Pantheon

Roman Pantheon - I love this building.  There's something special in a building that has a whole on top and has been standing here since the Roman times.

Tuscan Landscape

Some photos of the Tuscan landscape on my Italian roadtrip.

Florence

Going down to Italy I stopped by Florence.  Funny thing was I didn't know the Italian name and had only German and Italian maps with me.  After that I started writing down the local names when traveling.

Italian Road Trip

Back in 2008, I rented a Audi A3, with only 3km on the odometer.  The clutch was stiff, and everything new.

I took it down to Tuscany, drove around on the small side street and passing hill-top villages, visiting Rome, Florence, Siena and finally coming back North though the Brenner Pass in Austria.

3000km and 7 days later, I retuned the car.  Happy and with the broken-in clutch.

Amsterdam

In October, before the winter would arrive, I made a day trip up to Amsterdam.  Stayed in a hostel that was quite a strange experience and then toured the harbor early in the morning.  I love waking up early in a city and walking around before the tourists show up.  It's the best time to have a coffee and see the color of the morning sun shine.

Bitche Citadel

For the dad's birthday we did a road trip to France to see the Bitche Citadel.  It's quite an impressive fortress with a lot of history.  The irony is that is was bypassed during WWII, so it wasn't really used.

German Summer

Hikes in Germany during the summer are quite nice.  The towns really shine and the countryside is very photogenic.

Rhein river hike

Some photos from the summer's hikes and also part of the Rhein River.

Rhein River Hike

With spring in the air, I decided to start the hike along the Rhein River.  The river is world famous for the little castles that were toll booths for the cargo shipped up and down the river.  Still today you can see many cargo ships and trains along the river moving cargo.  I did the hike over several weekend and often would come out here for the day trip.

Austria trips

For the weekend my friend and I went for a road trip around the lakes in Austria.  Was really impressed with the nature and the Alpine lakes.  Need to plan another trip to go hiking and explore more.

Salzburg

A friend from Rome was visiting Salzburg and I went down to visit him.  The city is quite amazing and the nature around it is just as striking.  I will have to plan another visit just to get some photos of the city.  Perhaps in the winter when everything will be coved in show.

Heidelberg Summer

With Spring in full in Germany, I went down to Heidelberg.  Later I would live here and still miss the nature, river and the castle.

Taunus Hikes

The hills north of Frankfurt are called the Taunus.  This area is quite popular has many hidden charms scattered in the forest.

Solid IBM printer

I needed to do some work on my car and needed something solid and durable to put the car on.  Near the trash, I found this old IBM laser printer.  I don't think a modern HP printer would be able to take the weight of a car!