Wednesday, June 05, 2024

Day 3 - Dachau Concentration Camp + Nymphenburg Palace

all I do is pray the Lord will let me
walk in the sun once more
Stormy Weather - Etta James

Day 3 didn't start and end well :( The plan for the day was to visit Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site and Nymphenburg Palace. It started with me going to Munich main train station and getting a day ticket. It cost less than 10 euros. I decided I was going to use cash and I put in 20 euros in the machine. The machine showed me an error message that said it would return me the 20 euros. Okay, so I waited and waited but nothing happened, what the fuck? I waited a bit more but nothing's happening and I tried to see if there's any staff that I could ask. There's a staff who kindly stopped but he's in charge of train maintenance so he could only say sorry he couldn't help me. I was like what the fuck, not pissed at the man but pissed at this stupidity, at how again the machine was screwing me. I then decided to go to the ticketing office to ask for help, but the staff there said I needed to call the number on the machine. They made no attempt whatsoever to help me. Isn't this their job? It's impossible to call the number because you most probably have to talk to a machine wasting time waiting or keying number or if someone answers it's most probably in German. I am still pissed about this. Pissed about the non-existence of support of the staff there. Pissed at the shittiness of this whole thing. I think I wasted more than half an hour before I could accept that I needed to let this go :(

After getting another ticket which I paid with card, I got on my way. Everything went pretty much as I studied, got off the Dachau station and straight away saw the bus. It was another cloudy drizzling day. There's actually a guided tour in Dachau and reviews said it's pretty good. I wasn't planning to take it because the morning one starts at 11 am and that's a bit late for me. Turned out the tour for that day was cancelled anyway, I guess it's the weather. I did plan to get the audio guide and it cost 4.50 euro. You know, I'm very low tech in life, like I use earphone with cable and I like it that way. That day the earphone with cable help me a lot because I could plug it into the audio guide, so I didn't have to hold the audio guide to my ear like a phone to hear the explanation. This was useful because outdoor I had umbrella on one hand and a camera on the other #LowTechForTheWin. I was still stupid though because only after sometime later I actually realized that in the provided map there's numbers indicated for the explanation of that particular area. I thought the numbers would only be shown on the explanation boards. Looking at the website now, I also realized I may have missed some things. Anyways, there's quite a lot of young visitors in Dachau that day. I think perhaps all German students will have this field trip. There's also a group of Italian students and they had their own guide. Not many Asians though, I think I may have seen less than 5 of whom I think were Asians.

Being that it rained, after passing through the gate I started with the former maintenance building where you have an exhibition about Dachau. It explains many things about Dachau, how it came about, what happened there, who the prisoners were. There's a lot of information. There's also a documentary film in different languages about Dachau. I have regret that I didn't really watch my timing and took note about the timing of the documentary showing in English and where the theatre is located that I missed the film. I guess I could have stayed longer for the later showing, but I didn't. Dachau was the template for all the concentration camps that the NAZI had. The NAZI perfected their SOP there. There were Dachau prisoners who were sent to other concentration camps so that they could be the model prisoners there. Initially the prisoners who were there were like political prisoners, actual criminals, people they thought to be undesirables like gay people. Then they started to imprison more and more Jewish People. These prisoners were basically slaves. They had to work at satellite camps or wherever they were sent to. The map below shows the locations of Dachau satellite camps if I'm not mistaken.

An example of a place the prisoners were sent to was BMW. During WWII, BMW actually produced aircraft (I didn't know this) and it's the Dachau prisoners who were forced to do the work. There are also pictures and short video clips from where the camp was liberated. The piles of emaciated bodies were quite horrifying. There's really a lot of information here and unfortunately I did not absorb all. I kept on thinking it's crazy how camps like this could happen. It required many people who believed in the cause, who saw nothing wrong, and who really thought of other human as not human. To be that kind of human who's able to think that way is terrifying, can you ever be redeemed like that? Also, the level of brainwashing that's able to turn people like that is so hard to believe if not for places like this as proofs.

After that, it's time to explore the outside. It's raining so I had my umbrella. In front of the maintenance building are the open area where roll call happened. If the guards were not getting the correct number, the prisoners would have to just stand there regardless of weather. Now they have memorial artworks there and I think different organizations regularly send flowers.

