Germany

The time I spent in Germany was far too short, but the little part of Germany that I got to see was great. I arrived in Munich and had only a day to spend there, so I first headed out to to see Dachu. For those of you who do not know what Dachu is, it was a Nazi work/concentration camp that was operated from 1933-1945. Although relatively few prisoners died at Dachu compared to Auschwitz, there were still around 25,000 prisoners who died here.

The Dachu Conentration Camp(1933-1945) served as the blue print camp for many of the more well known death camps. SS officers were trained at Dachu before sent to other prisons.

I had been told before I visited Dachu, that it would be a very moving/ sobering experience, and that it was! The day that I visited Dachu, the weather was clear and cold with a steady breeze. As I entered the camp through the main gate ( which had the writing, "work sets you free") I immediately knew why everyone said visiting the camp would be a moving experience. The camp and buildings were very bleak looking. The accompanying weather also affected my overall experience to. The chill in the air gave me goosebumps, and caused me to think about how many people never did walk out of those gates ever again.

Although none of the original baracks that housed the prisioners are still standing, two reconstructed baracks were built to show visitors what the living conditions were like. At the camps liberation on April 29, 1945, the American 42nd Rainbow Division found over 32,000 prisoners. The 20 prisoner barracks were originally build to house 600 people in each, at liberation, there were over 1,600 in each. There are still the foundations of all of the baracks, it is very eiry to see the row of the foundations where the baracks use to stand.

There are several different memorials at Dachu, which you can see in my pictures. Reflecting back on my visit to Dachu, I was extremely glad that I visited, it was a very powerful experience many different ways. Visiting Dachu caused me to think about how horrible and crule humans really can be to eachother and that is important not to get caught up in political or religious movements which encourage harm to others.


The Main Gate at Dachu


The main gate at Dachu Concentratin camp where prisoners would walk through with the following words "Arbeit Macht Fret". Translated it means "Work will set you free"




Crematory

Only the foundations remain of the bunk houses were prisoners were housed




" May those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism, help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men"



Munich

Munich is famous for its yearly Oktoberfest, which I have been told by many is crazy. Unfortunitly I miss Oktoberfest by about 2 weeks : (

Munich seemed like a fun city, and a place that I would like to come back and visit when I had some more time.

The one night I was there, I went to the world Famous Hof Brauhos to have some german sausage, sourkraut and beer. The beer house was packed with fellow tourists like me, along with some locals. As i entered the brew house, I was greeted by the presence of a bunch of fat germans, dressed in lederhosen playing in a band. I knew it was going to be a fun night when I saw them!

Inside the brew house, many of the tables are reserved for beer clubs! I ended up walking around and finally got invited to sit at a clubs table by the president/cheif of the Munchner Stammtisch. There was an australian family already sitting at the table. I am not sure if the president of the club was drunk or a little crazy (maybe a little bit of both) but he provided some great entertainment that evening. It was what I expected the experience to be like and I am really glad I got experience the Hos Brauhos!


Drinking some liter beers at the world famous Hof Brauhus

This band, dressed in Lauderhosen played in the brew house



Master of the Munchner Stammtisch table were I sat

Switzerland

Before I begin with telling you about Switzerland, you need to know that Switzerland is the most amazing country, and by far my favorite country I have visited on my trip so far! It is an extremely clean and efficient country, a nice change from Greece, Croatia and Italy. So know that you know that, let me begin and tell you about my time in this stunning and beautiful country.

My Swiss adventure began in the city of Lausanne, which is at the northern end of Lake Geneva. On the train ride along Lake Geneva from Geneva to Lausanne, I had a feeling that I was going to really enjoy Switzerland. Some places strike all of us different ways, Switzerland stuck me immediately and I instantly knew on the train that I was going to enjoy my time. Every day my love for Switzerland grew.

Lausanne is a medium size city(125,000 pop) which is the home to the International Olympic Commitee(IOC) along with the olympic history muesum. The views along the water front in Lausanne is amazing, especially in the fall, with the leaves on the trees along the Lake Geneva changing. It reminded me of walking around Green Lake in Seattle in the fall, with the crisp fall air and sound of leaves crunching below your feet. Across the Lake, you can see Mount Blanc(where Chamonix is) along with the other French Alps.



I also found myself a Starbucks in Lausanne : ) I just happened to be in a convience store buying a bottle of water and noticed they had my favorite American ski mag "Powder", so of coarse I bought it and proceeded to go straight to Starbucks and ordered myself a Chai Tea Latte and sat for about 2 and 1/2 hours and read my mag and enjoyed some Starbucks. I have to come to learn along my travels, that getting a little piece of home is wonderful. It makes me realize how great the Pacific Northwest is! The saying "Theres no place like home" is very true! I am convinced that this is the first time I have ever read for pleasure in a Starbucks. In the past I was usually always reading/studying for school while at Starbucks. Oh the joys of being a College Graduate!!!!

