Since I only had a week to go on vacation, I spent most of my time in Munich to visit my friends Gesine, Paul, and Victoria, and then took a quick little outting to Ludwigsburg north of Stuttgart to visit my friend Andrea whom I had met as a penpal back in 1989.

Below are my pics from Munich.  Enjoy!

Gesine and Victoria came to visit me when I lived in Japan back in 1999 so we decided it'd be fun if we all got together in Germany and prepared some nice hand-made sushi.  It was soooooooooo good!

Above and below: Victoria and Gesine being cute with their sushi rolls

Above: Sushi ingredients - sweetened rice, avocado, crab, egg, cucumber, wasabi, and fresh tuna.  Not too complicated!

Below: the end result.  Spectacular!

Above: Victoria, me, Paul and Gesine just before beginning our feast

Below: me freezing my $@#! off on Gesine's balcony

Above: Munich under a dusting of snow

Below: Crazy little Euro urban car

Hot yummy sausage with winter.  Perfect on a cold winter's day!

Exterior view of the Glyptothek Museum, north of downtown.

Me freezing

Gesine and Victoria walking through town.

Munich in February

Me, Gesine, and Victoria

View of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in downtown Munich

The Munich City Hall in Marienplatz, right downtown.

The Glockenspiel mechanical clock tower dancers atop the City Hall that put on a show for crowds of excited tourists in Marienplatz.

Wienstrasse, Vienna Street

Above: "Dresden Memorial Day, 1945 - 2003.  Anglo-American bombing terror: Dresden, Hiroshima, Vietnam, Iraq, Belgrade, Afghanistan.  Whom will they bomb tomorrow in the name of "human rights"?

Below: me flipping them off

When I walked up to the sign, I asked if the kind gentleman if he'd mind me taking a picture of myself in front of his sign, and he was most excited that an American would want to do so, assuming (incorrectly) that I was impressed by and sympathetic to his message.  When the picture was snapped and he saw that I had given his precious little sign the bird, his smile turned upside down into a frown and suddenly he was all on the defensive.  "What's that all about?!?"  he demanded.  Me: "Basically I think your sign is a load of crap, that's what it's all about."

So we had a nice little political exchange about the currently en vogue believe about the inherent evil nature of America (and the presumed good nature of NAZI Germany, WWII Japan, Communist Vietnam, Sir Dictator Saddam, dictatorial civil-war Yugoslavia, and Taliban dominated Afghanistan, and parted ways with a rather significant difference of political opinions.

I tell ya, whenever Europeans bitch about the United States, I often think the US should have just let Hitler have 'em all.

Illuminated cigarette machine in Munich depicting that status of international global politics in the 21st Century, or rather what they were to become.

Bavarian tradition of the Maibaum tree, which in essence is a township coat of arms.

Above: wintry Munich

Below: fire department driveway, keep entrance clear!

Me in the snow!

Above and below: the Pinakothek Museum of Modern Art.  Inaugurated in 1981, the building cost $50 million and exhibits art works from Durer, Van Dyck, Tizian, Botticelli, Raffael and Rubens.  There are over 600 paintings and sculptures on display from the end of the 18th Century to the beginning of the 20th.  The structure itself is an expression of contemporary Germany architecture: lots of concrete, metal and glass.

Above: a floral touch of orange and green in an otherwise sterile environment

Central atrium

Interior hallway between galleries

Hallway arch and ceiling lighting

Cool chair, eh!

Victoria and Gesine

Apparently Freddy Krugger likes the Pinakothek Museum as well!

Contemporary glass VAHZes.

Solo photo of me on granite steps

Kaufinger Street.  Cold but lively!

Night time in Munich

Victoria taking a picture of the church below

The Frauenkirche Church, right downtown.

Snow atop the onion dome just waiting to fall on unsuspecting passers-by

More German signs: "Attention!  The area surrounding the cathedral is a danger zone during storm and snow."

Me trying to be winter-euro fashionable in my Diesel denims and pullover avec collared shirt underneath.  Am I failing miserably?  ;-}

Gesine and Paul's adorable little hamster, Hammy.  Not to be confused with their (not pictured) bird, Sammy.

Winter-euro fashionable???

Above and below: an adorable Gesine having far too much of a good time!

Above: my attempt at photo art

Below: my attempt at holding the camera still

Victoria's sweet smile from the train as she pulls out of Munich and heads back to central Germany.

Nymphenburg Palace near the Rotkreuzplatz (Red Cross Squar) district of Munich.

I love the snow!

Full moon over Nymph Palace

Euro gal in snow

Paul and I bundled up nice and warm

Wooden structures protecting the palace's garden statues from winter

"Skiing forbidden"

German: "I miss you!"

How sweet!  Or as they say in German: "Wie Suess!" (vee zoos!)

Treading lightly on what is normally the palace lake

"Trespassing the ice surface forbidden!  Danger of falling through!"

"Oh yeah?!"

I don't know why, but for some reason I expected to see a frozen alien a la the X-Files when I looked down here.

"Please don't feed the animals!"  Alright Paul, it looks like you're gonna go hungry today!  ;-)

Above: more ducks and geese than you can shake a stick at!

Below: how adorable is that little guy?!

"Please don't trespass the meadow"

No taxi parking.  3 taxies on the left.  Parking on the right for handicapped only with visible parking decal on vehicle.  Toilet in palace also for handicapped.

Snow.  Oooooooh!

I shall title it: "Stream in Snow"

I shall title it: "Stream in Snow with Sun"

I shall title it: "Two Geese.  Black Duckling."

I shan't title it.

A nice little building in the neighborhood.  I really like German architecture.

"School", or perhaps "Chasing Runaway Children Zone"?!

Message display system in the high speed German ICE train

Again, first class ain't so shabby.  Although I would prefer the train with the hard wood floors.  (That's not asking too much, is it?)

The front of the train where the conductor sits, and where passengers get to see if he's conducting or snoring.

Heading from Bavaria westwards into Baden-Wurtemberg.

Me on the ol' train.

Back at the Frankfurt Airport train terminal again, only this time with a little sun outside.

Passing through modern Germany

Me with the camera pointed the other way and thinking about my return to Saudi Arabia and the impending Iraqi war.