Europe Trip 2018 - Görlitz/Zgorzelec, Germany/Poland

This was one city until 1945. Then it became two. On the west side of the Lusatian Neisse river, Görlitz is a German city of 56,000 people. On the east side, Zgorzelec is a Polish city of 32,000 people. In 2007 Poland became part of the Schengen Area, which means there are no border checks here - you can freely explore the cities on both sides of the border.

Old map of the city shows that it was situated mainly on the western bank of Lusatian Neisse

Polish side, the white and red border pole.

One of two bridges joining the cities. A view towards the Polish side.

Same bridge, seen from further away

German side, a bit empty at 7:30pm on a Saturday

There is more people near the Old Town Hall. How many clocks does it have?

Reichenbacher Turm, built some time before 1376

Despite small population Görlitz has two tram lines 13.6km long. It had 5 lines at peak in 1939. It uses narrow gauge (1000mm) tracks, 600V power, 17 Czech Tatra KT4D trams.  

Such fruit and vegetable stands can be found in many German cities

The building that lets active traffic through. Active transport is the one where you use your legs to move: walking, riding a bicycle :-)

A shortcut for pedestrians and bicycles. Not all buildings have been renovated yet.

Built 1550. Astronomical diagrams on the wall.

Built in 1528

Europe Trip 2018 - Bavaria, Germany

A weekend in Bavaria thanks to Ryanair (return tickets from Warsaw Modlin to Memmingen from 28 AUD return!) and Airbnb:

A village where we stayed. Halfway between Memmingen and Munich.

A Catholic Church - Bavaria is/was strongly Catholic - there are proper road signs that advertise the time of a Sunday mass. Also in that photo: a white and blue maypole - possibly a relic of an earlier religion. I really don't like the offensive word 'pagan' - those earlier religions, be it Germanic, Slavic, Aboriginal (Australia), Shintu (Japan) deserve the same respect as the beliefs originating in the Middle East.

Somewhere in Bavaria

Deutsche Bahn bus and the painted Forsthaus Hotel with a cut corner

Zugspitze cable car - this attraction is quite expensive

On the way up

Zugspitze - this station was built on one of the three peaks of the highest mountain in Germany

The remains of a glacier

Free sledding

Zugspitze railway - the new carriage

The old one

At the Garmisch-Partenkirchen station

Garmisch-Partenkirchen railway station

Neuschwanstein Castle built by Ludwig II

The castle of Ludwig II's father

The view of Neuschwanstein from the bridge

The bridge - there were too many people there pushing in - it was hard to leave it - not a pleasant experience

Neuschwanstein looks a bit like a Japanese castle from up close

Munich - there was a river here in the middle ages - now it flows under the street

Munich market maypole. Some students managed to steal and hide it one year. It's a tradition. They returned it in exchange for a lifetime supply of beer. :-)

Munich HB beer hall on the left. The Swedes who invaded Munich spared the city in exchange for a lot of beer.

The inside of a church eh.. beer hall. See, beer is a holy drink in Bavaria. Monks brew it, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Prayer helped, or so they thought. In reality the monks did not know about yeast's role in beer making. It worked when the open beer vats were close to a bakery and yeast could "contaminate" the brew.

Funny story, this place was so popular that people sitting here, when they did not want to lose the spot, would urinate under the table where they were sitting into a groove in the floor. You needed a special stick for it to help with directing the stream, but apparently it was a normal thing to do, according to our guide. :-) 

People riding bicycles. Helmets not required.

The building on the left has a twin brother in Italy

These ornaments around windows are painted on the walls. All these walls are flat as a table top.
Other than that there is quite a similarity here with the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

The street with the most expensive shops in Germany, see the Porsche?

Tram, trees, 5 story buildings. Nice.

Bike storage at the train station

New apartments - the height matches the older buildings and TREES in front!

Munich S-Bahn. The public transport in Munich and in Bavaria is very cheap comparing to Queensland. The one day Munich ticket for a group of 5 adults (or 2 adults and 6 children) costs 21 AUD. In Gold Coast this would be 50 to 80 AUD (10 AUD per person).

Trip to Europe, September 2015, Berlin

Berlin.

Starting with the iconic S-Bahn:

And the iconic Ampelmann:

Traffic lights for pedestrians from other countries:

Old East Berlin streetscape. The trees make this street look nice compared to Vienna:

Communist East Berlin architecture with the TV tower on Alexanderplatz in the background:

Berlin's most famous landmark, the Brandenburger gate:

Not far from it, is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe:

The white building in the background is the American embassy.

Three girls and a boy sculpture by Wilfried Fitzenreiter: