His emphasis was on the psychology behind what happened - anti-semitism, the setting up of the camp, the SS guards' power over the inmates, the aftermath after liberation - and he related it all to the currrent world situation. It was very interesting and not in-your-face ghoulishness.
We got back collected our bags, and caught the bus which took us south to Fussen. The Alps are really amazing - they just seem to shoot up from the flat ground, with no gradual build up.
We came via Oberammagau, through some really pretty villages and countryside, and got to Fussen about 19:15. I had neglected to print out a map to find the hostel, but we were able to find our way to their associate hostel, and the owner came and collected us. It seems he rents out the top floor of his house as 3 B&B rooms. We actually have a TV, but still no internet.Tuesday 8 July Munich
We caught the hop on/off bus for 4/6 of its stops,
then walked to the Deutsches Museum (of technichal inventions). Much of it was too deep for me, but David found it all very interesing.
We watched a chemistry demo (with coloured liquids, fire and melting plastic), a demo of old keyboard instruments (claviers etc), and a model train layout. We pushed lots of buttons, looked at planes, water wheels, coracles and ancient mecano, and then they were closing.
We walked back to the edge of the city centre, and finished our bus tour back to the hauptbahnhof
where we live. We did some shopping, had Chinese tea, and came home.
Monday 7 July Saltzburg to Munich
It rained nearly all day, the most we've had since we started our travels.
First of all, we packed up all the stuff we don't need, and took it to the post office for the slow boat ride home. Then, while we were waiting for the bus, we watched the first half of the hostel's daily screening of 'Sound of Music'.
The drive to Munich was less than 3 hrs, so we didn't have a stop, but as it was raining and the cloud was low, we didn't feel like getting out anyway.
After sorting ourselves out, we went for an umbrella walk through the main part of town, checking out a couple of churches, the market place and another famous singing and dancing clock.
Still we can't log on to the internet, and as 6 of the hostel's 9 computers are dead, we might have to wait a while for our turn.
Sunday 6 July
After bedecking our canopy bed with washing, we headed back to the Mirabell Gardens, because we'd read there was another free concert. It turned out to be a concert band, (brass, woodwind, percussion) again players in national costume, which we watched for about 45mins.
We went souvenir shopping, then found our 'glasses man', and bought a CD from him. We found some other good buskers, too.
We ate lunch on foot on the way back to the bus stop, and started our next tour to the Werfen Ice Caves.
We drove for about 40 mins into the Alps, then turned off, and climbed up a very narrow winding road.
From the car park the next stage was a 25 min uphill walk, and as it was about 30 degC, I was pooped. Next part was the steepest cablecar in Europe,
followed by another walk. By then we reached the entrance to the cave, 1641m above sea level, and put on tracky pants, sloppy joes and spray jacket!!??!!Inside the first kilometre of this 42km long cave is a great ice formation, stalagtites and mites, flows and walls, made by the water which trickles in and is frozen by the cold winter winds which blow through the system. They were first discovered in the late 1800s, and opened in about 1930. Inside, you must climb 700 steps up, then back. It is an amazing place.
A storm was brewing when we came out,
so we made a quicker than planned descent, and returned to Salzburg. We stayed in town for tea, and finally got our apple strudel.Saturday 5 July Saltzburg
This morning we purchased (for E21 each) 'Salzburg Card's from the hostel, and set out to see as many sights for free as we could in 24 hours. First stop was the Mozart Wohnhaus - the second house that the Mozart family lived in in Salzburg. It is quite a good museum, with good English audiophone commentary.
Then we caught a bus out of town (should have paid half fare, but didn't relise until the return journey) to go up the Untersburg cable car.
.......................................................^This was a great experience. It was 11 degC and a bit cloudy on the top (about 1600m high), but we took many photos.
We got back to town in time to grab a sandwich, and eat most of it before a tour of the Salzburg Festival Halls, the old one with collonades cut into the mountain, as featured in Sound of Music, and the nice new one.
Then it was off to the catacombs (a bit of a non-event), then up in the funicular to the fortress/castle. We toured the battlements and the galeries inside, many of which were of military campaigns, so not of much interest to us.
(Untersberg, where we were earlier)....^I was expecting grand palace furnishings, but it seems they are in the summer palace in town, so we have missed them. In the plaza back in town we came across a busker playing a set of wine glasses.
He was amazing - we could have stayed for hours. But there was just enough time left to visit Mozart's birthplace, which was terrible compared to the house this morning.
We had a Chinese buffet dinner, then went on a short river cruise to round off the day.
Free entries and buses would have cost close to E65 each, so we had a profitable day.
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