We took the train back to Munich and got in just before dinner, so we had an evening in Munich.
To read about the first two parts of the trip, click here and here.
We spent a while in our hotel room making a plan for the evening and the next day and then we headed out on the town. The previous night we concocted a plan to see a concert in Munich, so that’s where we headed. We found a classical music concert that took place at the royal residence, so we couldn’t really pass up that opportunity.
The concert turned out to be absolutely lovely. It was a small concert – fewer than 50 people in the chapel. It was definitely the best thing we could have come up with for our last evening in Germany.
After dinner, we went to an Indian restaurant just outside the center. It was absolutely the perfect way to end our evening and our trip.
We went back to the hotel and went to bed pretty early. The next morning we had an early breakfast (again) and said our goodbyes. My aunt had a much earlier flight, so she headed to the airport. I had the whole day to spend in Munich, so I decided to go to Dachau. You can actually get a day pass for the public transportation in the Munich area, which covers the metro to Dachau, the bus from the train station in Dachau to the concentration camp memorial site, and the train to the airport. I saved a lot of money by buying that!
Going to Dachau is one thing I didn’t think I was going to get to do, but I’m really glad I did. I felt a lot different there than I thought I would. I’ve always been really fascinated by WWII and the Holocaust. I’ve studied it in school, I’ve been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. at least four times. I’ve read several books (non-fiction and historical fiction) about the time period. And going to a concentration camp was one thing I definitely wanted to do while living in Europe.
One of the most enriching things about traveling in Europe so far has been seeing the historical sites, artwork, buildings, etc. that I learned about in school. When you learn about that stuff from a book, it seems so far away and less real. Obviously when you see something in person, it is much more alive and personal. So going to Dachau and seeing the place where all those horrible things happened was really important to me.
After I had seen the concentration camp and been through the museum, I headed back to the train station to go back to Munich. When I got back into town, I ended up walking around until I found a cafe that looked nice. I bought a coffee and a snack and hung around for a while before heading to the airport.
This trip was just so nice. And I hate to describe it with such a nondescript word, but it can’t be described in any other way. It was a really nice break from university, it was nice to see my aunt and hang out with her, and it was nice to travel around in Germany. Everything was just nice.
