Beemer Bling

Back to Munich to visit BMW Welt (World) and one of the best car museums… EVER! I’ve been thinking about getting my dream car, a Corvette, at the end of all this world travel, but the BMW Museum may have changed my mind.
Cars from the early 1900s to today:








The first Beemer I fell in love with... especially due to Pierce Brosnan driving it!


And a car like that requires that we "strike a pose"...

Never Again

On the day after Christmas, we visited Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. The spirit of what happened here is oppressive, and yet vital to experience. The sculpture in front of the camp administrative building provided a graphic that was true to form in its representation of the starvation and torture that had occurred here. We watched a black and white film from 1945 when the camp was liberated by American forces. Piles of naked, emaciated bodies had grown too quickly to be handled by the nearby crematorium. It was shocking and emotionally stirring.


I loved the memorial that shouted in all caps, “NEVER AGAIN!”
The sights and sounds (or lack of sounds… the silence) really gripped my heart with the inhumanity of humanity.
History… we must learn from it or risk repeating it.


Afterwards, we went to Munich and visited the city center.



On any tourists’ list is the popular Hofbrauhaus, where Kendra had a big stein of bier and Sharayah enjoyed a pretzel.

Bridges and Birds

After another day of snowboarding, we woke up Christmas Eve morning to mountains covered once again in fog and clouds.


It didn't matter to us, as we were heading back to Germany. On the way, we stopped in Lucerne, Switzerland (called Luzern here). We saw these cool bridges, decorated for the holidays.


We bought bread from a nearby street vendor and attempted to feed the birds. They got all crazy on us and it became something like a scene from Alfred Hitchcocks' movie "The Birds". Funny stuff!


Here's a famous bridge called the Chapel Bridge. As we crossed it, Marty caught sight of a "COFFEE" sign between tents lining the streets where they were selling Christmas goodies. He said it looked like the Starbucks font. As we continued to walk and "UCKS COFFEE" appeared, I said, "I hope you won't be disappointed when it turns out to be Uncle Bucks Coffee". To this he responded, "Maybe it will be This Sucks Coffee". We laughed.


We walked around the city enjoying the Christmas seasoning in the air. This was the final bridge we crossed coming back across the river.


It was a nice day, but then every day with Jesus... is sweeter than the day before.

Alps On All Sides

The next morning, we got up and the sights outside took our breath away... or maybe it was just the cold air. Here's the 180 degree views from our balcony and the town below.






We took a combination of 4 different gondolas to get to the very top of Mt. Titlus. That's one of the really nice things about this ski area. People often can't make it to the mountain tops if they don't have the skills to ski back down, but here, everyone can go to the very top and enjoy these incredible views. We were riding the Rotair, the world's first rotating gondola. You stand on a round floor, held by the center post and it rotates as the outer walls and windows stay stationary. Better than a ride at Six Flags. Here's a view, looking back down to the station from whenst we came.


God gave us this absolutely amazing day. People working on the mountain repeatedly told us how it was one of the most beautiful days they'd seen. You see, yesterday, when we drove in, it was all shrouded in fog and clouds. Today, it was clear, and sunny, and just warm enough to be comfortable and yet not allow the snow to get slushy. It was perfect for snowboarding, tubing, sledding, and just playing in the snow. In one direction we could see Italy and in the other Germany.


These mountains are gorgeous. And if a picture is worth a thousands words... imagine what just being here is worth...


Check out the clouds rolling over the peak in the background.


This is a pic of the highest point on the peak, and we hiked up to the right of the tower.




We enjoyed looking over the cliff, throwing snowballs over, and re-enacting the images on the warning signs.


Marty stepped down into some really deep snow... /snicker


The top of Mt. Titlus is a glacier, and from the top gondola station, they provide access to an ice cave blasted 500 ft into the mountain. Here's a couple of pics of our exploration.


Marty On Ice... surrounded by the stuff.


And finally at the end of a day of play, here's a better pic of our hotel as we're walking back...


Let it snow... let it snow... let it snow...

It's a Marshmallow World

I've always loved that song by Dean Martin, and I've always enjoyed the snow that makes a marshmellow world in the winter, even if I've not wanted to live in a snowy climate. So I'm making the most of this one winter of white while I'm here in Europe.

