TravelStream™ news feed for member kmwest422 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kmwest422 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 29 May 2009 19:12:00 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1243117380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1243117380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1243117380/tpod.html Fri, 29 May 2009 19:12:00 -0400 Germany!

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Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Another foggy morning, and I really do not want to leave.  However, we are off.  Me back to Houston, Claudia back to work.  A big resounding "BOO" from both of us!  Germany was wonderful, and I highly recommend it to anyone ---> great food, awesome beer and wine, beautiful architecture, kind people (except for the old hag waitress in Munich) and of course history!!  Is there a job where I can travel wherever I want and get paid for it?  Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1236862920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1236862920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1236862920/tpod.html Fri, 29 May 2009 19:11:32 -0400 Germany!

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Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

   Although the weather was cold and rainy again, Claudia and I decided to walk around the center of Paderborn and do some shopping.  I got a more complete tour of the city in the daytime - we went inside of the Cathedral and as usual it had amazing architecture.  We walked down through the church and out the other side - more rain though so out came the umbrella once again.  We walked through the city and passed the Rathaus again, and started to go in and out of some shops.  I bought a shirt at Jack and John's, thereby perfecting my "Euro Look".  We went to a cafe for some coffee and an ENORMOUS piece of cake.  We each got one - my favorite was the Schwarzwelderkirsch (Black Forest Cherry Cake) but the other cake with raspberries was good as well.  You can tell which one I liked the best because I remember the name of one of them . . . .    After that we walked down to the River Pader and strolled along that for a bit, through a little park and a really nice area in the city.  On a sunny day it would be great to sit and hang out for awhile, but today it was starting to rain some more!  We went back to the apartment and had some leftover goulash.  That night we went to Claudia's friend Sandra at Club Havana, which was very deceiving - it served Mexican food.  I was expecting Cuban . . . haha oh well!  We didn't eat any food anyway - too much Schwarzwelderkirsch . . .  we just had some drinks.  Er, they had some drinks, I had one and a half.  I knocked one of the drinks all over me and my new shirt.  Not necessarily the "Euro Look" I was going for.  A fun night, but now it is getting ever so close to the goodbyes.
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Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

   We got up fairly early and had breakfast, then decided to head back to Paderborn.  Claudia drove out of the city and then I drove for a couple of hours.  We arrived in Paderborn around 15.00 or so, and went out to do some shopping for food.  We swung by the Post Office to send out some postcards, then we hit the grocery store so I could buy some chocolates and things to bring home with me.  The day wasn't too exciting, but it was nice to be doing normal day-to-day things with Claudia - pushing the shopping cart around, picking out what you want for dinner.  Much better than online chatting . . .    Claudia made some goulash with pasta for dinner (YUM!) and I started to organize my things for the trip back.  We realized that two weeks had gone by far too quickly.  Tomorrow will be a day in Paderborn!!
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Berlin, Germany

   We got up early to get to our free tour in Berlin, and after our experience last night we knew how to get there on the S & U Bahns.  We walked past a "Free Tibet" protest outside of the Chinese Embassy - one guy was getting hauled off by the Polizei - smart move buddy!  We got to the meeting place for the tour - the Starbucks near the Brandenburg Gate (yes they are there too.  They are everywhere.  Get used to it.)  Our tour guide was an American named Nikolai who escaped from Eastern Europe with his parents when he was six years old.  Like our guide in Munich, he had a passion for history as well - but more so because he lived through some of it.  He moved to Berlin three years ago and has been doing tours since.   We start at the Brandenburg Gate, and Nikolai pokes fun at the French (which gets a good chuckle from everyone - there are no French in the group) and we move on.  We see the Reichstag again, and then someone asks about the bricks in the street.  There is a two deep line of bricks through the street, which is where the Berlin Wall stood around the city.  One block away, we stop at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  It was designed by Peter Eisenman, and it contains grey stones of all different heights and angles, made to create an uneasy feeling as you walk through them.  The walkway is not flat, and it dips down below street level - in the middle the stones are 10-15 feet high.  It started to rain while we were down in the stones, and the drops streaked down the sides of the stones.   Once we exited the Memorial, we followed Nikolai to an empty patch of bare ground - under this was where Hitler's Bunker was before it was destroyed by the Russians in 1945.  Supposedly people bring their dogs here to relieve themselves - we were even invited to relieve ourselves as well, but no takers.  Sixty-five years ago under out feet, this is where Hitler killed himself with a bullet and cyanide.  At least he got killed twice . . . the tour continues to an old building with bullet holes in the side.  After a few more turns, we get to a grey stone monstrosity - the old HQ of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force in WWII) - which was not bombed during the war.  Now amazingly enough it is the German Tax Building.  It survived the bombing of Berlin well just like the RAF HQ was not bombed in London - Nikolai posed the question - a Gentleman's Agreement?  Perhaps.  Also, in 1953 there was an uprising here in East Berlin by German workers - they held a strike and were eventually gunned down in front of this building.  A huge picture of their faces sits in the courtyard, facing the side of the building which has Communist propaganda - the last thing they saw was that propaganda.     From the old Luftwaffe HQ, we make a break for the Wall - we were only 100 yards or so from the Wall and Nikolai wanted us to pretend we were running to try to escape - I think the FA got gunned down first . . . .too much beer and sausage made him slow.  I'm sure it was a funny sight seeing thirty people sprinting towards the dilapidated wall.  Right next door is the old HQ of the SS and Gestapo - not a great place in world history.  We walk past Checkpoint Charlie (now all replicas) and then it is lunchtime.     Now it is time for the architecturally stunning part of the tour - we get to the French Quarter and learn more about the history of Berlin, such as the Swedish invasion, the Black Plague - fun times.  In the 15th and 16th century some French move to Berlin to rebuild, and they build a cathedral next to the Ballet.  The Germans got jealous and built an exact replica of the French's Cathedral right across the square.  Then we walked to another square, where the Catholic Cathedral was, and the famous Opera House which was bombed twice just to piss Hitler off.  We just missed him once - he has just left and the bombs fell . . . In that same square was the library which was emptied in 1933 by the Nazis when they held a massive book burning - 20,000 books were burned that night.  In the middle of the square is a Memorial for that, which is underground.  Through a window you can see empty bookshelves, with enough space for 20,000 volumes - and a plaque with the quote "When people start burning books, soon they will burn human beings."  We walked past Humboldt University, the home of Kant, Nietschze, Einstein - then on to a World War I memorial - "Mother and Dying Son".     We finished our tour up on Museum Island, which holds five museums.  One of the other buildings is an old cathedral designed for Kaiser Wilhelm - he kept interfering so it is conglomeration of architectural styles.  Across the square is the Altes Museum, designed by a 96 year old Karl Friedrich Schinkel.  He built the largest marble bowl in the world, with ideas to place it inside of the atrium of the museum - unfortunately they had already built the columns in the front of the museum, so it couldn't fit.  It still sits outside, and as Nikolai said, it is now the world's largest bird bath.  We sat on the steps of the Berliner Dom hearing the story of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  What a great tour again!!  Claudia and I take the U-Bahn to the Sony Center, and we walk around a bit more until it starts to rain.  That gave us a good reason to go into Tchibo for some coffee and a cake.  We hopped back on the Bahn and got back to the room and watched some more football.  We finished our night off with a great Chinese meal in East Berlin!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1236654900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1236654900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1236654900/tpod.html Fri, 29 May 2009 19:10:29 -0400 Germany!

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Berlin, Germany

   We got a decently early start from Hamburg - got some gas and then finally got on the Autobahn.  There was a lot of construction this way, but I decided to test my mettle and give the Autobahn a try - since it was Claudia's car and a manual transmission, I decided not to go ridiculously fast, but I did get it up to 180 km/h for a little bit.  Well, maybe for about two seconds.  I figured being a bit safer was the best bet for my first jaunt down the road and the first time I've driven stick since a beefed up maintenance vehicle at a golf course in 2002 . . . I fumbled around a bit in a parking lot where we stopped for some lunch, but I did finally manage to stop the car somewhere in the vicinity of a couple of spots.  We had some McD's and Claudia drove the rest of the way.   The Tom-Tom took us to a place that was not in Berlin where we were trying to go, turns out that there are places with the same exact address - not very intelligent in my opinion - must've been the Russians that did that.  Claudia called the hostel and we managed to find the hotel after a little delay (now that Tom-Tom had a better idea of where we wanted to go).  On the way I realized that I left my camera in Hamburg in Sven's car - what a dumbass I am.  At least I would save money on batteries, and Claudia still had her camera.  The hostel was in old East Berlin, and there are still some spots that looked a little sketchy.   Once we got settled, we walked a few minutes to the U-Bahn station to get into the central part of Berlin.  Then we stood there for about 15 minutes trying to figure out which way to go and which Bahn to take.  After all the travel and driving, my brain didn't really work.  It was wrapping itself around the whole Bahn thing, and I was staying quiet after I heard a few German words that at least sounding like swears - didn't want to get in the way of that Swear-Bahn.  We managed to get to a nice street in West Berlin with lots of shops and restaurants, and then after jumping a few U and S Bahns we arrived at the Brandenburg Gate.  From there we walked under the gate and over to the Reichstag, which was amazing at nighttime.  In between those two landmarks we got some dinner - Claudia had currywurst and I had Nuernberger sausage and sauerkraut.  And beer.  Yum.  I finished it off with some chocolate mousse and we were off.  Tomorrow will be Berlin all day!
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Hamburg, Germany

   We had our best breakfast yet at the hotel - buns, jam, bacon, eggs . . .  We left Bremerhaven and drove the two hours to Hamburg.  It is another large harbor - lots of ships and drydocks.  We drove down through the Elb River Tunnel under the river (duh!) and found Claudia's friends - Steffi and Sven - and their apartment around 15.30 or so.  After meeting up with them and making the introductions, we sat around and had some coffee to figure out what to do.  They had a nice late night of partying the night before, so low-key was in order.  Steffi, Claudia, and I went out to catch a subway (the U-Bahn, which I Anglicized as the U-BAN) to get to the bus stop where we could get a bus tour of the city.   Unfortunately, we missed the last bus and instead we did a walking tour of the city.  We walked along the river first, and then in through some of the canals.  Hamburg is called the Northern Venice, as it has canals through the city.  The sun was setting by the time we were taking our tour, and it gave all the buildings a bright orange tint.  We made our way through Hamburg and arrived at the Rathaus, which; as in every other city so far; was impressive.  From there we walked to the Inner Alster, which is part of a man-made lake in Hamburg on the River Alster.  It was a great tour of the city with good sights and good weather!   By the time we got back to the apartment it was time for dinner!  We went to a Tapas Bar and completely pigged out on a huge assortment of tapas and their accompanying sauces . . . delicious!  After dinner we drove around some more, where we drove through the Reeperbahn, which is Hamburg's red light district.  Since it was a Sunday night, there wasn't all that much going on, and Sven and I did not go through the main street where only men are allowed.  Since I stick out as an American tourist anyway, it would have been an uncomfortable situation as I wasn't there shopping . . . . it's one of those places where they get mad at you if you look but don't touch . . .    So from there we got some Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream and went back to the apartment for a great finish to a wonderful day!  Thanks to Steffi and Sven for the great hospitality!
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Bremerhaven, Bremen, Germany

