Munich - Berchtesgaden - Rhine

Post concert, we and our friends the Foreman's did some sight seeing down near the border of Austria. The town of Berchtesgaden is near Munich and nestled in the mountains. It was here that Hitler had his famous mountain retreat built, the Berghof.



It was another feat of German engineering - first they had to build a road to the top then figure out how to assemble a home there. In the picture on the right, you can barely see it at the top of the mountain.

We also visited the town of Bad Reichanall that we remembered from our first visit here about 30 years ago. The town is known for producing salt for the entire country. Of course you can buy huge chunks of the stuff for decoration.



Closer to Wiesbaden, we took a trip up the Rhine to visit a vineyard in a castle... any excuse for drinking wine in the middle of the day. This area of the Rhine is the most "romantic" with castles and vineyards everywhere.



What you see on the side of the this home is actually all a mural painting. You can even see the actual rose bush in front compared with the painted version.


And, of course, we stumbled on a wine festival going on in another Rhine town. This one had the full German a cappella oompa band... if that's possible. Check out the vineyards on the banks of the Rhine in the distance over the stage.




Now it's time to stumble home, via rail.
Tschus!

A Night with 3OH!3

Our friends from Boulder, Colorado have a son who plays in the "electronica-rap" band named 3OH!3. The band was on a European tour so Gary and Michelle decided to surprise their son Sean in Munich 2 weeks ago - needless to say, we joined. We met in the Marienplatz - the centre of Munich featuring the Glockenspiel. Of course, there were disguises involved.
After the surprise, we had Bavarian beers with Nat and Sean (the nucleus of 3OH!3)and their UK road manager. The band is recognized everywhere by kids much younger than us.



The venue they played in was standing room only and smaller than most but sold out. You can see the hand sign used by the band and fans forms the 3-0-3 symbol (303 is area code for Boulder). It was HOT and stuffy and we found refuge in the DJ booth. We looked and felt like moms and dads, which of course, we were. But, it was rockin' and we were too. From Dead concerts to electronica rap... it almost works.


After the show, most of the fans cleared out, and the band had an impromptu celebration and dance-a-thon. Nat mixed tunes on his Mac while the band and friends danced and rocked the house...much to the amazement of the German proprietor trying to close down. He gave in and let them dance on.

After all this, the band marched back on their bus for a long trip to Leeds, UK for a few festival appearances. We crashed in our hotel about 2 blocks away from the venue. As Dylan says, "May you stay forever young."
Tschus!