First, we went to Berlin. Construction is rampant in the East, and evidence of socialist life remains.. barely. The wall is all but gone. But at Checkpoint Charlie museum, seeing how much people risked trying to escape to freedom relly stirred me. Then, to visit a nearby Nazi site further gave me chills. But to see what is going on today, Berlin shows hope for the future of Germany.

Munich, what a great city! I find Bavaria to be to Germany what Texas is to the U.S., and what Catalonia (Barcelona) is to Spain. It is a region with its own character, traditions, spirit, etc. But just outside this festivious city are the haunting remains of Dochau.

Shifting scenery, we went to Castle Neuschwanstein, home of Mad King Ludwig (ok, so he wasn't mad, just a bit eccentric and misunderstood!) Besides the elaborate architecture, the surrpunding scenery was beautiful! Great hiking.

In the nearby town, there weren't any hotels or hostels, so Ravi and I stayed in bed and breakfasts for 2 nights. It was a great way to meet the locals! In the first one, the lady didn't speak a lick of English. But we learned from her about the bomb at the Atlanta Olympics as she said something like "grefunk she guben zie BOM! Amerika bergen olympiks und funken schlitter das BOM! Ja!" Also, we had the plesaeure of meeting her cat named Bismark (she called it mookie).

The lady of the second house took a liking to me, and though her English was as rough as my German, we found a means of communication. Every once in a while I would say something that would make her laugh, and then she would bop me upside the head!

Also we heard 'The Country Sisters' in that town, 4 German and Czech c&w women. Two songs they played: 1)thank god i'm a country boy, & 2)let me lay my palette down in you room!

Not shown in my pictures are the two supposedly quintessential German towns we visited, Rottenburgh and Heidelburgh. Though worth seeing, they were infested with tourists, Mc Donald's, etc.!