   After another delicious breakfast, we played with the kids some more before we left for Bremerhaven.  It was about a two and a half hour drive, with more farmland and rain clouds.  As Claudia and I approached the seaport of Bremerhaven, the clouds parted and gave us some welcome sunlight.  More tall white windmills stood out against the sky and we started seeing more and more seabirds flying over the Autobahn.  Obviously, we were getting close!  Bremerhaven is a port on the North Sea on the northwest of Germany, and it is one of the major shipping areas (along with Hamburg).  Also, it is the main departure point for most of the German immigrants who sailed to the United States from the 1800's through the mid 1900's (my great-grandfather included).  As we get to the sea, many masts from ships stick out.  It reminds me of Portland, Maine quite a bit - very much a seaport with older buildings and streets.    Our first destination was the Deutsches Auswanderer Museum, which is a museum of German immigration.  It won the 2007 Best Museum Award if that makes any difference.  :-)  The overall experience was wonderful though - you enter and pay your fee and the Museum staff gives you a ticket as if you are getting ready to board a vessel to America.  You also have an electronic card which allows you access to more information about a certain immigrant - you get to follow their journey and learn more about their history.    First, we went into a room with some introductory information.  From there is was onto the ship!  We went into an area that locked like the dock, complete with the hull of a ship sitting there across the water.  There were mannequins speaking different languages and again, you get to hear their stories.  From there, you go through what looks like a cabin or living quarters where all of this specific immigration information is held - graphs, charts, audio guides - all detailing the amount of people traveling, where they were traveling from . . . After that you actually board the ship, climbing up the walkway.  We heard more stories about how long it took to travel, what the conditions were like, how they changed over the years.  At the end of the journey, we get into Ellis Island and go through the Immigration Control center (and we saw who could be an American citizen and who couldn't).    Finally, we saw a couple of short films about people in the States and where they came from - and their ancestors' stories.  Really neat stuff!  I couldn't find any additional information about my great-grandfather than I already had, but it was really nice to understand what the trip was like.  By the time we finished our tour, the sun was bright and high, so we decided to walk along the coast for a while.  It was a brilliantly sunny day by then, and we found the Bremerhaven Zoo and decided to make a quick tour.  I'd never seen polar bears before, so that was cool.  Also, the seals and sea lions were really nice to see.  We strolled back to the car and went off to the find our hotel, which was not too far down the road.  It looked out over a big ship which was in fact a seafood restaurant (which I would avoid) and a nice corner of shops and restaurants.     We went down to the shops that night in a spitting rain and had some dinner.  The food was good and I had chicken and a beer that looked great but didn't taste like anything.  Oh well!  After a walk along the pier we got back to the room to watch some Fussball (soccer) and catch some zzzzz's!   Hamburg tomorrow!
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Munich, Bavaria, Germany

