Monday, July 23, 2007

Munich to Berlin

Heading towards 130 MPH/220KPH on the Autobahn



Dachau and High Speed on the Autobahn

We spent the morning relaxing at the hotel and waiting for the best time to avoid rain along our route. By the early afternoon we were on the road again and making our way up the spine of Germany to the north from Munich to Berlin. My longest stretch so far on the autobahn, we had a five hour drive ahead.


Our first stop upon leaving Munich was a very sobering and reflective one: Dachau. The name itself has become as infamous as Auschwitz in Poland. To be in a place of such incredible cruelty and one of the greatest examples of man's inhumanity towards man, Dachau was unforgettable. At the site there is a plaque that simply reads: Never Again.





Prisoner entrance with the infamous inscription "Work Sets You Free"

The Gatehouse where all victims entered the concentration camp.

For the sake of a better world may we never forget what happened there.

Back on the road we made our way up the freeway and gave in to the lure of a burger and fries at Burger King after I pulled in to fuel the car. High speeds don't do fuel economy any favors...

I also had my first run-in with the police while parked at Burger King. They blocked my car and asked to see "my papers". They had noticed the odd license plate and being a small town of course, decided that they had better check things out. No problems and they were courteous. Thanks to Jennifer I have a photo of the police trying to figure out all that U.S. paperwork.


"Ihre Papiere bitte" German Police try to make sense of the California Car


Long freeway drives and fast food just seem to go hand-in-hand.


The rest of the day was spent on the road enjoying the scenery of Bavaria, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. We crossed a bridge on the autobahn that served as the former border of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany). The A9 Autobahn did not serve as a major conduit between the two nations so the former border caught me by surprise and we weren't able to snap pictures in time. Perhaps the more famous east/west autobahn crossing we'll be able to capture later on our way back to the Netherlands.

We finally made it to Berlin Mitte late in the evening.

2 comments:

RB said...

Glad to see it went well with the Police. Never been to the death camps but it must be sobering to say the least.

I imagine even at 130 you were still getting passed?

Monday, rain in California! Very Humid here at home, but we needed it so all good. Storm came in yesterday early evening.

Robert said...

rb,

Yes, I still got passed but not that often when we hit the +110 mph mark.

BTW, the MINI was very comfortable cruising at 110. Almost the perfect autobahn speed. Above that and the concentration and care went up greatly.