We left Monday morning for Switzerland amid snow flurries. We stopped in Zurich, just because Sharayah wanted to visit yet another of the European settings of the Jason Bourne adventures.


There were lots of these little gulls and swans, and I think the two in the middle are having an interesting conversation...


Marty was surprised by how modern things are in Zurich, but here's a part of the historical district with interesting architecture.


We came upon this cool... I mean, cold... fountain. It continued to pour water out over the frozen sculpture God was constantly forming in different designs.


And all these statues and sculptures inspired Marty, Kendra, and Sharayah to create their own living artwork.


We drove on to our little Swiss village of Engelberg (Angel Town), nestled in a valley surrounded by alps. A narrow road, hairpin turns, snow piled high on each side, didn't thwart us from our destination. It met my expectations of what a little Swiss ski town would be.

After an interesting episode of a couple of Texans trying to figure out how to put chains on car tires for the first time ever, we attempted to drive up the very narrow, snow covered road to our hotel up on the mountainside. It appeared to be more treacherous than we were prepared for. We called them to find out if there was a better way, and discovered that this place had Texans in mind with their design.

They told us we could park at the bottom of the mountain and take a tunnel and elevator system to get up to the hotel. This was cool. We spotted their little entrance...


Which lead to the first tunnel...


Then we took a lift to the second parking lot, walked across the snow to the second "cave" which lead to another lift that took us up into the hotel lobby. Cool... cool... cool. If you ever make it to Engelberg, Switzerland, I highly recommend you stay at the Terrace Hotel. By the way, they call it the Calimera in the travel brochures, but no one in town knows where the Calimera hotel is... "it must be new"... so just look for the big hotel with the word "Terrace" over it. You can barely make it out in the center of this pic that I took when we wandered the streets below.


And here's the view of the town from our balcony...

One of the best hotel views I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying (see Cozumel Mexico blog entry for another).
"Thanks Lord for the blessings of Your best laid vacation plans."

And just for those unfamiliar with the song... here's the lyrics for posterity.

It's a marshmallow world in the winter,
when the snow comes to cover the ground.
It's time for play. It's a whipped cream day.
I wait for it the whole year round.

Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly,
in the arms of the evergreen trees.
And the sun is red, like a pumpkin head.
It's shining so your nose won't freeze.

The world is your snowball, see how it grows,
That's how it goes, whenever it snows,
The world is your snowball just for a song,
Get out and roll it along.

It's a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts.
Take a walk with your favorite girl.
It's a sugar date. What if spring is late?
In winter, it's a marshmallow world.


I post this because of the discussion that had ensued here over my possible misspelling of marshmellow. Marty asked, "Do you know the difference between marshmallow and marshmellow?"
Sharayah's classic answer: "Attitude."

Cinderella Castle

So we set out in the morning to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, for what would be my second time, but Marty, Sharayah, and Kendra's first. And we were greeted with a new blanket of snow in Memmingen before we left.


The castles were especially pretty with a topping of snow...


Here's King Ludwig's castle which inspired Disney's Cinderella castle. It is up in the alps, and we could only get there by horse drawn carriage in the snowy conditions.


Here's an especially snow-filled pic at my dad's request.


And here's a pic with me in it at my sister Alicia's request.


Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire was so delightful... and here's Sharayah ordering Cordon Bleu at our little restaurant at the base of the alps, while it's snowing outside.

Atop the Duomo

On this trip to Milan, we walked the winding staircase to the top of the Duomo. The architecture and view of the city were great. It was also warmer up there on this bright sunny day, than the 40+F degrees below.






It's hard to add any words... the pics say so much.




This statue looks like he's thinking "Get OFF my head!"


And I thought the Duomo was big... check out this Christmas tree!


The Galleria was all decorated for Christmas...


The dome was covered in blue lights, with a stranding dropping down the middle to a huge piece of mistletoe. You can make a donation to charity and they will let you stand under it and kiss, and when you do... the blue lights will race up the middle and set the whole dome a blaze with the blue lights and flashing white lights.
We did it!


The next day we drove home through the Swiss Alps. Here's one of my best shots: