Typical snow covered valley in Bavaria. This was in early September
And
the requisite Brown Swiss cow with bell.
Many
old castle ruins are seen on hilltops in Southern Germany.
Bridges span gorges in many places.
A typical farmstead. Note that the barn is attached
to the house.
This is done for several reasons. One is that the heat given off
by the animals helps
heat the house and second, the farmer does
not have to go outside to tend to the animals.
It gets cold and
snowy here.
This
is Neuschwanstein Castle. Home of the Mad King Ludwig. He built many castles in Bavaria
and almost bankrupted it. He mysteriously "drowned" and his more level headed brother assumed the throne.
Ludwig never lived in this castle.
These photos are of the grounds and interior of the castle.
Chiemsee Lake was one of Hitler's favorite vacation spots.
It
is thought that this sculpture is of his mistress, Eva Braun
This is the Dachau Concentration Camp entrance. I first visited
this place in the 1960's when stationed in Munich with the US Army. The horror of the confinement barracks and gas
chambers was unbelievable. Since then, as I found in 2001, much has been eradicated. It is now more of a park
like environment; however the museum still shows the original through photographs. The gate has the infamous "Work
Shall Make You Free" slogan.
Click here for additional information about Dachau.
The Rathaus-Glockenspiel in Munich Germany., Rathaus
is a town hall.
The
Frauenkirche (full name Dom zu Unserer Lieben Frau, "Cathedral of Our Dear Lady") was originally planned
to have spires rather than domes. There are two stories as to why it was domed. One is that money ran out.
The other is that lightening struck one of the towers during construction and was taken as a sign that it should not be built
any higher
.
The plaque says it all.
This
church has a personal meaning. On September 11, 2001 we were returning from a sight seeing day trip on a tour bus.
We noticed that the tour guide received a call phone call and had an extremely concerned look but she said nothing.
About an hour later she received a second call as we were pulling into the parking lot of this church. She then announced
that the World Trade Center towers in New York had been destroyed by an airplane hitting them. We then filed into this
church. It was originally scheduled as a sightseeing stop but became much more. This was how our trip to Europe
ended. The people seen are those that were on our tour.
