Date: 2nd February 2008

Team: I had been to this place with my Manager Henry Kuenzel and his wife.

It has been more 6 months since I travelled to Germany. I was seeing all my pictures and thought I must write about Kelheim.

Kelheim is about 1-2 hours drive from Regensburg. This place has a few very interesting monuments. I had collected some historical information from the place which I thought I should put it on my website for others to read.

The first place we went to is called:
Liberation Hall King Ludwig I

On top of Michelsberg, high above the town you can see Kelheim’s Landmark, Liberation Hall. King Ludwig I., of Bavaria had this monumental round building erected in commemoration of the wars of liberation from Napoleon (1813-15). It was realized by the famous Munich architect Leo von Klenze within 21 years’ time (1842-63).

It has a 7-meter -high enterance door and the shields of goddesses of victory inside the monument are made of particular material: bronze of conquered French canons.

The inner walls are covered with coloured marble.

View of the Danube river that flows in the city:

The second place we had been to is something which most of them are thrilled to goto in Germany – The place where the oldest Beer is made.

Monastery of Weltenburg

The present-day Benedictine abbey was originally found by Columban monks around 600 AD.

After centuries of pillage and floors a new heyday began when Maurus Baechl became abbot of Wetenburg: he had the present monastic buildings and the Baroque abbey church built.

This monastery is also famous for Bavarian dark beer (oldest in the world).

The walk around the place is very beautiful.

It was a very nice saturday and very nice of Mr. Henry to take out and show me around.

Overall if someone goes to Regensburg, I’d recommend them to visit Kelheim for sure.

Watch all photos here.

City:

Its a beautiful city, has a lot of touch from Paris, mostly because a lot of roads around city have the rough stone look.

The building and surroundings look very colorful.

Best part is the river flowing through the city:

I like the fact that a lot of people workout or try to be outdoors all the time:

People:

Today I had been to a typical German restaurant called “Muenchen”. I have always found a way to find something vegetarian in the menu . I was sitting on a table alone. After some time, two more guys asked me if they could join me. They were not very well off, they made their living singing on the streets. They were a little drunk and were here to have some more beer. What I liked about these guys is what they were talking to me about. We had a general conversation about US, India etc… but before he left, he said:

Most important thing in life is to be happy. Money and other things don’t matter.

I was so surprised to hear this… and was actually pleased to hear this from him I was happy for him that he is happy for what he does for a living. All he does is sings and plays the guitar on the street or so, makes enough money to survive.

Before he left, he gave me a lot of advice and asked me to enjoy this time of my life.

Anyways, the point is, my experience with a lot of people around here has been very nice. People are very friendly, will go all the way to help you if you are a stranger. I have slowly started to like Regensburg. It will be one of my favorite place for sure!

Click here for the complete photo set of Regensburg.

Place: Bavarian Forest, Germany

After skiing in Michigan a couple of times, I tried skiing in the Great Arber. It was a wonderful experience. I was able to do the basic paths, but was too scared looking at the intermediate paths.

After a couple of rounds I started hiking in the snow. I was missing a spike shoes… I think it is a must on this snow. I had a tough time standing

Listening to one of my favorite song – “Creed’s – One last breath“

Even though it is cold and dry, yet so beautiful:

Click here to view all photos

I reached Regensburg, Germany. Couldn’t believe that my hotel was right next to the river Donau.

I start walking around next to the river, clicked some pictures on the way.

I reached a bridge where I could see the city church along with the river.

I couldn’t help getting the boat out of my focus as it was too close and the bridge railings was too high. But as as I was trying out more snaps, I notices that the boat was towing a car!!! This was a sight I had never seen so I clicked along!

Poor guy I wonder how much he would have to pay for that! After that I got a nice view of the sky. It was dusk and the sky was deep blue!

Click here to see all snaps of Regensburg, Germany.

Date: 29th October 2006

I had never seen such a huge exhibition for hobby projects. Its mind blowing to see the power of engineering in Germany. The Mechanical designs, small engines, precision plastic molds for the toys, accuracy in designs. We are talking about toys and hobby projects!!! People have spent their whole life working on one project! When they do it… they do it their best!

Construction…

You guys must have seen the huge construction machines, here we are talking about small versions of them and they exactly do the same thing!

