The Doctor's Office: European Odyssey, Part 3

Alright, after another overnight train to Vienna followed by the reason we got to go to Europe in the first place (the annual Manager Meeting), I'm on a plane from Amsterdam to Memphis with some time to write. There's a little baby up front who is not enjoying the flight much at all, so I'm going to put on some Explosions in the Sky (good writing music – or at least better ambience than small babies crying) and get down to bidness.

After Nuremburg, we took the train into Munich, where we stayed the night. We were booked for two nights in Munich, after spending only one night each in Berlin, Dresden and Dusseldorf, so it was a relief not to have to carry our bags around the next morning. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it got a bit old moving from place to place – even with only one piece of large luggage for each of us. So anyway, the next day we were slated to go and see King Ludwig's castles. That is, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein.

The castles were about a 45-minute train ride from Munich, in a town called Fussen. Fussen is a small place that looks like it hasn't changed much for a long time, at least as far as outward appearance. There were the little houses that you think of when you think of little dorfs in Germany, and of course there were the castles up on the hills. The feeling of oldness was slightly marred by newer restaurants and souvenir stands, but we're forgiving of that.

The castles were awesome. Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed inside, but here are some shots of the outside.

Here's Hohenschwangau.

We took tours of both castles, which were possessed by the aforementioned "Mad" King Ludwig. He grew up in Hohenschwangau and commissioned Neuschwanstein to be built during his final years. He died young, in his mid-twenties, so he only got to live in the castle for about six months total if I'm remembering correctly. But hey, if you're interested in that, there's always Wikipedia.

The things that stand out about the inside of the castle were the throne room (which was incomplete, having never actually gotten a throne) and the cave room. Yes, a cave room. Adjacent to the King's bedroom was another room that had been fashioned into a cave. Using plaster, the builders had made it into a rather convincing-looking replica, complete with stalagmites and such. Having been in a few actual caves, I thought the façade was quite impressive. So this was apparently where Ludwig would go sometimes to be by himself. Sure, there were 60 rooms in the castle, but who wants to be alone in a regular room when you can be alone in your own personal not-actually-subterranean lair? And of course, here are some pictures from the outside:

From the town below

From the Gatehouse

View of the Gatehouse from the Inside (they let you take pictures out the windows; just not inside.)

And a few more for fun. This place was enormous.

After the tours, we stopped at a shop and bought a nutcracker. How can you be in Germany and not buy a nutcracker, right? At this point the day was pretty much over and we headed back to the hotel, where there was sausage for all to have. Or at least me. I tried the Munich white sausage, which I hadn't had the pleasure of tasting before. It wasn't bad, despite the frightening color. I didn't have it again during our stay in Munich, because the taste wasn't good enough to overcome the fact that I was eating white sausage. It's rare for me that the appearance of a food causes me not to consume it, but such was the case here.

Speaking of the white sausage, that reminds me of the breakfasts at the hotels where we stayed. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but we stayed in all of our hotels for free because of the points I'd saved up during my time living in a Fort Wayne Marriott. So it was Marriotts all the way. The breakfasts came with the hotel stay, and they were unbelievable. I think I was probably more of a fan than Jessica since I'm used to European food, but they weren't too shabby by any standards. Think of your American continental breakfast at a hotel. You've got your eggs from a carton, bacon, sausage, toast, fruit, maybe some muffins, and cereal, right? And usually it's not actually all of those things. Well, that was all there. Plus there was about 4-5 different kinds of bread (German bread rules), 5-6 different kinds of pastries, a bunch of different yogurts (and quark, which is like yogurt with extra bacteria), a whole lot of fruit, and meats. Lunch meats, different kinds of sausage, sometimes there were meatballs, and usually at least one or two kinds of potatoes. This is not to mention the fact that they have Nutella in Germany. If you're not familiar, Nutella is a chocolate spread that they use kind of like peanut butter. That is, putting it on bread and whatnot. I'm not a big Nutella guy, but Jessica was pretty excited. So yeah, the spreads in ol' Deutschland were pretty impressive.

So the next day was our last in Munich (and Germany), and we took a day trip to the Dachau concentration camp. There's not much history to add here, as you all know what the deal is with concentration camps. I've got to say, though, that knowing about them and visiting one are two very different things. Going to Dachau wasn't what I would call an enjoyable experience. It wasn't fun, by any means. But I definitely don't regret going. Knowing what happened at these places lends the grounds a gravity that you have to experience to understand.

Germany requires all students to visit a concentration camp as part of their curriculum, which is an admirable thing, and certainly not unnecessary for a country with its history. If there ever was a way to keep history from repeating itself, that is it. So there were some students on the grounds when we were there. They were kids, and they didn't always act so seriously obviously, but you could tell at certain times that most of them were impacted. This was especially true in the museum portion of the grounds, which was the former registration building where prisoners came when they arrived. This was the only part of the grounds which gave a history and an accounting of what went on there, and the rest stood largely in silence to be observed. I'll finish this portion with pictures. I tried to get as many pictures as possible without people in them. It doesn't completely give the feeling of stark coldness that you feel in certain parts of the site, but I think that this place, once teeming with thousands and now standing empty as a reminder of what humans did to other humans, has a certain weight even just with pictures.

Entrance