Category: Travel Posts

Short Post: Living by sun and wind.

On By StevenIn International Travel - Europe1 Comment

I’m sifting through my Berlin photos and getting a post ready about that weekend, but it won’t be tonight, so instead, here’s a short post about some of the interesting energy sources I’ve seen since I got here.

When I first got here, I noticed right away the diversity of power sources.  Even on my initial drive into town from the airport back in November, I couldn’t help but notice how many little houses and other buildings had solar panels up:

I’ve also seen some gigantic solar farms, which I didn’t know existed here.  For example:

On my trips by train since then, I’ve also noticed something that I’ve only ever seen in Canada until now:  gigantic, enormous windmills.  I’m told that people don’t like these as much because of the noise from them, but they’re fun to watch, and they’re kind of fascinating to me in a Don Quixote sort of way.

Easter Weekend In Prague

On By StevenIn International Travel - Europe4 Comments

Easter weekend is a four-day weekend here, because the Friday before and the Monday after are public holidays in Bavaria and much of Europe.  Not wanting to waste a long weekend, I went to Prague.

Some notes before the pictures and story:

  • The Hotel Victoria is pretty convenient to the tram lines, and the room was surprisingly nice for the low rates.
  • Never again will I use an ALEX (Arriva Länderbahn Express) train to go anywhere.  It was not a happy experience, either to or from Prague.  We were treated like cattle on the way there.  Give me a DB train any day.
  • Inside Prague, where tourism is huge, we didn’t have any trouble even though neither of us speak Czech.  There was plenty of English.  Except on the aforementioned ALEX trains.
  • The entire weekend, from rail to hotel to food and attractions, was actually very affordable.  I just wish the weather had been a little bit better…
  • While there are thirty-four pictures in this post, there are over 240 in my SmugMug gallery from Prague.  Feel free to click through that if you like.

On with the pictures and story!

There’s a lot of images here. Click to see more!

The Deutsches Museum

On By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany4 Comments

A few weeks back, when the weather first started to turn sunny and nice, I took another short day trip. This time, it was to München to see the Deutsches Museum. This place is sort of like the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

Inside, there’s a huge selection of aircraft, boats, space vehicles…

I kept waiting for James Franciscus and the mutants to come see this one…
This poor guy must have been waiting for his flight forever.

Up on the sixth floor, there’s a sundial garden. Since the weather has recently started to be sunny, this was a beautiful spot.

…I also got this pretty spectacular panoramic view of the Munich skyline from the sundial garden:

I don’t have a lot of commentary for the rest of these, so I’ll just put up a lot of pictures.

Foucault’s Pendulum
Biggest bong ever.
Looks like I need to eat more Big Macs.

I don’t know why, but I find this hilarious.

This was next to the self playing piano in the music section.

Palmator: Das Starkbierfest Am Adlersberg

On By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany4 Comments

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug

Palmator: Das Starkbierfest Am Adlersberg, a set on SmugMug.  There are more pictures in the set, so click on through!

On the way to breakfast this morning, there were a lot of people wearing lederhosen and dirndls, the traditional Bavarian outfits that Americans always picture when they think of Germany.

The reason for this belongs to the Prösslbräu Brewery in Adlersberg

Palm Sunday is the first day of the year that they serve Palmator, a dark and strong bock beer from their kegs. A lot of people turn out for the beer, the band, and the traditional Bavarian outfits.

I managed to find my way out there, sharing a taxi with some friendly guys who were also going after the number twelve bus was far, far too packed to be useful. The beer is served in one liter glasses- this is a much larger volume of beer than I’m used to, and those glasses were heavy!

Also of note- one of these pictures shows what was being used as a men’s room- the Germans have turned public urination into an art form.

The brewery sits on top of a pretty good sized hill, so there’s a fantastic view from the top of the wall, looking all the way back to the city.