Around Germany
Leigh and I in the German rental car on Autobahn 92 heading towards Munich from the airport. It took us a while to learn how to set the car in automatic transmission mode. The car manual, just like all the street signs, were not in English.
Here's the inside of the S-Train which goes around Munich, to the airport, and elsewhere. There were also the subways, or Underground trains, represented by U's, which allowed easier transportation within Munich. Both rode about as smooth as the above-ground trains in the US, as opposed to NYC subways.
Leigh reading about German mass transportation on the S-Train.
Here's a tacky example of one of the many "smart cars" in Germany. These things can park absolutely anywhere, and since there are barely any large cars in Munich (no SUVs), they're probably relatively safe too.
Here's a weary, off-duty waitress returning home after a hectic day at Oktoberfest. So I blasted her with my camera flash.
A festive staircase we saw somewhere in Munich.
These bikes seemed popular in Munich. A bunch of guys (seems like 7) sit on a seat and pedal. I figure one of them has to be steering. Munich had rather clean air and no traffic jams because of inventions like this. They have bike lanes along every road alongside the sidewalks. There were very stylish bikes, scooters, and we even saw one of those Segway things. With all these alternatives to cars, it's no wonder that everyone we saw in Munich -- everyone -- was skinny.
This building was the main Munich judicial building, as far as we could tell. The fountain in front is the supposedly well-known Neptune Fountain which we found turns on at about 7:45AM. The buses in front are where many tours start from. You can either buy a ticket in advance, or, if you didn't know better (like me) you can buy your ticket at the bus, as long as you talk to the guy in charge. There were extra "entrance fees" in addition to the tour fees, which we thought were included. Don't stay attached to your money.
This pissed me off. We go into a restaurant owned by Paulaner. I love the beer. However, I wanted my adorable little mouse-sundae. LOOK WHAT THEY GAVE ME! WTF is THAT?! Well, at least it tasted good. The ice cream was strawberry in the back and a bourbon-vanilla in front.
These guys were sooooooooooooo drunk. They come up to us asking if we've seen any k-nomes. We look at each other and shrug. They repeat "kuh-nomes" or whatever. They clarify "You know, short people?" I reply, "Ah! Gnomes!" Their eyes light up, "Yeah! Gnomes!" Leigh adds, "You mean like pink elephants?" "Exactly!" I was amused, so I had them pose in the middle of a busy intersection at night for a picture.
This is the word for "Exit" that we saw in the parking garages. Hey, we're from Jersey. It amused us.