Day 16

Today, Tuesday, started off in a hurry to me.  I ended up sleeping through a few alarms and then proceeded to rush my stuff together to checkout of our hotel and to leave Munich.  After getting to rest for around an hour we had our first stop of the day at the Fuggerei in Ausburg, which is the oldest social settlement in the world.  There the homes only cost 0.88 Euro per year’s rent.  Also, there is a gate that surrounds the 67 houses and 140 apartments in the complex that locks at 10pm every night.  All the homes and apartments are in the Gothic architecture design and the master builder was Thomas Krebs. 

Right after, we all loaded up on our bus to head over to the Hohenzollern Castle; however, we were set back on time by running into construction along the autobahn.  When we did arrive at the castle I found it stunning in design up on top of its high hill.  I enjoyed our tour but found our tour guide’s English to be quite hilarious in some pronunciations.  Below, are some pictures of the castle; however, pictures were not allowed inside the castle itself.

After staying at the castle for a couple of hours we headed on to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.  While there we had 2 hours to view the entire museum; however, I found this to be a little tight on time because there was simply so much stuff within the museum.  I got to see the first gasolined powered motorized vehicle, the Pope mobile from when the Pope came to Germany in 1980, the jeep used in Jurassic Park and many other cool Mercedes cars. 

  

After leaving the Museum we headed on to our hotel for the night.  When getting into our hotel room I was pleasantly surprised by having an electric fan in there (it has been in full us)!   Upon getting settled I went along with a majority of the class to get dinner at a restaurant just around the corner from our hotel, which was pretty good.  After dinner, I went to view a church nearby which was inside a park and it was absolutely beautiful. 

And, sadly I report that I am still sick, but like I have said before I really, really hope I get better soon!  I have been taking a ton of medicine; however, my sinuses are still going crazy.

Day 15

Today had yet again a very rough start for myself; however, it wasn’t just a start it was rough for me all day.  I woke up this morning early in order to go to the pharmacy and find something for my nose, cough, throat, and stomach issues that I got yesterday.  Unfortunately absolutely no one spoke any English there and I ended up getting a very interesting medicine for only part of my problem areas.  Soon afterwards, the class bused over to Dachau Concentration Camp, which is not too far outside of Munich.  Dachau was the first camp built and was the model camp during the Nazi reign.   I found Dachau extremely eerie and sad to say the very least.  While there I was able to see parts of the museum, a film on the camp, and most of the buildings on the grounds.  I really wish that we had been given more than two hours to view the grounds, because I felt very rushed to be at such a historic place that I will be only go to once in my life probably.  While at the grounds I was able to see a replica of the living quarters for the prisoners, the memorials for the Jewish, Russian, and Christian inmates, the gas chambers, and the crematorium. 

Upon leaving the Concentration Camp, the class headed over to see the BMW Welt, BMW Museum, and Munich’s 1972 Olympic Park.  

Upon arriving there I had a delicious lunch at BMW’s Bistro.  And, despite being sick I enjoyed getting to see all the BMW cars and demonstrations going on in the complex.  Below, I’m on a motorcycle with the stunt driver and in the little bitty car that drives around the center.

Sadly, we discovered that the BMW Museum was closed for some reason and that parts of the Olympic Park were closed as well.  However, we were still able to see some areas of the park and go inside of the swimming hall. 

I honestly did not understand why we were allotted four hours for this area, yet originally we were only allotted 1.5 hours for the Concentration Camp.  In my opinion I find the history of the brutality of the camps farm more interesting than looking at BMW’s for hours.  

After we finally were able to leave the BMW complex we headed over to a very unique looking Catholic church, the Herz-Jesu Church.  I found this building to look more like a rubrics cube than a church. 

Upon leaving we returned back to our hotel, where Sarah and I then proceeded to head to the grocery store.  While there I loaded up on some more liquids that will with any luck help my throat.  After eating dinner, I called it an early night so I could hopefully get some extra sleep to help make me feel better.

Day 14

Saturday, started off a bit rough for me and continued to worsen.  I woke up feeling extremely sick with my sinuses and all.  I had breakfast at our cute, little hotel, which was delicious.  Then the class proceeded to go explore the inner town of Nuremburg.  

I honestly found that mostly everything I had seen Friday night we saw again on Saturday morning as a class.  We first went to saw the main Catholic Church. 

Then we went to tour the St. Sebald Luthern Church, which I did not do the Friday night. 

Next, we proceeded to go up the castle, which despite having done so the night before the view was just as beautiful, the second time around. 

 

After doing all this, we headed on to tour the Nazi Documentation Center.  There we toured the former Nazi Great Hall, Rally Grounds, Great Street, and the Zeppeline Grandstand.  I found the tour very well done.  After the tour we went inside the Documentation Center’s Museum, which was actually built into the Great Hall.  I found the museum very informative; I really wish I could have had more time to finish reading all the horrific details there. 

Afterwards, we got back on our bus and headed out to Munich where we first stopped at the town square where Hitler had been arrested before becoming the Furer.  

Also, we quickly saw an old Catholic Church that was very impressive with the white interior. 

Then, we headed out to our hotel, where we would spend the next two nights.  Later in the evening, I went along with a large group of the class to watch another German soccer game.  Although, I did leave early because I started feeling horrible there, Germany did win the game and moved on in the Euro Cup!  That night, I did not sleep too well due to my sinuses and stomach acting up so heavily and that there were extremely loud people coming in the middle of the night.  Hopefully I will be getting well very soon!

Day 13

Saturday had an early start with our charter bus leaving at 7am to head out to the Bauhaus School and then on to Nuremburg.  After getting a great nap on the bus, we arrived at the Bauhaus School, which I found extremely interesting.  I cannot believe that that school was only in use for 6 to 10 years and still left such a long lasting legacy.  The school is still in service but not at all in the same magnitude.  They now only have a 1-year certificate program upon getting your Bachelor’s.  The school’s architecture was absolutely phenomenal, especially for having been made in the 1920s. 

While there we all ate lunch in their cafeteria and then headed to tour their Master’s Houses.  The Master’s Houses was where their top teachers would live with their own family, just like the school, the architecture of the homes were so amazing.  Walter Gropious did an absolutely stunning job and especially for the complex having been built in 1920s. 

After finishing up our tours we proceeded to go on our 4-our journey to Nuremburg, Germany.  The drive was absolutely beautiful in the German countryside.  We drove on the Autobahn and passed several quaint villages and saw hundreds of windmills along the way.  Germans are very into being energy efficient on everything and anything.

Upon arriving in Nuremburg, we all got our stuff situated in our hotel rooms.  Afterwards we went to explore the city at 6pm.  I found the city to be absolutely stunning.  I think I could wonder around in this city for hours and hours at a time.  There were two amazing churches in the city and an even a castle that we went up to, to have a great view of the city around us. 

Afterwards, we made our way back to our hotel rooms and then walked around the park across the street for bit, before calling it a day.