Dachau

Dachau was the first "work" camp set up for political prisoners in March 1933 just weeks after Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor. It was used as a model for all subsequent concentration camps and although the camp originally had an all-male prisoner population, an estimated 200,000 men and women from all over Europe were eventually imprisoned at Dachau during its twelve years of operation. More than 43,000 people died before the camp was liberated on April 29, 1945 by American troops.

This pathway leads from the SS camp (not accessible to visitors) to the prisoner camp. As you can see, we were visiting this site on a beautiful day, which created, for me, a solemn but peaceful viewing of the memorial site.

Keep walking and you reach the only entrance to the prisoner camp, with a gate that says Arbeit Macht Frei or "work sets you free" - just another example of the deception that began before even setting foot in the prison.

The Maintenance Building shown below (which I believe was built by the prisoners themselves) holds the exhibition portion of the memorial site, established in 1965. It is filled with photographs and literature that help to explain the history of Dachau Concentration Camp. Out in front of this building was the roll-call area where prisoners were forced to line up in the morning and at night to be counted, sometimes for hours at a time.

The trees lining this path were planted by prisoners

There were originally 17 barrack buildings (an example is shown below) on either side of the tree-lined pathway (shown above). These living quarters were designed to accommodate 200 prisoners, but by the end of the war each barrack held up to 2,000 prisoners.

The bunker (camp prison) was the main site of punishment and executions.

This 'old' crematorium was built in summer 1940 as the number of people dying began to rise and a second crematorium was built in 1942/1943 with an adjoining gas chamber for mass extermination, supposedly never used.


I should mention that I feel a bit strange blogging about our visit to this concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. Nonetheless, I am doing so because I know that some of our friends and family may not have the opportunity to experience this and also to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust as summarized on the plaque that stands at the camp entrance:

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

Back to Garmsich

We headed back to Garmisch to meet our friends Tiffany and Kyle for one final ski trip of the season. Based on the picture of our B&B Landhaus Hohe Tannen below, you may be asking yourself, "Where is the snow?" Well, it's on top of Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany at almost 3000 meters (10,000 feet).

Matt and Kyle in the cable car as we ascended the mountain (we had to take one long car ride up to Zugspitze and another short car ride down to the ski area).

View from the air

The ski conditions were just ok due to patches of slush, but definitely still worth the trip. It even started snowing while we were up there, although most of the time it was pretty sunny and warm.

The funniest part of the trip was returning back to the world of spring after being on top of the snowy mountain. We got some pretty strange looks from hikers wearing shorts as we walked to our car in snow suits.

Here are some shots of the area surrounding our B&B...



And as if we hadn't experienced enough climate changes that weekend, we had dinner at a Thai restaurant in town and were catapulted into the tropics...

We'll be chomping at the bit for more skiing until next fall/winter...can't wait!

Easter 2009

I'm not sure about all of you, but Easter really snuck up on me this year! I didn't even have a chance to put out Easter decorations, except for an egg wreath on the door and two lonely eggs hanging on one of our house plants, quite a bit less than last year. After going to church in Wiesbaden (standing room only until kids went to their service), we headed over to Adam and Melanie's 3rd annual Easter celebration along with 30+ other adults and kids from our area. It was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone on the beautiful spring day. Here is a picture of the guys and their wood...for the fest table:

Sam wins the award for best entrance ever...he came into their apartment holding this plant oh so carefully with two hands, clearly looking for Ms. Melanie who happened to be upstairs. He stuck with it, though, until she came down the stairs and he was able to present his gift. So cute!

Speaking of cute, here is Mandy and Greg's other little one, Jack, with his drumsticks. This Easter was particularly fun because of the little tribe of children that were there, enough to have an Easter egg hunt.

Part of the group: Alan, Dan, Kristine, Carrie, and Liz

Easter 2009

Thanks, Adam and Melanie, for hosting yet another great Easter. We hope everyone at home had a lovely Easter...missed you all!

Love, Ashley and Matt

Alsace

Several months ago, we arranged to stay at Ambiance Jardin, a B&B in Diebolsheim, France, located in the heart of Alsace along the Route de Vin (wine route). Our stay was too early to see the garden in full bloom, but the house was beautiful and the perfect place to relax for a long weekend. Here are some pictures from the house...

Out in the Garden



Entrance to the guest house...

The Rose Room

This is the common area where we ate breakfast, read, and played games.

One night we ate a light dinner of local cheese, salami (for Matt), crackers, pears, strawberries, carrots and hummus while overlooking the garden.


The kitchenette


Haut Koenigsbourg: Saturday, April 4, 2009
This 'Kings' castle was built in the 12th century but went through a major renovation at the end of the 19th century. We didn't go inside the castle walls, but there was plenty to admire along the perimeter.






Riquewihr: Saturday, April 4, 2009
Riquewihr was our taste of the many small wine villiages on the Route du Vin. We bought a bottle of one of the local wine varieties (Gewurtztraminer) and walked through the cobbled alleys. This town is also known for something called Kugelhopf, described as an almond cake in one of our guidebooks. Since I love anything almond, I was really looking forward to trying this cake and had built it up in my mind to the level of a dutch letter as far as almond flavored desserts go. When we saw the first bakery advertising Kugelhopf, we bought a mini cake and took a bite...very disappointing. It tasted more like a bland bread with a barely detectable almond flavor and pieces of raisin throughout. So disappointing, in fact, that we thought perhaps we had ordered the wrong thing. So, in another shop, we purchased another small cake clearly labeled as Kugelhof. It was even worse than the first!

Watchtower with a very slight view of the vineyards that run right up to the village.

A house painted unapologetically electric blue.


The main pedestrian area


Colmar: Saturday, April 4, 2009
Our last stop for the day was Colmar, a former river port for wine merchants and purportedly one of the best preserved cities in Alsace. We enjoyed walking through the cobblestone streets and along the canals in "Little Venice." For dinner, we went to a local shop that sold hot meals to go, so we ate fish and pasta on a nearby park bench before heading back to home base for a game of Scrabble and Settlers.

Eglise Dominicaine

Tiled roof of the church


Quai de la Poissonerie in the Petite Venise area


Obernai: Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sunday was a day of relaxation for us. We we went for a morning run through the fields near our B&B and later in the afternoon headed to Obernai for touring and dinner. We ate outdoors at Halle aux Bles (a former corn hall) where Matt had ribs (more difficult to come by out here) and I had potato pancakes. On that note, this is the first place that I can remember in Europe with dried corn hanging from doorways and outside of buildings...not only is corn an agricultural crop here in Alsace, they seem proud of it...sounds like another place we know of:)

Apparent motorcycle gathering in the town center

Pretty unique well that we spotted across the street while waiting in line for ice cream

Eglise St-Pierre-et-St-Paul

We have seen several of these "vintage-esque" carousels lately; I think they're so pretty!


Strasbourg: Monday, April 6, 2009
This was the final stop on our tour of Alsace. We waited until Monday to visit Strasbourg because of the potential for protestors related to President Obama's visit following the NATO summit earlier in the weekend. By the time we arrived, there were no signs of protestors; although we did see a couple of small burned buildings on the way out of town that may have been related to the protestors.

The Cathedral Notre-Dame de Strasbourg was begun in the late 11th/early 12th century and finished in 1439. It's one of the tallest churches from medieval times.

The Place de la Republique is a lovely area consisting of a garden surrounded by the national library, theater, hotel, and monuments. We plopped down here in the grass for a while and soaked up some sun.

Standing along the quai (canal) with a view of a pont (bridge) in the background

Canal near Petite France