To Windhoek, Johannesburg, and Frankfurt

We had an uneventful drive on paved roads down to Windhoek, where we drove to our hotel from the first night in hopes of just picking up the old wi-fi. It didn’t work, so we ended up getting lunch at a place nearby with wi-fi and just booking a room at the same place again to make it easier. We spent an hour or two sitting out in the hotel’s courtyard getting caught up on all things internet-related. I requested an update to the Condor Airlines flight loads and it had gone down from 6 seats to 1 with no indication of standbys. Nicole and I both felt that we would probably still get on, but it wouldn’t likely be together, and if we didn’t get on, it would cause a whole slew of other issues. As a result, we decided that evening that we would change our flight to British Airways to Johannesburg, change planes there to Lufthansa, and get to Frankfurt that way.  

 The Johannesburg Airport was much much larger than Windhoek’s, which was basically two doorways for gates. We got our steps in walking to our next flight. The process was surprisingly smooth, much unlike Heathrow. The only snag was security taking my nail trimmers. It was only a matter of time, though the rules are so inconsistently applied (even within the same country), one never knows when the trimmers will disappear. We were only in Johannesburg airport for about two hours. Then we went from Johannesburg (a city known most for its high crime statistics) to Frankfurt (a city known for having a major international airport nearby). We got seats together, but we were row 42 on a 747-800. It wasn’t great, and once the gentleman in front of me decided to recline for the rest of the flight, there was basically no chance of getting comfortable. Some 10 and a half hours later, we arrived in Frankfurt around 5:30am. We shot through customs, booked a hotel, got on a train, walked to the hotel, and miraculously managed to check into our room at 7:30am. We napped until about 11 and went out to explore Frankfurt.

 Again, Frankfurt isn’t really known for . . .much of anything, other than having a massive airport, but we also didn’t want to spend the whole day in the hotel. The lobby had some umbrellas that they lent to us, which was highly necessary because rain was in the forecast for the entire day, only dropping to a 50% chance sometime near midnight. It was also fairly cold, so the combination of cold and rain made it kind of unpleasant conditions for a stroll around the city, but we attempted to make the best of it. We walked to an area known as Romerberg, which is the older part of the city. It had a nice square with traditional German buildings with various cafes and shops. Surprisingly, some people had chosen to eat outside. Sure there were umbrellas covering some of the tables, but it was still only 45 degrees and raining. Anyway, we elected to find some food and a hot tea at an older German-style restaurant a few blocks away. I had a mushroom soup and peppermint tea and Nicole had some schnitzel with potatoes. We split an apple strudel afterward. Our warmup in the restaurant made the return to the outdoors that much worse. The rain was going strong and the wind had some bite to it as well. We walked down to the river for about a minute before circling back to the square, where Nicole added to her pin collection on her camera bag. After this, we elected to just walk back to the hotel to thaw. For Frankfurt in October, this is considered normal weather, but for two kids who just came from the deserts of southern Africa, this was a cruel shock to our bodies.  

 We made one last trip outside to get some pizza at a nearby pizzeria. I’d be curious to know the statistics on how many of our trips end with a pizza dinner, as I’m sure it’s quite staggering. In any event, we returned to the hotel to relax for (hopefully) our final night abroad. We have a long flight to Los Angeles tomorrow and perhaps a reflections essay will be authored during that time. Stay tuned.

The Final Day

After a good night's rest, we found some pastries at the train station and rode out to Dachau, where we transferred to a bus that took us to the concentration camp and memorial. I had technically been here before when I was about 14. But while I obviously knew about the holocaust, I didn't really understand the full impact of what happened at the camp. This time I spent more time reading the captions in the museum and at the various sites around the camp.

I do also remember that last time I was here, it was a warm and sunny day. Not this time. It was another unseasonably cold and dreary may day. This contributed to the somber mood in the air. It wasn't exactly an uplifting thing to do, but a thing that one must do. It was good to get a timeline on the process as well. It took the Nazis about six years before things really got out of hand with the executions and attempted eradication of entire peoples. So, it was a reminder that this was not an overnight change. First political opponents, then criminals, then the Jews, prisoners of occupied territories, Slavs, etc. I imagine most people were like, "Well it's disconcerting, but I understand we need to round up political opponents for the safety and security of the German people." Then by the time you get to the Jews and other groups, they were just combined or equated with criminals in people's minds. All in the interest of bringing security back to Germany and a return to "old German values." Sound familiar? After all, one of the captions stated that discriminating against Jews was a centuries old tradition. I guess those were the values they wanted to fall back on.

