What Are You München?

Munich (München)
This weekend we made a 5 hour trip to Bad Aibling, a farming town just under an hour outside of Munich.  Both areas are located in Germany's southern state, Bavaria.  This is the richer area of Germany, which became apparent as we drove past some very nice houses on the way to downtown Bad Aibling.

Stairs descending from a 1700's church (untouched by the war) to downtown Bad Aibling.

Game Time

Now how about the game against one of the top teams in our league.. on their home court (which, by the way, was wooden... a rare luxury out here!).  The gym had an amazing atmosphere that took me back to my college playing days.  The fans were LOUD with drums, kazoo-thing-a-ma-jigs, clappers, and of course all the drunken shouting.  Check out the video below for the German recap of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLXqRvW1ap0

English Recap: 

Before the game one of my returning teammates mentioned how the ceiling beams are low in some areas and to be careful when shooting because shots have the possibility of hitting the ceiling.  At this I proceeded to laugh and said no way that's going to happen and that it was stupid you could get a turnover for poor building design.  But of course, come the middle of the second corner I catch a pass from my point guard at the dead center top of the key at the three point line, let it launch due to being conveniently wide open... it feels great leaving my hand and in my head I think "Ohhhh yeah, this is money" only for it to violently bounce off the ceiling and onto the court like a pinball.  Turnover Alysa and a walk of shame down to the other end of the court while eating my words, yikes.

Aside from this ridiculous incident, there were several others involving those oh so lovely men in stripes (well out here they wear orange shirts).  Incident One: as I'm getting ready to take the ball from the ref to inbound it full court during the third or fourth possession of the game, the ref fumbles it to me and I try to tip it to my teammate because it's already awkwardly out in front of me... unluckily, the opposing player gets her hands on it instead and scores a lay-up.  Turnover Alysa.  Incident Two: during an essential possession in the middle of the fourth quarter, the shot clock goes off as we're on defense.  Practically my entire team, including myself, stops at the sound expecting to get the ball and go the other way... while we're waiting for this to happen, a player on the opposing team catches the ball wide open (since we're all just standing there), and nails a three.  Does it count?  Duh, they're on their home court.  Ironically, the Bad Aibling site has a video up analyzing a three pointer I made... they argue my foot was on the line and it shouldn't count.  

Overall though, I'd have to say our team showed tremendous heart and fight in a game where the odds were incredibly stacked against us.  Those are my favorite types of games to play!! Not only that but I had the hardest match-up of my playing career as I guarded the league MVP from the previous year.  The ref and I gave her that freebie tip in I mentioned earlier, but other than that it was a rough night for her :]  *toot own flute*.  

Last sidenote, I played a former teammate from UAA, Viki Wohlers.  When it comes to the basketball world I'm finding that it's reallllllyyy small!

Exploring Time 

Downtown Bad Aibling

Different perspective of downtown Bad Aibling.

We finally got into town as the sun was setting around 4:30.  We walked around a bit and headed to our game which was set to start at 7:15.  After we played we drove back to Munich where we stayed in a nice hostel for the night.  The next day a few of us stayed back and explored Munich a bit, eating some authentic German food at a place that served roasted boar head and simmered pork tongue... I passed on those options...

In front of the famous Glockenspiel (clock tower) in Munichs city square.  Note the small figures at the top that pop out and dance every hour to traditional music.  

After we munched in Munchen we drove 40 minutes north to Dachau, a concentration camp from the 1930's.  To put this simply, it was a very humbling and moving experience.  The most difficult part for me was walking through the "showering area", aka the gas chamber.

The entrance gates... Arbeit Macht Frei = Work Makes (you) Free.  The concentration camps were supposedly just labor and "reeducation" camps for Jews.  

The living quarters... If only the walls could talk. 

"May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."  Not the most grammatically correct translation, but very powerful nonetheless. 

Memorial candles behind an onsite church.

The walk between the barracks areas.  At the end of the path you'll see two long, low rising buildings on each side.  These are the two of 60 some barracks remaining.  These were originally intended to hold 6,000 Jews but ended up holding roughly 32,000.  Unreal.

On the right is the prison area for defiant non-Jews.  Anyone who opposed Hitler or the Nazi movement would end up in here, no matter your position, education, authority, etc.  The walls at the end of the path is where they would take people to shoot them.

Inside the prison.  

Looking out at the demolitioned barracks grounds.  

The remnants of the barbed wire/electric fence surrounding the camp grounds.

People listening to an audio guide while sitting in the living quarter area.   

Sign outside of the crematorium.  It translates: Think about how we died here. 

The crematorium... The smoke stack on the top right would be constantly burning.  Thousands of bodies were incinerated here.

The entrance to gas chamber, which were disguised as showers to get the Jews to willingly enter.  Can't help but get goosebumps everytime I see this.  

 This was a rather depressing blog entry, but hey... it's always good to remember how trivial our daily problems really are.  Till next time!