10. Juli 2010

My trip is nearly at an end - 5 more days! I'm happy to be going home soon. 6 weeks is a long time to be gone, especially without bagels, bobos, and coffee shops that take credit cards. And I miss American money - good old American money that's all the same size and color and doesn't look like Monopoly money, and that has dollar bills instead of COINS. My wallet has never been so heavy, and I have a checkbook in my wallet in New York!

My last day in Munich was an array of emotions. I spent the first half of my day in Dachau, which was emotionally draining. Believe it or not, the Holocaust education I received in the U.S., which has no reason to dilute the truth, was nothing compared to going reading and seeing the information presented at Dachau. It was incredibly explicit, but I think that's important. And the experience of standing on that ground - of seeing the bunks where the prisoners slept, and walking through the crematorium - is harrowing in a way that I've never experienced before. The air in the rooms feels different. That very well might be psychological, but I don't think that over 30,000 people (recorded, that is) can be murdered without an alteration in the place is occurred. I don't understand how anyone lives in Dachau anymore. There's a whole street where the S.S. Officers used to live, and those are government buildings now. I find that disturbing.

After Dachau, I came back into Munich, took a last walk through the Altstadt, and had dinner at Hofbrauhaus. I had a lovely 2 hour dinner conversation with 2 young German men, who told me that my German was really good, especially considering how dreadful they said their English was. So I ended the day feeling pretty good about myself, and got a good night's sleep for my journey to Heidelberg.

Let me just say something. It's freaking HOT. Like 95 degrees and humid. And my train wasn't air conditioned. So I showed up in Heidelberg really sweaty and half dehydrated, made it to my Hotel, and, surprise, there's no reception. There's a door and a buzzer. So I rang the buzzer. Again. Again. No answer. I don't understand how there's no one on staff at 4 in the afternoon, but whatever. After ringing for 5 minutes, I looked at the door and there's a little piece of paper that says "Call this #." So I did, and I got my room key and such, but seriously, I'm lucky that I bought a phone and that I actually had some money on it. Otherwise I'd have had a heat stroke.

After a shower and a half hour spent cooling down, I took a walk through Heidelberg's Altstadt. Typisch Deutsch! Absolutely beautiful old buildings - this is a city with character! I'm a little upset I have only one full day here, but I'm making the most of tomorrow. I'm going to a castle and roaming until my feet can't bear it anymore. =)



Till then,
Katharine