Munich, Germany/Prague, Czech Republic - June 18th - 20th

I woke up on Thursday morning and had a local Apple Scone. Fantastic. I then took the 30 minute train/bus ride to Dachau, which the first concentration camps used by the Nazi Regime.

As I walked to the site, the mood was pretty sobering as this is where hundreds of thousands of Jews, priests, foreigners and really any anti-Nazi proponents lost their lives. As I walked past the welcoming point to grab a map and an audio tour, I walked towards the big black gate that "welcomed" prisoners to the camp. The words Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free) are embolded in that gate and as I walked through it was pretty crazy and sick to think what happened 60 years ago.

I walked first through the museum, which houses countless Nazi propoganda, photographs of dead prisoners, stories that the prisoners wrote in diaries, and then a really sick area which descriped how many people in Dachau were used as science experiments -- Malaria experiments, altitude experiements, etc. -- hundreds of people were tortured; really treated like dirt and the museum showed it not only in the writings and pictures but also in a 20 minute documentary I watched.

I spent over an hour in this museum alone. I then walked through the barricks where the prisoners were living and then past the huge dirt area where they would have been shot at, tortured, made to do 12 hour a day manual labor. Then walked to the cremation area. There was at first a smaller cremation area where they were burned; I saw that one and it is pretty dreadful to see the furnaces.

The Nazis then built a 2nd and bigger cremation area which had even more furnaces. Interstingly, there were gas chambers built -- which I walked through, pretty disgusting - but were never actually used at Dachau. The Americans of course came in at the end of World War II, and when the Germans were defeated the Americans and local were schocked and disgusted at this horrible tragedy.

The site is supposed to remind all of how badly some were treated but also ensure they are never forgotten. There is a sign in about 6 languages outside the museum that says "Never Again". I can second that.

A note...I will say and I think I've said before I want to brush up on my World History, especially visiting these historical areas. Its amazing to see where the world was and where we are today -- In fact, Munich was just voted the most livable city this past year, and that is a lot to come from the 3rd Reich 60 years ago!

After coming back from Dachau, I decided to head towards another Beer Garden and relax -- it was so hot out and a cold beer sounded good! Well, I though the garden was 1 mile away but turned to be 3 miles!! I did the walk and I was incredible hot and thirsty and found this massive, green beer garden. I order a Veis beer (Hef) and sat chatting with this older German gentlemen.

Its amazing...at these gardens there are hundreds of people drinking beer and eating outside and making friends at the different picnic tables. He advised me to a) take the train back instead of walking and b) see a palace nearby (can't remember the name) which I walked to before the train took me back.

At that point I was STARVING but didn't have time to eat really because our pub crawl started shortly. So I got a quick bite and then did the hostel-organized pub crawl with some Americans I met the day before.

What a night....we got all you can drink for 1 hour, so I made sure I took advantage of that. Then we went to the Hafbrahaus again and had 2 more big beers. I ordered an apple strudelle with whipped cream (I was still hungry) which was like heaven. We then went to 2 more bars and by this time....well, let's just say I was ready for bed but I and the Americans DID have some late night sausage sandwiches which - I don't know if its the beer that did it - were the best things I've ever had!!

I'm not gonna lie...I was scheduled to take an early train Friday am to Prague...uh I missed that train :) So I took the 12:45 train that arrived in Prague at 6:50. Train was a little long, but met a fun few people from Texas and the scenery along the way was very pretty especially as went through the hills and mountains.
I then met Lubos Smutka as I arrived, who met my dad when my dad was in Prague teaching a few months ago. He is 30 years old and just got married to a woman from Russia.

Lubos has a very, very thick accent but he has been great. He met me at the train station and took me the local University where I am staying. Now, good news and bad news. Bad news is its a 20 minute train/bus ride from the main city which is by far the furthest away I've stayed from the sites in any one city. Good news transit system is great, and I have my OWN room, OWN shower (1st time all trip!) and its cheap (only 75 USD for the 3 nights combined).

I then pulled out some cash, as the Chzech Republic is not on the Euro yet, but the Crown. After droppiong my stuff at the University, we walked the city. Magnificently build, its one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. I love Paris, I fell in love with Edinburough, but this city is so old, so brilliant in its architecture and history that its impossible to describe.

We walked through old town briefly and then got dinner. I asked him what the most authentic Czech meal was. He said to order what I did if I was "brave". I ordered dumplings, pork, and cranberry with heavy gravy lathered all over it. I liked it a lot actually! It was very heavy, so I order a light beer, the famous Pilsner that the Czechs are known for.

He filled me in on the Czech history, economy, culture, and he obviously had a lot of pride in his country. I found it very educational and helped me as I viewed Prague during the day today (to be mentioned in a bit).

Satisfied with my devouring of my local Czech meal, we then then headed over Charles Bridge. Build by Charles IV in the 14th century, it is Prague's most famous monument. At night it glows gold like, and beyond it you can see the famous Prague Castle and adjoining St Vitus Cathedral. The Castle and Cathedral is massive and ornate; the Cathedral looks VERY SIMILAR to the Notre Dame in Paris (which I've seen twice) with the gargoyles and towers.

The Cathedral began to be built in the 14th century under Charles IV, and actually just got finished 100 years ago. We walked around the Castle, Palace, and Cathedral area for a good 30 minutes. Seeing it at night, glowing in the light - without ANY TOURISTS in front of it. Wow, it was like we had it all to ourselves!

I then headed back to the University at about 12:30am, got a bit lost going back but found my room finally. I woke up today and took the train directly to old town to do a tour of Prague. I have learned after a few cities that the walking tours are ABSOLUTELY the way to go (not those stupied buses), and I prefer the Tips Only guides where they are usually local, know interesting facts you can't get in a book, and are Free but collect a tip afterwards. They know things that are really unique.

I found Yamen, who was a very nice energetic 30 year old (and attractive....note..the Czech women - like the Netherlands - are very pretty!) tour guide. She had 2 tours - 1 in the AM of old town, and 1 in the PM of the Prague Castle area. Well - I did both tours! It was 5 hours of information and walking but I paid her half of what the Paid Walking tours wanted and she was really good.

Old town is amazing. We saw the famous gates to the city, and then went to Staromestske Namesti, the most spectacular square in all of Prague and city's main marketplace from the 11th century to the 20th. The center of it has a dramatic monument of Art Nouveau Jan Hus, the graet 15th century religious reformer. We saw and started out at the best known site on the square, which is the Astronomical Clock, which chimes every hour and has a mechanical performance every hour of Christ and the Apostles.

We went to Josefov, the Jewish quarter of the city until the end of the 19th century. From there we went to the old Jewish cemetery and then past some really old Jewish synagogues.

After a quick lunch (schnitzel sandwhich) I joined her and a new tour group for the tour of the Castle. I'm glad I went last night because now I knew where I was and also the history Lubos gave combined with Yamen's, made sense. We went past the famous gardens leading to the castle, over Royal Bridge again and then back to the actual Cathedral and Castle. The crowds were now in the thousands, but it was worth seeing again.

I am going a 3rd time tomorrow, where I'm actually going INSIDE (you have to pay) the Cathedral and Castle and walking to the top!

Tonight I'm doing a pub crawl that starts at the Astronomical Clock, and then tomorrow I am doing the famous Karlstejn Catle in the morning and going to the Castle Area and Charles Bridge one final time.

I am pulling an audible and instead of going back to Munich as originally planned am heading to Vienna and maybe even to Budapest before finishing my trip in Greece!