Hamburg, Germany (11-13/02/11)

Beatles-Platz - a Beatles Memorial

Beatles Platz - metal outlines of the Beatles

Beatles Platz, right along the Reeperbahn near the clubs where they used to play

metal engravings of the songs in the pavement

Beatlemania Hamburg - 5-story Beatles museum. Epic.

There's a photobooth where you can get a picture of you as your favorite Beatle

There's a wall that you can sign. The red is mine.

Red is mine.

Red is mine.

"If we'd been alive back then, we'd have been your GROUPIES."
Plus agreement from Margaret and me (in red).

Me on the Sgt. Pepper Cover.

in Hamburg

the canal

St. Nikolai Kirche, bombed

canal

a boat named J.R. Tolkien!!

me with "Paul"

me as John

me as Ringo/Pete

me with Stu - the lost Beatle

Listening to Let it Be and Let it Be...Naked on huge headphones in the Beatles Museum.

Beatles Platz at night

the Reeperbahn (i.e. the biggest red light district in Europe -
I'd've thought it was in Amsterdam, but no. It's in Hamburg.)

Copenhagen, Denmark (03-06/02/11)

Not everything is beautiful. Dead swan.

Copenhagen is an incredibly bike-friendly city. Huge bike lanes on the roads.

Me with a huge anchor. Margaret has a better picture of me, but I haven't stolen it from her yet.

the canal and street that appear in virtually any guidebook photo of Copenhagen

Different colored rowhouses along the canal

Nyhavn (still don't know how to pronounce that)

the Opera house (makes me think of the '62 Center) from our boat tour through the canal

Margaret and the Little Mermaid Statue (which is really small, out of the way, and not very impressive)

Sun!

Bikes everywhere.

a palace we went in

looking over Copenhagen from a viewing tower

"Don't get your head stuck in the railings"? 

Copenhagen at dusk

Museum of Danish Resistance in WWII - very interesting museum

palace

Carlsberg Brewery, where we did a self-guided tour through the history/process and then got two free samples (two half-pints)

largest collection of beer

horses (used in some part of the beer-brewing process)

Köln, Deutschland! (28-30/01/11)

Or, in English: Cologne, Germany. Margaret and I ventured to continental Europe for the first time this year. We looked at cheap flights available through easyjet and decided on Germany. Margaret was relying on my not-so-great German skills, but we got by all right. 

I loved this sign. It says: "Walking/Going on the ice is forbidden! MORTAL DANGER"

the Rhine (Rhein auf Deutsch)

Schokoladenmuseum--the Chocolate Museum

Rhein

Hohestraße - a shopping street. Unfortunately, we discovered that NOTHING is open on Sundays...

Dunkin! They didn't have iced coffee....we were bummed.

the huge Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom auf Deutsch)

ich mit dem Kölnen Dom

We climbed up one of the towers of the cathedral--500 steps up a spiral staircase!!

"We were here on 30.6.2005"

Haha. "Kaputt" is the actual German word for "broken." (This is was near the top of the tower.)

From the top of the tower. The Rhine.

Graffiti on the cathedral.

The staircase up to the top.

In front of the cathedral were a lot of street performers, including this guy dressed up as a horse who upset this poor little dog. 

This guy was our favorite. He barked at people, pretended to bathe himself, wagged his tag when people talked to him, and generally made everyone laugh.

Inside the cathedral.

One of the stained glass windows had an amazing effect on the walls inside the cathedral.

the moderny stained-glass window

Creeping on a German couple.

On one of the bridges over the Rhine are loads of padlocks. Couples (either lovers or really good friends) put a lock on the bridge and then throw the key into the Rhine. It was really beautiful to see. We saw two couples actually adding their padlock to the bridge.

May you stay forever young...

A sculpture sticking out of the middle of the bridge.

On the opposite side of the river is a viewing tower. We went up and got great views over Cologne.

Sunset.

This was our favorite lock. It says: Wherever you go, I want to go too; where you stay, there I will also stay! (or something to that effect)

My sunshine and my heart.

"In eternal Love"

We walked back on the other side of the bridge, where there were considerably more locks.

Margaret interpreted this as "Some people's love is bigger than others." I interpreted it as "Some people need a bigger lock to hold their love together." Does that make me a cynic? 

A guy busking...with a grand piano.

Kölner Dom at night.

Hauptbahnhof--the central train station

the cathedral

Museum Ludwig - a great art museum with a lot of German expressionism/Picasso/etc.

a dog wearing sunglasses