Charlotte has been reading a lot about WWII and wanted to go to a camp and Ann Frank’s house. We were not able to fit in Amsterdam this trip (during previous visits I thought she was too young) so in our drive across country, we stopped to visit Dachau which is just west of Munich. I was apprehensive about how intense this was going to be as I remember being very upset as a teen when I lived in Germany and our high school visited a camp. We were unable to take the free tour in English as it was full (get there very early for this) so had the individual audio recordings which actually were just fine and we were able to move around on our own pace. It was intense and horrifying but the focus in the camp is not on macabre but on peace and not letting this ever happen again. There are limited photographs of horrors and lots of places for reflection with worship centers from multiple religions. It is very simply laid out and maintained and has a feeling of calm reflection within – at least that is what I found.  The kids were OK too. Quiet and reflective and I found we were walking holding hands or hooking arms together.

I did not take many photos here as it did not feel comfortable. There were the tourists doing selfies at the gates (why@#^$&???) but mostly people were similarly quiet.

I really recommend taking older children and teens here as we all need to remember.

We stayed about 10 minutes away in a lovely little town called Olching. Our hotel was amazing – Hotel Schiller – and the people very friendly. Great onsite Bavarian restaurant with top notch food. Really enjoyed staying here.