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Munich

as far as I am concerned the Hofbrauhaus is the most famous Bier hall in the world. I’ve known about this place for 62 years. It seems to be doing very well and it was great visiting and trying the beer and some snack. This beer hall is well known to everyone who ate at Schroeder’s CafĂ© in San Francisco which is still there on Front Street.

This visitor found the beer hall to be hot enough to use her fan, not the western style fan.
This lady was selling pretzels in the beer hall
This meal was had at a Google maps recommended restaurant in Munich. The food was very nice. Pigs knuckle along with Bavarian white sausage
Many hotels don’t have a kettle to boil water in the morning for coffee so I bought an inexpensive one to carry along since I can’t survive in the morning without a cup of coffee
Frauenkirche
dragons live!
The glockenspiel. We used to say this word often when I was young and we never knew what it was. Now I know.
A memorial to the Jews who were massacred throughout Europe in the 1930s and 40s
Below you will see what I’m holding up
Marx and Engels. I could write many pages about these guys I studied at Cornell but not here.
Of course the famous Brandenburg gate
The Munich train station
A little history concerning the separation of Berlin
Tear down that wall
Checkpoint Charlie
I surrendered here
I bought their beer mug when I was eight years old at Schroeder’s CafĂ© in the city
This is what it takes to get a good photo
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Fun! – Norway

Trolls are everywhere in the mountains
Well? It’s Norwegian not English.
11:30 pm photo of our EV
A picnic
The sun at midnight on a fjord
12:30 am
Breakfast cheeses
Took the photo too late
Waiting to get on the ferry to cross the fjord. license plates are scanned and invoices sent to all drivers automatically. No cash or payment at the site.
tourists from the bus taking photos
proper spelling for ice cream
Your new traveling sauna?
tasty prosciutto salad
available everywhere. pigs in a blanket seem to be the most popular sausage outside the standard frankfurter
1/4the way through the 24 km tunnel, not even half as long as the longest in the world
water turns this to produce electricity
gotta get in the photos sometimes
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Oslo – with friends

The palace
he looks like Danny Kaye
city hall, today with Iranians demonstrating
black headed sea gull , smaller than the gray one
the workers of Norway memorialized…blindly?
the aftermath of the fire while we were there
pronounced “Monk”, statue at the Law School of the University
the law school
maybe you have heard of Bird Rock in Monterey, California, known for the white color and the smell. These seagulls are turning this guy into bird statue
This is the HQ of Mr. Thon who is the owner of the Thon hotel group, a very wealthy and unassuming man
busy Oslo station
Sauna houses you can rent to motor out further and back. jump in the ocean and then into the sauna you go.
this is “art”. I thought it was left over building garbage from construction of the building below. Not the case.
the opera house
Oslo city beach
the Scots were in town playing soccer against another team, probably Norway
the airport smoking room. How many travelers can you smash into a phone booth?
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Austin Healey Club visiting Norway?

what is going on? While traveling around by car we visit a small town and find about 50 Austin Healeys parked and driving around. Then as we drive around Norway we see them driving all over the place. The average driver age is probably about 60. In total I think we saw 100 Austin Healeys and a few other classic cars. When I was in fourth grade I had a crush on my homeroom teacher just because she drove an Austin Healey from San Francisco to our school every day.

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Glaciers and Snow – Norway

This glacier used to reach the bottom of this part of the mountain but not anymore.
A small river running underneath snow and ice
the higher lakes are melting
hard to believe all the water coming through the waterfalls
These cruise ships go up and down the coast into the fjords and let customers off in small towns. These fjords can get up to a 600 m depth
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Jewels in Royal Stockholm

These are the royal jewels locked up in the treasury. Some are very old.

The parliament building
Crowns for any size prince and princess
The palace
Waiting room for something
Dinners served here for state guests
Formal dining room
Royal government business room
King’s bedroom
Poker table?
Table in the foreground from a pope
Ceiling paintings
Various medals
Pope’s robes
Notice the “IHS” inscription
From various state visits
Coronation throne room at the entrance
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Vasa (Stockholm) – the great failure

The Vasa was built in 1628 in Sweden to be the greatest warship in North Europe. Due to 3 or 4 major miscalculations it sank in the harbor on its maiden voyage. Then it was discovered and reassembled in this museum, 95% original parts and structure. Here is a link to the Vasa.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_Museum

Building the model.
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Stockholm is a real beauty

A friend’s cottage in an old area filled with small cottages without running water inside the cottage.

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is a well organized and fairly quiet place with good transportation, except for commute traffic, old buildings that predate WWII (Sweden was neutral and never fought over during the war). You don’t need cash since all transactions are cashless. We never changed Euro for Swedish Kroner. The trains are not always on time but more so than the ICE (long distance) trains in Germany, and they are very clean and comfortable. But Sweden is expensive so plan for “dishing out” a lot of money.

Talk about turning around in a narrow street, this driver had a helping navigator and did a superb job.
The old city is an island with some stocks (wood pillars) holding up parts, thus the name “Stock Home”. Just note that many words in English came from the Viking invasions of the British isles.
this guy gets around!
Swedes love the flag colors of light blue and yellow. Expect them to use those colors most everywhere, especially outside Sweden.
this week the US Coast Guard had their clipper ship in Stockholm port as part of a diplomatic mission. We got the free tour with fairly new “sailors” who were flown in from the US for the week but who were schooled in the operation of this 1936 war prize from Germany, still in opration (as an ambassador), clipper. The tour was free but the hats and other for sale kitsch was double normal tourist prices so we passed on the souvenirs.
another clipper just siting in the harbor