| [ |
mood |
| |
 tired |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
sheep outside saying baahaaaa |
] |
I had a pretty full weekend. I'd like to put it down in this crap journal, so that I can look back on it someday to say,
"Wow, I really did once have fun things to do!"
I will go in reverse chronological order, hoping that latency is more interesting than primacy.
I awoke about an hour ago, hearing some noise in the house. I can't imagine what it might have been, and I only guess when I say it must be that tree that is possessed by the devil. There is a tree in our back garden that IS possessed by the spirit of SATAN.
Last night I got home around 1130, and sat around the house trying to decide whether to go to bed and sleep until the stars burn out, or wake up at 7am. My parents decided to get up at 6am, owing to the fact that the two of them have jobs, and work starts early.
We drove home from Rammstein Air Force Base, and from there had come from Dachau, where there remains a memorial and museum on the former site of one of the most horrifying concentration camps in the whole of Germany. Dachau is not where prisoners were gassed, that was Auschwitz; Dachau was one of the oldest concentration camps, and ceratainly one of the most terrifying. Containing over 65,000 prisoners by 1945, in 30 barracks that were originally designed for 300 persons.....you do the math.....most of the prisoners either died of starvation (the ration in the last days was an EIGHTH of a loaf of bread per day, about 120 grams), or the typhus that spread through the camp, killing thousands. The site had a crematorium, but as the body count rose, the cremators hadn't the power to dispose of all of the bodies by burning; mass graves were necessary to dispose of all the corpses. When allied forces finally broke through to liberate the camp, the SS had already abandoned Dachau, and it had been run for three weeks by an international group of elders amongst the prisoners. I cannot describe how horrifying it was to see all the photographs and testimony describing torture and subjugation on such a great scale. In the few years the camp was there, thousands of people lost their lives, and for many more life was changed for the worse. I can't imagine anything worse than to find out that you are going to die because the state declares you "unfit for work."
I could go on and on and on, but I don't intend to dedicate this post to the prisoners of Dachau. They have their memorial, and I shall continue on.
Earlier in the day, I took a cable car ride up the side of a mountain. It would have taken all day to climb up on foot, but I reached the summit in about twenty minutes. I took some great photos, saw the Alps for the second time in my life, and got to sneer at a thirty foot tall cross at the top of this mountain. I still don't know why that cross is there. There isn't a church or a monastery anywhere nearby, so what the crap is a cross doing at the top of this mountain?? Madness, I say. It was a beautiful spot, and a more beautiful view. I am glad I brought my new camera.
Yesterday morning had me awake at 8am, in order to take advantage of the traditional German breakfast at the hotel. This hotel was no ordinary english speaking lake-resort in Germany. It was a US Military resort, for use by only employees of the Federal government, and it was built by order of Adolf Hitler in 1937. It was claimed by US troops at the end of the war, and remains in American hands to this day. The employees are German nationals, and just about every one of them speaks English; that makes it nice, so nice. The resort will be turned back over to the control of the German government in September, so this weekend was probably the last time I will ever have a chance to stay on CHIEMSEE for EUR65 a night. The lake itself has a massive sailing community, and the water is full of sailboats by midday.....it's a great place, right at the edge of the Alps.
I got to sleep in a tiny hotel room bed the night before at around 1230 perhaps, I was exhausted after driving back from Munich.
My family and I ate dinner in a 400-year-old brewery in the heart of Munich. Our waiter was a Croatian who cheered at us, "Bush, no.....Cleenton, YES! Bush eez a cowboy, bang bang, but Cleenton gave me LIBERTY," and all sorts of funny statements about our president and former president. He gave us very good service, and gave me a LITER OF BEER.
I walked to the brewery through the pedestrian area of the city, which is full of shops and drug stores, cathedrals and opera houses, and a GAP. Fucking GAP>t-shirt=EUR45! I know that GAP fleeces Americans, but 45 Euro is $52. Beautiful city, except for the GAP.
Before downtown Munich, I spent the afternoon at Schloss Nymphenburg, I shot a whole roll of film while there, and saw a great palace, grounds, its gardens, fountains, hunting lodge, lake, canals, and a few swans. All for 3 Euro. haha! There are many things I did there that I shall never tell anyone. It is an amazing place, and I think a visit to Bavaria is not complete unless it includes Schloss Nymphenburg.
That morning at about 10, my parents got me a ticket for a boat ride on Chiemsee, and I had NO IDEA what I was going to see. If you think Adolf had a good idea when he built a lakeside getaway, then you'll think that Mad King Ludwig was a genius. I will just show you a photo. Seeing this photo was enough for me to say,
"HOLY SHIT."
But then I went to the island, and I saw INSIDE and OUTSIDE the palace, which was to be a summer getaway for King Ludwig II, but he only ever spent ten days there, shortly before he died.
It is a wondrous place, but it is unfinished to this day. Ludwig ran out of money before the palace could be finished, and so to this day it stands less than a third finished. 20 rooms out of 70 are completed, but the remaining 50 are just plain brick walls and wood floors.
I took no photos of this place, but I did send someone a postcard. Actually, I sent the ONE postcard to three persons, and they all live together.
That was my weekend. I left out the part of the driving to Bavaria, but I assure you, I drove to Bavaria.
I did not find myself there.
23
|
full
surprised
pissed off
chipper
gloomy
anxious
determined
exanimate
