Bamberg

Bamberg photos.  I was most excited about Bamberg, as this is where smoked beer originates from.  We passed by the Shlenkerla brewery, and managed to get back there for some beer.  Unfortunately, this was the least "polite" place we visited in Germany, with an old grizzled bar lady that gave two shits about american tourists wanting to sample smoked beer.  At least I was able to buy a few bottles to take with us on the cruise.

Nuremburg

Shots from Nuremburg.  Wonderful old town, with some great buildings ad streets to wander through.  We also visited the former Nazi parade grounds.  Photos don't do it justice, as the place is just enormous.  They have actually deconstructed quite a bit of the site, to attempt to do away with any memories of its previous use.  It was funny seeing car racing starting grid boxes painted on the ground, from when the DTM machines race their annually.  

Prague v2

More Prague shots.  We ended up walking around well into the night time hours.

Prague v1

A few photos from Prague.  A wonderful city, with great old town lined with coblestone roads.  St. Vitus Cathedral and the Charles Bridge were as great as I remembered, from visiting in 1997.

European Vacation - Manholes!

A subject dear to my heart, cast-iron manhole covers.  Unlike the states, where we tend to use very boring manhole covers, some of the towns in Europe we visited had some very ornate ones, as seen below:

Meet Buster

I found Buster at Home Depot. He needed to come home with me. I haven't decided what to plant in him yet.

More yard work

I did a bit more yard work over the weekend, this time turning my attention to the backyard.  This center island was just scraggy bushes not doing anything in particular.  After some weed fabric and half a dozen Gardenia's. I topped it off with a bit of stone pulled over from where I removed the storage shed.  I chose Gardenia's because of having only partial shade and well draining soil.