May 15, 2000

We had planned to give the team a day off from their morning workout. It's a good thing we did because we woke up to a nice morning rain. The windows are left open at night since there is no air conditioning, so the sound of rain was pleasant.

We had breakfast at the hotel...scrambled and soft boiled eggs, breads and rolls, cheeses and meats, yogurt and cereal, coffee and juice. This is really a nice breakfast area on the first floor of the hotel.

We left for our tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp at 9:30 a.m. We dressed appropriately for the solemn tour. We road the S Bahn train out to the town of Dachau and then took a bus ride for 10 minutes to the camp. It is an interesting sight with watch towers, barb wire fences, and ditches surrounding the camp. A twenty minute movie shows actual footage of some of the prisoners and the awful situation. We have a better understanding of history and the phrase "never again".

We arrived back in Munich for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. Most people bought gifts for family and friends and a few things for themselves.

We met in the hotel lobby to go to dinner at the Internet Cafe. It is an Italian Restaurant with pizza, lasagna, salads and bread filling the tables outdoors. It was still raining, but we were well protected. After we ate, people wandered inside to use the computers (free with dinner purchase). We were emailing friends and families and some checked their email at home and got their messages.

The team was tired and since it was raining they wanted to go back to their rooms instead of going to a nightclub. The staff was delighted to go home early and get a good night's rest for mountain biking tomorrow!