After my first two days in Munich, I felt more familiarized with the city. I knew where to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, what to wear, how to deal with the snow. Also, I didn’t get lost between my hotel and the Central Station.

Day 3 – January 5 – Sightseeing in below zero temperatures

My sister -who was taking a Human Rights course- had to do some sightseeing in search for certain landmarks around the city. I joined her but little did I know how bad the weather would be. It was snowing constantly, it was windy and freezing cold. We walked and walked, met some cool people along the way and at 4 PM, I called it quits. Nonetheless, I saw some pretty places.

We walked from Odeonplatz to the Englischer Garten, a beautiful park with rivers and beautiful nature. I can’t wait to go back in the summer.

A post shared by Krystel (@krysxc) on Jan 5, 2017 at 9:59am PST

A post shared by Krystel (@krysxc) on Jan 5, 2017 at 10:06am PST

The Chinese Tower

Day 4 – January 6 – Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

On the day of Epiphany, we went to the Dachau Concentration Camp, the first concentration camp opened in Germany by the nazi regime. I advise to anyone visiting Munich to go there and learn a little more about this tragic era. Entrance is free and tours are reserved for groups, but you can pay for an audio guide and walk the whole place.

The awful acts that took place there make you feel ashamed about human history but when you hear the locals talk about it, and how they say that it’s finally their generation (under 40 years old) who are able to deal with the past, talk about it and work towards not letting it happen again, it’s incredible. People often overlook how Germany pulled itself together in such a short period of time. They also have profound shame for the things that happened. Such a big nation got back on track from historic shame, and yet I see smaller countries like mine struggling to pull themselves together with a significantly smaller population.

I took a group tour that lasted about 2 hours and it was very comprehensive and well-explained. The tour takes p;ace inside and outside of the buildings, so there were moments in which we were outside for periods of 30 minutes or more. I was freezing. Then, our guide described to us the type of clothing that the prisoners would wear all-year long: some simple shirt and trousers, with wooden shoes. They had to do forced labor for countless hours during the day. Some would die of hypothermia in winter. Yet there I was, wearing two layers of clothing, a coat a scarf and a hat, double pair of socks, and complaining about cold.

It made me think of how privileged we are, even when we think we are not. What those people went through -and some of them survived- is such an amount of pain no human being should ever experience. Visiting places like Dachau helps us see things from a different perspective.

Russian Orthodox Chapel - one of the various religious memorials

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I spent my next two days in Germany a little far from Munich. I visited the Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen, about two hours away. On my last day, I went to Salzburg, Austria. I feel like both places deserve a post on their own, so stay tuned for the following weeks!

This has been part 2 of a 4-part series about Munich. Read part 1 here.