Königsplatz

Gavin and I had breakfast at Cafe Buur again this morning - the owner recognised us from yesterday and came to thank us for coming there. Luke and Meriel went for a run and did their own thing this morning. We then checked out of the hotel and drove to Tommy's apartment, where we left the car in his basement parking garage. We did consider leaving Xena in his apartment as we planned to visit a museum, but as we were not sure how long we would be, we decided to take her with us and Gavin and I would take turns to go in, one of us staying outside with her. 

We took the U Bahn to Königsplatz, which is the area where all the museums are. We decided to visit the "Hitler museum' officially called The National Socialism Documentation Centre and it is located on the former site of the Nazi party headquarters, known as the 'Brown House'. There was no admittance charge and when Thomas politely asked if they allowed dogs, the staff asked if the dog was noisy and would be barking and when we told them how quiet she is they allowed her to come in. So Xena had her first visit to a museum today! We were there for nearly 3 hours and in all that time she just stood quietly next to us and never whined or barked. She truly is such a well behaved dog and we are lucky that we can take her anywhere.

The museum was brilliant. It started from 1918 onwards and told the story of Hitler's rise to power and how he was able to become the leader so quickly. Many fascinating photos, letters, movie clips and documents. Königsplatz is such a historic place as it is the square where so many Nazi rallies took place, if you google it you will see images of Hitler on the steps of this building. I never realised that Munich was the centre of all the Nazi activities, and although the headquarters were later officially moved to Berlin, the heart of the Nazi movement remained based in Munich. Königsplatz is also where the US army marched into Munich to liberate it from the Nazis. 

There were large sections in the museum on the treatment of the Jews by the Nazi Party, although the anti-semitism and racial hatred started many years before Hitler rose to power - their story obviously gets more and more horrific as the war years progressed, and ends with them being relocated to a new life in Palestine...a bit poignant in today's political climate.

After the museum visit we met up with Luke and Meriel to say goodbye to Meriel who left to go back to Paris by train. Tommy, Luke, Gavin and I went to the Olympic Park which is very near Tommy's apartment - see extra of it. There are great views of the city from the top of the hill. I was reminded to watch the movie September 5 about the Israeli athletes who were taken hostage at the 1972 Olympic Games held here, by a Palestinian terrorist group. The buildings in the Olympic village that can be seen her is where this all took place.

We then drove north of Munich to the campus of Helmholtz AI where Tommy works - he is very fortunate to have great working conditions, a science centre in the middle of a nature reserve. 

It was an easy 3 hour 5 minute journey back home again to Klosters, and we raided the fridge for an easy supper before unpacking and getting laundry done. It's now our last few days in Switzerland as we drive home on Wednesday.