Germany 2016: or Coming Full Circle

    Social media (Facebook) have made blogs seem archaic.  I thought I would dust off this blog, which hasn't seen action in 6 years (which I think is about the time we started posting to Facebook) and chronicle our trip to Germany.
    We are preparing for our much awaited trip to Germany this year.  It will be a long one for me, a short one for Kel.  After a couple of years of saving and planning we are finally getting close to our trip.
    I am going to be studying at the Goethe Institut in Munich in July.  Kelly will meet me there the day before course completion (graduation?).  A week in Munich, with a possible side trip.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been to Germany several times.  We have been to Munich 3 times, always during Oktoberfest.  This time will be in the summer.  We don't plan to do any crazy travelling, this should afford us the time to actually enjoy München.  Renting a bike, riding through the English Gardens, stopping at the Chinese Tower beer garden for a Bier & Bretzl, watching the surfers on the Eisbach and anything else that strikes our fancy.
    Keep checking this space for future developments.  I will try not to be boring!

October 5 (2010) Has it been a year?

Looking at this blog, I see that the latter part of our trip has been left uncompleted.

I'm going to update this, retroactively. Hope you enjoy the pictures & video!

Hotel Bologna in Mestre, just across from the train station. One of the best hotels where we've stayed, in Europe. Mestre is on the mainland, just a short train or bus ride from Venice, proper.

The room was large by European standards with a spacious bathroom en suite

From beginning to end, someone was quite taken with Venice

Vaporetto - Water Bus to Grand Canal - great way to get around! You can buy an all transport pass at the hotel or tabacchi, tobacco shop

Piazzo San Marco, St. Marks Square, from the Vaporetto.

'Bridge of Sighs' (construction going on)

San Marco bell tower

The square is under a couple of inches of water at high tide, Venice is sinking

Hard Rock Cafe, Venice

Murano glassware is available in many shops, I was particularly taken with this set

I love remote controls!

A little northern Italian lunch, spaghetti bolognese, and just to remind myself of just how bad it is, some Birra Peroni

Musical entertainment at Piazza S Marco. Appropos, having come from Salzburg & Vienna.

Train ride through Tuscany took us to Florence - After ditching our bags in the train station baggage room we hopped another train to nearby Pisa. The prerequisite Leaning Tower photo.

The posing looks a little silly when viewed from the other side.

The Duomo in Florence

Ponte Vecchio Old Bridge. Oldest of Florence's 6 bridges across the Arno

October 3

Salzburg sightseeing & off to Vienna

House where Mozart was born on Jan 22, 1756

Now the Mozart Museum

Street in Salzburg

Jew Alley


Leaving Salzburg

Für Das Kind

In Vienna's Westbahnhof Station 2008, a tribute to the British people for saving the lives of thousands of children from Nazi terror through the Kindertransports

Hotel Rathaus Park. Our room the first set of windows above & to the right of the main entrance

der Wehrmann in Eisen (The Iron Soldier)

First displayed in Vienna in 1915. To raise money for widows & orphans of fallen soldiers, people could drive a nail into the statue of the Iron Soldier. It is said there is over 500,000 iron nails in the originally wooden figure. The Soldier is situtated in front of the MUSA Museum auf Abruf (Museum on Demand), next to Vienna's Rathaus.