Out in the country of south Germany we decided to try something that we had yet to do on our trip: check out a winery. Not an ordinary activity for us, and something that we found was definitely tailored to the older segment of travel population, but we did get some really nice pictures of the German countryside on a beautiful fall day. Check them out!

The Romantic Road provides any visitor to Germany with a picturesque look at quintessential Germany. If you ever looked through tourism propaganda issued by the country, guaranteed a few shots are from this region. The ‘Road’ is a less a road and more a route which takes you through multiple small towns in Bavaria. Red roofs, cobblestone streets and Gothic architecture are abundant and the road trip allowed for a couple nice snapshots of southern Germany. Enjoy!

Visiting places like Dachau sobers up any person to the harsh realities of the past and present, this place is a monument to a black mark on history. Its haunting and depressing to visit a place where so many lives were pointlessly eradicated. Genocide has always, and will always, be a psychopathic act of futility driven by deranged maniacs hellbent on false truths – unfortunately this is only one monument to the many occurrences of the ultimate crime against humanity.

The front entrance to Dachau

Dachau was one of the first concentration camps in Germany, and one of the only to be constructed on German soil. Approaching the site with a bit of apprehension – we all knew we were in for a heavy day. If there is one thing the Germans know – its that they royally fucked up following their nut bar leader’s megalomaniac vision in the 40′s and they aren’t afraid to admit it. Obviously this will never amend the horrors of Nazi Germany, but the old saying goes ‘those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it’.

Monument in the courtyard at Dachau

The site itself is literally on the outskirts of the small industrial town of Dachau. Originally built as an internment camp it eventually devolved into a death camp where thousands were executed using rudimentary and excruciating methods. The site pays homage to the holocaust from the moment you enter the iron gates emblazoned with ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’, labour makes you free.

Electric barb wire fences surround everything

On the site of the memorial is an education centre which tells the history behind the Nazi’s rise to power and their abuse of said power that followed. For some twisted reason the Nazis were obsessed with keeping records on all the people they murdered and how they brought about the end of thousands of innocent lives. The interior walks through the darkest chapters of history with blatant and disturbing detail. In one case a series of photos illustrates an experiment where the Nazis were trying to determine the terminal velocity a human body could stand. To test their ‘theory’ they placed a Jewish man in a wind tunnel and blasted him with gusts so strong it eventually killed him. The initial photo shows a man with soul and life tied to a chair awaiting the twisted fate that was unfortunately bestowed upon him. Once  the wind tunnel is triggered the face of the man increasingly shows the unbelievable amount of pain he is suffering through until he is dead. Heavy shit. That was someone’s dad, uncle, brother, son.

Dead.

I will never be able to shake these images from my head.

Outside in Dachau are some somber sites that were purely dedicated to the mass production of death. The gas chambers were constructed, but apparently never used, and easily one of the eeriest places on the planet. Created strictly to coax innocent people into a premature death. It’s surreal knowing that the Nazi psychopaths built a death machine that was so efficient that it could destroy countless lives with the flick of a switch.

The crematorium is round two of the depression tour. Bodies were stored in a empty concrete tomb, piled anonymously to the roof waiting to be put into the industrial ovens. Death in an industrial capacity. Disturbing, inhumane and unbelievably silent set in a lush natural setting. It’s the weirdest dichotomy.

Inside the crematorium

Amongst all the evidence of death and suffering, there were some unique and poignant memorials dedicated to the unfortunate victims of the holocaust. It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and read about it, but seeing it with your own eyes makes it all the more real.

Monument to Dachau’s Jewish victims

Everyone left Dachau with heavy heads and a little less faith in humanity. To me, the saddest part about visiting any place where thousands died from genocide is the fact that is has happened countless times in the last century, let alone all of history. These sickening displays of power and skewed visions of purity are impossible to ignore and it hits home when you realize people of flesh and blood committed these heinous atrocities against their fellow man.

Germany. Ukraine. Cambodia. The Balkans. Rwanda. Tibet. The list goes on.

It seems as if one genocide ends another is just beginning, a sad cycle of death that permeates the history of man like an incurable disease. Places like Dachau shouldn’t exist but they do, and I sincerely hope that the lessons that are taught in these harsh places will decrease, if not eliminate, the frequency of such incomprehensible events in future generations.

So Munich is a beautiful city with tonnes to do and a boatload of things to photograph – however we spent most of our time sitting in tents knocking back beers so large they should be featured in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Enjoy this minute collection of Munich’s finest.

Read what we did – or what we remembered doing – in Munich here.