   Ahhh, a full night's sleep.  Before passing out like old fart's at 8:30 last night, we found a brochure for a free walking tour of Munich, and we decided we would do that.  It turned out to be a great choice.  After 12 hours of sleep I was ready to see Munich!  We had breakfast at the hotel (buffet - certainly magical words for the FA) and then we walked to the center of the city.  Munich is a city of over one million people, but it is an amazing skyline because there are no skyscrapers.  There was an ordnance passed that no building in Munich could be taller than the Frauenkirche, which is 100 meters tall.  During World War II, 80% of the inner city was completely destroyed in the bombing.  The law was upheld through the rebuilding, and so Munich does retain much of its small-town feel.   We walked through an archway onto the Karlstrasse, which is one of the main streets and walkways into the center of the city.  We did some window shopping (shoes!) and bought some batteries for my P.O.S. camera, which was burning through them faster than I could eat schnitzel.  The meeting place for the free tour was in front of the New Rathaus in the Marienplatz, which is the main square in front of the Town Hall.  I know I am overusing the word "amazing" in this blog, but the whole scene was awesome!  I took a panorama picture, but it ended up looking like something from a Picasso scrapbook . . .    Claudia and I found our tour guide for the day - Luke, who is from Devin, England.  Luke really fits the British stereotype - snarky, sarcastic, and a incessant passion for tea.  (Well, I don't know about the tea part, but I just figured . . . )  The tour was great for two reasons: one, the whole scene of Munich was grand and impressive; and two, Luke.  Luke was great because you could tell he really loved history.  He was very objective as well; he didn't put his own personal opinions into the tour.  The group of about fifteen began right at the New Rathaus, which is actually older than the Old Rathaus.  The Old Rathaus was destroyed in WWII and therefore rebuilt, while the New Rathaus made it through.  It was here we had our first test of the "Real or Replica" game, where we had to decide if the building was real or a replica.  There are two indicators - smoke damage and bullet holes.  If a building is blackened and has bullet holes in it, it is real.  Pretty easy, even for an American!  (My overseas friends will chuckle at this I'm sure.)  We stayed outside and at 11 a.m. watched the Glockenspeil go through its motions as it played through the two stories - one of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V and the other of the Cooper's Dance.  At the end an owl comes out and instead of "hooting" like an owl, it sounds more like a crow.  Luke loved the owl and its "cawing".   The group then went inside of the New Rathaus, where Luke discussed at length the history of Munich and of Germany, and how it lead to World War II and the destruction of the city.  We followed along towards the Frauenkirche, or the Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady.  Supposedly the Devil helped build the church in record speed - as Luke told the story he chose me to portray the architect, who he aptly named K-Dog (actually it was Jörg von Halsbach who was the architect).  K-Dog got to deal with the Devil on the church steps.  Sweet.  Inside the cathedral was massive - it can hold up to 20,000 people!!  It also is another spectacle of extravagance - gold and impressive statues everywhere.  After the Frauenkirche, we walked to the Peterskirche, which is the oldest church of inner city, from before 1158!  The tower has a total of eight clocks - Luke said so that the Germans can tell what time it was from any angle - that was his joke anyway!  It was here we learned about the holy beer mug - one time one of the crosses on the tower blew off and the city elders hired a man to climb the 400 ft. up the tower to fix it.  It wasn't quite put back in the right spot, but he decided to have a celebratory beer nevertheless.  Once finished, he tossed it from the church and supposedly it landed without breaking.  The story goes that the Catholics claimed it as a miracle and made the beer stein a Holy Relic.  Awesome.   After a Starbucks break in which I demonstrated once more my complete inability to speak anything related to German, we continued our tour.  We walked past the Old Rathaus again and saw where Hitler, Goebbels, and others planned Kristallnacht.  We continued down the street and arrived at the Hofbraeuhaus, which is perhaps the most famous beer hall in the world.  It was commissioned in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria, so it's been around for awhile!  The one interesting story of many is actually about the fact that for a long time, there were no bathrooms in the Hofbraeuhaus - also, women were not allowed in other than the "Beer Wenches".  In order to maintain their place at the table, the men would just drop their lederhosen and piss on the floor.  After the smell became unbearable, they built trenches under the tables and every fifteen minutes the "Beer Wenches" would dump water down through the trench and wash it out, which leads to the name of the lower hall - The Wash.  Later on, a man invented a walking stick that had a funnel-like top and a tube around the stick - the men could just pee into the funnel of the walking stick and it would drain down into the trench (this avoided the ever-troubling "splatter" effect from the men on the other side of the table).  And yes, we are eating here later tonight.  Yum.   We continued through more old streets and city squares, until we arrived at where in 1923 Hitler was almost killed during the failed Beer Hall Putsch.  He was trying to overthrow the Weimar Republic and the government in Bavaria, but his forced pacts with some of the "Powers that Be" in Munich fell apart and his group was beaten.  His bodyguard, Ulrich Graf, took eleven bullets and fell on top of Hitler in the middle of the street (Graf lived).  We finished the tour nearby - everyone had a great time and Luke was extremely knowledgeable.  Remember - New Europe Tours.  http://www.neweuropetours.eu/   There is the shameless plug for this blog - but if you have the chance, do it!  We were freezing by the end of the tour though, so we found a restaurant nearby right at the Marienplatz - more beer and schnitzel of course.  Claudia had some Apfelstrudel (which is apple strudel for you non-German speakers . . . like me) and that was really good!    That night, we went to dinner at the Hofbraeuhaus.  We were upstairs, and we enjoyed some great Bavarian beer and food.  I tried the Urbock (which is a stronger, seasonal beer at 8% alcohol content), and then I got the one liter mug of the Dunkel.  Both were delicious, as was my  Beerbrauersteak.  Claudia had Leberkaese, which was somewhat like bologna.  Everything was wonderful!  While we were waiting to meet a client of mine, I was having some ice cream and was about to ask for the check in German, but thankfully I cleared what I was going to say with Claudia first.  I had completely screwed up the words and was going to say something that wasn't even a word.  I will be hearing "Kommizai" for a long time to come.  Finally, we met the client of mine who is originally from Munich, he happened to be in town while we were, so we met him and some of his colleagues.  They were at a restaurant, but we were stuffed from earlier so we just talked for awhile and then headed back to the hotel to crash after a long day of fresh air and beer!!     
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1239305340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1239305340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kmwest422/3/1239305340/tpod.html Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:04:15 -0400 Germany!

