Culver-Stockton College hosted a twelve-day travel study trip to Amsterdam, Cologne, and Munich during Spring ‘25.
Munich, Germany, was the third and final city we visited. We were in Munich for four days. We left on day 6 and took a train from Cologne to Munich, which took a total of four hours and thirty minutes. The first thing we did was visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. We did a self-guided tour. Each visitor is allowed to visit the maintenance building, the roll call area, the crematorium area, the shunt room, and the barracks. The memorial is very extensive. We were only given two hours to tour the entire site, but on any other day, you could’ve spent an entire day there. There was so much to see and learn about. No topic was untouched, and there was extensive information on everyone affected by the Second World War. Unfortunately, we had to leave before experiencing the whole site.
The next day, day 7, we visited the Allianz Arena in the morning. We started by going to the middle level of seats and learned about the history of the stadium. The stadium was built in 2002 and has been renovated in recent years. When the stadium was built, it was owned by FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munich. In 2017, TSV 1860 Munich left the stadium, and FC Bayern Munich bought sole ownership of the stadium. We also visited the locker room, media room, and we got the chance to go to the team’s bench on the field. The stadium was breathtaking. Allianz Arena is currently the second biggest stadium in Germany.
That afternoon, the class did a guided bike tour around the New Town Hall in Munich. We learned about the history of the city. We visited the English Garden. The English Garden was built by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, in 1789. It was initially a military but in 1792 it was opened to the public. This garden is the largest inner city park in the world. It is made up of elements from different cultures. The trees and foliage are from England. You can also find Japanese Cherry Blossom trees and a Chinese tower in the middle of the beer garden. There was lots to do in the garden. The building in the garden had incredible views.
Our next day’s trip was to Adidas headquarters. It was a two hour bus drive to Herzogenaurach, Germany. A fun fact about Adidas is that the founder, Adolf “Adi” Dassler, and the founder of Puma, Rudolf Dassler, were brothers. Both Puma and Adidas also have their headquarters in the same town in Germany. We were given two lectures about the marketing aspects of Adidas. We were also given a tour of the Adidas campus which is about 145 acres of land.
On our last day of our trip we ventured out to Schwangau, Germany to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle was Walt Disney’s inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. The castle opened in 1884. The castle was made for Ludwig II of Bavaria, the king of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. Once we arrived at Schwangau we did a bike tour in the woods surrounding the castle. It looked like we were in a fairytale. It was a bit cloudy but the green from the trees was so rich in color. I had never seen anything so beautiful. We hiked up a nearby mountain that led to a bridge over a waterfall that gave you a view of the back of the castle. It is a popular tourist site. We hiked a little farther down and we were able to get to the side of the river that led into the waterfall.
Our time came to enter the castle and tour the inside. Inside everything was original from the paintings to the furniture. Out of all the rooms in the castle the throne room was the most extravagant. There were paintings all around the room. There was a big mural on the ceiling that faced multiple directions. There were also a lot of gold accents in the throne room. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I would definitely recommend this to someone who was visiting Germany. It was an excellent way to end the trip!
