I will retire in Bamberg, Germany and also some words about Berlin

There is a small town called Bamberg in a Germany that has miraculously survived both World Wars 96% intact. And it seems few people know about it.

The town is all twisting cobblestone streets and quaint buildings.

It is incredibly picturesque. However the medieval feeling isn't just due to the buildings and streets. There are dozens of breweries here still practicing their original recipes. Nicolette and I drank at a 600 year old brewery that still served its original smoked beer using an old Bavarian recipe.

It was interesting tasting. It's strange to know I'll most likely never have it again.

We thought that Bamberg was going to be a little side trip on the way to Berlin and it was. But it was such a memorable place and in berlin we had terrible luck.

To begin, the place we were staying was a little out of the city center, which would've have been fine except the tram to the center was out due to construction. Also a lot lf museums and attractions were under renovation or construction due to Germany expanding its Metro. It was very difficult to get around. We couldn't do berlin justice unfortunately.

In Berlin though, we would see the beginning of just how much WWII and the communist occupation has shaped Europe.

 

The above is the memorial to the Jewish victims of WWII. There is no absolute meaning. The artist has left it ambiguous. It's hard to tell but the ground is wavy and has kinds of dips so those stone rectangular prisms get up to 14 feet tall. It's easy to get lost, and, more importantly, to lose others.

That building is one of the only remaining Nazi buildings left. It is designed to make one feel small and weak.

Above is the current Russian embassy, former Berlin USSR HQ. It retains all of its Soviet propaganda.

That is a segment of the Berlin Wall that has remain preserved. One can see No Mans' Land and a soviet watch tower which were positioned every 200m or 650 feet. It's incomprehensible to imagine a wall just going up literally overnight dividing you from friends, family and loved ones.

The grass is where No Mans' Land was, the lines on the floor represent tunnels and the rebar looking poles is of course where the wall used to be. The metal outline is where there used to be buildings before the wall.

And the East Side Gallery of course. Where the wall has taken new life as an art gallery.

 

To end this entry I will leave you with two light hearted things. One, this strange statue inside a Bamberg church.

And two, a mobile bar, complete with beers on draught.

 

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Munich - Home to some of the best food and drink on the planet

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No beer will be the same now that I have tasted the famous Bavarian Beer. Yes, the beer halls in Munich are just as good as you've heard.

And Munich itself is beautiful.

Munich is very wealthy and it shows in its cars, it's shops and definitely it's history. The Residence museum is opulent and over the top.

I actually feel like there is not to say about Munich. Great food, great beer, but don't mention the Glockenspiel to me. Ugh

 

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Barcelona - Land of Quirk

Parts of Barcelona feel like they're out of a fever dream thanks in part to its most famous architect Gaudi and also it's condensed streets and squeezed together buildings.

There are incredible buildings, fascinating cafés and bars, and crazy avenues around every corner.

And then you have the most impressive building I have ever had the honor to enter.

Sagrada Familia will be Gaudi's and Barcelona's masterpiece. It has been in construction for over 100 years and is scheduled to finish in 2026 after almost 150 years. But that picture doesn't do it justice.

That's a digitally zoomed shot that shows how it towers above the rest of the city.

Everything about it is huge and impressive. The inside is modeled after a forest with the sides of the pillars multiplying as they ascend and designed to look like trees complete with canopy on top.

The outside of the cathedral is just as impressive with one side chronicling the beginning of Jesus's life and the other depicting the end.

There are so many things to experience in Barcelona, but with only four nights here, it s time to move onto Munich.

 

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I will retire in Salento, Colombia.

 

Salento is a sleepy little agricultural town (it grows primarily coffee) in between Medellin and Bogota in Colombia and it is incredible.

Our pictures don't convey how charming this town is. It only has about 4,000 residents and maybe twenty streets. And there are gorgeous views on all sides.

Tejo is a sport in Colombia where the player throws a heavy metal disc into a pit of clay pit. There's little pieces of paper fille with gunpowder that the player tries to hit. It is customary to drink beer while you are doing this. It's awesome.

And since Colombia is dirt cheap (but probably not for long!) you can get gourmet meals like above, including two drinks for under twenty dollars total. By the way, that's filet mignon wrapped in bacon in red wine sauce. Sooooooo good.

There are a surprising number of things to do I'm Salento considering its size.

We went on a 3.5 hour horse ride. My wife was excited to go and I went mostly to make her happy, but I've got to say that I'm a believer. Riding horses is pretty fun.

 

Now to the not so great part. My wife and I took a hike that was supposed to last 4.5 hours but we took a wrong turn and we're hiking for 8.5 hours. It took us over a week to recover. But now we can honestly say we've been lost in the Colombian jungle. Plus is was magnificent scenery.

Salento is probably my personal favorite place we visited in Colombia, which is surprising since I'm a city boy since birth. The beauty there is all encompassing and relentless. Off to Barcelona!

 

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