I made several business trips to Germany, first before the Berlin Wall came down, then after the re-unification. Don't forget, this was all due to Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.

Mostly I went to Munich which is a great city in Bavaria. Munich is a wonderful place, with lots to see and do. One of my favorite places to go is MarienPlatz, in pretty much the center of Munich.

On a few occasions I went to the English Garden, kind of the Central Park of Munich. This photo shows only one of the many beer gardens in the English Garden. This one is on a pond.

German architecture is just wonderful, they have such a wry sense of humor. Here is a picture of a fountain in Munich.

Germans are not prudes, that's for sure. All over there are sculptures and pictures of naked men and women. Outdoor advertising is done on these round signposts and new posters are pasted onto them on a regular basis. On one trip I constantly saw this one ad featuring a very young girl and was amazed to see teenage boys walk by it without a second glance.

One of the most striking sites in downtown Munich is Frauenkirche, literally Church of our Lady, built back in 1488. In this shot one tower is shrouded in scaffolding to complete a renovation.

At the base of Frauenkirche are graves and on the side of the church are the markers. Here's a rather cheery one. The Germans don't pussy-foot around on the subject of death.

Another building in downtown, this is supposed to be the old government office building.

The place is adorned with sculptures, you can see in the other panels the people are calm, but in this panel, the people are running away from the climbing dragon. Like I said, a very wry sense of humor.

I also went to Freiburg im Breisgau in the south of Germany near the border with France several times. It was a neat place. On one trip I got there riding in a hot Bimmer owned and driven by one of my favorite mentors from the Credence Germany office. We drove from the Semicon Europa show in Munich through the Black Forest and stayed at a fantastic "spa" hotel in the Black Forest with huge rooms (and fantastic bathrooms) and only paid $50 per night (And yes, we had seperate rooms! They many not be prudes but I am!). The next day we pulled in to Freiburg. In Frieburg they have a beautiful church.

The church had some interesting downspouts (Wasserspeier).

One of the church downspouts there was pretty interesting. This is what happens when a people posses a good sense of humor and a lack of sexual inhibitions. Don't forget, this is on a church!