Behind the roll call area were the barracks. These had been dismantled, so you just have markings of where they stood and it's rows and rows all the way to the back. Imagine if you were in the last few rows and had to come quickly for roll call every day.

There are 2 barracks at the front. These were kept so that visitors could see what it's like. The left one couldn't be entered though, so I'm not sure if it's open. Inside the barrack, it's very clean. There are 3-level bunk beds. Apparently the guards enforced a very rigorous demand on how the prisoners should keep their barracks tidy. Any tiny single thing that did not meet the requirement would get them severe punishments. I could imagine the tension and despair living in that kind of condition. There are "special" barracks, like the one for medical experiment and towards the end row the "brothel" - well, I'm sure the women were forced *sigh*

All around this compound you have walls with barbed wires and guard towers with ditch. In front of the ditch are grassy area where if prisoners even stepped a foot on it, they're considered trying to escape and would get shot. As I walked the rows and rows of these plots towards the end, I thought I would never survive this. Though I had my winter coat and umbrella, I still felt the cold and the rain. I imagined all the prisoners there in a weather that I was having; to survive that day in and day out, you need bigger power than yours.

At the end of the plots of barracks, there are memorials for the different religions. There's a Catholic chapel, Protestant Church, Jewish Memorial, Russian Orthodox chapel kinda hidden away a bit. There's also a Carmelite Convent where there are actually nuns living there now. They choose this so that they could pray for the place. When I was there, there was a mass going on. I think it's very noble what they do. Near the Russian Orthodox Chapel is where the crematorium was. There was a gas chamber in Barrack X.

The last place I visited was the camp prison which was actually located behind the maintenance building. It is weird that they actually had camp prison, as if being there was not punishment or torture enough, they had actual cells to torture people more. For pictures from my visit there, you can go here. It's sad being in a place like Dachau. I thought of the people who suffered there and again of all the people who operated camps like this. It is insane that things like this could happen.

Before I left, I stopped by the cafeteria. It was crowded with teens and I thought waiting for a hot meal would take awhile, so I had apple strudel and then went on to my next stop, Nymphenburg Palace. This next part is going to be lighter. I got to the palace without any issue. Got to Laim train station and found the bus stop, though I think Google did me wrong here because it didn't point me to the Laim bus stop which was nearer. I also don't know how come all my studying didn't reveal there's a nearer bus stop. I wonder if Google Maps algorithm just doesn't direct you to walk backward even though it may save you time. Anyways, the bus was cute. The bus like had a chain connecting 2 different compartments. I wonder if during off peak, they just remove one of the compartment so it becomes a smaller bus. I got off at the correct bus stop, crossed the street and I could see the palace off in the distance. Honestly, then I became tired, I was thinking darn it's quite a walk to reach the palace but I made it and somehow when I bought the ticket I chose the one that included all the park pavilions. I didn't know these are buildings scattered in the park. I guess I thought these are like rooms and they would be in one location. How wrong I was :D Anyways, I started with Nymphenburg Palace itself where the ticket counter is. The first thing I entered was a grand hall with really beautiful ceiling. I was quite in awe. Though it was drizzling and cloudy outside, the hall was bright and airy.

Inside the palace, there are rooms and rooms but I recall it's not as many as in Munich Residenz. Looking at my pictures, I didn't take many photos of the rooms (by the way you can take pictures here), I guess I was kinda tired. King Ludwig II was actually born in one of the room. The room he was born in was quite modest by the standard of his rooms in his palaces. There is this line in a book I'm reading now, meant to live in splendid isolation. Kinda apt to describe King Ludwig II if he had lived long enough and maintained his anti-social-ness :D After the palace, I started to tick off all the other 5 places that's in my ticket. So then I found out, these are outside. First stop was Marstallmuseum which is the Museum of carriages and sleighs. The staff told me there are 2 sections. First section was where the carriages and sleighs are. The carriages are ornate and they look heavy. Carriages we have seen recently when the UK royal family have their parade or what not, so it's not very surprising. The sleighs though, I was surprised such ornate royal sleighs exist. They also look heavy, so I think the ice must be very thick and I wonder what animals dragged the sleighs. There could be explanation written there which I didn't bother to stop and read. In the second section if I'm not mistaken there's equipments they put on the horse and there's a taxidermy of King Ludwig II's favorite horse. I did wonder where it was when I saw a painting about it in the first section. There's also some porcelains collection on display in the second section.

