I took dozens of photos of the architecture but this is among my favorites from a photographic perspective.

This little German girl was just too cute to pass up. Unfortunately, I could not communicate well enough to learn the significance of her tiny hat.

Open air cafes abound.

I decided that this was the lion for me to pose with. I asked a women walking by to take the photo. She turned out to be an optics engineer from Austria and we had a nice chat about cameras and lenses.

Little shops like this one are to be found in every nook and crany of the city.

The integration of architecture and sculpture is apparent with every new “Platz” revealing an even more spectacular view.

Highly decorated lion statues can be found at every turn. Here a waiter pauses for a chat with his girl friend.

I arrived at about noon and travelled by S-Bahn to the city center. After checking into my hotel and grabbing a quick nap and shower I set out for some sightseeing. Despite having been to Munich over a dozen times, I have never really had an opportunity to see this beutiful city.

Today I am off to Munich on this Lufthansa jet. To say the German’s have embraced the spirit of the World Cup would be an understatement. If I had tried, I could not have timed my trip better to coincide with the finals. Although it was really just dumb luck, I am looking forward to seeing the final match in a German beergarten.

Final shot of the day.

I reached the end of the shore walk as the sun was setting and paused for this shot which for me captures the feel of the city.

As I was walking down the street, I came across what appeared to be a race in which all participants were wearing red dresses regardless of gender. Of the 500 or so “runners” all seemed to share a high blood alcohol content and to be displaying a lot of skin (this being a family website, I have posted the most conservative albeit least interesting photo). Only in California!

The waterfront features a maritime museum which inlcudes a collection of great sailing ships as well as more modern naval vessels.

Once again, even though though the moon was visible, it remained light late into the evening.

This morning I flew into Los Angeles for meetings in nearby Tustin. Half my staff at this location were out on vacation and I was able to wrap things up by around 3PM (good thing too, because by this point my voice had all but completely given out). I decided to make the 2 hour drive to San Diego rather than hang around LA and made my way to the downtown waterfront which is punctuated every couple hundred of feet with great sculpture.

Even though it was approaching 9PM, the sun was still up. I decided to head over the Golden Gate and made it to this great vantage point just in time to catch this shot of the city cradled by the bridge with the foreground in shadow and the bridge top and city in golden light. This photo is quite spectacular at full resolution and this little version hardly does it justice.

Today, I spent the morning in Mountain View before I drove up to Daly City (just south of San Francisco) for a late afternoon meeting. Even though I did not finish until late, the sun was still out so I decided to head over to the coast. I parked the car and hiked up to one of the old gun batteries (used to defend SF during WWII) which offered this commanding view of the coastline. I just missed a couple of hang gliders which I spotted from the road. By the time I was in position to take a photo they had decided to call it a day.

From the runway of the terminal on arrival in Denver en route to San Jose. Unfortunately my connection was three hours delayed and it made for an excruciatingly long day.

I was in meetings all day today leaving no time for photography. I did manage to grab this shot as I departed for California. I am not sure what crop is being grown, but the fields are really this yellow and look beautiful from the air.

While in the airplace I grabbed this self portrait.

This beach comes comes complete with an ocean featuring artificial waves. I have often thought how useful it would be to be able to step out of Macy’s and into the ocean. This place is really over the top and includes an indoor minutare golf course, amusement park, theme park, casino and hotel. Highly recommended destination if you ever find yourself in Edmonton.

How about an indoor beach complete with towering water slides.

Feel like a boat ride on your way to shop for shoes? You are in luck. This waterway occupies one of the main halls.

I arrived in Edmonton, Canada today and had a chance to visit the West Edmonton Mall which I believe is the largest shopping mall in the world. Pictured here is the hockey rink (think Canada) which anchors the center of the mall. 

Starting tomorrow, I will be traveling for 3 weeks so entries will be hit or miss. First, I head to Edmonton, Canada for a day, Mountain View, CA for a day and Tustin, CA (near LA) for a day. Then I head to Munich for the weekend (should be crazy there with the World Cup finals). Next stop is Montreal for a day, Rochelle Park, NJ for a day and then a one day pit stop in Boston. The next day, I am off to Schenectady, NY for my 30th high school reunion. I fly from there to Chicago to meet up with Jeanine and the kids and then we drive to Lake Geneva, WI for our 6th year at Bayside Camp. After a week of decompression, I finish off with one day trips to Indianapolis, IN and Madison, WI. Twenty-two days on the road with one night at home. All I can say is that I am glad Jeanine and I postponed our trip to Fiji!

With Jeanine and the kids away, I am forced to find new subject matter for my journal. Passed this guy on the way into town. He seemed rather friendly so I walked right up to him and snapped this photo. As soon as the flash fired, I learned why it is a good idea to keep a safe distance from animals with horns.

Making hay while the sun shines. Twice a year we have our field mowed and the hay is sold to pay for the property taxes on the land.

With the family away I used the opportunity to repair our kitchen ventilator (at the touch of a button it rises up from the island and evacuates smoke from the cooktop). This defective switch (which probably costs half a buck) was the culprit rendering this top of the line, $800 appliance inoperative. The project took most of the day. I had to remove the gas cooktop, disconnect the ducting, remove the fan, remove the telescoping ventilator assembly, and take it completely apart to find the problem.

Rather than wait weeks for a replacement from Thermador which would be sure to fail in another 2 years, I replaced the switch with a much more durable substitute that I had on hand. Amazing what you can do with a soldering iron, grinder, and a little epoxy.

Today, Jeanine and the kids left for Oklahoma where they will spend several days visiting with the Earles (Kris is one of Jeanine’s childhood friends). When I checked my e-mail this evening, I was thrilled to get this photo sharing the news of Maya’s first lost tooth.

Nicolai models a birthday present he received from his sister this evening at a family-only birthday party. Nicolai is making out like a bandit this year. First he had a birthday party with his school chums before they left for summer camps. Tonight we celebrated as a family because Jeanine and the kids leave this weekend for Oklahoma making this their last day at home. I have no doubt he will have another party on July 8th (his actual birthday) and I suspect he will orchestrate yet another celebration when he visits with Jeanine’s family in Indianapolis later this month.

I have not posted any pictures of the house since we had it painted and thought I would use this excuse to test out a new camera that arrived today. Having lost one of my expensive SLR bodies and lenses to the Atlantic Ocean (fortunately covered by insurance) a couple of weeks ago I thought I would pick up a light weight travel camera for such situations. The new camera cost about as much as one of my cheap lenses and produces remarkably good photographs.