cannot get enough of France. Or rather... last year in Paris I found a medicine that helps immensely with period cramps, and I had run out! It's been a lifesaver during the first few days each month, so since I was going to be so close to France, Strasbourg was added to this year's route.

Reunited with Jill

I met up with Jill, my friend, colleague, and "always game for a trip" buddy. She arrived a little later than I did, so I settled into our very funky hotel, Hotel Arok (filled with images and puns surrounding the word "rock"), before we headed into Strasbourg's Altstadt for a wander and dinner.

We watched some street performers outside the cathedral, balancing on tall chairs and using impressive core strength to perform pole tricks.

I was excited to eat galettes again, my favourite meal from France, and we went to a Japanese-inspired galette café (Breizh Café Strasbourg) that served both traditional galettes and ones rolled up like buckwheat maki rolls. We also had galletes again on our last night here at (Creperie La Bolée de Cidre) but I preferred Breizh. 

Notre-Dame de Strasbourg

While Notre-Dame de Paris is the most famous, many French cathedrals are named Notre-Dame ("Our Lady") because they are dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Strasbourg Gothic Cathedral took 400 years to build and was finished in 1439. It wasn't really complete, though, since the second tower was never built. Theories include a lack of money, unstable ground (it was built near the river), or that after the Reformation it became Protestant for a time, and Protestant churches tend to be less extravagant. Whatever the reason, it now has its unique one-tower appearance. We were even lucky enough to grab a spot outside on a patio for some happy hour (6€) aperol spritzes. 

This cathedral also has some original medieval stained-glass windows because they (rather smartly) removed them during the wars, stored them for safekeeping, and then put them back afterwards. The astronomical clock displays local time, the positions of the sun and moon, planetary alignments, a calendar, and the changing date of Easter. It also has animated figures, but we didn't catch the noontime show. 

In the evening, they project a light and sound show onto the outside of the cathedral for summer tourists. It was reminiscent of the one I saw in Bayeux last year, although a little less to my taste (it was more crowded and there was a smaller viewing area). That being said, it was still an impressive sight, and I'm glad we were there to see it.

Altstadt Walking Tour

We did a GuruWalks tour that explored the areas around the cathedral and La Petite France. We learned:

• Gutenberg lived here for about 10 years, where he worked on ideas that would eventually culminate in the invention of the printing press, so they created Gutenberg Square in his honour.

• The stork (la cigogne) is the main symbol of Alsace. They migrate to this region in late winter and leave again in the fall.

• Maison Kammerzell is one of the oldest and most famous medieval houses in Strasbourg. Its wooden façade contains many carvings, including astrological signs, and I found Scorpio! The windows are made of "bull's-eye" glass that looks like the bottoms of wine bottles.

• La Petite France, while quite picturesque now, used to be the tanners' and fishing district during the Middle Ages. The name "Petite France" comes from a hospital for syphilis patients because syphilis was once known as the "French disease."

While our plan to continue eating more galettes fell short because everywhere was full, we enjoyed a delicious bowl and avocado toast at Avotoast while dodging the evening rain clouds.

Colmar Day Trip

The following day, we took the train to Colmar, a French town south of Strasbourg in the Alsace region. This place looked exactly like a storybook or a movie set. You think they made up Beauty and the Beast? Naaaahhhh... they just modeled it after towns in Alsace, it seems.

We grabbed a walking map of the town and explored for the day, visiting sights like Maison des Têtes (which has 106 sculpted heads on its façade), La Petite Venise (which even had little motorized boats taking people up and down the river), the Marché Couvert Colmar (a covered food market), and Place de l'Ancienne Douane with its gorgeous half-timbered houses and fountain.

After wandering for three hours and making a "fast" (definitely the opposite) food stop at O Tacos for me, we grabbed a patio where Jill enjoyed a local radler and I had a local Riesling, one of the signature wines of the Alsace region.

We ended our evening back in Strasbourg enjoying some 4€ delicious grocery store wine at our hotel. Back to Germany tomorrow and a hike in the Black Forest!