"But the children knew, as I am sure you know, that the worst surroundings in the world can be tolerated if the people in them are interesting and kind." -- Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning
On day 5 of our stay in Munich, we woke up late - mid morning. Jet lag was still getting the better of us and we were tired from our trip to the King's Castles from the day before. We originally planned on getting a single day pass and visiting Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Lymphenburg Palace and the BMW Museum (in that order -- the BMW Museum had the latest closing time). We thought we could still possibly pull all three off but we ended up staying 5 hours at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site trying to take in all the information as possible. I highly underestimated the amount of time needed here.
From the Munich Central Station, we took the S2 to Dachau Station (it took approximately 25 minutes). From there we took the #726 bus, which dropped us off in front of the entrance of the memorial site (bus stop: KZ-Gedenkstätte).
We didn't opt to take the guided tour, which was about 3 hours long. I didn't think we would be staying that long. Looking back, I think I would have liked to take the guided tour and then take time to see things on my own. I really think Dachau deserves a full day of your undivided attention.
Yangkyu and I instead rented two audioguides (3.5 euro each) and from the first information panel we came across, which happened before stepping into the main site, we were already reading every last word and listening to the entire description from the audio guide.
The iron gate at the entrance into the camp reads "Arbeit macht frei". It means "Work will set you free." This phrase is found on a number of other camp entrances including Auschwitz. This iron gate in Dachau was a replica because the original had been stolen two years ago. I was curious about it and after looking it up online I found out that the gate was recently found in Norway.
Walking down the path leading to the entrance of Dachau itself was a sobering experience. It really hits you right away - the place you are at, the path you are walking - and what it all means.
My first young adult book my mom got me was The Diary of Anne Frank. I remember reading and had so many questions.
I learned about the Holocaust in school - as a young child, in high school and in college. I remember our high school showed Schindler's List in the school auditorium to the entire student body. Parents had the option of writing to the school to exempt their children from watching if they thought the material was too mature for them. I think everyone participated. And everyone either cried or were overcome with a solemness we didn't know quite how to process. I've read books, watched movies and documentaries. Even before learning about the Holocaust, I knew it was a tragedy. It was horrifying and the sadness overwhelming. But it wasn't until I went to Dachau that I began to really comprehend what tragedy, atrocity and sadness really meant when it came to the Holocaust and the concentration camps. Perhaps I am now a bit more mature and I have gone through life experiences that give my emotions more depth.
I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures while at Dachau. I took photos of mostly the exterior, especially those poplar trees that line what is called The Camp Road. The information panel reads:
After the morning assembly in the block roads, the prisoners marched along the camp road to the roll-call area. After work and the evening roll call they returned in closed formation to their barracks. The road lined with poplar trees was the prisoners' central meeting place. In the few free hours they had, here they could meet friends from other barracks and exchange information. The "spirit of the camp road", as the prisoners expressed it, was a symbol of the solidarity amongst the prisoners which developed despite the omnipresent violence.
I don't think I will ever forget those poplar trees and what it felt like to walk that road. On either side were beds of gravel where barracks were once located. It was rows and rows and rows of barracks.
Dachau was the first concentration camp opened in Germany in 1933. At first it was intended to hold political prisoners. Then came the imprisonments of Soviet prisoners of wars, Jews, Sinti, Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witness and more. Dachau served as a model for other Nazi concentration camps that followed. It was not an extermination camp but people were put to harsh work, tortured, suffered brutal treatment and were experimented on.
One of the hardest and most shocking views at the memorial site was the crematorium. It was hard to be there. I cannot describe it. I have always told Yangkyu that I don't do very well with death and I have tried to figure it out with him. That hardship I have, I felt here. And it was hard to walk away without tearing.
I shivered when I walked into the gas chamber although it is said that the gas chambers in Dachau were not used to kill people but to disinfect clothing. It was nonetheless haunting.
Accompanying these shocking sites at Dachau were religious memorials. Simple and moving. There is also a museum where we spent considerable amount of time. I don't think Yangkyu and I said a single thing to each other while we were in the museum. We just gave each other space to view at our own pace.
