The Last Shabang!

For our last weekend, four of us guys decided to take one last adventure before our trip came to an end. One of the things on all of our bucket lists was to feel the need for speed on the famous autobahn. So mom's this is where you probably should stop reading. 

We rented this beamer and went for a cruise down to the alps. I think our top speed was 140 miles per hour, at which point I think I pooped a little. 

It was freaking awesome. 

And completely legal. (And I am convinced that this is the way it should be everywhere.)

Anyways we got down to a place called Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 

We decided to do a gorge hike in the mountains for most of the day. It was unbelievable. They had built this catwalk into the side of this cavern in the mountain. We basically followed a waterfall up this mountain with these huge mountain walls on either side of us. My buddy johnny brought his gopro camera with a waterproof casing so we got to get some pictures amidst the spray. 

The picture quality isn't the best, but it was truly one of the most beautiful places that we have been so far. 

The further up we went, the wetter it got. There was watering spraying up from the waterfall below and off of the walls of the gorge as well. 

That night after we got dry, we found a sweet place to set up our tent and look out over the alps as the day ended. After a packed night with four guys in a three man tent, we got up to check out some other famous spots before heading home. 

We went to a place called Fussen. It is the place with the famous castle in the mountains that the disney castle is based off of. The hike up to the castle was epic, with some really steep waterfalls and amazing views. 

This was the view out over Fussen. Unbelievable! 

We finally made it up to a bridge that hangs high above a waterfall in the mountains, and overlooks the  Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle was built by Ludwig II in the 19th century. It was a ridiculous view. 

After finishing up at the castle, we got back in the car and raced back north to get home in time. It was truly an awesome adventure and a wonderful way to wrap up this trip to Europe. 

Unfortunately this is the end of my blogging adventures. Tomorrow we head home, and that will be the end of the Moody Europe Trip 2012. Thankyou so much to all of those who made this trip a possibility for me. I cannot express how meaningful and impactful this experience has been. Life is short, and opportunities like this are few. I am glad that I was able to share this experience with all of you. Thanks for following the madness. 

Glory to God,

Chris Warren

Berlin

Seeing the city of Berlin was absolutely amazing. There is a history to the country of Germany that is far deeper than many modern American’s understand and realize. If there is any place that is a testimony of the vast sociological and political change that has taken place in the past century, it is the city of Berlin. The city played a central role during World War II, and is evidence of all of the political influence and change that happened during and after the war. We had an opportunity to visit the Berlin Wall, which is one of the most telling things about the city.

The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 after the war. The city of Berlin was divided amongst the allies, with the Soviets making up East Berlin, and the U.S., British and French making up West Berlin.

Because the Soviets had lost considerably more soldiers in the war, it was in their vested interest to destroy the German state and rebuild it from the ground up. There was a growing rift between the Soviets and the allied forces because of their divided interests concerning what to do with Germany. It is at this time that the United States made a distinctive move to try and preserve the city of Berlin and the German state. From 1948 until 1949, President Truman instituted the Berlin Airlift, which supplied food and other supplies to those in East Berlin under the hostile guard of the soviets. The increase in tension led to the building of the wall, which served as a barrier between the two sectors of Berlin.

The Cold War was essentially a relatively unspoken uncertainty based off of the disagreements with the communist Soviet Union and the United States. After the Cold War ended in 1989, the wall was taken down. The city hired artists to paint the wall in 1991.

After the Cold War ended, the German reunification united Germany again into a single state. For the first time since 1945, the German people were restored from their cultural bankruptcy and given back their national pride. Nothing speaks more clearly of this than the Reichstag building in the heart of the city.

