Barns - Part One

Barns. Who doesn't love barns? When I'm traveling, I'm always on the lookout for them since they do provide such wonderful photo ops. My cyberbuddy, Cheryl@Desertsouthwest, suggested that we go on a "barn quest" and post our results on our blogs. I took her up on that offer and here are the results. Well, some of my pics are from the archives - the last several, but I have discovered some new barns in the near vicinity...

Windmill barn - San Ramon...

Preserve barn - Dublin...

Preserve barn again - Dublin...

Graffiti barn - Alameda County...

Bright red barn - Dublin...

Lost barn - San Rafael...

Sheep barn - San Ramon...

Spring barn - San Ramon...

Candy cane barn - San Ramon...

Christmas tree barn - San Ramon...

Pumpkin barn - San Ramon...

Flower barn - Austria...

Mountain barn - Austria...

Hay barn - Bavaria...

Ornate barn door - Bavaria...

Royal barn - Bavaria...

Tulip barn - Washington...

Weathervane barn - Vancouver Island...

My cousin's barn - Victoria, BC...

Do you have a favorite? Stay tuned - more to come!

Around Bavaria

While we had our rental car, we took advantage of the nice weather and long hours of daylight and made several road trips around the Alps. We had to fill up the car once, at a cost of around 100 euros. Germany's gas prices are higher than ours (at least for now), but much more of the cost is due to taxes which are then used to keep their roads and freeways so nice and well maintained. Here are a few images of the areas that we visited...

Berchtesgaden...

Main square in Berchtesgaden...

Z and his buddy Mozart...

More of that rich Bavarian food...

The entry to the Salt Mines...

Ramsau...

Overlooking the Berchtesgadnerland...

Z running down a mountain...

Me on top of the world...

The May Pole in Marquartstein...

My old house in Marquartstein...

My old school in Grassau...

Fruit stand in Traunstein...

Main plaza in Traunstein...

Reit im Winkl

Here are some scenes from the bucolic alpine village of Reit im Winkl. This is where Z got to meet his great aunt for the first time, and where I spent a lot of time in my youth. It's a beautiful little resort village nestled in the Bavarian Alps, right on the Austrian border. It's hard to find a place that's more picturesque or peaceful...

The main street...

Hotel Unterwirt...

View looking north...

View looking toward Austria...

The town church...

Reit im Winkl...

Horses waiting to take visitors for a ride...

Typical window...

More Munich

We've been doing a lot of walking through Munich. Public transportation can take you just about anywhere you want to go in and around this city; however, most of the sights I've photographed below are within walking distance of our hostel. Here are some images of what we've been up to these past few days and what we've seen...

Sunshine over Munich as seen from atop St. Peter's tower...

The gateway to Marienplatz...

Typical street...

The city hall...

Dachau...

Dachau...

Zach's cousins who live in Munich...

Inside the English Garden...

The Chinese Pagoda in the English Garden...

Drinking a beer at a biergarden in the English Garden...

More from the English Garden...

The BMW Plant...

One of the BMW buildings and the Olympic Tower...

A BMW on display...

The Residenz with Pierce Brosnan (they are renovating, so the front of the building is covered with a fake facade with an ad of the former 007...)

One of the courtyards...

Inside the Residenz...

One of many Smart cars we've seen in the city...

Drinking a beer at the Hofbrauhaus...

A Dirndel store...