I saw many people taking selfies, even at the crematorium. On Instagram I saw a girl standing on the camp road lined with poplar trees giving a shout out to her shoes and where people can buy them. I didn't understand this and it was disappointing to say the least. It was also difficult to think how atrocities keep happening, and we keep saying never again and yet it happens again... and again.
The sun was going down when we were leaving Dachau. We left at closing, 5 pm. We were not in the mood to see anything else, especially something like the BMW Museum. It didn't seem appropriate. We just grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to our hotel room.
I have been watching two documentaries on Netflix that put a new perspective of WWII and the Holocaust. They are Auschwitz: The Nazis and The Final Solution and The Untold History of the United States (I'm still watching this but did get through WWII). They are well worth the watch if you are interested.
The following day we headed to Salzburg. We hope you'll come back to hear our stories from there.
Happy New Year! Guys! It's really 2017. Eep!
Did you all stay up till midnight and watch the ball drop? I completely passed out by 11 pm and missed the whole shebang, but that's ok. Other times I really hate skipping on tradition but watching the ball drop was never really something that I anticipated or got excited over. It was always this thing where we'd turn to ABC 3 minutes before midnight, watch the countdown, share kisses and hugs and then turn the TV off and go to sleep. Not very exciting.
But 2017 is here and we wish all our friends a year of many wonderful and exciting things.
Today is only the second day into the new year and it also marks 2 weeks since Mr. Bartles and we became family.
I only have a few pictures of Bartles that I took with my camera and all of them are of him sleeping. That's because we're still getting a handle on his routine, mainly his pee and potty routine, and so whenever he is awake the first thing we're doing is getting him to go outside because that's when he is likely to pee and poop. Then it's usually meal time or treat time and then off to dreamland. He has about four hours in the day when he is roaming around, but I have been usually been preoccupied with watching him in case he has an accident. So I haven't been able to get to my camera much to get all the adorable Bartles moments but we have plenty of time for that.
One of the trickiest things for us is getting Bartles to pee and potty outside. I have been keeping a time journal of his daily routines - when he sleeps, gets up, pees, potties, eats, has his treats, when he goes for his walks, etc. Now that I have logged in about a week and a half worth of entries, I am able to see some pattern to his routines, although Mr. Bartles sometimes has tricks up his sleeves and will throw a curve ball at us. I guess he likes to mix things up a bit so that it won't get too boring for us.
Mr. Bartles doesn't really have a signal, or if he does it's a little hard to decipher it still. Pacing and going in circles and walking around doesn't necessarily mean that he needs to go pee or potty. Sometimes it means he's hungry, or thirsty or he just wants to walk around a bit before finding a comfortable spot back on the bed. He is still learning to go up to the balcony door to be let out. He has been getting a bit better, but sometimes he isn't able to hold it in and will go on the spot. Or when he is let out or when we go on walks, Bartles won't do anything and then as soon as we're back inside he'll go.
Bartles has gotten much much better or should I say, we all have gotten much much better but there is still much work to do and I gather that it'll take us a while before we see some major improvements. But I am confident that we'll get there.
I presume that it's hard for Bartles with his Cushing's and not being able to digest his food like healthy dogs (Mr. Bartles does not go potty after meal time, which is what all the dogs we look after do) and with weak back legs, he sometimes falls down while walking, turning around or getting out of bed. Sometimes he loses control of his bladder muscle and he pees, while still down.
This morning after a successful pee session in the yard, Bartles fell on his way back inside and then ended up going potty. It kind of smeared on his behind and our floor and mat. We gave him a bath to clean up. A couple of hours later, Bartles went potty again, this time, trotting out the balcony door by himself and going down on to the grass to do his business. I think he had something to prove and boy did he prove it.
I am not sure if it helps but we have been giving him "high level treats" (turkey cold cuts) when he does his business outside. I actually stopped doing this after the first couple of days trying because I didn't think he was making the connection, but I started to do it again yesterday. See, I am making mistakes and probably giving Bartles mixed signals. I'm learning and trying too, just as Bartles is learning and trying.