This is the parliament building of the government, which was mysteriously burned down in 1933. Hitler used this catastrophe to gain power, and the German society was moved towards a socialist state. After the Cold War ended, the Reichstag building was completely restored. The new architecture of the building speaks volumes of cultural change and redemption. One can notice that the building now is now lined with windows, which signify the transparency that the parliament seeks now to represent. What a contrast from the previous ideologies that ruled the country behind closed doors. A glass dome can be seen on the top of the building. This also signifies the government’s transparency, but also the power of the individual in influence over the government. One can see tourists walking inside the dome, and it is meant to signify that the individual now stands above the government. Germany has been freed from the wicked rule of a socialist dictatorship to a unified democracy. Notice the three flags that were flying just outside the Reichstag building.

What an amazing center of cultural change! This is a city that 25 years ago was racked with communist oppression and deprived of its cultural dignity. Now the city is completely changed. The German people have found their German identity here, and have reclaimed what was robbed them by 50 years of war and political carnage. This place is a testimony of redemption, and the power that within a society to find unification. It is the rediscovering of the rights of the individual, and the value of human life. Imagine what would have happened if Truman had conceded to the Soviet’s wishes. Imagine if this place was leveled to the ground and the society of the German people was utterly destroyed. Instead this city has been given the freedom to learn from its mistakes, and make its 

own strides towards change and redemption. It is magnificent empowerment.

Now at the heart of the city lies a holocaust memorial, dedicated to all those lost in the brutalities that occurred here during the war. This memorial is at the heart of the city, signifying it’s importance to the German people. 

This is an illustration that this country has resolved to acknowledge their history, and in that to progress towards the bright hope of the future.

Nurnberg

Another one of the remarkable cities that we got to visit was Nurnberg, Germany. The city is absolutely beautiful and is full of history.

There are high fortified walls that surround the city from the 11th century.

This is a picture of the tower in the castle on one end of the city.

While there is much medieval history in Nurnberg, it is much more famous for its recent history in the 20th century. The city of Nurnberg was the heart of the Nazi regime during the War. It was here that Hitler and his colleagues performed many of their party rallies from 1933-1938, and it is where Nazism would gain influence and popularity. After World War I, Germany was in disarray and the country was racked with poverty. Socialist ideas had already been spreading in Nurnberg, and Hitler's Nazi ideas grew immensely popular among the German people. Hitler promised restoration to the German people, and he was seen as the savior of the country. From Nurnberg, Hitler spread socialist propaganda throughout the country. Leni Riefenstahl produced the film The Triumph of The Will, which represented Hitler as a national hero who would save Germany. The German citizens had no idea what Hitler's ideologies would produce, because few understood the atrocious consequences that his ideas would lead to. Socialism promised Germany change, and few could see through Hitler's deceptive messages to count the cost. Those who opposed Hitler faced horrible imprisonments in concentration camps like Dachau.

We had the opportunity to visit the Nazi party rally grounds just outside of Nurnberg. The place is like a ghost town of abandon temples. This is a picture of the congress hall, which was inspired by the coliseum.

Other stadiums similar to this are all around the area. These were the Nazi places of worship, built to focus on Hitler, the savior of Germany. Watching videos of these places was eery. Some of the arena's held up to 150,000 people. These places were once filled with people all looking in willing servitude to the single Furer, Adolf Hitler. It was the power of the mass at the expense of the individual. Hitler had a single aim in mind, to unite Germany for absolute universal power.

Now the buildings lie as a chilling memorial to the influence of Nazism. There is now a museum in the congress hall. This place was absolutely enormous. It is hard to imagine that thousands and thousands of people were so influenced by Nazi ideas. After the war, the leaders of Nazism were tried in Nurnberg for war crimes. It was amazing to be in the place where it all started, and where it all ended.

Dachau

In 1944 Raphael Lemkin originated the term "genocide" in response to the horrors of the holocaust. He defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group". Everyone who knows the history of Europe is familiar with the holocaust. Many know that over 6 million Jews were killed in the holocaust, and over 12 million people all together if you include the minority groups. Those are monumental numbers indeed, but I think that it is hard to understand or comprehend the magnitude of such death in our world today. The majority of our generation has no direct connection to World War II and the horrors of the holocaust. As our generation moves forward, memories become shrouded in modernity, and reverence can turn to apathy. Being in Germany, however, has brought history to my doorstep, because this is a country that remembers the painful events of the past century well. Few Germans sing the national anthem or hoist their flag, because they have witnessed the evil ramifications of a political power. The concentration camps are museums of the thousands that fell under wicked governmental ideologies. One of the most sobering experiences of this trip was the opportunity to visit one of these concentration camps at Dachau. 


