Frankfurt Skyline

Frankfurt Skyline
Originally uploaded by bravoinsd

A Map of the Trip

Here's an initial map of the places that we visited in Germany. I'm also going to create a map that has geotagged photos. You'll be able to click on the markers on the map and see photos of the site as well as knowing where we were! Denis is going to help a bit with this.

Frankfurt Altstadt

Frankfurt Altstadt
Originally uploaded by bravoinsd

All of the Altstädte (the old part of town/downtown) in Germany look the same - Frankfurt was no different. The fountain, the old skinny buildings, and cobbled streets.

Darmstadt Bus Stop

Darmstadt Bus Stop
Originally uploaded by bravoinsd

This was a very fancy bus stop in Darmstadt at the main bus terminal. All of the stops at the terminal looked like this, but in different colors.

German Train Station

Here's a video of the Munich train station (sorry, it's at night). What I was trying to record was the sound at the end of the announcement (ignore the screaming woman in the video - crazy Germans!) but you can't really hear it over the ambient noise. It sounds like the lady clicks her tongue in her mouth when she finishes.

Munich Glockenspiel

This is a video of the Glockenspiel in action in Munich! It runs three times per day, at 11, 12, and sometime in the afternoon, maybe 5. There's a joust and a wedding/celebration! This is the celebration part of the act.

Stay Tuned

Hi everyone!

Thanks for reading the blog! I kept the blog as a reason to document where I went and what I did as I did it because I find that I often can't remember where I went or when looking at pictures, what the subject was! So, this helps with titles and text as I go.

The photo quality wasn't very good as most of the pictures I took with my cellphone camera. However, I'm going through the other pictures I took with my better camera and I'll be posting some good ones here to the blog as well as to my Flickr pages.

I'll also be posting some more information about some of the places I went, including places to see, things to do, and places to eat. It was difficult to do that with my tiny cell phone keypad!

Germany Blog: Home!

Summary to Come.

Germany Blog: US Airways 757 at PHL

Germany Blog: Green and Orange Wing

The two de-icing fluids they used were two different colors -green and orange.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Germany Blog: De-Icing

Germany Blog: German Luftwaffe

Germany Blog: The New US Airways

A conglomeration of gobbled-up airlines.

Germany Blog: Tail of my 767

N246AY

Germany Blog: Snow

Can you see the snow? I didn't want a ski vacation, although it's pleasant to just have the snow falling pleasantly. I always liked it when it was actually snowing on Cape Cod as opposed to after it snowed. It's peaceful.

Germany Blog: Flying Home

On our way home now. Denis is leaving two and a half hours before me, but we are scheduled to arrive in San Diego 20 minutes apart.

I'm currently on the S8 heading to MUC and it is snowing...a lot! Hopefully, the flight won't be delayed, but honestly, I'm going to try and get bumped.

Germany Blog: Hail

Can you see the hail?

Germany Blog: Butchers

A whole line of butchers at Marienplatz.

Germany Blog: One More View of Munich

Daylight for this trip is about to end, so here's one more picture of Munich from the Glockenspiel. Not sure what it is, but the toy museum is in it!

Germany Blog: McFish

Can you see the McFish bus is shaped like a fish?

Germany Blog: "Don't Forget"

Germany Blog: Arbeit macht frei

Germany Blog: Dachau

Germany Blog: Low floor Buses

It's my guess that Americans will never realize low floor buses are the way to go until manufacturers stop making high floor buses altogether.

Germany Blog: Slide at your own Risk

Germany Blog: Next Departure Information

A simple display at most tram stops and major transit centers shows the next estimated arrival time for buses and trams at that stop.

Germany Blog: Winter

This is supposed to be a picture of the Schloss Nymphenburg gardens, but due to the winter weather, they've dug up all the flowers and covered all the statues. It's supposed to snow on Asturday, so I guess that means it's winter.

Germany Blog: Schloss Nymphenburg

Germany Blog: Isar River

Germany Blog: Denis Drinking a Weisse

Germany Blog: Devin Drinking a Dunkel

Germany Blog: Hofbräuhaus

Well we made it to the Hofbräuhaus...I'm sure some drunken blogging might come of it. It's hard to describe the atmosphere. Think rowdy soccer fans on speed with an oompah band and very large glasses of beer. Prost!

Germany Blog: A Balancing Act

This ball is being balanced on top of a wheel, by a computer supposedly used in a BMW car.

Germany Blog: BMW

Test Drive a BMW Right Here in Our Indoor Test Track

Germany Blog: BMW World

Here is where BMWs are masterminded and built.

Germany Blog: Liebfraukirche

These are the towers of the Liebfraukirche in Munich. It's closed right now for renovation or I'd have some pics of the inside.

Germany Blog: A Wonderful Fountain

This fountain is outside of the Rathaus (city hall) in Munich.

Germany Blog: Glockenspiel

Here's the Glockenspiel during the daytime in Munich. I took a video of it in action (that's right, live jousting!) that I'll upload later.

Germany Blog: Two Trains

Two different trains of the Deutsche Bahn. The one on the left is a 3rd generation ICE and the one on the right is an electric locomotive.

Germany Blog: Train Station Sign

These large train station signs show the arrivals and destinations of each train. This one's in Munich.

Germany Blog: The White Rose

This student group organized an effort against the Nazis. They were later executed for their efforts.

Germany Blog: End of Day, Tuesday

Today marks the end of another exciting day here in Germany. You can see that I posted a lot of pictures from the Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles. To say it was beautiful there would be understating the facts. It was unbelievably gorgeous. When you mix fairy tale castles with views of the snow-capped alps, combined with a bridge directly over a waterfall with a view of a castle and the entire valley below, it's just really indescribable. The fact that it snowed while we were at the top of the mountain made it even more magical.

Now we're in Munich and we'll be touring the area for three full days before our flight back. On the agenda is the Glockenspiel, a Beer Garden, all of the castles and churches, maybe Dachau, and possibly Salzburg (Austria).

We'll upload some of the higher quality pictures of the castles tomorrow. My camera phone doesn't do it justice.

Germany Blog: Glockenspiel

This is what makes Germany Germany. It completes our quest of pretzels, beer, lederhosen, castles, and the Glockenspiel. More tomorrow during the daylight!

Germany Blog: A View of Füssen

Germany Blog: Luipold Prince Regent of Bavaria

When Ludwig II died, his brother couldn't take the throne as he was not mentally capable. As a result, his uncle, Luipold, ruled while his brother was the king. His uncle was never given the title of king because of the blood line.

Germany Blog: Neuschwanstein

A view of Neuschwanstein and Fuessen from the Marienbruecke

Germany Blog: View of Hohenschwangau and the Alpensee from the Path to Marienbruecke

Germany Blog: Marienbrücke

The Marienbrücke - pictures from the bridge in a bit - despite the snow/hail.

Germany Blog: Neuschwanstein

Still not tired of this place at all.

Germany Blog: Neuschwanstein

The view is spectacular and I haven't even made it to the top yet!

Germany Blog: Hohenschwangau

Germany Blog: Another View of the Alpensee

Germany Blog: Alpensee

A view of the Alpensee. It's very clear.

Germany Blog: View of Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau

Germany Blog: View from Hohenschwangau

Germany Blog: Hohenschwangau