Day 16 Munich & Dachau Aug. 13, 2010

Drive to Munich, tour the concen- tration camp of Dachau, wander down Kaufinger- strasse, watch the Glock- enspiel go off, spend one night, and fly to London in the morning! That's lots of local color in a very short time!

It's only a couple of hours from Oberammergau on the German- Austrian border up to Munich, and the scenery is great. We arrived in time to spend a few hours on a side trip to Dachau.

Dachau was the training for all the other concen-tration camps, and there were hundreds of them. Soldiers were sent here to learn how it was run, and then to all the other "work" camps through- out the Reich. The inmates were worked hard, tortured, experimented upon medically, or shot. Most starved. 30,000 Jews, priests, and political prisoners died here. The sign over the gate still reads "Arbeit macht frei," or "Work will make you free." The ovens in the picture burned the bodies, around the clock, but could not keep up with the job. Local towns- people claimed not to know what was happening here, but at the end of the war, the American commander made all the townspeople tour the camp.

Reminders of WWII are every- where. The main street is now a busy pedestrian area. The "New Town Hall" in the picture survived the bombings, and became the American military headquarters.

There's a much- loved vegetable market/ open air beer garden right in the center of town. It occupies prime commercial real estate, but the rents are subsidized just to keep it going. The cheese shop in the picture is a great example. I have never been there but every table was crowded and waitresses in traditional costume were busily scurrying about carrying plates of sausages and fries and large steins of beer.

Day 12 & 13 Edinburgh Tatoo and Travel to Germany

I got in to the Tatoo! I'd decided to go one last time to the ticket office and see if thez had anz returns, and then I was going to head home. I'd had enough of the wet, though I wasn't cold. Hallelujah! I guess somebodz cancelled because of the rain. So I got in,and a prettz good seat, too. (Sorrz about the German kezboard.) I was directlz at the end opposite the castle, and as each group left, thez marched right under where I sat.

The Tatoo reveals the true heart of the Scotsman. "Fight on forever, even though zou win onlz a few battles against the English." Now thez are doing what thez call "Devolution," which has gotten them their own parliament and home rule, all except for foreign policz, taxes and where the monez goes, and thez are working on that.

There were lots of Scottish regimental bagpipes and drums, plus a group from Tonga and a tribute to Robert Burns (250th birthdaz.) The hit of the night was a group called "Top Secret," a Swiss drum corps. Thez were fantastic. Look for them on YouTube. I bought a cheap poncho and rented a foam cushion to sit on, and I was prettz warm inspite of water running off mz hood and mz raincoat. Underneath I was alreadz soaked before I started. . . But hez, this is Scotland, and the show went on, and everyone just acted like this is normal weather and never even notice! The whole stands were quite colorful with all the cheap ponchos and the castle for the backdrop.

Thez projected pictures on the castle, like the Union Jack and WWII airplanes. There was quite a lot of tribute to their men fighting in Afghanistan. At the end, the lone bagpiper plazed from the top of the castle. That night it was plazed bz a retiring Major General, whose last night in the service it was. It had alwazs been his dream to plaz the lone bagpiper at the end of the Militarz Tatoo.

This was a verz long travel daz.

Hereäs mz itinerarz:
Drag bags to bus stop
Take bus to center of Edinburgh
Take shuttle to airport
Checkin for Easzjet flight to Munich, wait around
Flz to Munich 2 hours
Train to the center of Munich
Buz rail ticket to Oberammergau, wait 1 1-2 hour for train to come
Train to Murnau, where I have a tight 13 minute switch to a different train
First train was late, so I missed the change in Murnau. Oh, dear! I am alone in a deserted station after dark in Bavaria. What to do?

Forturnatelz there was an old fashioned phone at the tinz little train station which still takes coins instead of a phone card. I dug out the phone number to call mz B / B and sza Iäm still coming. Mz hostess checked the train schedule and said there was another train coming in one hour and I should get on that one. OK.

Take a later train from Murnau to Obergammerau.

Bz then its 9:30 at night and completelz dark. How am I going to find- walk to mz B- B in the dark?
I stepped off mz train, and a ladz appreached me and said, "Are zou Carolzn?" Mz hostess had driven to the train station to pick me up! She is definitelz on mz good list! Her name is Penny and she's a Brit married to a German, and this is her B&B in Oberammergau.