DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP

On the way back from our trip to Germany last week we made a stop at Dachau, Germany. It was the sight of the Dachau Concentration Camp. Dachau was in use from 1933 to 1945.

As you can see from the picture, this is what is left of the rail road station where prisoners were unloaded.







This picture is of the gate and entrance into the concentration camp.
I can not imagine the feeling of despair and fear when entering these gates.









This is a picture of one of the barracks. As you can see each person had a very small place to sleep.











One of the perimeter barbed wire mazes before the actual barbed wire fence.









This is a burial place of the ashes of an unknown number of cremated prisoners

You can not leave after a visit to Dachau without being touched by the horror of what happened inside these walls.

BAVARIA REGION OF GERMANY

We spent a few days in the Bavarian region of Germany last week. It is one of my favorite places to visit. The countryside is beautiful.

This is a picture of the cattle grazing just outside of our hotel room. All of the cows have bells around their necks and I loved the faint ringing of the bells in the distance each time the cows would move or bend down to graze.

This is another picture off the deck of our hotel. You can see the mountains in the distance.

The two pictures above are of a dairy located right in the middle of the town. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera when we saw a man on a bicycle bringing the cows into town to be milked. They were walking down the center of this road and did not seem to mind at all when cars would go around them.

Just a picture of one of the many houses and the beautiful flowers.

MOUNTAIN HIKE

We went for a drive into the mountains outside of Bassano last weekend and found a hiking trail. Here is where the trail lead. We were very glad we decided to see where it went! The bottom of the waterfall
The top of the waterfall

The stream along the way

EVERYONE LOVES A CIRCUS

The circus came to Bassano for 9 days awhile back. We did not attend any of the shows, but you could walk around and look at the animals any time during the day. Tigers at play

I wonder what keeps him from walking right through this fence. It is not electric, we touched it

I think he looks tired and a bit bored.

You know you are up close and personal with an elephant when you can get a shot like this without using the zoom.

AN OLD ITALIAN VILLA

At the tip of Sirmione are the remains of an old Italian villa that was built some time between the 15th and 16th century.

The remains are in unbelievable condition considering the age of the structure

The outside wall overlooking the lake

Another view of the outside wall

A view of the inside

SIRMIONE ON LAGO DI GARDA

Sirmione, Italy Sirmione is an island that extends like an arm into the waters of Lake Garda.

To get to Sirmione, we had to take this paddle boat. It is a 20 minute ride across the lake.

Sirmione as you are approaching from the paddle boat.

AN ITALIAN HAIL STORM

Earlier this spring we had a hail storm here in Bassano. As it progressed and the size of the hail increased, I was sure the sky lights in our flat were going to break. Luckily, they did not. It did however do a lot of damage to the grapes, cherry trees, corn and vegetables. I have heard some people say that it will take 2 years for the grape vines to recover. I took the following two pictures a day after the storm.

This is the parking lot of a school close to us. They pushed the hail in piles just like we do snow in the US.