The next day we woke relatively early and got ready for the day's adventure. Manuela served us a nice breakfast with an assortment of bread, meat and cheese. It became apparent that this type of breakfast was traditional in Germany.
After breakfast, Harald arrived to drive us to Cäsar's house. There we met up with the rest of the gang. Manuela and Philipp were joining us today, which was nice. We then crammed into two cars. Manuela, Philipp, Jeff and I rode with Harald. While Jerry, Joyce and Marty rode with Cäsar.
Where were we going? First to the Buchenwald concentration camp and then to the neighboring town of Weimar. Buchenwald is not exactly the place one would expect to go while on a Beer tour, but Cäsar wanted us to see it. That was fine with us, since we wanted to experience as much as we could on this trip. So, autobahn we were bound!
We actually had to cut across the country side on smaller roads before we reached the autobahn. The autobahn wasn't anything great. It kind of reminded me of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. But the more powerful cars did drive fast. Not us, however, since we were in tiny economy cars.
Cäsar's car up ahead. Huge trucks to our right.
Along the way, we passed a cluster of large electric-generating windmills. Also, it seemed like every high ridge had a castle perched on top. The countryside was very scenic. It would have been neat to get off the autobahn anywhere along the way to explore some of the towns we drove past.
Finally, we find ourselves driving straight toward a wide ridge with a large stone tower. We see Cäsar up ahead slowing down and pointing at it. We had the feeling that was where we were heading. Sure enough, that tower turned out to be a Buchenwald memorial.
As we turned onto the road into Buchenwald, I got an eerie feeling in anticipation of what we were about to see. The weather didn't help, either. It was cold and raining. The museum was closed, so we walked down the path to the camp. When we went around a corner, I recognized the long gatehouse from pictures.
On the right wing of the gate house was a long hallway with tiny cells on either side. These cells were used for solitary confinement and were barely large enough for one person.
In the cells, there were plaques and pictures of some of the inmates who lived and died in these cells.
Then we entered the camp. It was mostly empty. Most of the buildings were gone. All that was left of the rows and rows of barracks were gravel filled outlines of the foundations.
Way off to the right, though, was a building with a smokestack in the middle.
I figured what that building was, but I asked anyway. Crematorium. I was afraid of that. So, we slowly made our way over there. There was a sign outside that requested silence while inside, as it was a place of mourning. The building was not very big, so we were soon staring at the row of giant ovens. The thought of how they were used was gruesome.
Then we went out the back and down some steps to the basement. On one side there was a large chute opening to the outside above and along the wall was a row of hooks. Also, on the other side was an old elevator. It didn't take much to figure out what they were all for.
We examined the rest of the camp and walked across to the other side where the was a reproduction of a barracks. It was raining slightly and cold and we were not dressed for this type of weather. We decided we saw all we needed to see and decided to go.
Next, Weimar!
