Train your geese

This is a picture of the Bavarian State Opera and a goose.

I know.

A goose.

Some yahoo brought his goose to town. For begging purposes. Bavarians are hilarious.

Nothing better for this farmer to do than take his trained goose to the big city, put out his hat and watch the tourists walk by and dump hard-earned money into it.

Made my day.

Bad Tölz

This is a pretty little Bavarian town upriver from Munich on the Isar.





Anytime a German town's name starts with 'Bad' it has nothing to do with the lack of goodness of the inhabitants. Instead, it indicates that there are healing waters in the area and such a town has normally been a destination for people who need a break from the rigours of life. Here's a photo of the Franciscan monastery on the hill near the baths.



Me looking out over the town.



This is a rococo church and the many roses everywhere are a symbol of the town living through the plague.



This statue is for prisoners from the concentration camp in Dachau, who were traipsed through this town in the last days of the war. Not exactly sure why we needed to know that they were here, but that's what this is telling us.



And the tower of the train station, which I thought was a bit odd. This looks like it belongs somewhere in Holland or northern Germany to me. Not the heart of upper Bavaria.

Munich's Cadillac Cinema

This is the Hypo Haus from one of the least attractive periods of architecture. Bask in all of its glory. Below is the Cadillac cinema nearby. Note the American Bar underneath. This was built back when Germans were still proud to 'buy American'.

Blutenburg Castle in Munich-Obermenzing

Landshut an der Isar

This is a small city about the same age as Munich. Roughly. Unlike Regensburg, which was a Roman outpost 2,000 years ago. Historically, the most important name in Landshut is George the Rich. He did everything apparently. The way the history books tell it, Landshut is on the map only because of his benevolence. Every four years they re-enact the wedding that this ruler had with his wife who was a Polish princess. It's called the Landshuter Hochzeit (Wedding). The townspeople take part in the festivities much like the citizens down in Oberammergau put on their little Passionspiel. The Landshuter Hochzeitisn't nearly as big a deal as the Passionspiel, but they make as much out of it as they can. They do ok.




The first two photos are from the Burg (castle/fort)on the hill, and the third one below is the Late-Gothic St Martin's Cathedral, as well as the main drag in town.

Rooftop fit for a Fischkopf

This rooftop always looks like it belongs in Hamburg. but it's not. It's in Blutenburg Straße in Munich. Wild, eh?

David and Goliath Mural in Regensburg

I've written about Regensburg on this blog before, but wanted to expand it a little bit. You're walking around this city that's so crucial to the history of the Church and Bavaria, as well as Germany, and have just seen a wall that's been around since Roman times. Can you fathom that? Really?

For me, that still floors me. A wall that's been standing there since the third century. Then you walk along and see this mural of David and Goliath. In Bavaria, they do this on the walls of many old buildings. You know the stories that matter to a Bavarian by which paintings he pus on his wall. In Regensburg (for the fellow who owned this house), David and Goliath were important. Everytime I round the corner and see this again, I smile a Cheshire grin. This big.