This is a picture of Salt river canyon on our way up to Pine top. There was no snow when we got there but on the first morning we had about 4 inches. Katie (Melissa's friend) had never seen snow before and they went out and made snow angels at 3 in the morning. It was great spending time with family just playing games and going to movies.
This is the front gate at Dachau concentration camp. Arbeit macht frei means 'work brings freedom' but sadly it did not for the tens of thousands who passed through this gate between 1937 and 1944. We went there on our first morning while the others slept in. I felt it was important to go. I went to Auschwitz (in Poland) when I lived in Lemgo, Germany which had more of an impact for me than this one because it is more intact but it was still harrowing to see. I firmly believe that the propensity to commit this kind of evil lies just below the surface of everyone. It made me thankful that I have been saved, that had it been me who had done these things that God's grace could still reach out to me, and it made me thankful that so far in my life I have never had to experience war or the breakdown of society.
On to happier things, this is one of the many squares in Munich and the tree was pretty. Enjoy.
This is us on the subway on our way to the insane fireworks. Note the dixie cups of champagne. In Europe you can drink alcohol in public. It is still a little weird to see teenagers chugging beer on the subway, but there you have it. There is no central firework display in Munich, instead, everyone brings their own and they just light them off in the street for about an hour around the midnight countdown. They were going off everywhere, I got hit in the leg with a rocket that fell over before going off, there were bits of firecrackers fall from the sky everywhere. It was a health and safety nightmare but really quite fun. Definately not one for the kids.
Here you can see a few rockets going off, the amount of smoke in the picture should give you more of an idea about how many there were.
