Olympic Torch Relay

Crowds starting to gather on our street

Sponsors' buses went by first to get the crowd going with loud music & megaphones

and fancy screens

The next torch bearer got off of this bus and stood by our driveway, waiting for the flame handover

Torchbearer Sue Marley--you can read her story here

The kiss point!

It was so great to have the Olympic Torch relay go right by our home!  We were excited when we heard it was coming to Headingley, and really surprised it was going down our street--but then when we ended up having a kiss point right on our driveway, it was unbelievable!

This morning the torch went downtown in Leeds, and I saw a guy on campus this afternoon with a torch, too.  So exciting!

Cookie's hedgehog

I bought Cookie a little catnip-filled hedgehog at the pet store yesterday and she adores it!

After playing with it for awhile, she curled up with it and went to sleep--so cute!

Coving

We finally got the coving up in the living room last weekend--it turned out great!

 Our Jubilee Party--watching it at the pub and drinking Pimms!

The office--we're working on the storage situation, but so far it's been a great place to work :)

Jubilee Weekend

We've had great weather lately, and everything's in bloom now

Flowers in Otley's Wharfbank park

 On Saturday we went to York--it was all decked out in bunting for the Diamond Jubilee

 We celebrated our third anniversary on Monday--Richard surprised me with a riding trek in the Dales!

The countryside was gorgeous, and it was so fun to see it from a different perspective

 Amazing view from the farm

 St. Mary's Church in Kilnsey

 After the ride, we went for lunch in Skipton

Ice cream vendor on a boat

 This shop is taking the Jubilee very seriously...it's hard to see, but I love that cake with the crown on top.

Our other big accomplishment over the long weekend: we've finished up the scary room!

So exciting to have an office/guest room now!

Munich

My hotel room was great--the conference organisers booked it, so I assumed it would be nice, but I didn't realise it would be this nice.  It's way better than something I would've booked!

Flat screen TV and a desk that I actually used for once--I've never really had to work on anything at a hotel before!

Private balcony

Haribo Gummi Bears instead of mints on the pillow!

Lovely bathroom--very modern, with frosted glass door and frosted glass shower panel

View from the private balcony

It's right next to the Englischer Garten, a huge, gorgeous park

The cute little mini bar had different glasses for wine and beer in the top section (not that I needed to use the mini-bar at all, after an evening with the conference attendees in the Biergarten)

Neues Rathaus (new city hall--built in 1867 but looks much older because it was done in 'Gothic Revival' style)

Marienplatz (Mary's Square, or Our Lady's Square)

Entrance to the Rathaus and a Ratskeller menu on the left hand side

The inner courtyard of the Neues Rathaus

Mariensaule, Mary's column--built in 1638 to commemorate the end of Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years War (I had no idea the Swedes ever occupied it! Wikipedia is an amazing thing...)

May pole!

Just in time for Mother's Day, this graffiti says "Mama is always right"

Church near our hotel

Frauenkirche--Our Lady's Church

It's too big to fit into a single frame, and there are a lot of other buildings around it, so I couldn't get a good exterior shot.  The interior is very simple but beautiful:

I seem to have a knack for visiting monuments during renovation...there are supposed to be 2 matching towers on this cathedral, but one is under the scaffolding.

I think this was a local government building...

Odeonplatz--named for former concert hall the Odeon.  Straight ahead is the Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshal's Hall--which looks like the loggia in Florence...) and on the right is the Theatine church

The Theatine Church was so much more ornate than the Frauenkirche.  

Hofgarten (Court Garden)

University of Munich--it's really scattered in a lot of buildings throughout the area, but this is the area around the Universitaet metro stop.  I loved this little MG, too!  Most of the cars I saw there were German--BMW, Audi, Mercedes (their taxis are Mercedes) and VW.  The little Fiat 500s and Minis are popular, too.

Pastry and espresso for breakfast...this one had hazelnuts on it--delicious!

Train to Erlangen, just leaving Munich

There were quite a few solar energy farms, and I saw a lot of houses with solar panels, too.

The countryside was definitely different from England & France--it's interesting how each country's farmland has its own distinct 'look'

Classic village look

One of the Biergartens in Erlangen that Jonna & Simon took me to--the food was great!

and it has a stork's nest on the roof--we could see its head sticking out, but it didn't really show up in the picture

Jonna & me :)