My next stop on my swiss adventure was the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland and the small town(120 pop) of Gimmelwald. I took the "Golden Panarama" train from Lausanne to Interlaken, then switched trains and headed up the Lauterbrunen Valley to Lauterbrunen. From Lauterbruen I took a bus for about 15 min, then a gondola for 5 min which whisked me up to Gimmelwald(4600 ft). As I stepped out of the gondola my breath was was taken away from the beauty of the Swiss Alps. I was only planning on spending 3 days in Gimmelwald, which turned into 8!( I was not the only person at my hostel who ended up staying longer than planned) Gimmelwald is one of those kind of places(kind of like the Cinque Terre) that strikes you. There is a saying in Gimmelwald that goes "If Heaven isn't what its cracked up to be, then send me back to Gimmelwald" and boy is that true!

Standing across the Lauterbrunen Valley from my hostel was the mighty Jungfrau(13,400 ft). If you stand there and look across the valley, your senses are exposed to the sound of swiss cow bells, waterfalls and the pure swiss mountain air. The leaves were changing colors in the Alps too, so everywhere you looked, the mountains looked like they were on fire. The leaves were brillant yellows and oranges. I am really glad the weather was good(sunny and clear skies mostly) for me my entire time in Gimmelwald .

While in Gimmelwald I did alot of hiking and exploring around the area. One day I took a train up to Europes highest train station (11,700 ft) which is located inside the Jungfrau. Once up there I hiked across a glacier and had some hot coco at a little warming hut, before I made my way back across the glacier to the train station.( Air is definately thiner at almost 12,000 ft) There was an Sphinx climate observatory located above the train station. Right by the observ was a swiss flag(seen in my pics) which was flown at half staff in honor of some climbers who were killed a couple days before while trying to summit the Jungfrau. The view was amazing up there. On one side was a valley which at a glacier that went for as long as the eye could see(over 11 miles) and on the other was a fantastic view down onto the surrounding valleys(Lauterbrunen).

Another day I went on a hike with three other kids from my hostel(Greg, Jenn, and Cheryl). This probably one of the most demanding hikes I have ever been on, but also one of the most rewarding. We started out in Gimmelwald(4600 ft) and ended at 9800 ft... which took us around 4 hours. Between running from crazy Swiss cows, the views couldn't be beat. Rick Steves rated the hike as one of the most diffucult in the Berner Oberland but also one of the most rewarding with the best views! Rick really knows his stuff, because it was! At the top of the hike we hopped on a gondola to get to the top of the Schilthorn(10,300 ft) where there was a revolving resturant(like the Spaceneedle in Seattle) This resturant was featured in the 1968 James Bond film "Oh Her Majestys Secret Service" where bond escapes down the mountain while the "bad guys" are chasing him, and he eventually ends up base jumping and gets away.

The Hostel in Gimmelwald was very fun. For dinner everyone ended up cooking together in the communal kitchen, the evenings were spent playing games, playing pool(yes they had a pool table) or just generally relaxing with a good book( Let My People of Surfing, the Education of a Reluctant Businessman; The Founder of Patagonia clothing company) and some Swiss Hot chocolate. One night, a couple of us took another gondola up to the neighboring town of Murren and had some Swiss Cheese Fondo for dinner! It was delicious! Much better than any fondo that I have had in the States!

Unfortunitly my time eventually had to come to an end in Gimmelwald. It was really hard to leave. The John Denver song "Rocky Mountain High" truly reminds me of my time in Gimmelwald, and I believe that every time I hear that song I will be taken back their. It was a very magical experience to be in Gimmelwald and the Swiss Alps.

The next stop was Zermatt, the home of the Matterhorn. Zermatt sits at the end of a valley. When I arrived in Zermatt, the valley was socked in with low laying fog. It was really cold as well, only about 40. Luckily the next day, the clouds cleared out and it was a wonderful sunny day. I took the train up to a moutain which sits across from the Matterhorn. Let me tell you, the Matterhorn is spectacular as it looks in pictures. I would have to say that is probably one of the most distinctive mountains in the world. Where the train stoped, was a resturant and hotel, located at 10,500 ft. I sat out on the sun deck and enjoyed a nice cup of hot coco and just sat for about 2 hours enjoying the view the Alps had to offer. The skiing around the Zermatt area looked great. When I was there, there was not any skiing except for the glacier. Unfortunitly I did not bring any of my ski gear, so I did not go skiing. But hey, I still have a great reason to come back to Zermatt... so I can go skiing!

