Munich, second only to Berlin

The courtyard of Munich

Huge tourist place!

This is the front of the church that we went to.  It was a really famous church and was HUGE inside!

Side view of the same church.

Here's an overview of the inside. There was a lot of gold!

Golden statue representing the defeat of Satan.

The church had a lot of crucifixion statues, but this was my favorite.

We stayed in Munich for a while, but I didn't take many pictures other than the church. It was a really beautiful city, though, and I hope to go back someday :)

Berlin...the capital and my future home :)

These are some buildings in Berlin...so gorgeous!

This is a museum near the center of the city.

The famous Berlin T.V. Tower

From my hotel room, this was the view. About a quarter mile out to the lower right is the beginning of the Berlin Wall. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of the wall...my camera died ): 

 Another view from my hotel room :)

We stayed in Berlin for three days, where we met up with the other groups on our tour. Three groups from Mississippi...They all had the thickest southern accents I've ever heard and none of them knew a single word in German :/  We ended up befriending a couple of the kids and were sad to leave them at the end of the trip.

A day in Erfurt

This was in a smallish town near Weimar called Erfurt. We took the train there for a day and then rode it back.

I don't remember what this guy is called, but he sits near the main river going through the city. I think he's the German version of Santa?

The city had one mall (it was huge!) and this fountain was right outside it. It was really pretty and you can see typical German buildings in the background.

Here's an up-look at the entire mall. There were a total of six stories that circled all the way around. We walked it multiple times and visited a couple ice cream shops :)

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

Entrance to the original camp

This is the clock tower above the entrance. The clock was stopped the exact minute the camp was liberated.

The entrance gate reads: "Jedem das seine", meaning: "To each his own", or loosely "Everyone gets what he deserves".

Buchenwald Museum

Basic belongings of prisoners. Each prisoner was given a certain color triangle, depending on what he was being imprisoned for; the red triangle meant the prisoner was Jewish.

We spent the afternoon walking through the camp with a guided tour. It was really emotional and moving for us, but we learned a lot and developed a deep respect for the small city.  A few days later, we walked through Dachau (I didn't get pictures), which I thought was even more intense.  These were the most sobering (and possibly most educational) parts of our whole trip and they are memories not easily forgotten.

First Stop: Weimar, Germany

Train station heading to Weimar from Frankfurt

Weimar city center

Fake ruins in Weimar Park

After landing in Frankfurt, we took the train to Weimar (about an hour and half away), where we met our host girls. We stayed there for three days and the families took us on tours around the city. We did whatever the girls wanted us to, which meant some tours, shopping, and bowling.  My girl Franzi graduated and turned 18 while I was there, which meant she could start driving. She was excited to drive whenever she could, but we mostly walked everywhere. Weimar is a pretty small city (Franzi wasn't very happy that there was only one mall) and was easy to navigate around. It rained most of the time we were there, but the city was still really beautiful.