Dachau

Thursday night proved to be a long one as the air conditioning in our hotel room went out and I came down with the European monster cold. I'm talking sky high fever and coughs like a smoker of 90 years. It was a looooong night. We had to rearrange our day to accommodate an extra morning nap for me once I'd gotten some medicine and fresh orange juice in my system. 

I'm fruity!

I swear by this juice. We finally got around and headed for Garmisch to get into the mountains. We got to the train only to learn it was canceled due to a tree falling on the tracks! Ugh! Good thing we didn't go earlier or we'd have been trapped in the mountain town overnight without a hotel booked! (Note: our American was showing as we thought "if a tree falls, move it right away" alas the Europeans take their time getting these things accomplished.)

Fancy cab!

Jackson has been amazed at the Mercedes taxis all over the Munich area. 

Once our mountain dreams were dashed, we decided to go to a concentration camp memorial some Facebook friends had suggested we visit. It was a moving, moving place. It was so eery to be in a place that was once a place of certain torture and death. We stood in rooms were people were stripped and shaved and just treated like things instead of fellow humans. We read all about the things that happened in this camp with shock and disgust. Over and over again we wondered how this could have happened.

The entrance no one wanted to see. 

This building is now a museum

The actual intake area.

These trees have seen the best and the absolute worst of mankind.

I was kind of obsessed with the trees. You'll see that in coming photos.

Jackson taking it all in with disgust. 

This ditch was where prisoners went to be purposely shot to end their misery. 

The guard tower 

Where the barracks once stood

Trees.

Info on the trees

Sleeping quarters

A sculpture meant to memorialize all who experience the
horrors of this camp

We left Dachau and headed back to Munich. It was an easy train trip and before long we were back in our room getting ready for a dinner out. 

The walk to dinner proved interesting. We took a little different route than we had previously and the characters around us were sketchy to put it kindly. We didn't feel super safe so it was a very quick .75 mile walk--bum knee and all! 

I get to spend my life with this handsome dude. #Winning

We went to a restaurant that we'd read had the best cordon bleu in the city and we were not let down! Jackson had the original cordon bleu which noted that it was spicy, but didn't mention how spicy. I took one bite and almost died. Imagine a breaded tenderloin stuffed with ham, cheese and spiciest buffalo sauce you've ever eaten. Needless to say, his mouth was on fire! An older German couple seated next to us got such a kick out of him. They kept saying, "look at the American struggle with this schnitzel!!" I was cracking up. I finally convinced him to stop eating it and work on my schnitzel which wasn't spicy! Whew. I knew I'd hear about heartburn later if he didn't quit eating his order soon!! After dinner we took a different, safer route home and called it a night. Something about the walk to the restaurant convinced us that staying in our room was the best option for the evening! Bummer. We will not be returning to Munich until they get some of their issues figured out. It was a dirty city where we just didn't feel safe. Bummer! 

Before and After
(he helped on mine quite a bit!)

Salzburg to Munich

We didn't have a ton of time to spend in Salzburg, but we did spend most of the morning in old town checking things out. 

Rooftop views of the Alps

Stunning!

We found this fountain to be just gorgeous and Jackson was excited to eat his first pretzel of the trip!

Jackson by an awesome fountain

The pretzels here are large!! 

Pretzel time!!

Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg which is something in which they take great pride. So much so that they sell little chocolates everywhere called "Mozart balls." I'm not quite sure how that adds up...?! We found it humorous, though. 

Mozart balls LOL

Mozart's favorite cafe (they say)

One of the saddest part of any city for me is always the homeless population. Put a dog with a homeless person and I'm done for. This little guy looked so sad so I gave his owner €2 and stole some puppy pets! He was a sweet little guy and I'm sure he brings his owner a lot of joy. 

Homeless puppy :(

Salzburg looking lovely!

Once we'd seen enough of Salzburg we headed back to the train station to start the journey to Munich. 

Views from the train were hideous

seriously so ugly

Obsessed!

It was a quick 1.5 hour train ride to Munich with ample views. Our hotel in Munich was just outside of the train station so we literally walked out of the station and into the lobby. Awesome planning, Jackson! 

We got cleaned up a bit and then went to explore Munich. 

Fountains of Munich

Walking into old town

Showstopper.

Munich

A must stop.

Munich is a much livelier city than any of the others we'd seen (except maybe London) so there was a lot to take in! Everyone swears by Hofbräuhaus so we stopped in for dinner. Uhh, guys, the food was not good. At all. At all. At all. As in gross. If you must go, just get a drink and move on! 

Pretending for the photo

Inside the restaurant

Our dinner. Meh.

After our "dinner" we explored the city some more and just kind of soaked in the sights and sounds. 

Statue of Mary

No words.

Petefish.

Jackson had too much to drink...

Jackson had a very large beer at dinner and found himself and me particularly funny on our walk home. He enjoyed photobombing me and all. What a mess! 

and photobombed me! LOL

Drunk Jackson and I stopped in a Catholic Church to see its impressive interior. Drunk Jackson began kneeling and "thinking about God." It was really something, but he swears it was genuine and not beer induced. I'll let you decide. 

Inside St. Michael's

So ornate.

Just amazing

Such detail!

They were actually celebrating Corpus Christi (we'd run into celebrations earlier in Salzburg, too, which were pretty cool) so a Mass was about to happen. I gathered drunk Jackson (who by now wanted to buy and light a candle in someone's honor though we aren't Catholic and don't 100% know what that means) and we headed for the hotel. 

POPCORN never tasted so good!

In excellent news our hotel had both free laundry (we'd thought ahead and packed detergent packets to avoid getting rashes from different soap) and a microwave. We always pack popcorn in case we tire of dining out and, though we'd had dinner, it was gross so the popcorn was a welcome treat. We munched on popcorn and returned to the world of those with clean underwear. Lovely. :) 

Train to Salzburg

We caught the train from Zurich in the mid-afternoon and headed for Salzburg. The views along the route were nothing short of amazing. 

A view of the Alps

Jackson capturing photos on the train

The results of his work

There are no words.

It was a long 4+ hour train ride, but it passed somewhat quickly and we got into town without issue. We walked from the train station to our hotel in about 10 minutes and were delighted at being upgraded to an awesome room with a balcony. 

Salzburg from our hotel

Jackson tells hotels that we are on our honeymoon and this time they did it up for us! Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and towel animals. It was so funny. 

The honeymoon suite

Champagne and all!

Jackson was pretty proud of himself for this one-ha! We got cleaned up and headed into old town for a late dinner. 

Pretty view from the bridge

One of my biggest complaints about European dining is the lack of ice in beverages. At dinner I kindly asked for ice with my tea and the waiter brought me a whole bucket. Hilarious. It was great, though! 

ICE for my drink!

Italian dinner in Austria because nothing else was open!

Our dinner was fine (I had gnocchi with chicken which was a bit short on chicken!) and we spent a bit more time wandering through a very quiet old town taking in the shop windows with awe before calling it a night in our honeymoon suite. ;) 

This was in a restaurant window- EWW! Tiny octopus!