These German keyboards are going to wreck my typing

So, I am now in Munich, having learned a few lessons in night training. First, ALWAYS MAKE SURE you're in a non smoking car. The consequences of not doing so are unpleasant. B/ if you close the curtain and turn out the light you can sometimes get a compartment to yourself. C/ 2 hour stopovers at 2:30am are very boring.

I spent yesterday doing the museum thing, kind of backwards to do that before touring the city but museums close on Mondays so I had to be strategic in planning my time here. Munich has a great system: three art galleries all together! Unfortunately the Neue Pinakothek was mysteriously closed so I only visited the Alte but two might have been pushing it anyway. It goes on and on and on. Of course the Neue has the impressionists and the VanGoghs but I'll get over it I suppose. After that I went to the Residenz palace and museum. They had an anniversary exhibition going on which was really really cool. A lot of artifacts and things from the time of Bavarian rule. I love seeing castles in the middle of cities. It's so different from castles in the countryside. Speaking of, after that I visited Nymphenburg castle, which is in the country. I skipped the museums and just toured the grounds. The mind can only handle so many elaborate rooms in a day. After Nymphenburg, I crashed early and slept for about 10 hours. Gee, do you think I might have been tired?

Today I got a late start then went to the former Dachau Concentration Camp. That was an experience that cannot be described in a blog or in words at all. Hopefully I'll post pictures soon. It was raining which was very appropriate. I visited the musuem first to escape the worst of the rain. It's unreal to read about and see photos of the things that went on there, the absolutely horrific conditions innocent people lived under. It just hits you. I watched the documentary too and had to look away sometimes. Just... wow. After the film I toured the rest of the grounds, including the barracks and the crematorium. There are some beautiful memorials too, from several different nations and religions, which underlines the diversity of people that suffered and died there. It was hard, being there, because it makes you feel guilty about the rights we have. Think about it, mass murderers live a million times better than these people did, most of whom's only crimes were being Jewish, Roma, gay, emigrants, clergy. It's unthinkable, truly.

Another thing that hit me, is what it must be like for the community of Dachau, what it must have been like. The name will always be synonymous with torture and Nazi horror. And what about when they really saw what went on there? I just can't imagine telling people I come from Dachau and having them immediately conjure up images of horrible deaths.

As difficult as it was, I think everyone should visit one of these camps if they get the chance. We read about this stuff in history class but being there, makes it real. It also reminds you that what happened in these camps is not as far in the past as we might like to believe and it would be dangerous to turn a blind eye to that.