Regensburg is a cool city that I’ve visited a few times now, as it is only about an hour away, and has really good pizza! The city itself was spared “remodeling” during the war, so unlike Nürnberg or Berlin, the city center is pretty much in original condition, and even includes the remains of old Roman walls from the 2nd century.
“Who built this thing?” I ask, as the Walhalla appears on a hill in the distance.
“Ohhh, some 19th century megalomaniac Bavarian king…” Sabine replies, as if I should now be used to odd structures made by 19th century Bavarian kings with minor psychological problems.
So, who would have ever thought that there is a giant copy of the Greek Parthenon overlooking the Danube. Anyhow, its a pretty cool place, albeit a bit crowded on a nicer that average February Sunday. The local farmer’s wife was sure making a killing charging 1.50 Euro for the parking…
Despite the blue skies, I don’t think the temp has risen much above freezing since I’ve been here. Sunday morning was a nice and cool 14 degrees, the coldest so far, I think (or at least that I’ve been outside for). But the sun is out, so I shouldn’t complain too much. I still haven’t found the motivation to go for a run, maybe a few more days to adjust to the temperature…
Still a bit jet lagged the other night, took this out of the bedroom window at about 5:00am
If I search for Santa Barbara to Frankfurt and your website displays a flight and price, then don’t waste my time by telling me that the price is no longer available once I select that flight! I’ve spent the last hour on numerous websites looking for a good ticket price, and nearly every time, I get the “We’re sorry, that flight is no longer available at that price. The new price will be $99,999,999,681.00. Thank you.” If it’s no longer available, then don’t display it!!!
Blöd! (practicing my German)
My good old 1983 Toyota Master Ace Surf Super Touring Edition. No power steering, AM radio, 1.8 Liter engine and lots of rust. But it had a comfy bed, a couple stoves, and kept me dry and warm for 7 months while in New Zealand. It took me to some of the most beautiful places I will ever see in my life and survived some gnarly roads. Here it is with Mt. Cook in the background, sometime just after dawn… Everyone should travel like this at some point in their life. The freedom to just find some amazing place, spend a night or two, then move on to some other amazing place; no words can describe.
By last Monday the news was basically forecasting the end of the world in California from the “massive” storm headed our way. All reports were warning of 8-10″ of rain in the lowlands and 6-10 feet of snow in the mountains. When my buddy Tim said he and a friend were making a trip to Mammoth, I couldn’t help but ask to come along. If there was too much snow and we couldn’t make it I could at least take some pics, and if we got there it would hopefully be some awesome conditions.
Friday night we drove up to Bishop, arriving by midnight after hours of heavy rain and high winds, making the journey a bit longer than usual. By 5:30am we were on the road north to Mammoth. When the lifts opened at 8:30 we were near the front of the small line and cutting fresh lines through powder a few minutes later. Running through the trees, I had an encounter with one which did some damage to my leg and took me out of action in the early afternoon, unsure of what I could do on Sunday. Sat night we drove through blizzard conditions which required a police escort up the 395 to June Lake. Waking up on Sunday morning and looking out the window of our cabin, I saw beautiful blue skies and snow covered peaks in every direction. When we arrived at June mountain for a day on the slopes, I had to suck up the pain in my leg, and get out there, it was just too good! So we spent all Sunday running black and double black diamonds in awesome conditions, and there was hardly even anyone out on the slopes and never a line for the lifts! I think it will be hard to ever beat a day like Sunday. I took a few pics, but preferred to spend my time enjoying the conditions.
Saturday night at June Lake
Sunday Morning at June Lake
Pano from the top of the first lift at June mountain; June lake in foreground, Mono lake in background (click to see larger)
Tim on some steep slopes
Seth cutting through some fresh stuff
Too much fun!
Stamsund
From the southern end of Kerrera. Islands of Insh, Garvellachs, Seil and Scarba. Oct 2006
I was doing some editing and saw this weird looking thing. object enlarged to 300%. Nothing appears in the photo I took 25 seconds before. Perhaps Nessie has a cousin?
My theory on the Loch Ness Monster: Loch Ness is perhaps the ugliest loch in Scotland; you aren’t missing anything if you don’t see it. So in order to get tourists to visit the area, they created the story of Nessie and now the loch is a cash cow for the whole region.
