München (Munich) and Dachau

Dachau is a haunting place where the past hangs thick in the air and visitors instinctively speak in hushed, somber tones. Every student in Germany must visit a concentration camp at some point during their school years, though Germany only relatively recently (in the 1980s) began to see a benefit to reflecting on the horrors of WWII. The center of all the grisly planning of such camps, Dachau is only a 45-minute ride by train and bus from the center of Munich, so we made the trip during our weekend stay in the city.




We started our time in Munich with a trip to old town and our hotel, only to find that a large rainbow festival blocked the historic center for the weekend. After slowly making our way through the crowds, we headed for the Englischer Garten, Munich's own beautiful, three-mile-long "central park." True to the guidebook's promise, we found surfers riding the waves on the park's river.

Visits with Old and New Friends

Last Wednesday we visited some old friends in Tübingen whom we met some years ago in our homeschooling group back home. They are living in the quaint university town for the summer, and they directed us on a tour of the beautiful new botanical gardens there.




Meanwhile, the kids continue to enjoy spending time with U.S. friends they met here last summer; like us, they are temporary university guests. The apartment building is hosting more children this summer. Maya delights daily in a small group of friends from Scotland, Australia, India, Germany, and Pakistan, two of whom do not speak English, and at least two of whom are trilingual. Some of them attend school here in the mornings. The children from Scotland and Australia (who also speak Russian and Croatian, respectively) serve as translators for Maya and a German friend.

One afternoon, the Australian friend was unfortunately ill, so Maya played all afternoon with her German friend. Somehow, despite not sharing a language, they managed to engage in make-believe together and enjoy hours of play. Until I saw what they were doing, they also enjoyed purloining landscaping stones from the university building across the street and placing them in the university pond to create a tiny island.

(Later Added:) Near the end of our stay, non-English-speaking children from Italy and Greece joined the group. The preschool-age Greek boy doted on Emma, while Maya and the Italian boy developed a hand signal to indicate to each other when they wanted to wrestle. My little tomboy gave it her all and really seemed to relish the intense physical exercise!