Germany/Austria-Part Two

So I think I left off on my variety of international incidents on Monday. So I return to my history of Germany from Tuesday:

Tuesday was mostly a stay near the Munich area day. I went to Dachau early in the morning. I made the stupid mistake of thinking that my Tageskarte only worked on the S-Bahn in the area, so I figured that in order to make it to the KZ, I would have to pay yet again for a bus. Given my experience with boats, I really did not want to repeat again. So I decided to look on the map at the bahnhof and walk to the KZ. Unfortuantely, I really did not study the map, and so I got lost in Dachau. The other unfortuante thing was that I ate NO breakfast whatsoever. I did manage to down my last Clif bar (note to self, take like 30 to Ireland) while I was lost in Dachau. I also did not realize the distance that the KZ is from the Bahnhof. So I ended up walking like 6-7 miles that morning on like 200 calories from Tuesday and about the same from Monday (easily spent in the two hours of walking around Munich at night...). Suffice it to say when I reached the KZ, I was terribly tired, but I figured, "how many thousands of people had to go through worse over years in Dachau?" How many people died horrible deaths there? And me, I wanted to bitch about having not much food and walking what was not really that many miles.

So Dachau was cold. Really cold. It had that eerie nature about it, especially the area cordoned off by the creek. Most of the original barracks are gone--only two remain out of more than 40. But to see lines of foundations, each of those holding how many people who met their end at Dachau was frightening. To see the barbed wire, the towers, and the surrounding trench. To be that close to society, that all those people thought you were a legitimate prisoner, that you deserved to be separated from society. And what were you? A Jew? A political opponent? An emigrant? A Soviet? A gypsy? Gay?

The trench was frightening. There was a little sign that said that anyone caught in the trench was immediately shot. In 1944-5, so many people jumped into the ditch deliberately so that they could die easier deaths. Some Germans would push people in so that they could shoot them.

Crossing the creek, one comes upon the two crematoria. The first one was around from about 1938-1942, and had two ovens. The other one though is more frightening, with the sterilization chamber for the clothing, the gas chambers for the prisoners, the four chambers to burn bodies 2-4 at a time, and the stark emptiness of it all. Outside, there are two graves that hold thousands of bodies burned, and an old earthen wall stands where Germans would shoot, execution style, political prisoners, from Soviet soliders, to British female special ops soldiers.

The worst part of all though was the exhibit of the scientific experiments that the Germans did. There was this series of pictures of a Jewish prisoner who was brought in to test what happened to a person when air got into the brain. In the series of pictures, there is this face of innocence, unaware of the fate coming to him. Despite his position, his eyes were somehow full of life, that even though fate had deigned his death soon to come, he was alive.

The next picture shows him in incredible pain, as the injected air bubbles work his way into the brain. His eyes and jaw are clenched shut.

The last shows him, tranquil, dead. His jaw is loose, the pain gone, his life over.

This was the most that I saw Dachau destroy. Sure, there are crematoria, barracks, and monuments to the dead, but this series showed explicitly what the Germans did. How fundamentally evil these people were.

Perhaps what was even more disturbing was the nonchalence of the German high school students there. Many of them were cracking jokes, and acting like this was something they've seen so many times. I desperately wanted to yell and them, and make it clear that this was something that their grandparents and great-grandparents were complicit in. How they disgraced the 12 million people dead because of Nazi hate.

The US has a similar dark past in slavery, but I don't have the personal connection to it that many whites do have. Most of my ancestors came to the US after 1865, and those that were here before then lived in free states only (Illinois, New York). I get why African Americans feel disenfranchised, ironically after Dachau.

After Dachau, I went back into Munich central, heading into the English Gardens, the largest city park in Bavaria after a quick lunch. Surprisingly, I made total sense when I ordered my lunch, which included the amazingness that is Gluhwein. Anyone who has never had this amazing beverage must remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

English Gardens was gorgeous, and I have pictures on facebook to attest to this nicety.

Wednesday was a spontaneous decision to go to Salzburg. I tried the pay-yourself-for-ticket machine for a ticket to Salzburg, but I guess I boarded the wrong class of train, so I ended up having to pay more money on the train to ride to Salzburg. Whatev.

Anyways, I get to Salzburg, and it's definitely the tale of three cities. On the first hand is Neue Salzburg, which is hideous, dirty, and clearly a place not designed for tourists. Alte Salzburg is split between the posh, shopping tourist district, which disgusted me, and the historical section of town with the gorgeous old churches, the fortress, and old buildings. Obviosuly, I vested most of my time in the old section of town, and for the first time in Europe, I DID NOT GET LOST. This was a rare accomplishment. It took forever to climb up to the fortress, but inside, it felt like I was back in 1400, waiting for Turks to come pouring in from the East, or of the Teutons of the North. Apparently, thousands of people in the town could hide in the fortress for months on end.

