July 5 (Thursday)

Munich is great - a bustling city more the size and feel of Seattle, not like Berlin, which was immense and nearly overwhelming. I'm staying with my friend Adrian (in a suburb southwest of the city) and we've spent a couple days in the city and a couple days going to other sights in the area - Dachau concentration camp on one day, which was a sobering and yet also reassuring experience. I know you wouldn't expect a visit to a concentration camp to be reassuring, and I'm not sure I can explain why it was - maybe it was the sheer number of visitors that the camp receives and the sense that it affects everyone who sees it: the concrete foundations for the bunkers, the photos taken by the Nazis of the camp, the three small crematoria which were so obviously inadequate for the thousands of people who were worked to death or killed through torture or execution by the Nazis.

I was initially surprised and disturbed when I realized that there is still a town at Dachau - how could people live and work in a town that bears the name of such infamy? And yet after visiting the camp, I had a different feeling about it. We cannot forget the horror which was perpetrated by the Nazis, and yet life does go on, even in a town named Dachau.

Yesterday I went with Adrian and his parents on a day trip south to the Alps and across the border to Austria. Just a sign at the side of the road lets you know that you've crossed the border from one country to the next - one of the benefits of the EU. We had lunch by a lake (Plansee) nestled below the mountains and drove on to the village of Tannheim, where we took a lift up to the top of a mountain. Incredible views all the way around to the other mountains. On the way back we stopped at Linderhof Castle - we were too late to tour the castle, but the gardens were fantastic.

Tomorrow we're planning on driving down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and taking the tram up to Eckbauer. Adrian wants to show me the river gorge trail (Partnachklam) which is accessible after hiking down from the top of the mountain. And I still need to get to a biergarten! (even if I'm not fond of beer) before I leave Munich.