Being a Munich tour guide

Touching the nose of the lions near Odeon´s Platz for good luck

Having returned from our tour of Germany’s neighboring countries I continued my task as a tour guide of Munich and it surroundings.

Catholic memorial at the Dachau Concentration Camp

On Wednesday we went to the nearby town of Dachau: the place where the first concentration camp built by the National Socialism Party (the Nazis) was erected in 1933 and which served as model for the other concentration camps built around Europe. The Dachau camp was allegedly only a working camp and not a death camp; however, many prisoners died here due to the poor and inhumane living conditions they were exposed to. The tour of the concentration camp is a very sad one but one that I truly believe is all the worth while. I’m totally with all those people who agree that sites like this one should be kept open to the public to remind us all today and also the future generations of what happened there so that we don’t let such things happen again. The camp has preserved only a couple of the bunkers where prisoners were kept and which have now been converted into an exhibition hall of pictures and texts documenting the history of the site as well as the history of the second world war. The camp site also has a lot of monuments that have been erected in honor and remembrance of the victims who died there and the victims of the holocaust worldwide. It also has a couple of small churches or shrines from different religions which pay tribute to the holocaust victims (Jews and victims of those specific religions who were also executed during that time). There is for example a Russian-Orthodox church, the Church of the Reconciliation (Evangelical) a Jewish memorial and a Catholic memorial. The camp was freed on April 26, 1945 .

After visiting the camp it was off to the city center and then home for dinner. Later that night we went to the Hofbrauhaus to get our daily dose of beer and witness some traditional Bavarian culture at its best.

Having some fun at the Hofbrauhaus

Thursday it was off to the Olympia Park and the BMW museum. The museum was situated at a temporary location since a newer and bigger one, which opened last week, was being built. The new museum is called BMW Welt (BMW World) and it is a shame they did not get a chance to visit it. I still haven’t been there but it does look very cool and modern. It supposed to have a bigger exhibition of cars including more of the current models. However, the visit to the temporary museum was nice and it had a good combination of old car models as well as motorcycles and vehicles used in different races. After doing some more sightseeing around the city we went home. We had already made plans for Carlos to come home so he could say hello to my family and also because my mom was going to make buñuelos: another Colombian treat that she brought with her. Another friend also joined us on this smaller version of what I call the official Buñuelada of 2007. The buñuelo turned out to be really good even though they were made with a white cheese that I found here which is somewhat similar but not the same as the cheese that is used to make the original ones. We all had very good time that night just chatting, eating, and drinking some wine.

BMW building in the back and BMW Welt (museum) in the front

Inside the BMW Museum

On Friday morning we went to have a typical Bavarian breakfast: Weiβwurst (white sausage) with sweet mustard (which I love) and Pretzels. The rest of the day we spent it visiting some sights we had not seen such as the Maximilianum, the Freedom Angel, and the Isar River; and also doing some last minute shopping. On Friday the strike of the train drivers was going on and the suburban trains, like the ones that go to the airport, were driving sporadically. Not knowing if the strike was going to continue on Saturday we developed a contingency plan. Since they had to be at the airport at 730AM our goal was to be at the main train station at 6:20AM, find out whether or not the strike was going on and at what time the next S8/S1 to the airport was departing, and then catch the 40 minute suburban train. In case the strike was still going on we would then walk outside of the train station for my family to catch the next available Lufthansa bus, an express bus service from Munich to the airport, but in that case I wouldn’t accompany them. Luckily they had stopped striking and we were all able to travel to the airport with the train; which was my preferred way of going.

Olympia Park -- National Theater

Saying good-bye at the airport was to a certain extend sad but not as traumatic as I expected, especially for my mom. I came back from the airport and met up with a couple of friends with whom I spend the rest of the day: we had a coffee near Marienplatz, we went home and cooked something for lunch similar to picadillo and white rice (actually they cooked and I supervised), and spent the rest of the day just chatting and walking around the city. I was very tired and sleepy by the time I got home since I had waken up so early that morning but I managed to stay awake until almost midnight when my family called me to let me know they had arrived safely in Miami. Their flight got delayed 2 hours so that explains why they called so late. All in all I had a wonderful time during the 2 weeks they were here. It was great to spend time with the family again; too bad that the time went by soooooo fast. I really enjoyed their visit, showing them around Munich and the places I frequent, and also having had the chance to take a family vacation.