My final stop in Switzerland was the city of Luzern. Located on a lake, with the Bernese Alps off in the distance, it reminded me of Lausanne. Probably one of my most interesting stories on my trip occured my last night in Luzern. I was in a 4 person room in the Hostel that I was staying at. There were 2 guys from South Korea in my room. We had been talking and all decided that we should go to bed around 11 since we had to get up early to catch a train for Austria. About 1:30 in the morning we were woken up by someone coming into our room. This guy(who appeared to be in his 60's) took the bunk below me. I immediately smelled something really bad and opened the window. I can only describe the smell as an old urine, barn smell which filled the whole room. As a result the South Korean guys as well as I could not sleep because of the smell for this guy. We left the room and spent the rest of the night out in the Lounge talking because we couldn't sleep. We didn't know if this guy was a bum or not, and had snuck into our room. Turns out he actually paid for the night, but the Hostel people told him to leave all his stuff outside the room and take a shower, something he didn't do! We all got our money back. It was an unpleasant experience, but hey atleast I got a good story out of it!



Luzern





Zermatt







Taxis in Zermatt(Zermatt is Car Free)


Gimmelwald













View from my Hostel


The Gimmelwald Mountain Hostel


Lausanne

Sorrento, Pompei, Capri, Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre/ Vernazza(Round 2)

So on my way back towards to the South of France from Southern Italy I stopped again in Cinque Terre and spent 5 days relaxing and hiking in one of my favorite places in the world. As I have said before in my previous blog about being in the Cinque Terre, what you do their is nothing, just enjoy being there!

It was different to be there in the fall, instead of August. Although it was very pleasant during the day(75°) during the evenings it was chilly and you could not wear shorts, and there were alot less people which was nice.











Sorrento, Pompei, Capri, The Amalfi Coast

My next stop after Croatia was the Southern Italy

My home base for the 6 days I was in Southern Italy was the city of Sorrento. During most all of my travels in Europe, I have been using the website Hostelworld.com to book all of my hostels. For those of you who have never heard of this website, this website allows you to choose the country you are in along with the city you want to stay in and the dates and the website comes up with a list of Hostels that are available. The really cool thing about this website is that each hostel is rated by fellow travelers who have stayed at the hostel before. So you know if you are going to be staying in a dump or not! When I searched Hostelworld for Sorrento, this Hostel called 7 Hostel came up with a 97% rating, so naturally I decided to stayed there. This hostel was extremely fancy, the nicest I had stayed in by far. It just opened in June of 2008. Rumor has it, that the owner of the hostel has several 5 star resorts in Italy, and wanted to create a 5 star hostel... well I think he accomplished what he wanted to do!

During my time in Sorrento, I did day trips out to different areas around Sorrento.

My first day trip was to Pompei and Mount Vesuvius. Pompei was a Roman city that was destroyed 79AD by the erruption of Mt Vesuvius. Today the ruins of Pompei remain. In one of my pictures you can see the mold of a human( in the crouching position) that was barried during the erruption. Every time I see Roman ruins( particularly in Rome), I am always impressed on how advanced the Romans were for their time, and this was still the case for Pompei. After touring Pompei, I went on a tour up to Mt Vesuvius. The Bus took us almost all the way to the top, but we had to hike the last 1/2 mile. There were some fairly unfit people in the tour, and needless to say some made it to the top, and some didn't. From the top of Vesuvius you have a grand view looking over Naples, Sorrento, the Island of Capri, the Bay of Naples.

Capri

I got up early purposefully to avoid the large crowds on Capri, unfortunitly I was not sucessful in my mission. Apparently other people read Rick Steves' Italy book and there was already alot of people who had the same idea as me. Capri was the island where many Roman emporers went for holiday and has become known as a very posh place to go to for your holiday.

When I arrived on Capri, I headed straight for the Blue Grotto. Thankfully the water was calm, so the Grotto was open. From my pictures you can see the Grotto. I was told that the Grotto is blue due to the suns reflection on the bottom. It was really cool. The rest of Capri was very touristy and crowded. I took a single seat chair lift up to the top of the mountain. At the top, the view was amazing. You could see Sorrento to your left, and down the Amalfi Coast to your right. It was great to visit Capri, but I don't think it would be a place I would visit again.

The Amalfi Coast

The Amalfi Coast consits of several different towns, the two largest being Positano and Amalfi. I visited each of these towns on two different day trips.

To be completely honest, I wasn't really impressed by either of them, but if I had to pick one, Positano was by far better than Amalfi. Although the views were amazing, they felt very touristy to me. I perfer the Cinque Terre. When I did my trip to Positano, I followed Rick Steves' advice and took the bus out and the boat back. I have never been on a more thrilling bus ride than the one from Sorrento to Positano. On one side you have a cliff, about a 800 ft drop down to the sea below, all the while vespas are passing you on the inside. The road is so narrow in some points, that there are police officers directing traffic so there are not accidents. At one point when we passed another tour bus, the buses had to fold in their mirors to be able to pass eachother.