In and around Munich

We woke up at about 2am and tried fitfully to get back to sleep. Eventually, we did. We woke up for real at about 7 am. We got showered and dealt with some network issues for blogging. You wouldn't believe the struggle we go through to post this for you. It's hard work travelling the world. Once everyone else was up and showered and dressed and coffee'd and ready, we set out to find breakfast. "Fruhstuck" in German. We found ourselves in Marienplatz when we got off the train. Right in the thick of it. We tried to figure out what and where we would eat and how best to make that decision. We split up for a few, and then regrouped in the middle of the plaza. Kerri and Theo got an appetizer; pretzel and a shokolat - they were the perfect pre-breakfast and then joined us for the main event. We ate at Wildmosers Restaurant/Cafe. I got a pair of white sausages and a pretzel. I got a pretzel and a roll and ham and cheese and nutella and butter and jelly. It was not at all what I expected. In my head I imagined an assortment of pretzel rolls with ham, cheese, strawberry jelly, and nutella. I didn't know that the roll was actually an item on its own so I was confused when I got my plate. It did satisfy my hunger though and the pretzel with nutella was delicious.
A curious crowd began to gather around the square where we were seated. 11:00 dinged and the dancers in the tower began to spin. The spectators (us included) were in awe. After the ten minutes dance, the crowd dispersed. We hung out a while and tried to formulate a plan. Theo needed to get some cash from the geldautomat (ATM) and the girls wanted to try to find dirndls. I opted to go with the girls and we split up with walkie talkies so we could stay in touch easily.
We had been told that H&M sells dirndls. The road just off the square at Marienplatz has at least 3 so we checked one out. No dice. Then another. No dice. Kerri asked an employee if they sold dirndls at any H&M. Negative. So we went to Kaufhof. Eight floors of store. They had dirndls. And lederhosen. And just about anything you could want to buy, really. Theo and Dan caught up with us again at this store. We all shopped around for various goods for quite a while. After we all got what we needed, we got back out and headed to the farmer's market, Viktualien Markt. We wandered around and got some breakfast items for tomorrow, and eventually we found lunch too. I got a slice of smoked pork on a roll. And a beer, obviously. It was outstanding. After lunch we wandered around the market some more. Then we went to the train station.
We made our way toward Dachau train station. Once there, we took a bus to the former concentration camp. We wandered around the memorial for a couple hours, soaking up the morbid history. A lot of horrific events happened there during the 1930s and 1940s. By the time the park was closing, we had hardly read a quarter of the signs in there, but we had to make towards the exit. Theo lagged behind trying to take in more details - we ultimately gave him his own walkie as to not have to wait for him. We caught the bus and train back to where we'd came.

The entrance to the former prison camp at Dachau.

The main hallway within the prison hall. Each door leads to a separate, tiny cell.

The prison hall (on the right) from the outside. Each cell has a tiny window.

It's very difficult to photograph the cell through the tiny hole in the door, and show the true scale of the room. Each cell was approximately 8ftx8ft.

Rows of bunks (3 high) in the barracks.

Two of 6 furnaces at Dachau.

Once home, we got dressed in our newly-found authentic wear. Mandy wore a dirndl and Rob wore lederhosen. We hopped back on the train and went to Sendlinger Tor. We got off the underground into what felt like a college campus. It reminded us of Commonwealth Ave. in downtown Boston. We were headed towards Andy's Krablergarten. Unfortunately, the restaurant was completely full, and we were turned away at the door. Unsure what to do, but hungry nonetheless, Kerri, Theo and I went to grab a slice of pizza next door. We regrouped on the sidewalk to research good food options. Our resources were limited with no WiFi, so we walked instead. We found a few restaurants, but none of them looked appealing to us, so we decided to walk back towards the train. When we got back to Andy's we checked in once more, and they just happened to have a table available for us. We were in luck! We got seated and ordered a round of beers. Then we ordered a schnitzel each. There were so many flavors and they were all fantastic! Rob had the mustard one, or senfschnitzel. Mandy had the Bavarian-spice flavored schnitzel. So good. Kerri had the Schnitzel Obatzter - schnitzel marinated in a cheese sauce - it was delectable. We all shared a small bite with one another, so we could each take the full flavor tour of schnitzel.

Hallo! Wie gehts?

​After dinner, we made our way back home via the train. Subway is more accurate. We found a shortcut on the walk back from the station, via a hidden sidewalk through the shrubs. Once we were home, we opened a few of the beers that the owner made available in the communal fridge. We sent our friend Cate a few messages on Instagram to coordinate some FaceTime action with Loki with my iPhone. She called us with him nearby so we could see him. We talked to him, but he clearly did not recognize our voices through the phones. Or he just didn't care. It was awesome to see him anyway, but a little sad that he was so indifferent. Typical dog though. We were limited to five minutes screen time by Kerri so we made it quick. We were very thankful for Kerri's generosity in lending us her phone. If there is a bill I was told to forward it to team Cote. Cross your fingers. We hung out a while after, and then found our way to bed.