We finished up rainy Switzerland a day early on an epic day of canyoning. With big jumps, repelling down waterfalls and lots of floating through the Sax canyon, we left Interlaken on a great note!
Then, we traveled back to Munich, which involved flawless transfers between six trains and trams. We spent some time in Bern and had a breakfast of beer, vegetables, sausage, kraut and coffee, with a beautiful view of old town Bern and next to some bear pits (seriously). Then, we checked out the Einstein museum and a beach volleyball tournament in the city. (Again, seriously). That was not enough though, we saw a parade and a greeting for Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany). We could not make this up! She waved to the crowd and the crowd waved back without cheering - cheering must not be considered austere enough.
We settled into our final German digs, a comfortable hotel. No more hostels.
The next day, we visited a moving museum for concentration camps. It is at the site of Dachau, the first camp of its kind. Both of us were quite touched and shocked by the horrors that occurred. Though it reflects activities from so long ago, humanity seems to be making the same mistakes in other regions over and over again. Shocking! We were marginally uplifted to hear there was a nearby uprising against Dachau and Hitler at the local university. A couple students published brochures stating their disagreement. Unfortunately, two days later, they were sentenced to death and executed. The University keeps their brochures enshrined in gold plates at their main building.
The next day, we rented a car (BMW 2 series convertible) and head off to see some castles. As a perk, we enjoyed a little drive down the autobahn. We knew we had started on the autobahn as soon as we saw an Audi R8 blow by us with a huge roar, making us look like we were standing still. Welcome to Germany, Jared and Jason! As a metaphor for how the drive went, let's just blur the details - it was a good time and we are safe.
The castles were a monument to the childhood tales of a Bavarian King. He was repeatedly called an "enigmatic" character and eventually pronounced officially unfit to rule. We think he was just misunderstood. He was a significant patron of arts and science, following in his father's footsteps. His primary focus was on medieval literature. His aesthetic style followed King Louis the IX. All these details led to a castle filled with scenes from legends and tales from his childhood in extremely intricate and beautiful detail. It's existence suggested he had a lot of free time. We thought the castle was more pretty than defensible, but that could have been the timing of the build at the end of the 19th century - not many feudal wars were still expected by then.
The museum experience helped enlighten us about Munich and the Bavarian culture. We were fascinated by the strategy to make Munich a cultural and scientific hub. This was a version of power and influence in the area. To solidify this strategy, "October fest" was created to bring the various houses closer together. We agree with the strategy - fight for the best beer, not the most land and we will all prosper together (albeit drunk)!
One more detail about the autobahn, Jared looked good in the ride:
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