Exiting Marstallmuseum, I saw the sign for Amalienburg. Then it dawned on me, these are separate places all around this big palace's park. Remember when I arrived I was quite tired, but somehow the energy level came back. I realized I had to now walk a lot but walking in the woods felt really good. The drizzle had stopped, not many people were around. Aside for the part where there was this girl walking alone while talking on the phone, I was alone most of the time. Side note: on the man or bear option, I choose bear. So I walked and walked and I felt happy. I decided this was my favorite thing in Munich. It just felt good to be alone and walking in the woods. I know it's a weird thing to say when in real life I have been alone most of the time and yet I still feel like I need more alone time. This alone was different you see, it's alone with no one around and it felt really good.

Back to the pavilions - Amalienburg is the biggest one among the rest and inside it's quite palace like though it is small. I recall there's quite a few rooms inside it and a kitchen too. Below is a picture of one of its room.

Next was Badenburg. From the outside, Badenburg does look quite ordinary, the yellow building below. The picture below it shows the most interesting part about this house (I'm just gonna call it house); it has like an indoor pool though pool is perhaps the wrong word. It's basically a room where it can be filled with water. If I'm not mistaken people didn't really swim in it, they just walked around in the water. The Badenburg is located in front of a lake (the last picture), so perhaps the water was from there.

I walked and walked and somehow I came out of this open clearing and I saw the Grand Cascade and I realized I reached the end part of the palace park. The fountain forms a straight line to the Nymphenburg Palace and it looked rather small in the distance.

I think starting from Amalienburg, signs directing to the different pavilions where not clear so I had to check my own Google Maps to figure out where the places are. My way of getting to these pavilions were perhaps not the most effective. I took the long route, but I think I could be proud that I really covered all the ground of Nymphenburg palace? :D The next stop was Pagodenburg. By the way there's a staff manning these pavilions. It might be a sleepy job when there's not many people coming in, but I also think it can be quite peaceful being in a secluded place like this. Second by the way, I also saw two deers (see below). I wonder if there's a lot of them.

The last on the checklist was Magdalenenklause. It's like a chapel and the decoration inside was quite interesting; they used seashells. The outside was purposely to look like a ruin.

After that I was done and as I made my way out, I took last pictures of the palace. Still a very cloudy day. For more pictures, you can go here. I really recommend the day I had, go to Dachau in the morning and learn some history then unwind in Nymphenburg Palace. Even if you don't buy the tickets that cover all the park pavilions, it's still a good walk getting to these different pavilions, using it as a route to explore the park.

Day 3 being my last day in Munich, it's my last chance to explore Munich. So using my day ticket, I went back to Marienplatz. I walked a bit more in the area, entered some churches, and also explored Viktualienmarkt which is like an open market area. I can imagine it being very lively if the weather is good. There were many different things being sold. It's quite big and I was too tired to explore it. I did notice it has a lot statues with fountains, so I walked around hunting for the statues. I don't know if I saw all though, some of them are small and they're cute and this lady below is the biggest one I think. There's also a maypole erected there. I actually also saw the uncle from the day before, I'm sad to say I didn't say hi. He was talking to someone and I wondered if he would remember me.

In front of Rathaus, there was a gathering in support of Ukraine. I did wonder if I would see anything for Palestine or Israel in this trip. Didn't see any of those. I think because Ukraine is near, it's still more in the front of mind for the people there.

For pictures from Munich, you can go here. They are not very good pictures :( I decided to end the day and went to take the lift to the underground and this is where I fell because it was slippery :'( Darn it!!! I fell in a kinda kneel position that my right knee was badly hurt. All I could think of, am I bleeding under this jeans? It hurt so bad :'( but I had to play it cool and tried to get up and walk. So so painful :'( Dinner plan changed, I needed to get back fast to check my injury. It really hurt to walk but I had to. Decided to get KFC takeaway at the nearest KFC to the hotel. When I got to my room and fearfully checked my knee, I was so thankful that I wasn't bleeding but the bruising was bad and it really hurt. The bruise was still bad when I arrived back in Singapore, but now when I see it, it looked like nothing happened so thank you God! Getting hurt like that brought back to mind the misery of the morning and ruined the good feeling I had in Nymphenburg :(

:) eKa @ 10:39:00 PM •