Wednesday, July 18, 2012

BAVARIA, GERMANY



Today was a day of ups and downs for the team. The day started extremely early, and had us out of the hotel by 8:00 and on our way out of Austria. Once back in Germany, we headed to the town of Dachau; site of the first known Nazi concentration camp. It was an emotional morning as the students were able to explore the grounds. It chills you to the bone to walk into a once working crematorium, and know what it was used for. As rough an experience as it was, it was good for all of us to see the memorial, and to appreciate what the area has done to say, "Never again!" You will only see a few images from Dachau (the main gate, and the maintenance building with the sculpture in front) as students were encouraged to leave cameras on the bus, and take in all they could.

After getting back on the bus, we continued to drive through the Bavarian region of Germany until we reached the town of Hohenschwangau–home of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (after which the Cinderella Castle at Disney was modelled). Once outside the bus and given some free time, the mood picked up, and the students were again excited to be in a new territory! The city is beautiful, with quaint cafes, multiple castles on surrounding hills, and a lake at the bottom over which they look.

Following dinner, the girls (and some of the boys) loaded onto the bus and travelled to nearby Fussen, where they were able to scurry about town in search of some souvenirs, or just sit and enjoy an ice cream or cappuccino. Some of us were able to get to the newly developed BLZ Ice Hockey Rink, where the local under-19 team was playing. Fussen is known to be the hockey Mecca of Germany, and produces many of their famous players. The local pro team, EV Fussen Leopards, have won 16 championships, and the new arena had a special display to commemorate these victories. We spoke with the coach of the team, who ended up being from Ottawa. It was great to have a conversation with another Canadian who has lived here for almost 20 years. You'll notice in the photo album that the team got changed quite quickly to come outside and take a photo with the ladies.

We are now split up into 3 different hotels around town, so things are relatively quiet. It was also our bus drivers' last day with us, so we were sad to say good bye this evening. They sure did an incredible job! For now we get to rest and sleep in a little bit (8:00am), and tomorrow, we visit King Ludwig II's castle!!! We may even have some great rodelbahn photos in the near future as well. Check back again soon!