Bavaria and Tirol

Munich is the capital of the Southern German region called Bavaria, and they are all about the pig!!!! Ich Habe Schwein, means I have had pig which is to indicate good fortune. Any place that serves up a crispy pork knuckle and having pig is good fortune of course, is for me. I am hanging with my vegetarian friend Thomas who is from Munich. I think there is like a potato on the menu that he can eat. Thomas has resorted to diving in the dark lakes of Germany and Austria where the water is crystal clear and warm and there are loads of colorful fish. OOPs sorry that would be Thailand where I met Thomas.
He and his girlfriend Meike take me to a beer hall for dinner, where the pig and the beer are flowing like mad.

The architecture here is incredible. I see the church that the present pope was from when he was the Cardinal here in Munich. Good food, beer halls and beer gardens and you know what?!

Austria
I arrive in Worgl (pronounced Veorgl) which is about an hour from Innsbruck, home of the 1964 and 1976 Olympics and is a candidate for the 2012 Olys.
Austria is incredibly beautiful, lots of rolling hills and mountains, pastures and meadows AND the people are friendly. When you walk into a place in Austria, you address the room by saying Servus. What a great place to grow up. Austria is know for Swarovski and Riedl Crystal long before Arnold came along.

I am hanging with friends Stefan (Stufi) and Sabine and they live in Kundl. We walk around the different villages, visit both Swarovski and Riedl. Loved Riedl, but not impressed by Swarovski (sorry Eileen). I brought the unseasonably warm weather with me and we enjoyed a BBQ outside with some of S and S's friends where we had lots of meat and some pork fat from Romania and I taught them how to make and eat sommores and we just laughed the whole evening.

One of my favorite shops was a place where the guy collects rocks from the local stream, makes different things like bowls, votive holders and polishes them making beautful works of art. Stufi and me went on a light hike down to a mountain lake and just sat in the sun and absorbed the beauty around us. This is an incredible place.