Story behind the photo(s) - Swarovski Crystal Museum, Munich and Dachau

I'm choosing to talk about a couple of photos this week. They were both taken on the same day of the tour, and I think hope they represent the highs and lows of what I (and the rest of the tour) saw that day.

The first of these photographs is taken at Swarovski Crystal Museum, in Austria. The best way to describe it is not so much as a museum, but as a collection of really glitzy, slightly surreal displays, all making use of Swarovski crystals. If I remember correctly, some of the displays (such as the one in the photo) were animated as well. What also sticks in my mind from visiting there, was the attitudes of some other tourists in the gift shop.....lets just say that some people in there didn't really understand the concept of queuing....

After leaving Swarovski, the tour's next destination was Munich. Before we arrived there though, we stopped at Dachau concentration camp, which is on the outskirts of Munich. Dachau was the first of the concentration camps to be built, and was mainly for political prisoners. We were given about an hour and a half here, to spend as we wished. Some of my tourmates wandered in groups and got audio guides, I chose to look around on my own. This photograph is of a memorial on the grounds. Even as I type this today, more than 18 months after visiting the camp, I find I still cannot put the experience into words. The best I can do is to say it was humbling, evocative, and thought-provoking....an experience that I will always remember.

The last stop of the day was Munich, where we looked around the city centre, and spent the evening in Hofbrauhaus (a beer hall). From a high to a low and back to a high, it was a day that will always be with me.......what a way to spend my birthday.