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Barntrup, Germany

   After another delicious breakfast, I got some work done for work (yuck) and we headed to Melanie and Andy's for another barbecue.  We had to help them out and eat the rest of the meat and drink the rest of the beer before Andy left for Brazil for a business trip.  Oh rats.  Before we went there we decided to stop by the Externsteine at Horn-Bad Meinberg, which is a rock formation famous in pagan circles.  It is has five sandstone pillars that rise out of the earth in an area which is has very few rocks.  You are able to climb up a couple of the taller pillars as well.     It was supposedly a site for the Teutonic peoples in the Middle Ages, and it really does stick out of nowhere - the view is impressive from the top.  Unfortunately the weather is poor, and we don't stay too long.  We climbed up one of the pillars and I snapped a couple of shots, and we were off to beat the rain.  From there we drove through Detmold and saw some of the architecture.  Once through Detmold, we went up to the Hermann statue, which was so socked in with rain and clouds we didn't even walk up to it - someone walked past and said they couldn't even see the top of the statue.  So screw that we said, let's get to the beer!   The evening was fun again - more beer, steak, sausage, stuffed peppers, stuffed mushrooms - I made another key lime with a different crust and it had more of the key lime flavor this time, but still not perfect.  We stayed up and chatted some more before everyone headed off to bed.
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Dachau, Bavaria, Germany

   We got up for some more breakfast, which was good but we were still full from the Hofbraeuhaus last night!  We decided yesterday that we would visit the Concentration Camp Memorial at Dachau, which is only 30 minutes north of Munich.  Dachau is the only concentration camp that was open the entire duration of the Third Reich, from 1933-1945.  Hitler and the Nazis started it soon after they came to power to intern political opponents and other vagrants.  Later it was used for more extermination.  Fittingly, it was cold, gray, and rainy.  We found out that every school student in Germany is required to visit two concentration camps during their school years.  It would be interesting if every student in America was required to see a Native American reservation.     You walk into the camp through a door that says "Albeit Macht Frei" - basically translated to "Work Will Set You Free".  The only thing you hear once the gate creaks open is the crunch of footsteps on the ground.  There is a hushed quiet around the whole camp, which is expansive in size.  We walked over to the Barracks first, where special prisoners were held and tortured.  There were certain cells where the Nazis built what were called "standing cells", which were so small that the prisoners were forced to stand for days at a time.  There was not enough room for them to sit or lay down.  We walked back through the Interrogation Room which has double-layered sealed doors to prevent the screams and sounds of torture from leaking out into the rest of the prisoners.   After that, we walked into the Museum, which had so much information - it would take someone three or four hours to walk through and read all of the signs and information.  It shows the progression from World War I and how Germany got to the point where Hitler came into power, and then it proceeded through the Third Reich and the concentration camp's history.  It was very sobering.  I think we ended up spending two or three hours walking through.  From there we walked out to the main grounds of the camp - there was a Memorial outside of the museum, and then we went to one of the prisoners' quarters.  There were the bunk beds, the toilets, and the lockers that they had to keep perfectly clean to avoid more punishment.  Once outside, we walked down the main road through the camp.  There were markers for each one of the living quarters, and they went on for about a quarter of a mile.  There ended up being a spot for 30 of the buildings, which when overfilled during World War II held up to over 600 prisoners each.  At the end of the road, there were three memorial churches, one Protestant, one Jewish, one Catholic.  We continued on to the Crematorium, which is one of the last remaining intact in the world.  As you approach you see the chimney dominating the tree line.  You enter in past the delousing stations, where the Nazis told the prisoners they were being deloused before they took a shower.  The shower was a big room where instead of water coming out, poison gas came out.  You walk directly through the gas chamber, and for a time both doors are closed.   Outside of the gas chamber is the furnace room.  There were five large furnaces with what looked like a stretcher in each one - the dead prisoners would be put on the stretcher and slid into the furnace to be cremated.  We left and walked back towards the gate.  We finally exited the camp, and walked back to the car.  After that tour, it was good to get back into the warmth of the car and we headed on home to Paderborn.  It was a long, long drive (poor Claudia) and right as we approached Paderborn we ran into a very thick fog that lowered the visibility.  We got back around 9, and we decided to go to Melanie and Andy's once more for another barbecue tomorrow!!
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