europe 2010: day 6

day 6:

Here we are in Munich, Germany, the start of the Nazi Movement and Anti-Nazi Movement....

We saw a lot of things this day...it was just so much I can't remember hardly any of it...I will tell you some of the places but I can't match the places to the pictures...well...these aren't even all of the pictures because when you're on a tour bus...the pictures don't always turn out so well... We saw where the Nazi Party first met and was created, where Hitler had his marches, where the White Rose Movement (anti-Nazism) started, and a cafe where Bach wrote one of his famous pieces...

These next 4 pictures are of some of the BMW plants and showcase rooms...they are pretty interesting buildings...

This is part of Olympus Square...

This is a summer home of one of the Queens....it was given to her when finally she had her first son after 10 girls...

I believe this is a museum...there was a surprising amount of Roman architecture in Germany...

This was our awesome tour guide John. He was the coolest one we had the entire trip! He was funny and entertaining to listen to as well as knowledgeable on the sites!

This was at our restaurant...it was his bachelor party...he had people sign his clothes, kiss him on the cheek and some people waxed his chest... We actually saw a surprising amount of bachelor/bachelorette parties and weddings...we saw about 2 every day! So I guess people really do get married in June...just not in Arizona!

europe 2010: day 5

Back to the place that I enjoyed least and did the most second-hand smoking I will ever do...lovely, lovely, Prague...

However this cathedral, St. Vitus's Cathedral, was pretty amazing...

The gargoyles had water spouts out of their mouths...

If I remember correctly, this is the largest stain-glassed window in all of Europe.

This man, who I believe is St. John?...oh dear, was killed by the King because the Queen went to him and told him that she wanted a divorce. He wouldn't tell the King what was going on so he threw him in the river...so anytime you see a statue with five stars above his head, this is who it is.

Here's where all of the jewels are. Supposedly, its cursed to those who try to steal the jewels. It takes 7 keys to open the doors and the jewels go on display every 5 years.

This is part of the actual palace....

And here's another one of their guards...our tour guide said they were supposed to be handsome...if being handsome makes you a guard...I wonder what makes you King...

Of course...another McDonalds...those Europeans sure love their American food...

This was a really cool astronomical clock...it measured six or seven different things including: time, position of the stars, seasons, and when to harvest their crops...

This is obviously on a different day but it was still at the same hotel....This is our elevator...the first of many two person elevators....

europe 2010: day 4

day 4:

We had to laugh at this restaurant outside our hotel in Berlin...it was an Arizona Steakhouse.

After waiting for our tour bus for an extra hour because it went to the wrong hotel, we drove on the famous Autobahn to Dresden.

Dresden was an interesting city because it was completely bombed as a scare tactic. Everything in this city was destroyed, so they rebuilt the city to look as it once had.

This is one of the cathedrals there...I believe this is the Catholic one....

This is the opera house that was destroyed once before WWII, so now, it isn't in its original place. Many famous operas and composers performed here.

This is the statue in the middle of the square in Old Town Dresden.

This is part of the king's courtyard. He was also the king of Poland hence the Polish crown on the gate.

More of his courtyard...

Part of the palace...

This is the Lutheran cathedral there. This picture is too small to see, but there were some bricks that were black that were parts of the original building. In forty or fifty years, the entire building will be black. The black isn't caused fires or anything like that...it's from a process similar to oxidization.

Then we drove over to Prague, Czech Republic. We stayed in New Town. It's similar to Dresden in the sense that the buildings were built to look old, but that was the only reason. These are just that: new buildings. Nothing here is rebuilt...they were just built to look old.

This is just a museum in New Town....they did a good job of making the buildings look old didn't they?