Munich in September, what could there possibly be to do there?

Oktoberfest is the answer, the worlds largest booze up get together that has taken on mythic proportions as one of the best parties on the planet. Meeting Germans on the road traveling is inevitable, they seem to be everywhere except their own country, and every time we mentioned we were planning to attend the southern Germany brew fest they were stoked to tell us we were in for a hell of a ride.

Turns out they were right but getting down south would be just as adventurous as the destination itself. We headed down to Munich from Berlin and we unfortunately got screwed out of a ride on a German ride sharing/hitchhiking site Mitfahrzentrale, we arranged a ride and the low life never showed up, thanks again you dick! We missed the bus and since we were meeting with Jackie’s parents we had to get to Munich that very day. Our only option was to rent a car, which in Europe is never cheap and is always a standard tranny. Shit, my dad tried to teach me to drive a stick when I was 16 and after grinding the gears in his beloved Trans Am to metallic powder he gave up and told me to buy an automatic. Jackie was set to inherit her parent’s 1989 Corolla so she learned to drive a stick so she could rip it up in her future whip. Unfortunately her brother rolled the car and Jackie was now destined to drive an automatic. In short, neither of us really knew WTF we were doing.

LEARNING TO DRIVE A STICK ON THE AUTOBAHN

I bit the bullet and decided to pick up the car and learn to drive a standard, in Berlin and further on to the Autobahn. I always thought cruising on the Autobahn would be a glamorous experience in a super car not me attempting not to blow up the transmission in a Renault Elf. I stalled the absolute shit out of the car and I had to throw on the blinkers at least four times.

That was just leaving the parking lot.

After getting to the Autobahn and swearing more than I ever had in my life things began to go a little smoother, get the puppy into fourth and hold it till Munich, or so I thought. For some odd reason, every time there is an exit people on the Bahn lock up the brakes and slow down to thirty KM/h, even if it isn’t their intended exit, so you are constantly shifting up and down to placate to a totally unnecessary step for driving on the highway. I guess I got lots of practice and when we approached an upcoming construction zone I knew I could pull it off. WRONG! I had to merge lanes and ended up stalling the little Elf in the middle of both lanes, on the Autobahn with no way around me. People behind were hammering on their horns and I was the asshole holding up weekend traffic on one of the world’s busiest highways, not funny at the time but absolutely hilarious when I look back on it. After about four hours I had to stop and take a whizz break, but there was no way that I was stopping that car. Around hour five my bladder was on the verge of exploding so I bit the bullet and kicked the elf into 4th, 3rd, 2nd and finally 1st in the parking lot of a truck stop that would be the perfect set for a 70s grind house film. Bladder empty we got back on the Bahn and ripped to the airport where we were to meet Jackie’s parents early the following morning.

Being the ‘budget conscious’ (re: cheap asses) travelers we decided to have a nice little sleepover in the Munich International, at this point in the trip we were pros at copping the best nooks and crannies to nod off in transport hubs. We decided to reward ourselves for surviving the Bahn with a couple beers and got a little tipsy and called home.

Big mistake.

We talked to Jackie’s brother and found out our guests were still in Canada. How could this be?!? Jackie checked our calendar and our correspondence with her parents and confirmed they were to arrive today. Where could we have gone wrong? We decided to crash at the airport that night and grab a hotel last minute the next day because two sleeps in a row at an airport will get you a one way ticket to an interview with security.

Our best option was a hotel recommended by the guest help desk, it was called the Movenpick and was 100 euro a night. Shit. With no other choice we took it and upon arrival at 5am were told we could check in at 2pm…or upgrade to a suite for 10 euros. Sold.

The concierge wasn’t even done his sentence and I had the old Visa out.

We crashed with intentions of going into Munich around lunchtime, and woke up around 8:30pm and laughed – obviously we needed a little rest!

Finally a day late and a few hundred dollars short we met up with our guests and cruised into Munich to make some plans.

Kicking back after a long drive and a garbage sleep at the airport. Best 100 Euros ever spent.

OKTOBERFEST

This event likely needs no introduction, but to the uninformed it is the largest beer festival in the world. Germans love their beer and every September (hence the name?) they get together, fire up some tents, toss on the lederhosen and toss back some extra potent beers.

There are countless tents to choose from but based on recommendations from the previously mentioned German travelers we decided to hit up the Hacker-Pzelfelt tent which goes by the name of ‘the German heaven’ and is supposed to represent their version of the afterlife. Babes in traditional wear, one liter beers, 10 000 people drinking and an endless supply of pork knuckles sounds like a pretty decent version of heaven.