The concentration camp at Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp built in 1933. It was originally used for political prisoners of the Third Reich. As Hitler and the Nazi party gained power in Germany, prisoners were sent to this camp to help sustain the governments military efforts. As you walk through the door of the prison, the door reads "Arbeit Macht Frei", which means "work makes one free". Prisoners were forced to work under the impression that if they were obedient, they would obtain their freedom. 

Although much of the camp was burned after the war ended, much of the place has been preserved for people to come and witness. Walking through these gates was absolutely surreal. It was so hard to imagine that thousands came through this place on the way to their death. 

This was the large courtyard where the prisoners would line up and take role for hours at a time. 

The camp was huge, housing thousands of prisoners at a time.

The barracks have been rebuilt to simulate what life would have been like for the prisoners. The camps were incredibly messy and the prisoners were packed into these rooms like animals.

Sickness was a major source of death in the camps, as the living conditions were harsh and unsanitary.

The camp was heavily militarized and surrounded by tall fences to enclose the prisoners.

The Nazi ideology was built off the supposed supremacy of a particular race. Hitler believed that the Arian race was genetically superior, and he aimed to eradicate all those who were poisonous to his pure race. Jews as well as minority groups were forced into these camps as prisoners, and they would perform manual labor that support the Third Reich. Prisoners built roads, assembled weapons, and various other duties with little food or nutrition. As soon as the prisoners were either too sick or too weak to work, they were killed and replaced with the next prisoner. This was a vile ideology that degraded the value of the human life at the expense of the mob. This was one of the gas chambers used in the camp. It is hard to imagine hundreds of prisoners being paraded into this room, believing that they were taking showers. 

This gas chamber was located next to a crematorium, where human lives were senselessly eradicated.  To the Germans they were faceless casualties of war. The camp was a machine of death, built for fueling an ideology of world domination.

This wall was where prisoners were executed. You could walk up and feel dents where bullets struck. 

Now there are a number of memorials dedicated to the thousands lost in the holocaust.

This was probably one of the most difficult things to process on our trip. Just the sheer number of lives that were lost in this place is astounding. It seems impossible to comprehend that each of these thousands were real people like you and I. What were their stories? Who were their families? What pain, what torture did they endure at the expense of this evil empire? How can such reckless evil claim so many? It is at the foot of graves like this that I have asked myself some of these same questions. These are not movies; these aren't fictional characters. History is as real as it gets, and it shows us what ideas are capable of. We gasp at the horrors of the holocaust, and yet millions of lives are heartlessly aborted in America today. It is places like Dachau that shock us, but that remind us that we are not as far away from Nazism as we might think. We are quick to base the value of human life off of a manmade moral code, and its manifestation rears itself through our history. God forgive our dark wanderings from the light of your ways. 

While this place is a memorial of pain and death, it also a place of redemption. The German people live in the shadow of the terrors of Nazi ideas, and they are the ones who understand brutality. While there is shame, there is great unity for change here. This sign is at the center of the camp. 

"May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."

Free Week

Here I have posted a few pictures from my free week in the German Alps and Salzburg Austria.

Taken from a boat on the lake Konigsee in Berchtesgarden, Germany.

Our boat driver playing a horn to echo off the canyon walls

Some scenery surrounding the lake

Lake Konigsee from the highest adjacent peak.

Post hike feeesh

Augustiner Brewery in Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg

Ice Cream. mmmmmm

Under the flying buttresses of the Regensburg Cathedral

Regensburg Cathedral

The Danube river in Regensburg

Regensburg

Free week was incredible! So beautiful!