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Second day of the trip was interesting. We woke up at the Imperial Hotel
from a long day of travel to a great breakfast. Eating in Europe is always
different and how the hotel treated us for the first day in Germany set the
bar. A variety of food and juice gave us a jump start to the day. We set out
with the team for Dachau, just outside of Munich.
The famous WWII concentration camp that tortured and murdered thousands
of Jews, was a a tour to remember. I wasn't really sure what to expect from
seeing Dachau. There were no ords that could even come close to explaining
what we saw in our adventure to the area. Home to one of the first, and one
of the largest concentration camps, established, this was a moment to
remember I didn't know how to react and more importantly what to take in.
After hearing from grade school about the mass murder and racial genocide, I
was actually there. We roamed the huge concentration camp in awe of what
really took place there. Chills were creeping down my back imagining what
all the inmates had to go through. To arrive in Germany and the next day
witness the mass genocide that occurred once again... [The experience again]
set the bar for the trip.
For the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Website, click on link below:
http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html
One thing that every foreigner should experience when coming to Europe
is the walking. It's what you need to do to you want to experience the
lifestyle. Before our match today we took the local train into town because
we heard about this natural (surfing) wave on the Eisbach River, but we
needed to see it for our eyes. So we starting walking, and walking, and
walking and walking, and soon people got groggy and impatient wondering
where this wave pool was as we searched the city. More walking occurred and
then some and when finally after the hysterical and priceless conversations
we had along the way we were there, once again in awe, as we just walked
around the whole city. But it was worth it and we came to realize the perks
of walking quite a ways really pays off in Munich.
We played this team from Friedberg. They are a Division 3 Professional
German Team. When we got to the gym and saw them warming up we were thinking
that we were in for a ride. Their average height was 6'5" and above, we
weren't quite that tall but we new we had the speed and fineness. The first
game was due to the inexperience of playing together and the nervousness of
playing such giants. Their game is way different than the game we play in So
Cal. They don't like to get dirty and when they make mistakes they start to
go downhill but when they get their game going its hard to stop them. The
second game went by and we beat them. Third game was done and we came out
with a win.
Next thing you know we're playing a bunch of pros and up 2 games to 1.
We were more confident then ever and that got us in trouble. We lost the 4th
game. It then came down to the fifth game and we were once again more than
confident that we were going to win this opening match to a professional
European team. But once again we went down swinging and lost the fifth game
15-11. Keeping our heads high we thanked the team and wished them good luck
in their upcoming season as they did the same to us. This trip and
experience is just what I hought it was going to be. Being on the trip last
year I had high expectations for this trip and all of them have been met so
far.
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