PhotoHunt - Painted Houses, Ceilings and Walls

 

 

I photographed these two pretty painted buildings in Trier, Germany. I think that painted buildings and houses are more prevalent in the southern part of the country.

                   

This building is Schwangau, Germany where the famous Neuschwanstein castle is located.

 

 

These two photos were taken inside the Vatican museum.  This first one is one of the many painted domes and the second one is from one of the Rafael rooms.  This room is huge and all the walls and every part of the ceiling is covered with paintings by the artist Rafael.  The photos doesn't do it justice. It is simply stunning.

 

                                           

Photohunt #14 - Triangle

                    

For this week's triangle theme, I'm showing some rooftops and facade of buildings in Europe.  This first photo is the triangular roof of the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy.

 

               

This photo is of the top of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.  This triangle eave is in the center of the basilica. You can see a part of the dome in the background.

 

               

You can see the triangle roof of the Basilica of Constantine behind this

palace.  This is located in Trier, Germany.

 

               

These wood frame buildings with triangle designs can be found in Petit France in Strasbourg.

 

                     

This last photo is of Burg Eltz in Southwestern Germany. (Burg = castle).  This castle has a lot of triangular roofs.

 

                              

PhotoHunt #13 - Stripes

For this week's PhotoHunt, I have three completely diffferent subjects. This first one is our gondolier in Venice, Italy. Most gondoliers wear STRIPEd shirts like this one. There were a few that wore plain white shirts. You can view more of our gondola ride here.This next photo is part of a Roman bath ruins in Trier, Germany. The red STRIPES here are made of red bricks. This is an example of great Roman engineering and architecture. See more here.

This last photo was at the Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, Germany. The British soldier is holding the British Flag also known as the Union Jack while the American soldier is holding the American flag also known as the Stars and STRIPES.

Wordless Wednesday - Porta Nigra (Black Gate)

Wordless Wednesday

Munich Then and Now

This is my entry to Lola's Diner's Cabin Fever Margaritaville Carnival. It's been a long winter and we all crave for warm weather. What better way than to blog about our favorite summer vacation, and pretend it's warm outside.

I will be talking about a part of my family's Europe summer vacation which I blogged about before and my summer vacation to Munich when I was 15 years old for my entry to Lola's Cabin Fever Margaritaville Carnival. (You can find the links to some of my Europe vacation posts on the left sidebar)

It was a great summer vacation. We visited 7 countries: Italy, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany. Each country has it's own charm and we enjoyed the food and the sights. In Germany, we visited the cities of Trier, Kaiserslautern, Kohl, Berlin and Munich. Germany and Munich has always been a special place for me. It was the first European country and city that I visited.

I first went to Munich during my summer vacation when I was 15 years old. The first photo above was taken somewhere near Marienplatz. That's me on the left getting some coins from my purse. I remember having a photo in front of the city building in Marienplatz but I couldn't find it, so this will do. I fell in love with Germany especially the Bavarian countryside with its' green rolling hills and picturesque villages and houses. I even had my first taste of french fries in Munich. That's why until now, I eat my french fries with mayonaisse, just like the Europeans. :o)

It was a short trip, just a week but I made a lot of good memories and I promised myself that I will be back someday.

Fast forward 23 years later. When our vacation was still in the planning stage, I told my husband about my wish to go back to Munich. He agreed and I added it to the list of cities we will visit. On the last week of June, I finally fullfilled my dream of going back to Munich. This time, I was with my own family. We were on our last leg of the month-long tour, after visiting 6 other countries. It felt awesome going back and seeing it from a different perspective.

I had fun touring the city with dh and my kids, going to the most famous beer hall in the world, HofBrauhaus and the restaurant Ratzkeller. Walking around the city brought back memories. It was great seeing my kids enjoy the Deutsches Museum (Science and Tecnology museum) just as I did when I was younger. I also took home the ultimate Bavarian souvenir, a limited edition authentic Black Forest cuckoo clock which you can see here.

A lot of people were amazed that we brought the kids with us. It's a no brainer really. We are lucky to have such well-behaved kids and had no problems whatsoever. We wouldn't have enjoyed our vacation if it was just dh and I. I know some people think otherwise but to each his own. So would we do it again? Yes, we will. I want them to have the love of travel just as I did.

