Happy Halloween!

Today was quite the busy day.

But first I have to share our Halloween night!

We went to the pumpkin exhibition at Ludwigsburg (a castle... more on that later :) )

And we got this big guy

Franck, my cousin's husband said the women had to carry it... and I had to prove myself. 

He also chose the biggest pumpkin there was... so I put it on my head :)

Rosie and Henry made us a FABULOUS dinner and set up the table all nice :)

Potato salad, Spaetzle, Beef... and so much more deliciousness I can't even describe!

 Then it was pumpkin carving time

Jon and Franck giving it a go

 

What design should we do??

Let's look it up

Katja dominated this pumpkin :) She showed no carving  mercy.

Workin' it

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Munich: Dachau

On Friday we made our way out to Dachau concentration camp, which is right outside of Munich.

Dachau started out as a political prisoners camp and was a "model camp" for the rest. It is the only camp to be around for the entire 12 years the Nazi's were in power.

It was built to hold only 6,000 people and by 1945 there were over 32,000.

I visited this camp many years ago with my mom and remember it being so dark and depressing, and although the sun was shining on Friday and it was gorgeous outside, walking through again just weighed us all down.

To think that there can be so much hate in the world, and how anyone could treat another human being like that, I just don't understand.

I'm thankful that places like this still exist to remind us of the horrors and mistreatment that occurred not so long ago.

 The shower rooms

 Inside the Barracks

 All of those cement areas are where the barracks used to be.

The path in between all the barracks where the prisoners would meet.

The crematorium. They made the prisoners build the crematorium... so incredibly sick.

This is the path and railway that they were brought in on.

Honestly I don't even know how to end this post. 

How do you rap up a day where thousands upon thousands were killed, beaten, and cruelly treated?

I think all I can end with is

Spread Love.

We've seen what happens when the message is hate.

And I don't think we ever want to go back.

Berchtesgaden and Munich

One of Jon's dreams since he was in junior high was to see Eagle's Nest. Hitler's little fortress in the mountains in the South of Germany.

Ashley and I were also pretty gung ho about this little adventure and we were all pretty stoked when we rolled into Berchtesgaden...

only to find out from the hilarious train ticket man that Eagle's Nest was closed! Due to the snow they received on Monday.

I believe his exact words were "I'm sorry but sometimes you can't climb every mountain or ford every stream" (made even funnier by the fact that, that line is from sound of music, which we had just gone on the tour for)

So we had a quick lunch took some pictures of the cute little town and made our way to Munich!

Munich at night

Sausage and potatoes were getting to be a bit much so we decided to go a different way for dinner...

and we were NOT disappointed!

Some of the best Indian food, EVER.

Here are some pics from our next day in Munich

 The City Hall building

The market area.

Sausage and Beer for all!

Hofbrauhaus!

And we had to hit up a beer hall! Augustiners was fantastic!

Good friends, Good beer, and Great food!

Perfect evening in Germany!