We took the train to Oranienburg to visit Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, which I last visited in 1991. The surrounding area is almost as depressed looking as it was 25 years ago, but the camp itself has been modernised to make it more tourist-friendly. The main part is still as is, but there is the addition of an arty looking entrance way, the availability of personal audioguide contraptions (which seem to be everywhere now), and a lot of the areas are glassed off. When I went last we did our own tour with a map and could walk through the bunk rooms and still smell the stale remnants of straw and God knows what else. The actual living tour guides there (none 25 years ago) were very enthusiastic about describing all the gory details of the camp, which I found a little disrespectful.
Outside the gates, however, there is one new addition that I believe is a good idea and that is the memorial garden to the countries involved in and affected by Nazi Germany. Each country has its own theme with a hidden speaker describing it.
The walk to and from the train was really long, as they still do not have a regular bus service. It was then that Neil first noticed his feet swelling up. This was to become a slightly worrying thing for the rest of our trip, and has now three months later, been diagnosed and treated as surface vein thrombosis - a far better diagnosis than the deep vein thrombosis we thought it might be.
We made it back to our hotel in one piece, thankfully, and indulged in burgers and beer at the Peter Pane restaurant.
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