I like Munich

Never thought of Munich as a vacation spot...but oh how wrong I am.  Munich ended up being the transit hub for Otto's dear friend Nasser headed back to the E. Coast for school from his holidays in Tbilisi.  Otto and I were lucky to find good friends in the same family while posted in Burkina Faso. So we met for a quick weekend to catch up. Otto hadn't seen Nasser for 2.5 years, but it has only been a year since I saw his mother (we met in Antalya). It was a fantastic trip to be together and reconnect, and Munich ended up being really fun. Here are the photos to prove it.

They used to be so young...and much shorter. Handsome boys!

Marienplatz, the main square

We had beautiful weather and did a bike tour which was a fantastic way to see the city.

Random beautiful church (Theatinerkirche). I have never seen an all white interior like this before.

Maximilianeum building on the Isar river. I think it is a school for gifted youth (or was) and had something to do the Max Planck the famous German physicist, but obviously I wasn't paying that good of attention to our guide. It was beautiful!

Our ride on the train back to the hotel. We ended up staying at a place near the airport since we all had different flights in and out of Munich. It was so much fun to be together.

One of the advantages and disadvantages of the Foreign Service. You meet amazing people you want to spend the rest of your life being friends with, yet you are spread out all over the world. From here we all dispersed - US, Georgia, and Otto and I are headed to Rome. Lovely photos to follow...

A little winter in Bucharest

I took most of these photos in December, but since then I have been home to the U.S. for a couple of week, then back here to a very busy 'cold' season (I prefer the term viral upper respiratory infection). I think over the past 3 weeks, I have seen 40% of the Embassy in the health unit.  Wish I had the magic wand to make them all feel instantly better.

I thought of these photos because we just got snow again over the past few days. I was finally thinking it was about time to get back on my bike again because the weather was more mild, we  have even had a partial day of blue sky here and there, but instead I am still driving and sitting in traffic...

Here is lovely Bucharest, and this doesn't even scratch the surface. I need to get out there and take photos of the amazing old buildings, but that will be for the next post.

One of the Christmas markets. There are a few of these at different public spaces all throughout December. The best part was getting a glass of vin fiert (warm spiced wine) and wandering from booth to booth looking at all of the crafts and food.

A beautiful old/old church in the center of the hip pedestrian area (Lipscani), inside it is like a tomb it is so dark.

The park across the street from my house after a fresh dusting of snow.

One of the large traffic circles near my house, we call it the Batman circle. I was trying to get a photo that would show the beauty of the lights, but of course hard to put that in a photo (at least for me).  For December they light up the city with tons of decorations and fancy lighting. It was really beautiful and festive. Since this is a Christian country, Christmas and New Years are big holidays.

This photo is really for me and my memories. This is just outside the gate of my apartment building. This is what I see every day...mostly minus the snow.