The Roof Painted like German Heaven

Getting Tipsy With 10K People

There’s not much to summate here – we drank liters of beer and talked with a ton of locals. In the middle of the tent is a rotating stage with an oompa band that plays traditional German tunes while everyone gets loaded. Apparently if you stand on your table you have to chug your entire beer. One guy, who should be dubbed the king of beers, chugged 5 liters in three hours while we were there. I think he is probably dead now but he was definitely basking in the glory that his esophagus provided for him.

MASSIVE 1L Beers, each goes down smoother than the last

 
The beer in the tent is awesome and the burly chicks that deliver it have some serious skill, they were bringing 12 liters at a time to the tables. We passed the time eating and drinking, I’m pretty sure we all left there feeling no pain. If you plan to go to Oktoberfest, make sure you get to the tents early because the seats fill up fast!

A Couple Oktoberfest Liters In…

Seemed like a great idea at the time…after 4 beers, not so much.

One too many liters…

MUNICH

After waking up feeling like we were hit in the head with a 2×8, we decided to cruise to central Munich to nurse our hangovers with brewskis and a slab of schnitzel. Once we finished lunch we felt slightly more human than before and ventured into the city square.

Jackie’s parents were in awe – first timers to Europe – of all the insanely old and beautiful architecture. Jackie and I talked about how cool it was to see their enthusiasm,  as anyone who has traveled for long periods of time can attest, you start to take these things for granted. Seeing someone you know and love appreciate the environment is a great chin check and really made us wake up to the fact that our adventure, which was feeling routine, was anything but.

Our Munich stint was wrapped up with a stop at the steam room and a good nights sleep as the good times in Munich today were to be contrasted with the horrors of yesterday at our next stop – Dachau.

If you are concerned with the content of this video, and its promotion of orphanage tourism, we invite you to read this.

We spent almost a week in the German capital – looking around historic monuments like the Bradenburg Gate and Reichstag and sobering monuments dedicated to some of the darkest moments in human history. We didn’t go anywhere without our cam cams and it allowed us to get some great shots in the streets of Berlin. Enjoy!

Read about our experience in Germany’s capital here.

WELCOME TO BERLIN

Jackie cruising the streets of (old) East Berlin

14 hours on a bus with a bunch of old dudes sucking back shots of jägermeister, that accurately sums up our latest night bus excursion that was packed full of boringness, but we got to Berlin at the crisp time of 4AM. We got off at the semi abandoned station and waited until transit was running to get across town. We slugged back some shitty vending machine coffee and waited for the majestic, mystical and seemingly miraculous effects of caffeine to kick in. I used to think coffee was “OK” before this trip, now I am fiending on this ridiculous little beverage, no wonder coffee beans are traded as commodities: it’s to humans what petroleum is to vehicles.

We left the station now buzzing from the subpar cup of Joe and headed to the nearest underpass which led to the train station, grabbed a couple tickets and headed towards the city centre. Now I had no preconceptions as to what Berlin was going to be like, but being the capital of an economic superpower I figured it would be like any other major metropolitan area. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth: Berlin has character – no -Berlin is a character on the world’s stage. It is gritty, raw and does nothing to hide the scars caused by years and years of volatility, history and legacy.

You get a feel of Berlin’s atmosphere within minutes of being in the city, there are derelict buildings near the city core and street art and graffiti cover every square inch of  the long forgotten buildings. At first I was a little confused as to why this was the case but after a quick historical recap my arrogance was quickly chin checked.

The streets of Berlin – forgot to mention the Pope was in town…

WORLD WAR II

Berlin was home to the Nazi uprising and the city played host to many of their psychotic ploys intended to build a great nation filled with a pure human race. After building up hatred against the Jewish and Sub Human population the Nazis kickstarted their racial domination policy with Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, where citizens and Nazis smashed and destroyed Jewish owned businesses and synagogues. This was only one event in a massive series of insanely cruel acts of inhumanity towards the population of so called undesirable citizens.

Once WWII broke out bombing raids by the RAF were basically a daily affair, reducing the city to piles of rubble scattered all over the place. Skip forward to the race for Berlin – the Soviets from the east and the Allies from the west, with the eventual takeover of the city occurring in 1945 and signalling the end of a brutal war.

The city was then split down the middle by the commies and capitalists which eventually led to the construction of the Berlin wall, dividing people, families and communities living on either side of the notorious eyesore.

