Germany People

I loved this city. Easy to travel for biginner backpacker. Artistic, historical but also modern. Transport is easy, punctual and clean but expensive. Nice people. Breakfast in St. christpher's Inns was pretty good.

Even if you see nothing else, walk along the East Side Gallery, a section of the Berlin Wall grafitied by a group of international artists. It's a shame that people feel a need to write messages on it, but it's still worth seeing.

Dachau, like Auschwitz or Birkenau, is a sobering and saddening experience beyond compare ... Dachau, I think, was the first concentration camp ... conveniently close to Munchen ... it is smaller than many other camps built later but this is where it started ... as you enter its gates you are frozen with shock and the true import of the holocaust sinks into you ... the 'systematic' nature of the atrocities is what shocks most and Dachau is a prime example... how could humans possibly do this to each other while still being able to live and enjoy otherwise normal lives ... there is a wonderful essay by George Steiner that talks of a concert hall in Munchen where, at the time, people could be sitting and enjoying Mozart while, at the same time, screams of people being put on trains for Dachau could be heard there... something about human nature that can aspire to beauty and life in the thick of misery and death ... and there is Chomsky's argument too that human atrocity is inherent, nothing new in it by way of time or geography, almost every nation across history has inflicted the grossest barbarism on others ... and though the signs at the camp read 'never again' ... globally, things continue, with a variety of atrocities, not just physical or political but also economic and social ...

I highly recommend buying the city tour bus pass, it allows you access to most of the city and runs all day long. Find a site that sounds interesting and get off to look around (head-set provides descriptions as the bus approaches each site). Also, get used to using the subway, it's invaluable for getting around. I'm sure everyone says this, but I'll re-iterate that Checkpoint Charlie is a must-see. The museum is such a powerful reminder of the atrocities that took place on the other side of the wall and I was absolutely amazed by all the ways people escaped.

Munich is an awsome place to visit. Beer gardens all over the place.Usually a rock band playing and you just sit wherever there is room and meet other people. When you go to get your beer, you buy a tolken. With the tolken you get a beer in a branded glass. If you keep the glass, you forfeit your tolken, but the glass is worth keeping as a souvinier. Make sure you visit the Glockenspiel in the square and visit all around it. There is a really neat market south east of the square and at the west end of the square is a very long shopping street. The only bad thing is that you cannot find anything over a canadian size 10:(