I LOVED my Vacation!

Okay, now that I'm back from my vacation and I've caught up in other areas of my life, it's time to blog about the vacation. I thought I'd be able to do it while actually ON the vacation--but we were so busy that I just fell into bed every night by the time we were back in the hotel! So, better late than never!

First stop: Munich, Germany

We stayed in a building that is on the historic register. (Hint: that's another way of saying "no air conditioning.") However, it wasn't all that bad not having an air conditioner, even though we arrived in the middle of a big heat wave. We got lucky with some evening rain, one cooler day, and a day in the mountains. It was a charming hotel, and the staff was great. The location was even better, as it was a residential area. Locals sat around us at the neighborhood cafe, where we had breakfast a few times.

Hotel Laimer Hof--highly recommended.

These are some of the buildings around the hotel. The neighborhood was charming. We learned, however, that much of Munich was bombed at the end of WWII, and so many of the buildings are reconstructed. That doesn't change the charm, in my opinion!

Eating breakfast near our hotel after arriving in Munich very early in the morning. They had
menus in English, but it was still a trip to try and order everything!

After breakfast, we picked up our very good friends, Bart and Susan, literally threw our stuff at the hotel, and hopped a local train to Munich's city center for a pre-arranged segway tour. Now, I had never been on a segway and had no idea how they worked. After signing away all of our rights and liabilities (making Bart the risk manager MORE than a little nervous!), we took our segway-riding lessons and took off to tour the city. I'm going to share just a few of the many photos we took that evening in a three-hour ride. But suffice it to say that we could never have seen all of these sights on foot, and not even some of them from a tour bus or a car since they were off the beaten path. Other than my near-collision with a tour bus and a driver who had had it with all the tourist foot traffic, it was a pretty enjoyable time! Even Bart gave in and enjoyed himself as well! I hope you enjoy some of the sights that Munich is famous for and some sights that it is less well known for!

 

Angel of peace; overlooks the city and the river

Locals enjoying a summer evening on the sand bars in the river

Only place in the world that I know of where you can surf without an ocean!
These guys take their surfing seriously--you have to be "invited" and
approved to join them inn this difficult and somewhat dangerous feat!

A former Nazi building...most of Munich was destroyed by the end of WWII, so
much of the town has been rebuilt and/or restored.

City gate to the Marienplatz--an old public town square

The New Town Hall--I guess "new" is always relative!

The clock tower adjoined to the town hall, where the famous Glockenspiele is installed

The Glockenspiele up close--the figurines joust and dance 2 times a day, 3 in summer.

 We weren't in the square when it was time for the Glockenspiele to play, so our Segway tour guide, Achem, did the whole dance (or spiele) for us! I don't know why, but these were just too funny not to include!

   

After that astounding rendition of the Glockenspiele, we returned our segways and went searching for supper. We ate just off the Karlsplatz in Old Town in an Augustiner Brauhaus. Jet lag had taken over, so I won't share those lovely pictures, but we had good schnitzel and potato dumplings in an authentic Bavarian atmosphere. Good ending to a good day!  --I have lots more to share, so watch for my upcoming posts!

Romantic Beach Walk?

You might think hubby and I are on vacation--taking a romantic walk along the beach. However, as the case is, we live in Oman, in a desert country, and I thought getting up early on a Saturday morning to watch the sun rise over the beach would be a "fun" and "romantic date. I'll let you make your own conclusion....

First, getting ready for the outing:

1. Up at 4:30 a.m.--check
2. Jug of water to wash feet after the walk--check
3. Packing a small bag of necessities--check
4. Chacos (super walking sandals!)--check
5. Camera--check
6. Humidity--don't want that, but check, check
7. Did I say it was humid? check, check, check!

In fact, as we drove to the beach in the near dawn, we began to see clouds and haze over the water. First sign that we might be in trouble. It was so humid--did I already say that?--that we couldn't even see the mountains behind us. Usually the mountains are blocked by a haze of sand, but the humidity was literally so thick you could cut it with a knife!

In fact, the humidity was so bad that the camera lens fogged over and never "un-fogged" for the entire beach walk! Here's a sample of the fogged lens. Good thing Don had his phone camera!

Not to be deterred, however, we trudged ahead, hoping for the best. First sighting of the morning: fisherman already returning from their day's work, rushing to get their fish to market.

Nets are piled in the boat as they get ready to head back to sea and wherever they store their boats.
The littering of fish on the beach are the ones that were caught but not wanted.
The left a trail all the way back to where the jeep was waiting to
haul the day's catch to the local fish market.

It might be a little hard to see, but the jeep in the background is hauling off the fish catch for the day.

As we continued on down the beach, we saw this guy making his way quickly back home. He was one of the bigger ones we saw on the beach.

A car has run over his mound!

The Omani way of disguising utility structures on the beach.

Since it is summer, Don and I didn't expect many people out on the beach so early in the morning. We were wrong, however, and encountered lots of people on the beach. We caught this rare shot of a young Omani family swimming and enjoying the early morning "cool" of the day (using the term cool is relative!). She is swimming in the ocean in her abiyah and shayla, which is common custom for them.

Her identity is protected--it was not my wish to expose her, just to show what is common custom.

Finally, after almost an hour, the sun finally began to break through the clouds. 

Since we were already drenched--did I say it was humid?--we took the rising sun as a sign to get out of the sun before the extreme heat hit! Back at the car, we washed our feet and thought we'd drive to our favorite Starbucks for breakfast. It is supposed to open at 7 a.m., but we were there a little early, so we entertained ourselves by taking pictures of activity on the beach across the street.

You'll remember this Starbucks from an earlier post--"Does the
view from your Starbucks look like this?

Imagine our surprise and delight when these 5 horsemen galloped out onto the beach!
I just kept thinking about Arabian nights!

Both of these guys are fishing by hand with a line 

Always wondered what goes under a kilt? Well, here's what goes under a dishdash.
It was very warm, and the sand was very wet--so all the men were
protecting the white cloth of their dishdash.

Well, the Starbucks didn't even have any employees in it to be getting ready a little after 7, so we got back in the car and headed back to where we took our original beach walk--the Al Shatti area. Costa was open for business, and we finally enjoyed the cooler sea breeze, the shade of trees, a good cup of coffee with pastries, the lap of the ocean waves, and holding the hand of my sweetie. Romantic? At last!