Holy shit. That is like a thirty second summary of the recent history, it’s incredible that the city is even around to tell it’s tale. No matter what kind of adversity is thrown in it’s direction, from megalomaniac psycho leaders to man made division structures, Berlin has persevered and it shows. The place is unbelievably energetic and although it’s not the “prettiest” city in the world, it is easy one of the coolest.

We spent our first day in the city visiting places of historic interest, including the Reichstag, Bradenburg Gate and the former residence of the SS. Seeing the places first hand is an interesting experience, standing in the very places where insane acts of power and brutality were displayed is somber and surreal. The areas haven’t changed much since the fall of the Nazi regime and just knowing the kind of things that occurred on the very ground you are standing on sends a chill down your spine. At the site of the former SS headquarters is the topography of terror museum which focuses on the upsurge in Nazism in Germany as well as the heinous acts committed by the German nation in WWII. It is honest and it is brutal and the people of Germany are the first to admit that being the aggressors in both world wars and committing the largest genocide in history is the definition of fucked up. The site is packed full of information and I had to read every square inch if text since I have been a WWII history fiend since I was a young lad.

Just a few blocks away is the memorial site for the victims of the holocaust. There are literally thousands of rectangle blocks occupying a gigantic concrete square in downtown Berlin. As you walk through the memorial the sizes of the blocks change and eventually you are totally consumed by the height of them, it puts you into a disoriented state and the representation of individual suffering on this scale is immense. You immediately can’t help but think of how many millions of people were affected directly by the actions of a few psychopathic leaders.

Walking around the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

The Holocaust Memorial Berlin

BERLIN WALL

Apparently two world wars and mass genocide wasn’t enough for the German nation so after world war two the country was divided between east and west, east would sit within the soviet union and west would be part of a western occupation.  Berlin was split right down the middle and after too many people crossed the ‘border’ from east to west the soviet union decided to erect a gigantic wall spanning the entire length of the active border in Berlin. We are not talking about a flimsy garden fence here, this is a military grade concrete barrier topped with barbed wire, machine gun nests, the odd spotlight and a couple genital targeting attack dogs. Sounds fun. Families who lived on opposite sides of the city were now totally prohibited from seeing each other overnight and many didn’t see each other until the wall crumbled in 1989.

Fast forward to the fall of the soviet union, at the same time the infamous Berlin wall was toppled and the world observed people happily destroying the ultimate symbolmof their former overlord. The wall came down and families and people were finally free to move amongst the German capital. Definitely a sign of good things to come…

There are remnants of the wall spread all over town, some more intact than others, but the main area that displays the former wall is known as the east side gallery. This chunk of the wall has since been converted into a massive art project showcasing the works from artists all over the world. A bunch of artists were commissioned to transform a sign of blatant oppression into a public gallery, quite the juxtaposition but it works perfectly. From psychedelic space scenes to pictures with more serious political implications this section of the wall grabs every passerby with hypnotic effect and we were no different.

Checking out a portion of the Berlin wall in front of the Topography of Terror museum

RAMONES MUSEUM

Ramones Museum – Original Rock N’ Roll High School Promo Gear!

By a total stroke of luck we ended up stumbling upon a museum dedicated to one of the greatest bands to walk the earth – the Ramones. I have been a fan of the OG Queens crew since I was a teenager with the same closet full of clothes as Dee Dee Ramone, so when I heard about this place I had to check it out.

We found the museum and paid our entrance fee – which is good for life – and also included a free beer to knock back as you wander the interior of the building that is the Ali Baba cave of Ramones gear.  Even if you aren’t a huge fan, you can easily spend a couple of hours looking through some of thr artifacts that have been collected by the curator over the course of many years as a fan.

The authenticity of the items in the museum is unbelievable – Johnny’s worn jeans, Dee Dee’s lock and chain necklace and even original merchandise for questionable solo pursuits (Dee Dee King anyone?). If that isn’t enough they play the Ramones documentary ‘End of the Century’ all day on a big screen TV, not a bad place to spend a little time watching a movie especially with a cold German beer in hand.

GOODBYE BERLIN

Berlin was the perfect place to start our German excursion, it is raw, gritty and holds the key to the insane vault of history that has plagued the now prosperous nation. Like I said before the city has a soul and I love places that are true to themselves, who knows where the city will be in the next twenty years but for the time being I can honestly say it’s been one of the coolest places we have step foot in so far.

Lysekil is a picturesque fishing village on the west coast of Sweden, the small town is surrounded by natural rock formations that were carved out by receding glaciers. The landscape is totally unique, smooth rocks juxtaposed by  suntanned grasses and brush land. Perfect place to kick back and enjoy the great outdoors.