Munich, Germany

And then we reached Germany! Munich (Munchen) is a classy city. Pretty beat-up during WWII, the city has been restored beautifully. Everything is so nice, new and clean, and absolutely gorgeous. There are many different churches there, many excellent restaurants, great beer houses and beer gardens... and beer.
This is inside the first church we entered, St. Michael's, or St. Michaelskirche. The outside is under heavy construction, so I didn't have a good shot of that. But the inside was impressive, and almost completely reconstructed. Along with its sparkling white walls are artistic and structural relics from centuries past that were saved from the destruction of the War.

This one is a different church, the Frauenkirche. A two towered monster, this church gave us wonderful views all around the city. Including the next picture.

The center square, main square, of Munich is featured in this shot. Located between all those big buildings (the new Rathaus on the left--the new townhall--, a church on the right, and the old Rathaus behind it), the square is known as Marienplatz.

As you can see, there are many people gathered in the square below. It's normally a busy square, although the tourists all come for the hours of 11 and 12 to see the famous glockenspeil clock at the new Rathaus.

We are standing here in front of the new Rathaus in Marienplatz, the main square. The glockenspeil is on the front of the gothic building, and you can see the two towered Frauenkirche church in the background.

Here's a closeup of the glockenspeil in action. For 12 minutes or so on the hours of 11 and 12, the life size figures spin and turn to the traditional German music. Slightly melodramatic, though still interesting. It's worth checking out just because of all the hype, all the people, and the wonderful square that it takes place in.

We went to Munich's famous marketplace, the Viktualienmarkt. This market has all the fresh foods and spices as well as beer and sausages of all kinds, all ready to go. It's German custom to have their baked sausages and pretzels or bread (and beer) before lunch--although, being a bit behind our descendants, we got there a little after noon. There are beer gardens (biergartens), which by the way, are freakin huge in Germany, and it's all located right next to the main celebration area for Oktoberfest in... yes, that's right... October.

This is a famous beer house that Ab and I visited called the Hofbrauhaus. The ceilings were very nicely painted, which made the beer go down sooo much smoother.

I had a 'dunkel', which is fun to say. It means dark.

We cruised out to the Olympiapark to check out the artistic design to the home of the 1972 Summer Olympics.


Abby is standing in front of the Olympic Stadium, where soccer teams dueled it out for world supremacy back in 1972, and a few days from when we were there, Cher went on... I think.

Vienna, Austria

Wien, Vienna, the capital of Austria. This was our introduction to Germany. I'm sure if I spent more time there, I would learn a lot of differences between Austria and Germany; but, as it was, I was in the two countries a grand total of three days; so the major comparisons will have to wait.
They both speak German! And they like beer and pretzels and sausages. The architecture here was a lot like it was in Budapest, which surprised me. But there were a lot of classical statues and pillared designs. We were only there one day, which is much too short, and so we weren't able to take full advantage of all the fascinating musical history that exists in Vienna. Beethoven, Schubert, and several other famous composers have homes/museums in Vienna.

I am standing here next to one of the national museums in the city center area of Vienna. Connected to these impressively large museums is the Hofburg Palace which used to to be home to the dynasty of royal families who ruled Austria.

Here's a large pedestrian street chalk full of monuments, restaurants, and shops. Farther down the streets are several of Vienna's most famous churches.

St. Stephen's Cathedral. A little work being done of the top of the spire there, but check out the cool colored roofing on that gothic bad boy; eh?

We rode up the elevator to the top of the cathedral (finally! an old cathedral with an elevator!) and received this excellent closeup of the roof. You can't quite see it behind me, but the crest of Austria is displayed amidst the pattern of diamonds on the roof. Look more closely at the picture and you'll notice the the chicken weathervane they have chillin in the corner. A nice touch, I think.

This is one of the passageways through the Hofburg Palace, with four statues depicting Hercules bashing some impish thugs at the base, the beautiful pillars leading up to the decorative angels and heavenly scene on top, and the massive green dome hovering above.

Much of the palace (the gardens and several other buildings) was actually closed due to the EuroCup, which was being celebrated daily in the center area of Vienna. Austria and Switzerland were the host countries of the EuroCup soccer championship this year, and so they have these gigantic FanZones set-up in main areas of different cities. In Vienna the FanZones covered the historical center, making it impossible to gain entrance into several of the monumental buildings.
Oh well; we went and watched a game that night.

And talk about your street food! Austrian sausages! You better believe it. Wurstelstands... or Sausage stands: they're cheap! they're amazing! they're everywhere! We are missing them in the US and we don't even know it. I remember that mine on the left is Currywurst, a bratwurst with a ketchup and curry powder all over it. Three letters for you... OMG.

The EuroCup FanZone! Right in the middle of historic Vienna. That's the National Opera House behind me, with a monstrous big screen showing the match between Italy and France and also supporting the weight of a larger than life inflatable soccer ball I'm sure more than a few of the Fanatics would have liked to have a kick at.

We're still in the FanZone here, sippin on some Austrian beers, chowin on some Indian samosas, and watchin Italy kick butt in their quarterfinal match, all with the astoundingly beautiful Rathaus (townhall) towering over us. It was quite a night, and then it poured rain on us, and we all ran away. The end of our lone day in Vienna.