Hofbrauhaus

Last night in Munich at the Hofbrauhaus.

Stan and Linda

More Hofbrauhaus.

Marc and Beth

Mario and Carmen

This looks like Iowa.

Tom and Stanley

Thank you Kurt

Dave Eicher at Munich Mineral Show

Dave gave the group a preparatory briefing but nothing could prepare us for the size and 1,500 exhibits.  
Namibia meteorites dazzled and the Australian opals mesmerized our stay.

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Munich Autumn

Great Autumn Colors in Munich

Welcome to Munich

Our guide gathered us in front of Munich's famous Glockenspiel for the 5:00pm performance.  As the clock chimes the life-size mechanical marionettes reenact the story of the wedding celebration of Duke Wilhelm V.
A real crowd pleaser!

Glockenspiel

Schonbrunn Palace

Gardens at Schonbrunn

Vienna, the Urania Observatory and the Hapsburg

Vienna with the best of Baroque architecture mixed with modern and even humorous.  

Our last night in Prague fittingly ended with a concert at St Nicholas Church in Old Town.  The Mozart Mass in C Minor prepared us for Vienna.

This morning we visited the Urania Observatory, built in 1910 for Emperor Josef.  We were greeted by local, young astronomers, Daniel and Hannes.  Dave Eicher, Astronomy magazine editor, gave a lecture on meteorites to help prepare the group for the Munich Mineral Show.

 Original Urania   

     Urania Astronomers:                                                             Daniel and Selena     
     Daniel Imrich and Hannes Richter with Dave Eicher             

        

The group climbed to the dome for a close up view of St. Stephens.  The marine layer kept us from a clear sky.

Astronomy magazine at Urania

Marc and Beth

The afternoon was a choice of the Natural History Museum and the Schonbrumn Palace, once the summer palace of the Hapsburg family and home to Marie Teresa.

Tonight singing and dining at the Heurigen Fuhrgassl-Huber in Grinzing.

Astronomical Clock

From Mercedes-Benz to Carl Ziess optical museum, our tour with Astronomy magazine editor, Dave Eicher, began with the ultimate wow factor of excellence.  Before arriving in Prague the afternoon was spent with Johannes Kepler in Weil der Stadt.  A brilliant discourse of Kepler's life and work was given at his museum.

Today was another astronomy high going inside the Astronomical Clock on the tower of the Old Town Hall constructed in 1410.  We were given a private tour, seven at a time, to climb the ancient granite stairs to stand less than a foot away as the gears, pulleys, and weights struck 11AM while the life size Apostles rotated overhead.  The clock is an impressive instrument of a movable map of the heaven.
Afterwards we reverently stood in front of Tycho Brahe's tomb in the Church of Our Lady before Tyn.

Weil der Stadt and Kepler's house

Fountain in front of Johannes Kepler's house.

Dave and Melita - Johannes Kepler statue in Weil der Stadt.

Cecil and Tom at the fountain of Weil der Stadt town center.

Mercedes Benz