Munchen

Still trying to figure this thing out....maybe by the end of the trip I will get it right.

One of my kids asked me why the name Peripatetic Traveler. Two reasons. First, because I like the way it sounds. Second, Peripatetic means a person who walks from place to place. When we are on vacation we walk, a lot!

Europe is World Cup crazy, as you can see from the photo above. Giant tvs are set up in every bar, on the street and in the huge Beer Gardens in Munich. Saturday afternoon, we went to the Seehaus beer garden in the Englischer Garden and watched the last 5 minutes of the Argentina - Nigeria game with a huge crowd of drunken revelers. It felt a bit like going to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.(Joel above at the lake) Later that evening, we witnessed the same mania in the last 10 minutes of the US-Britain match at the Haufbrauhaus, with the crowd chanting USA, USA. It didn't matter that it had started to rain. (it was the outdoor area of the beer garden). They hate the British team here and were thrilled that the US tied the game.
Last night, we watched Germany beat the overmatched Australian team in the much more civilized, and drier, atmosphere of Joel's partner's home.
Saturday we went to Dachau in the afternoon. It was a huge contrast from the reveling in Munich. We learned that Dachau was the first camp and was set up in 1933 as a model for a "labor camp". There were eventually more than 2500 camps throughout Europe, many of them run by private companies to employ the "workers" enslaved by the Nazi's. Schindler was a prime example, but he tried to save as many as possible, unlike many others. According to our guide, the companies had no choice. They needed money and the Nazi's were willing to pay them. The alternative for the companies was not pleasant.
Yesterday we went to see the castles of mad King Ludwig. I will try to post more photos later with details.
Auf wiedersein