Andechs, Germany - 14th October 2007
By: Pandamao
As the weather was nice, we all went for a nice walk. First we took the S-Bahn to Herrsching at the Ammersee (lake). From there we walked more than one hour to the Andechs monastery. It is a huge complex as you can see in the photo.
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Posted Oct 16, 2007, 9:33 pm
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Kiental, Germany - 14th October 2007
By: Pandamao
The forest was really nice in all the autumn colors. I enjoyed the walk from the Andechs monastery through the Kiental back to Herrsching. In Herrsching I saw a golden statue of the Virgin Mary. There are a lot of those statues in this area.
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Posted Oct 16, 2007, 9:50 pm Last edited Oct 16, 2007, 9:51 pm by Pandamao
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Frankfurt / Main, Germany - 2nd November 2007
By: Pandamao
I went to Frankfurt for the weekend. The photo shows me on a brigde over the Main river with the skyline of Frankfurt. Some people call Frankfurt "Mainhattan" because there are a lot of skycrapers - most of them used by banks.
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Posted Nov 6, 2007, 7:29 pm
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Bernried, Germany - 25th November 2007
By: Pandamao
I accompanied my host to the Kloster Bernried (Bernried monastery) close to the Starnberger See to get one week of Qigong training. Very nice and relaxing even though the weather was foggy. Sometimes I though I would sit in a white cloud when looking out of the window.
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Posted Dec 1, 2007, 12:59 pm
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München, Germany - 1st December 2007
By: Pandamao
Today I went to Marienplatz - the Christmas market has started and everywhere is the smell of cookies and mulled wine
I also saw the Hofbräuhaus - what a huge beer hall!
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Posted Dec 1, 2007, 2:02 pm
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München, Germany - 8th December 2007
By: Pandamao
I went strolling around town - oh god, there were masses of people doing their Christmas shopping. So I prefered just to take a photo of the Stachus (Karlsplatz) where there was a skating rink set up and later some more photos of different market places in the dark
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Posted Dec 10, 2007, 9:21 pm
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Dießen, Germany - 9th December 2007
By: Pandamao
On Sunday we went for a walk along the Ammersee (lake south of Munich). After 2 hours we decided that it's time for a mulled wine at the Dießen Christmas market. This Xmas market is held only at one weekend at Dießen. And there is no electricity allowed and the goods sold are solely hand-made. It was great when it was getting dark and everything was lit by little candles. In the middle of the market a real blacksmith was working on the metal. It's a pity that the camera could not take photos in the dark.
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Posted Dec 10, 2007, 9:41 pm
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Bayrischzell, Germany - 20th December 2007
By: Pandamao
Tried on our host's new cross-country ski set. As there was no snow in Munich we took the train to Bayrischzell and went skiing there.
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Posted Dec 23, 2007, 9:53 pm
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München, Germany - 23rd December 2007
By: Pandamao
I had a nice, long walk in the English Garden today and had a mulled wine at the Christmas market at the Chinese tower.
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Posted Dec 23, 2007, 10:02 pm
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Nürnberg, Germany - 24th December 2007
By: Pandamao
Visited the famous Nuremberg Christkindl market.
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Posted Dec 27, 2007, 10:02 pm
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from München to, Japan - 28th December 2007
By: Pandamao
Well, today is my last evening in Munich and my host said that I should have a mulled wine before hopping into the envelope and travel to Yumi in Japan.
The usual mulled wine is made with red wine and spices. For my farewell I got a special one - made with elderberry wine! Mmmmh, delicious
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Posted Dec 28, 2007, 10:01 pm
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Ishikawa, Japan - 5th January 2008
By: yumi
Florence and I arrived at Yumi's home in Japan safely today.
We met her toyvoyager Tokio.
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Posted Jan 12, 2008, 3:46 pm
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Kanazawa, Japan - 11th January 2008
By: yumi
Florence and I visited Oyama Shrine today.
In Japan we visit a shrine to pray for happiness and health on the new year.
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Posted Jan 16, 2008, 5:04 pm
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Kanazawa, Japan - 11th January 2008
By: yumi
I found some cabbages in borders.
I asked Yumi
'Why cabbages are planted here?
She answered
'It is a kind of cabbage but we never eat it. It is called 'Habotan' in Japanese. We display it for the new year.'
I also found a pair of habotan and bamboo decorations in front of the shrine and I asked Yumi again.
'What is this?
Yumi answered 'it is one of new year's decorations. It called 'Kadomatsu'. It was made assembled pine branches enhanced by stem of bamboo and sprays of plum trees. During the new year a pair of them, one for each side are placed in front of house/building as in Japan pine, bamboo, and plum tree are taken as good luck'
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Posted Jan 16, 2008, 5:34 pm
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Kanazawa, Japan - 11th January 2008
By: yumi
As a shrine is a sacred place, we wash our hands first.
Then I found a lot of small tablets drawn mice.
I asked Yumi. 'What is that?'
She answered
'That is called Ema. We write our wishes on the tablet..For example, our health, happiness, and success. The tablets are mostly used in praying for success in passing entrance exams'
I also found a lot of long narrow paper tied in a rope.
Yumi told me 'When we visit a shrine in the new year, we usually draw Omikuji (a fortune slip). We tied one to a rope or a tree after we read'
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Posted Jan 17, 2008, 1:28 pm
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