Germany - Bavaria - Munich

They sure like it BIG in Germany - and I'm not talking about their sausages! This beer can was larger than my head...

and so were the Brezn!! 

A gorgeous sunny day out in Munich! I was going to run through the middle of this water feature but piked at the last minute - I was wearing a white t-shirt that day ok!?!

The person who thought up this contraption was an absolute genius! It's a fantastic automatic singing soft serve machine. I think watching the cone drop out and ice cream getting squeezed effortlessly on top whilst bopping in time to the music makes for an extravagant day out! And for 1euro it's a steal!

Fresh produce stalls line the busy streets. They all appear to be selling exactly the same stuff. Luscious red strawberries, gleaming cherries, blushing apricots and you see that phallic looking thing in the mans hand - an asparagus. YEP! White asparagus! Well I never!

One thing's for sure about Munich - you are never more than a few feet from a tacky, brightly painted lion. The lion is a symbol of courage and appears on the city's traditional emblem. You'd have to have a fair amount of courage if you are gonna stand out on the street looking like that all day long. These lion statues are, in all seriousness, absolutley hideous!

As if he can get away with a pin-stripe! And what's with the red head dressed up as a baci wrapper?

'My back yard is a mountain'. This is a picture I took from the train on the way to Berchtesgaden. We decided to take a break from all the white asparagus and scary lions, and head off for a couple of days into the Bavarian countryside.

We arrive at 'information' and begin arranging our accommodation. Being non-German speakers proves to be a hinderance so we appoint Karen to the job.

"Can you find us a hotel with the dodgiest sounding name" asks Karen as she organises our night time accomodation.

Voila! We arrive at the picturesque Lake Konigsee and check into a hotel that sounds like it is right out of that American Pie movie.

The view from our balcony. Bliss.

Prost! Clockwise from left: Charlie, Claire, Cathy, Karen and you know who.

I know it looks like a shopping centre Pixie Photo, the background is truly unbelievable. Lake Konigsee is breathtaking. It could also pass for the wallpaper you see at some doctors surgery waiting rooms.

Here we are all dressed up and ready to go underground into the salt mines.

We are in a dark, deep tunnel, 200m below the surface of the earth.

This is us, returned from our trip into the wilderness and ready to to hit the clubs.A timer shot taken from Karen and Cathy's pantry shelf!

Applying the finishing touches. Never leave the house without mascara - even you Charlie!

WHY NOT! If you are going to go all the way to Bavaria, you should check out how their motor works began

Check out this guys cone-butt! Click on the photo to get an enlarged image and read the print.

The Munich Olympic park is full of people showing off their blading agility by doing tricks with lined up fluro-plastic cups. C'mon, it's sooooo 80's.

Isn't it amazing how a few splashes of paint to a flat surface can create such an overwhelming feeling of extravagance? Seeing this after travelling to Germany from Belfast where the street murals give an altogther serious political message is quite different! I'm looking for some hidden meaning... nope, just a bunch of people wishing they lived somewhere nicer!

I think she really just wants to hug me! Here we are at a landmark Chinese site in the famous 'English Garden' in Germany. There's a fantastic band of oompa lumpa men playing music from the first floor of that thing!

A magnificent centre piece for any street! To be honest I can't recall what it's significance was, but it looked awesome! Claire and I look so tiny up there!

This barmaid sure does remind me of someone....

There's a Bavarian tradition behind this maypole and it goes a little something like this... Each village has one of these maypole looking things with flags on it. And at the top is a ring. The pole should be guarded by someone who lives in the village in order to prevent people from neighboring villages from climbing it and stealing the ring. If the ring is captured by another village then legend says people of the village that the ring belongs to have to buy the whole village (that stole it) a beer. If I tried I could have written that more clearly but I think you get the gist of it!