Head back from Salzburg that afternoon, and buy my first collection of pretzels, of which I eat like 5 in less than 24 hours.

On getting back to Munich HBF (Hauptbahnhof), I got my dinner of tomato-mozarella sandwich, more pretzels, and Guinness. Suffice it to say, it was a much needed meal. I actually ate breakfast that morning in the hotel for a lovely price of 12 euro. OUCH. All I had was coffee, tea, and like three Brotchen. Ok, so I had a little cereal, fruit, and jogurt too...

But my dinner was so much better.

Thursday was not as exciting for me, because my cousin was supposed to come back into town like at 12 noon. I slept in until about...9 ish. I went back to English Gartens to get a good pic of Munich in the morning and then went to Marienplatz/Viktualienmarkt. Neither of which I found terribly impressive, but because they were settling up for the Kristmaskindlmarkt, the plaza was mostly filled. I did go into a few churches and such, ate lunch (more pretzels), and bought some of the touristy stuff for my fam. I had far more Gluhwein also, which ultimately made me incredibly tired. My cousin was supposed to call at noon, and she didn't. After waiting until 1, I decided to ride all through Munich on the S-bahn for an hour, and when she still hadn't called, I went to my hotel room, as the Gluhwein was REALLY knocking me out. While waiting for her to call, I had the interesting experience of watching Spongebob Squarepants, Pokemon, and Yugi-oh in German. Interestingly, I understood about 75% of Spongebob, and 30% of the other two.

My cousin finally called at like 2:30 and we arranged to meet at my hotel room at like 430 because I needed to know if I owed the hotel anything before I left in the morning.

We then went out to dinner and dessert, parting ways at about 10 at night.

Unforutantely, I decided to be an idiot at this point. I had forgotten my alarm clock in COS, so I bought this cheap ass Chinese one in Munich, which was so cheap that it frequently stopped. Hmm...

I had a cab coming for me at 4 AM, so I decided not to sleep. STUPID. Whatever. So I was entertained by late night German/CNN International, which was this sad mix of Mumbai terrorism and an excessive amount of German breasts. Because I've been in a hospital and around breast feeding women so much, I don't get the perverse thrill at titty that many other men get (they're just portals of milk, people, nothing else), but I was amused by the total fakeness of their attempts at alluring men. It was clearly cheap porn, and I found it more funny than anything.

So I stay up till 4 AM, leave my hotel, and get to the airport far too early for my own good.

Friday:
Munich-London: Again, I set off security alarms in Munich, but avoid the much unneeded frisking. British Airways this time provides breakfast (bacon and tomato sandwich, ick, but it was food, so I ate it), and tea. Heathrow was not as painful this time, and I avoided being extensively frisked. However, I did have the annoying problem of being asked a million questions about what I bought in Germany. Whatever. I then found this book (Dear Fatty, by Dawn French, the most hillarious woman ever) in Heathrow that I've been waiting for forever. So I spent a few hours reading, avoiding the desire to collapse into a coma.

London-Houston: I think I actually slept, although I missed lunch service yet again. Of the 10 hours flying, I don't remember at least 5. The other five were spent trying in vain to focus on something--TV, music, movie, book, whatever. As we flew over Arkansas, they came by for another food service, and promptly (stupidly) refused all food and beverage. So I get into Houston, and have to go through customs (total waste of time), but the problem is that going through customs means that you have to go through security again. And YET AGAIN, Ray sets off the alarm. Fortunately, they just waved the wand, and it was my jeans that set it off. I then pay ridiculous amounts for McDonalds and a bagel to try and hold me over for an hour.

Again, Houston demonstrated why I hate Americans....or maybe at least Texans. I dunno, there's something genuinely fake about Americans. Definitely a shallowness that I can't stand, but also a totally different culture that annoys me. The second I get out of customs, I'm greeted by Evangelicals wanting the save the soul that I don't even think I have. We had an interesting short discussion that got no where:

--Would you like some litterature about JC and how he saves?
-No, thank you.
--Why not?
-I don't believe in souls, so I don't really need saving.
--But you'll go to hell
-I can't go to hell because I have no soul, when I die, I stop existing
--Yes you do, and you'll go to hell

Whatever. Those minutes made me wish I was still in Europe.

So I barely stave off sleep long enough to make it on the plane, which is the exact mimic of the hobbit plane that I got on from COS to Houston. More Americans on it--and I was stuck near two southerners who complained about how the seats were small. And they were like 300 pounds each....

So that was my amazing trip to Europe.

Now I have to look forward to the next 19 (NINETEEN???????) days until I graduate. NINETEEN.

This is my list of things left to do over the next 19 days:

Greek Final
German Final
Piano pieces
Finish Thesis
Do Avicenna Paper/Presentation
History of Medicine Final.

It looks like this semester I have no in class finals the week of finals. My first five things are going to be done the week after this one, and then my final is take home.

Shit, folks, it's coming down to the wire....