Dachau and beyond

Early this morning I started out with a load of laundry squeezing in breakfast between wash and dry. Luckily the cycles were short as the schedule was tight today. We made our way out of our too short stay in munich passing by the Olympic stadium and BMW headquarters with out going in. We we off to Dachau concentration camp memorial. Most of the buildings were gone , a few were rebuilt as a museum. The work and processing building and two barracks buildings. The rest of the barracks were just foundation sites. Three meorials at the end of this area, one Jewish and a couple Christian. The camp was mostly a work camp but the Germans truly worked the prisinors to death. They did not have much to eat,no medical care, disease, starvation killed most. It was the first camp to open in 1933 and became a model for others. Conditions were extremely over crowded. A space built for 200 ended up housun 2000. There were a large variety of prisoners,Political,criminal,religious (Jews and catholic prists) gays, gypsies etc. They each had a number and triangle on thier clothes. The triangle said why they were there. By 1937 mostly Jews came. They had a crematorium (still there)to dispose of the dead. Anyway you get the picture. Hard to take but an important stop. We ate in the cafe there hit the auto bon to our nex destination the castle Hollenzoller. It was a 2.5 hour drive very fast! The driving takes a lot of concentration. We won't tell you how fast...

The castle was high up on a mountain. We drove up most of the way then took a shuttle bus. The tour was in German but we had a self guide in English. It was rebuilt for the third time on the original ruin dating around 1100 by a Swabian king. Not often ocupied. Used for showing off and events. Amazing and beautiful.

Off again for another hour long drive to Schiltich deep in the black forest. A very quaint town. We arrived around 7:30 and had dinner in an outdoor patio garden by the river. Lovely and delicious, especially the local specialty,a special meat dumplings. We walked around a bit after dinner. We will go back in the am to see a mill by the river and check out the gummy bear store.