Italia - Pisa

the view looking up at the Tower of Pisa.


Some fountain that Galleo drank from near the Tower of Pisa.


Here is me holding up the Tower. I was told to do this pose by the person I was traveling with. It apparently is the famous pose at the Tower of Pisa.


Pisa is a beautiful area. The tower is located in a small courtyard with two other buildings. I choose to not walk up the Tower of Pisa for several reasons: it was 95+ degrees, there are narrow staircases going up, the Tower is leaning therefore defying gravity and I refuse to go down with it when gravity has decided to act. Oh and it a little on the expensive side. But it was fun to go to.

Org day

Me and my dad at the org day in our traditional Bavarian grab (mine = dirndl). I was serving beer at the Org Day.

Italia - Firenze

Vanessa and me on the famous bridge in Florence with all the shops on it.



The David, yep you are not supposed to take pictures inside the museum but I am a rebel. This sculpture was so incredibly amazing. Pictures do not do it justice by any means of the imagination. It is truly breathtaking. You could see all the details of his veins and such. Wowser!



This is the view of my hotel. There was a bar on the same floor. Dangerous.


I loved Florence. It may have been the perfect storm of awesome. Reasons why I love Florence:
1. Food - Italian food is good
2. Gelato - Amazing
3. Italian wine - Need I say more
4. Hearing the Italian language - it is beautiful sounding especially after months of hearing German for severals months
5. Italian people - much more laidback and friendly than the people in Hessen

World Cup - German Style

At the Wiesbaden soccer stadium watching Germany lose to Spain. :(

My mom, Cami, Frank, Brian, my dad, Tom and me. Decked in our German decor except for Frank who choose to only wear the flag tattoos on his face.

Getting painted up to blend in with the natives.

Brian and my mom. Oh and he is using beer to put the temporary tattoo on her face. :)

Celebration on the main street in downtown Wiesbaden after Germany beat England.

These are some random Germans. With their flag.

The Deutschlander cocktail... .Yep not a cocktail a shot. The ad was misleading but the shot was pretty tasty. On this day, it was over 95 degrees as you can see by my red, sweaty face.

I love soccer and so do must Germans. Especially when they are winning. It was awesome to be here when the World Cup was being played. Although there was an eerie silence in the streets when the German team would lose. However, when they won there were celebration on the streets into the wee small hours of the morning.

Nymphenburg Place in Munchen

Swan near the canal, which was apparently cool with women being near but not men.


Baroque painting on the ceiling.


Some of the Baroque styling in the main palace room.


Kenya, Amanda and me in the gardens of the Nymphenburg Palace where King Ludwig was born.

This palace was absoutely beautiful. I love Baroque style so I thought this place was amazing. And the palace is huge. One of the rooms had a gallery of beauties which were paintings of women that the king found beautiful and they were from all walks of life.

There are several different buildings to tour including a building dedicated to the royal carriages. Both in front and behind the main palace building, there are large gardens. Unfornuately, it started to rain about ten minutes after we started walking in the gardens.

More Wine Tasting.... Only tax free wine

There is a week when the Germans can sell their wine tax free. To encourage people to partake in this, they have samples of their wine for about five Euros you get to sample six wines.

Dutch Shoes and Cheese

Wooden shoes before the paint. Here I am trying them to see if they are as comfortable as the people in the shop claim.


Samples of Dutch cheese.



Amanda and me in a giant wooden shoe. Watch out tiny people! Wait perhaps we are the tiny people since we fit into a shoe.