We still have to take a family selfie. I actually haven't been looking too put together lately, and you know, we should all look nice for our first family selfie, so I've been waiting for that moment. I think the first week as Bartles was settling in, I was getting other things done when Bartles was asleep and when he was awake, I was by his side always to make sure he didn't have an accident. Showers usually came late at night or the next day. But yesterday, both Yangkyu and I took a shower in the morning and I even put make up on and blow dried my hair. When Bartles was awake, I lifted Bartles up and we got in position and as Bartles wiggled a bit he ended up going potty, missing my leg by just a hair.
Learning and trying. That is our motto.
In other news, we have transitioned Bartles food fully now. For breakfast and dinner he gets boiled chicken, brown rice, sweet potato and a vegetable mix (usually carrots, cabbage, butternut squash and broccoli) mixed with coconut oil. I don't add organs and instead have been adding 1 nugget of Primal Frozen Raw Food (Duck Formula). He also gets his NHV supplements mixed in during both meal times. He is on Supraglan, Milk Thistle, Turmeric, Tripsy and Multi Essentials.
For lunch, Bartles gets Wysong Epigen Beef wet food mixed with a little of Wysong Synorgon dry food. I usually sprinkle a little of Dr. Harvey's Golden Years supplement with his lunch and sometimes a splash of The Honest Kitchen Pro Bloom Goat's Milk as well. Bartles also gets fish oil and Coenzyme 10 supplements in the afternoon.
We have a couple of early January DogVacay guests and then we take off for the rest of the month. I wanted to spend some alone time with Bartles and also get him started on some therapy as well (and also start leaving the house for short periods of time to see if we can start to get used to a routine). I'm looking into acupuncture or a chiropractor to help with his Cushing's Disease and arthritis and also hip and back. Sometimes Bartles has a harsh backwards arch happening on his back (and his spine looks curved) and it looks uncomfortable. I am not sure if he is positioning himself this way because he is in pain. Dogs are stoic creatures. Sometimes they won't show any outward pain even though they are feeling uncomfortable.
We also plan on getting a couple of small ramps so that getting out the balcony door and down from our low deck won't be such a chore for Bartles.
Some fun things I found out about Bartles is that he likes to look in the refrigerator with me to check out what we have inside. He also likes to bed hop - in the morning and afternoon he'll sleep on the green Molly Mutt bed in the kitchen (sometimes I'll put it by the front door) and in the evening he prefers the big round bed from Costco. He doesn't like having his front paws touched but he does great during bath time. I like giving him neck scratches and face rubs and falling asleep with him on the Costco bed. He sometimes has what we call "fight sessions" with the pillow we have on his bed. He'll nudge it with his head until it's finally TKO-ed out of the ring (aka: the bed). Then he'll go lay on top of it. You know, kind of like the final move before the referee calls the game.
We like to call him Mr. B for short, and most recently started to say "He's jingling!" That is our cue to let each other know that he is on the move.
At first we kept missing him moving around because on carpet we don't hear his nails tapping on the floors. He had a couple of accidents and so we decided to put the jingle bell collar we bought for him for Christmas on at all times, loosely around his neck because he has skin irritations, so that we can hear him when he gets up. It's been working great.
Right now Bartles is sleeping on the green Molly Mutt bed in the little kitchen nook under a soft blanket. Bartles has plenty of blankets to keep him warm and so many bags of treats to keep his tummy yummy.
It's been a crazy (in a good way) 2 weeks with Mr. B. I won't lie, there were hard moments. Christmas was especially a tough day as Bartles went backwards on improvements we were making and had multiple accidents in the house. The following day I woke up with major dark circles under my eyes (picture Uncle Fester). But each day is an adventure with him. Bartles keeps me busy. He makes me laugh. He makes me be responsible. He makes my heart warm. And he is most certainly leaving his Bartles paw prints permanently on my heart. You can't help but fall in love with him.
Happy 2 weeks, Bartles. I hope you like being with us as much as we like being with you.
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