What I found to be the most interesting is that many of the SS soldiers were sent to reeducation classes by the Americans after they were captured, but it was generally regarded as unsuccessful. Somehow, the majority of the SS guards were incapable of understanding or feeling any guilt about what they had done. How? Why? I cannot wrap my head around that. I guess if you're angry enough and can only feel hate... It's just shocking to me that any human could reach that point, though.

Enough for depressing stuff, though. One only needs to keep up with current events for that. After returning to Munich, we got off the train at Marianplatz, or the old city area. The sun was now trying to show through the clouds and it almost felt like 55. Nicole got a pretzel ornament for our non-existent Christmas tree and I ate a pretzel sandwich for lunch along with some kind of pastry. We walked around the area for a while before going up to the Englischer Park just north of the Marianplatz area. It is mostly just a green area with some walkways, but we went there for one specific reason.

River surfing. It sounds like a joke, but there is some kind of berm or something creating a single continuous stationary wave just beyond a bridge by the park. We saw a group of about 8 surfers with short boards taking turns riding the wave. As you can see by the full-body wetsuit worn by this woman in the picture, the water must not have been very warm. It was quite entertaining to watch them all. Some were better than others. The method for catching the wave is essentially just to jump right onto it. There was no paddle-in or pop-up method.

You're either riding the wave the second you hit the water or you're flailing downstream in a rolling ball of surfboard, body, and dirty water. I consider myself to have good balance and am generally fairly athletic, but I'm pretty sure this is something I would not be good at. Later in the evening, we had our final dinner of schnitzel and sausages with a pair of beers. Whereas it's quaint and bustling in the Marianplatz area, the neighborhood by our hotel consists of gambling parlors and strip clubs. I think as a general conclusion, I'm not too keen on Munich. There's something off about it. And what's the deal with this weather? It might as well be February.

Washout

We had initially planned to go to Hellbrunn Palace, just outside the city, but we woke to the sound of heavy rains. As most of the activities at Hellbrunn involved walking outside and in park areas, we decided to nix the idea. We ended up taking an earlier train to Munich since there was no point sitting in a hotel room in Salzburg during a rainstorm, so we arrived around 3pm at our AirBnB. It was decently located, nicely decorated with storm trooper art, but also smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. It was supposed to be non-smoking.

We ultimately ended up bailing on it since Nicole was getting congested and my eyes were drying up. It sounds like the guy will refund our money as we got a hotel near the main train station. To comfort ourselves, we went out for drinks at the Hofbrauhaus, walked in for a second to see all the young rowdy kids drinking and being loud, did an about-face and tried to find another beer hall. We went into a place called Ratskeller, but we were the youngest people there by at least 40 years. There must have been some sort of senior discount.

Long story, short? We ended up back at the Hofbrauhaus. We had some sausages, potato salad, beers, and a pretzels. We essentially closed the Hofbrauhaus and outlasted all the amateur American tourists. It was a struggle trying to find what to order since we had actually been to a sort of Hofbrauhaus - lite earlier in the day near Max Weber Platz. We tried to interpret menus that were in all German amongst a crowd that was all German. We ended up with a meat and cheese platter. Unsurprisingly, it is not what we thought we had ordered.

Then, once we got to the real Hofbrauhaus, we found ourselves again trying to interpret a German menu. We later acquired another menu that was in . . . Italian. It has been an interesting day, and not necessarily a grand one. Traveling, as they say, is as much about the experience as it is about sites and scenery. While my pictures may not be as profound today, I think we can all appreciate this picture of lil' Cole eating a big pretzel.

Allegedly the rain is supposed to stop some time tomorrow, so we can actually venture out and explore. If Munich wants to improve its reputation, it needs to stop this rain nonsense. It was downright miserable. I would have thought it was February based on how cold and dreary it is. Gluck Auf.