Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Austria, Germany, and Amsterdam, Several Years Ago

Innsbruck, Austria! These pictures were taken before the era of digital cameras by a rank amateur - me! So please excuse the slightly off-color images. If I ever get a good photo improving program, I'll see about cleaning these pictures up just a bit.


The River 'Inn'.


It's easy to walk in Europe. Pedestrian pathways are found everywhere, even between towns. That's what keeps these elderly gents from getting fat!

View from the Sporthotel Penz, in suburban Innsbruck.


Biergarten near Innsbruck. I can almost taste them hops.

Speakin' of hops. Best bier in the mountains! Of course, it don't hold a candle to Lone Star Bier, er, Beer!

Sometimes I can't figure out the street signs.

These are my kinda condos!

The condo we're at in the USA looks a lot like this!

Gotta move the car outta the way. Parade coming!

It's Sunday. And they're marching to church!

The choirboys follow the procession to church. Anyone know why they parade to church? This was in a mountain village known as Seefeld.

The market in Hall-in-Tirol, Austria. Early in the morning.

I'll bet she's thinking, "Tourists!"

That's a tall bridge! There's a village in the valley below.

A high valley in Austria. Or, was it Germany?

Dunno why. I just like this picture.

There are many old churches in Germany and Austria.

Amsterdam! 'The Venice of the North'. Unlike Venice, Italy, this city is not sinking. There are miles of row houses with narrow streets on a canal.

The first thing you gotta do, before looking at the red light district or the pot-filled bars, is to ride a boat on one of the canals.

It must be interesting living on the waterways in Amsterdam. This is a really old bridge. It's probably kept in place for the benefit of tourists!

Electric light rail is starting to make a comeback in cities such as Dallas and Houston, but Europe has had 'em for decades.

The Centraal train station. One of the busiest rail stations anywhere.

People love to congregate in the many plazas in the city. Everyone is younger than me.

Our hotel for this brief visit to Amsterdam.


I took this picture because it was the first time I'd seen small florescent light bulbs! They started in Europe (made by Philips) and are slowly catching on here. The light from these bulbs is brighter now than in those earlier days of the late 1980s. I use them.

We've made several trips to Austria, Germany, and Amsterdam. On those trips, we'd also visit Venice. Alas, the visits to Amsterdam were less than 24 hours. We're hoping to spend more time there sometime in the future. As I get the old photos of the other trips loaded into the ol' eMac, I'll upload 'em here for your eddyfication!