Happy Birthday to a Dear Friend

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Vicky. I met her through

blogging years ago. We became good friends and corresponded

through email and phone calls. I got a chance to meet her

in person when we went to Germany last summer. It was

great to finally meet her after all these years. This photo

was taken in the Japanese garden in Kaiserslautern.

Skywatch Friday #4

Neuschwanstein Castle

Schwangau, Germany

(Thanks to Arija (see comment) for pointing out that Hohenschangau is the other castle in the area. I intended to put the village (Schwangau) where this castle is located.) :o)

PhotoHunt#1

This week's theme: Ruin(ed)

Roman bath ruins in Trier, Germany. This is the Empireal Baths, which means the public were not allowed. It's only for those

in the upper hierarchy of the Roman Empire.

Trier is Germany's oldest city and has a lot of Roman ruins. It is located in the Mosel valley where the Riesling originated.
Summer 2008

SkyWatch Friday #2

I took this photo while inside the Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

This is one of the most poignant memorial of World War II that I saw in Berlin. It is a short walk from the hotel we stayed in, Swissotel, which I wrote about HERE.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church incorporates the bell tower of the original 19th-century structure (ruined in World War II) into a dramatic glass and concrete church built in 1961. This memorial is located in the former East Berlin. The original church was first damaged on December 23rd, 1943 and completely destroyed in air-raids in April 1945.

Strange Photo at the Trier Cathedral Courtyard

This are some of the photos I took at the courtyard of the Trier Cathedral in Germany. Photo#1 was the first photo and you can see that it is clear. The next photo I shot was of the hallway in front of my husband and daughter. You'll notice that there are some spots on the photo, just like photos 3 and 4. Photo#5 was taken by my husband and it was on the opposite side. You can see a big spot on top of my head. I know that these are not some kind of dirt or dust since the photos before, after and in-between these photos are all free of spots. I also have some photos I took at the Trevi Fountain and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome that has spots on it. I noticed these after I downloaded all the photos in my notebook. What do you think? Strange eh?

Cuckoo Over My Cuckoo

This is my original Black Forest Cuckoo Clock. It is a limited edition and I just love it! Before we left for our vacation last month, I told dh that if there is only one souvenir that I can buy in our Europe trip, it's a cuckoo clock from the Black Forest of Germany. Why am I obsessed with getting this? Cuckoo clocks remind me of the house I grew up in. We had a Black Forest cuckoo clock in the living room which my parents brought back from their vacation in Germany.

So on our last day in Europe, we bought this clock from a specialty store in Munich and had it shipped home. What do you think? Isn't it cute? The cuckoo comes out of the door on the top every full hour and half-hour, the man's arm holding the beer stein goes up as well. The cute wooden dolls turn around along with the water wheel while the music plays. It plays two different music, one is the song Edelweiss. Now, when I'm working around the house, I get an idea on what time it is without looking at the clock, I just count the cuckoo sound!

My Brave Boy

My darling little boy had his 4th year medical check-up last Monday. For the first time, I wasn't there with him because I had a Jury Duty that day. Dh was with him along with my daughter. Dr. Bender said that he is growing well and is tall for his age. He is now at 40 inches at weighs 41 pounds. He received two shots and they pricked his finger too. For the first time, he didn't cry when he received all of these. Dh said that he just looked while they were doing it and did not even flinch. What a brave boy! I was so proud of him upon hearing this. For his reward, dh bought him some strawberry ice cream which is his favorite flavor.

Tyler in front of what used to be a part of the Berlin Wall. This was

taken near Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, Germany.

Wordless Wednesday

Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria - Germany

A Day in Kaiserslautern, Germany

Dh and I met fellow blogger and good friend Vicky and her husband Bernie last month while we were visiting the southwestern part of Germany. We met in Kaiserslautern and we visited a Japanese garden. It was great to finally meet her after all these years. We felt so comfortable with each other immediately and we had a great time together. Too bad that it was such a short encounter, she had to work that day so we met in the afternoon.

Vielen Dank Vicky for the gifts you gave us. I hope that we will see each other again.