Last Day in Munich: Dachau and Olympic Park

      On our last day in Munich Katrina and I woke up early to visit the nearby Dachau Concentration Camp. Here is a little background: Dachau Concentration Camp was opened in March of 1933 and was one of the first concentration camps established by the Nazi's. It was primarily a camp for "enemies of the state" which included communists, criminals and spies. There were also Jewish prisoners at the camp, but they were not the majority. Although Dachau did not serve as an extermination camp and prisoners were not kept there indefinitely, they still endured harsh conditions and treatment and many were murdered. Over the 12 years that Dachau was operating over 40,000 people lost their lives.
     Over the few hours that Katrina and I were there, we saw the gates at the entrance of the camp with the infamous words "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes One Free) displayed on them, the barracks where the prisoners lived, the gas chambers, as well as the crematoriums. Although it was depressing, seeing the concentration camp was a good learning experience and I was glad that I had the opportunity to visit.
    



     After our morning at the concentration camp we decided to wrap up our trip with a visit to Munich's Olympic Park, home of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games! The park was amazing! We walked around and saw the Olympic tower, the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatic Center. The architecture of each of the buildings was very interesting, and in my opinion quite modern for being built in the 70's. There was also a huge lake surrounded by green hills (shocking right?! lol) and the weather was gorgeous. After a cold and cloudy weekend the sun came out, the sky was blue, and the temperature was perfect. Having an opportunity to go to an Olympic game has been a dream of mine for a while now and after visiting the Olympic Park it has become an even higher priority on my Bucket List! London 2012???

     After visiting Olympic Park we headed back to our hotel, had a delicious lunch at a restaurant nearby, grabbed our bags and headed for the airport. I bought some Harribo gummy bears and a souvenir stein which I somehow managed to shove into my bag along with the three other steins I had accumulated, and then reluctantly hopped on the plane (after having to check my bag because it was too heavy for a carry on lol). That weekend was easily one of the best weekends of my life. Oktoberfest was a blast, Austria was gorgeous, and Munich is now one of my favorite cities. I will definitely be back.