Charles and I have reached what I refer to as the “fatigue” stage of vacation. Other vacationers may not be familiar with this stage, as few are as active in their vacationing as we are. For some, vacations are for sleeping in and lounging by the pool. These folks don’t tell the vacation what it will bring them – the vacation tells them.

Not us. We exploit the vacation for everything it’s got, wringing out every experience it can offer. We show that vacation who’s boss – and it retaliates with extreme fatigue.

The first few days are fueled with excitement and enthusiasm and any physical pain or discomfort is dulled by the jet lag (i.e., you’re so tired you don’t realize that you hurt). Somewhere around day four or five, when the initial excitement has tapered, the exhaustion sets in. The pedometer on my watch tells me that we’ve generally exceeded 15,000 steps per day so far this trip. Many of these have been “museum steps” – the slowly accumulating kind that have you on your feet for hours at a time on hard marble floors. “Museum steps” are particularly tough on your lower back and feet. We’ll catch our second wind – but for now we are dog tired.

Because we’re in the fatigue stage, we gave ourselves a little extra time this morning and headed to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial and Museum mid-morning. Dachau was the Nazis’ first concentration camp, in operation from 1933 until liberation in 1945. It initially targeted mainly political prisoners (those who dared to defy or oppose Hitler), later expanding with the influx of Jewish prisoners, and served as a training facility for other concentration camps. The documented death toll is somewhere around 32,000 – with estimates for total deaths (documented and otherwise) ranging between 37,000 – 43,000.

Torn between wanting to leave the terrible atrocity behind them and honoring the suffering of the victims, around 20 years passed while Germany attempted to come to terms with the events and a memorial was finally constructed on the site in 1965. During these 20 years, the camp was used for various purposes, with the barracks housing American troops during the liberation and rebuilding, and later, providing shelter to refugees.

Because of this, many of the original features of the camp were not preserved, some of which were reconstructed later for the memorial. Some of the original and reconstructed sites include the gate through which prisoners passed when they arrived, the building used for processing new prisoners (now the museum), the roll call square where all prisoners reported for roll call twice per day, a couple of reconstructed barracks and the remaining foundations of another 34 barracks, and the crematorium/gas chamber. The major theme for these original / reconstructed exhibits is, of course, “Never Forget.” The more moving theme, represented by the newer memorials that have been added throughout the camp, is “Never Again.”

 

We spent a good deal of time walking through the memorial and museum before heading back to old town Munich for some lunch and more sight-seeing. In search of lunch, we stumbled upon a medieval themed Christmas Market so stopped to enjoy it for a bit before heading to the Residenz – the former palace of the Bavarian kings (circa 1508-1908).

We arrived at the Residenz three hours prior to closing time and were warned that we may wish to come back tomorrow earlier in the day so that we could enjoy the full museum without feeling rushed, as there are between 80-90 opulent rooms on display. We took our chances – listening intently to the audio guides for the first part of the tour and quickly becoming more selective with the level of detail somewhere around the 20th room. All in all, the palace and its furnishing are impressive – but in the end, it’s all just stuff. It’s pretty stuff, sure… but still just stuff. Most notable for me was the contrast against what we’d seen just before at Dachau.

After we’d seen all the pretty, old stuff we could handle, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest before the soccer match this evening. Charles nabbed us tickets to the FC Bayern v. RB Leipzig game – but it always seems like there’s some kind of confusion with buying European football tickets from the U.S. This time, we weren’t able to actually reserve seats and ended up with general admissions style tickets where we could “sit” anywhere within three sections. All three sections were pretty full – so we ended up standing in the back of the sections for most of the game. It was a little difficult to see the game (I was able to climb up and sit on the railing at the back of the section for part of the game so I could see better), but overall it was a pretty fun time. It’s always a good time when the home team wins!