Luxembourg

Sunday October 11th

AEGEE (also an international student organization) planned a group trip to Luxembourg, which is the capital city of the country with the same name. Luxembourg is a small land locked country sharing its borders with France, Belgium, and Germany. Being surrounded by such large and well known countries, it is easy to tour Europe and leave it unnoticed. However, if able to visit, one should definitely take the opportunity. One would also expect that in a tiny country it would be difficult to communicate with the locals, but it is quite the opposite. French is the official language but most people speak German or English as well. In fact, the city is one of the three official capitals of the European Union and home to the European Court of Justice. Because the city also has one of the highest ranking per capita income in the world, it happens to be a huge finance and banking hub.

Unfortunately for us, we went on a Sunday, when most of these places were closed. However, the weather was sunny and there was fireman's parade so the streets were busy.

Here the firefighters were performing a street comedy show in their mini fire truck.

Technically a Grand Duchy and not a kingdom, this is the home of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri, and his family.

Not complete without a royal guard of course (bottom left)

The highlight of the day trip was the old town. Enclosed in a fortifying wall with the Alzette river running through, it truly is a breathtaking view, which I do not believe this picture does justice to.

Dachau

Saturday October 3rd

After breakfast, we checked out of the hostel in Dachau and headed to the concentration camp. Immediately upon passing through this entrance the mood changed.

 "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" or "work makes one free" is inscribed on the gate.

Opened in 1933 by Heinrich Himmler, Dachau concentration camp was the first of its kind in Germany. Originally meant to serve as a work camp for political prisoners it expanded to hold all enemies of the Nazi state. Dachau became an SS training camp and was the model used to establish other concentration camps. In the 12 years of its operation, more than 30,000 prisoners were killed.

Seeing the various parts of the camp and getting a glimpse of how the prisoners were treated and forced to live, one cannot help but feel heartbroken and ashamed.

Oktoberfest

Friday October 2nd
"There is no way I'll be spending a year in Germany and not go to Oktoberfest" was my answer to a question frequently asked of me before I left the United States. Luckily, ESN Heidelberg had reserved 50 seats for Friday October 2nd. We left Heidelberg at 6am and stopped by our hostel in Dachau to drop our stuff off. We got to Theresienwiese (the Oktoberfest grounds) at 11:30. The table was reserved for us from 12pm until 4pm.

Only beer brewed in München is allowed to be served at Oktoberfest. The beer comes in one size, Maß (pronounce mass), equivalent to one Liter.

In my mind I had imagined the festival to be chaotic. Even with more than six million visitors per year, it is quite tame. This is because the festival is strict on the purchase of beer. Beer can only be bought inside the ornate tents (which are not actually tents but warehouse like buildings) and is not allowed to be taken outside.

Even inside the tents, if you are not seated you are not allowed to buy a beer. On top of that, getting a seat without a reservation made months in advance is practically impossible. Weißwurst (a Bavarian dish of white sausage) with a few Maß of Paulaner Beer and the singing of German festival songs was the norm and before we knew it, our four hours were up.

The rest of the grounds were like any other festival, amusement rides and kiosks selling a range of goods from trinkets to sweets.  

Tips:    Make a reservation months in advance otherwise you won't get a seat.

            Get to the train station early, because at 11:30pm it felt more crowded than the festival, and             you might miss the last train, which would be inconvenient if you are not staying within

            walking distance of the festival grounds.