Munich/Dachau Concentration Camp/Adrenaline Park/Canyoning in Slovenia

So much to catch up on, I have no clue where to start. I’m thinking that this post will be pretty photo-heavy, so take precaution..

On July 31^st, Kari, Taylor, and I took a trip with ITT which is a program on base that offers discounted trips and event tickets to everyone living here. For $80 we got on a bus that drove through from Aviano, Italy to Munich, Germany only to stop somewhere at a fancy truck stop in Austria on the way there and back. We left at the (butt) crack of dawn at 3am and arrived in Munich around 10. We were given about 4 hours of “free time” to do what we wanted before we had to be back at the bus to go to our next destination.

Our first sightseeing experience was at Marienplatz (St. Mary’s Square) in the heart of Munich. The “New Town Hall” was our first taste of German architecture, and it was GORGEOUS! At 11, 12 and 17 o'clock each day, everyone gathers to watch the famous Glockenspiel, a mechanical scene that rotates at the top of the tower. The figures perform the Schäfferltanz (Cooper's dance), which was originally performed in 1517 at the Marienplatz to commemorate the end of the plague. Another interesting thing we learned about German architecture form Mrs. Lewis (of the Lewis family that has “adopted” us lifeguards) after getting back is that there is a law prohibiting public places to look ugly. Each province has their own way of carrying this out, but in Munich this means that any and all construction is completely covered up by a huge tapestry that shows what the finished building is going to look like. After wandering around a bit and passing 4 H&M clothing stores, we came across a Starbucks!! I really wanted to stop and get a drink but we had limited time so the group decided we’d have to go without. We were told by our ITT guide that Hofbräuhaus (a brewery owned by the state government) was a tourist must-see, so we scouted it out and ate there for lunch.. It is one of the oldest breweries in Germany and the Nazi party even held meetings there. It took us a while to find it, but once we went in, we were amazed at how huge the place was. Inside there were hundreds of long, wooden tables filled with people enjoying both food and drink. There was even a Bavarian brass band playing music! We were really lucky with weather and since it was such a nice day we decided to eat out in the “beer garden” which is a little courtyard in the middle of the place. For lunch we had a knuckle of roast pork with gravy and a dumpling, complete with pretzel and of course, the Hofbräu original beer. Lunch was AMAZING! After lunch we took off in search of Munich souvenirs and before long it was time to hike back to our bus.

Taylor, Myself, and Kari in Austria on our way to Munich

A beautiful photo Kari took of Taylor and I on the bus ride-- there I am, catching flies!

New Town Hall

The building on the left in this photo doesn't actually exist- it's just a huge covering over the construction site

Hofbräuhaus

Figuring out the German menu (look at that guy in the back, hahah)

Munich Starbucks

A drive of 45 minutes took us to Dachau concentration camp, the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany. We were given 2 hours to roam Dachau on our own before getting back on the bus to return home. Unfortunately I have to admit that my experience with Dachau was really disappointing. I was really looking forward to this unique look at history, but it definitely fell short of expectations. The museum part (where you would read about the history of the camp) was presented poorly and it was overall just really hard to follow. Maybe if there had been a group tour going on or something I would have gotten more out of it, but I did get to walk through and see some of the things that stood alone, like the crematorium and a few of the barracks. 

"Work Will Make You Free"

"Bathhouse" which was actually a fumigation chamber

Sadly I don't think this one needs any explanation

After Dachau, we got back on our bus and arrived back in Aviano around 11pm. The following day, August 1, Taylor and I took a trip through Outdoor Rec to Adrenaline Park, a ropes course in the Dolomite Mountains. My only prior experience with ropes courses and zip lines was at Camp Collins, where everything is really spread out and separated. At camp, each rope “element” requires a different set up and harness gear. At Adrenaline Park, however, everything was packed together into a series of obstacle courses high above the ground. The zip lines at camp require you to have someone hook up your harness, and then you climb up the tree. When you reach the platform, you jump off and then zip line until eventually you lose momentum and stop going. Then they get a ladder and help you out of the harness and you climb down. At Adrenaline Park, you were given 2 carabineers and one zip line clip thing. When you saw yellow duct tape, you would clip and unclip your carabineers, when you saw blue, you would clip your zip line thing and zip line across. Also, you had to make sure that after hitting the end of your zip line, you grabbed the rope with your hand so you wouldn’t bounce backwards and get stuck in the middle of the zip line.  I understand this is probably confusing, but it is unbelievably difficult to describe. Hopefully the photos will help. There were, I think, around 6 courses, each known by a different color. They started easy with mini green and increased in difficulty as well as height to black. I was scared of getting stuck in the middle of a zip line, so I stuck with mini green and green. J I still managed to have an awesome time taking pictures after finishing my routes. On our way home, we stopped at a pass in the mountains and it was GORGEOUS. By far the most beautiful mountain scenery I’ve ever seen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, we’re 2/3 of the way there… Last weekend my entire group took a trip with Outdoor Rec to Slovenia and we went Canyoning!! Its hard to explain, but I would have to say that canyoning is pretty much a mixture of sliding and jumping off rocks in neoprene wet suits. Like an all-natural water park created by Mother Nature over the years. When we got there, we parked right next to the final waterfall we would repel down. So in order to get to the top of it all, we had to hike up a really steep trail (we had to grab onto ropes and trees to help us!) in our water booties. After we finally started getting to the fun stuff, the challenge was more facing any remote fear of height I might have had. Not usually one to jump off of high things into water, the 15-foot rock jump was definitely something that stretched my comfort zone. The crazy rocks were the ones we slid down backward! I got a disposable waterproof camera and took pictures, but the ones here were taken by our guide on his camera. This was definitely an experience I won’t forget.