Munich

It's been a while now since I've been here in Germany, and to all of those I've talked to, I'm sorry this wasn't posted sooner. Honestly, I wrote the whole entry and it got deleted, so here goes to the second time around. We arrived in Munich last Saturday afternoon after a seven hour train ride. Munich at first glance felt much different than Paris. It is much more modern, people actually speak English, and everything is slightly cheaper. Munich itself was a fairly small city and with the city falling apart in the second world war, it allowed it to be rebuilt in a modern way. The main shopping street was beautiful with a wide pathway that acted as both a pedestrian walkway and a plaza for public gathering. However there still was some remains of pre-war buildings, most of them covered in bullet holes. The first day we actually decided to discover germany's past and took a train out to Dachau, the city of the first comcentration camp.

Entry Gate to Dachau

As soon as we walked into the camp, it was one of the most erie places I have ever been. You first walk through a large gateway into a massive open courtyard at least three Chicago city blocks in size. This was what use to be role call area where, at one point over 30,000 people lined up for hours to make sure no one had escaped, even the dead were forced to be brought to role call on some occassions. To the right was a large building still mostly in tact. This was the first building prisoners entered upon arrival. The massive showers were still set up along with the office area for Nazi workers. For the most part, this building acted as a museum today. It told the stories of several prisoners, done who made it out alive, and many who didn't. At the beginning of the camp, Dachau was mostly used for political prisoners, many of which didn't witness the horrible acts we think of. It wasn't until the height of the war in the 40s that conditions became inhumane. It was then that several thousand Jews and soviets were brought to the camp. When it was liberated by the USA, all of the prisoners left burned down as much as they could on their way out. No barracks were left on the site, however two were rebuilt and now used as part of the museum. All that remained of the other 30 living barracks were there foundations, which them alone was just hard to look at. Probably the most disturbing of all was the crematorium and gas chamber still left on the site. It was much smaller than I had imagined, but no less disturbing. Three memorials were built recently at the back of the camp, one fir Christians, one for Jews, and the last for denominational. I am definitely glad I was as to see this. However much disturbing it was, it is a major part of german history and something important to truly feel and realize what was happening in our world no more than 70 years ago.

Role Call Gounds Ditch to Prohibit Exit

Memorial Statue

On a lighter note, our next stop was the BMW museum. Honestly it wasn't much of a museum. I don't even know how to describe this building. I feel as though it was built merely to show the power, money, and design capabilities of the country to the everyday person. The building was outrageous, beautiful, but over the top. The design was all for decoration, no real meaning I'd purpose other than to look cool. The "museum" did containall of BMWs latest vehicles, all of which you could purchase and then drive down a ramp through the building when you leave. There were five restaurants and lounges in the building, all over priced, and space for what looked like you could rent out for a party. Definitely an impressive building, but impressive merely for the sake of being impressive.

We were also able to see the Olympic stadium from '72. All of the buildings remained on site and the area was now used as a park. I must say, we were there at 8:00pm on Sunday night and the park was as lively as could be. It was very successful even 37 years later, and that truly says something. The architecture was also extremely impressive. All of the buildings were built with glass roofs all in tension. It somewhat looked like circus tents sprouting up here and there, but much more architectually significant. A large hill say inthe middle of the park, built ontop of all the ruble left I we from the war. It looked the a fake serene landscape, right out of teletubbies, but at the top of the hill was one of the most beautiful views all the way to the Alpine mountains.

The last day before our second seven hour train ride to Berlin, we were able to see the soccer stadium and a staircase that I have admired for the past year. The stadium was designed by Herzog and Demuron, german architects popular all over the world. The stadium was built as if it was blown up like a balloon. It looked as though you could touch it with a pun and the whole thing woe deflate. It a plastic facade that bubbles out and gives an amazi g facade unlike any other to draw fans in. Other than that, it was a pretty typical stadium.
The staircase, however was very untypical. I would say this was probably more sculpture than stairs, especially since it was closed off and un-steppable. It's a staircase to nowhere, figure 8 in shape but beautiful figure. The only thing that truly bothered me was the fact that this symetrical figure was completely off center in a symetrical courtyard. The only thing that would maybe please me is if the stair came first and building second, but this is so unlikely.

Munich was a great city, definitely a place unlike any other. I'm in berlinniw and there are even more differences, but I will tell you about it all later. I will also post pictures as soon as I arrive back in Paris so you can too see what I saw. I miss you all so much back at home. I hope all is well and I love you tons!