Parents' visit - Heidelberg, Munich, and Dachau

My parents decided to visit us in Germany about three weeks ago.  This was a big deal for my dad particularly as it was his first overseas international trip ever.  He wanted to see castles.  My mom wanted to see Munich.  J and I did our best to get them to see as much as we could.

They arrived in the morning, so J and I took them to the Spinnraedl in Kaiserslautern for dinner.  They enjoyed it.  Both sides of my family are quite German by ancestry, so all of the food we typically eat is actually very german: pretzels, potatoes, various wursts, red cabbage, pickled beets, and the like.  My parents were particularly taken by the red cabbage.  They can't get enough of it from Germany, so J and I mail some as often as we can.

The next day, we took them to Heidelberg.  A good castle, good view, and good food.  Plus, it's not too far away from where we live.

 

 

We couldn't help but take them to dinner at the Red Ox (Roten Ochsen).  The food is just too crazy good!

The next day, we took them on a Volksmarch.  Honestly, I can't remember the name of the town, but I remember it wasn't too far from where we live.

My dad was keen on this watch tower.  He was musing about how, if given the resources and the time, he would seriously consider building and maintaining one for himself.

 

The next day was a multi-day trip to Munich.  My parents wanted to spend one day at the Residenz Museum and (unintentionally) one day at Dachau.

This was my Mom's favorite piece at the Residenz Treasury.

The Residenz is so large that we actually were there until close, and still did not see everything.

The next day, we went to Dachau.  I found the history there absolutely fascinating, both concerning the plot of land itself and the history provided at the museum.  My personal favorite was the depth they went into leading up to World War II and how concentration camps became an accepted practice, and then after World War II how the area was actually used for prisoners of war and then later refugees. 

One thing that caught me was the sheer size of everything.  The camp itself, at least the late 1930's expanded version of it, was easily 5 or 6 soccer fields in size.

This was taken from the "processing" center, showing the monument erected and the remainder of the main camp beyond.

This was just outside of the two standing barracks.  Each dark line you see by a tree is the foundation of another barrack.

This is the memorial at the end of the picture above.  I hope this gives the idea of just how big the area is.

Now, these pictures thus far are actually only the prisoners' camp...only one third of the entire original complex.  The officers' camp was almost equal in size and then behind the memorial above it originally extended even further out for other components of the camp.

 This is the "new" crematorium.  They actually still had the old one standing as well.