Bike…

This bike looks huge and like a real bike, but it is a small bike kept on a table with real engine may be a size of 10CC. It had real disc breaks!

Helicopter…

Guy flying an Helicopter… its a small one made out of plastic but gives you control to fly in all directions.

Toy car…

This toy car has a real engine which runs on some alcohol based fuel and can go almost up to 40Kmph.

Train station…

Its a complete train station with city around it. I could also spot small toy people made around it. The trains are very accurate and move around on the tracks, change tracks. Spoke to this guy with my broken german and found out that he has taken 10years to build it!!!

Click here to see the complete exhibition photos!

Number of days : 4 (17^th to 20^th November 2006)
The Machine : Alfa Romeo 159
Distance Traveled : 2700KMS
Max Speed : 220 Kmph
Route :

Onward Journey: Stuttgart -> Switzerland -> Milano -> Rome
Return Journey: Rome -> Pisa -> Milano -> Switzerland -> Stuttgart

Team : Ajay Shetty, Chidananda Nagaraj, Jaffar Mohammed Shiraj, Mahesh Nagaraja and Vikram Chadaga

Click here to view all photos .

Five of us had decided to go to Rome by car. I was the only driver with a valid driver’s license. Our initial plan was to cover Naples, Rome, Pisa, may be Venice. With only 4 days in hand I think this was being too optimistic. I hadn’t driven a car since I had come to Germany and I was waiting to drive a car, should I also add the “Autobahn’s” of Germany was another factor!

Day 1: 17^th November 2006

We had booked a compact car from Sixt car rentals, and a compact car included something like a Mercedes A-class or a VW Golf. 5 people in this compact car would have been a little to tough. We decided to upgrade the car the next segment. To our luck we got a free upgrade to an Alfa Romeo 159, it’s a diesel car and I think it has all the features one can think about, Navigation, Parking assist, Cruise control, 6 gears, almost everything! I was surprised it didn’t come with an auto pilot

We guys were totally thrilled with the car! So “She” was my babe for the next 4 days!

We guys got into the car, trying to figure out how to change the navigation system from German to English. Somehow we were not too lucky with the navigation system, as it was not updated with the latest road constructions. We were in Stuttgart for more than 2 hours trying to figure out where the Autobahn starts!

I didn’t care about anything; it was me, my babe and the road!

Driving on German Autobahns with a 260Bhp machine! Oh boy! For the first time in my life I hit the speed of 220 Kmph and the car was still stable. I stuck onto the fastest lane and hit the gas peddle! Everyone in front of me gave me the way! I was feeling more and more powerful with the “Alfa Romeo”! Most of them drive at 130Kmph except for the Ferrari’s and some high end Audi’s! It is an understanding on the Autobahns that if you see a Ferrari, BMW or an Audi you give way!

When we got out of Germany we enter Switzerland. There are a lot of speed limits and I was back driving decently. It was my first time in Switzerland and it is so beautiful to drive there. With huge snow covered mountains on either side of the road.

We stopped at Brunnen for some time and clicked a lot of photographs. Mahesh and I had half a mind to stay back in Switzerland and forget about Rome.

I think Switzerland has the most number of tunnels, may be the world’s longest tunnel the Gothard Pass.

After the halt at Brunnen, we didn’t realize that we had taken the wrong route. We drove for 1.5 hours and suddenly someone sees the compass. We were going North instead of going south. Of course we didn’t regret it even a little bit because it was Switzerland.

We were had lost a lot of time in the breaks and loosing way. I had decided to take a break at 1AM in the night. I had driven continuously for more than 12 hours. We guys tried to find a hostel in the middle of the night, but we couldn’t find it. Finally we drove to a petrol bunk and slept in the car for 2 hours. We continued our journey to reach Rome at 6:00AM.

Day 2: 18^th November 2006

I was told by many that Italy feels like India. When I looked around I realized why! The driving style… the buildings, it was a nice experience.

We could see a lot of walls with posters on it!

Lot of two wheelers! I also saw an LML Vespa! I was also happy to see the good old Maruthi 800 the old version.

My first impression of Italy was not too good. I always had a feeling that I might get mugged anytime of the day! But it was only because we stayed at the city central where it is crowed!

We had Italian Pizza as our brunch and head towards the Vatican City.

I had no idea that Vatican City was the world’s smallest country! Wow! They had their own law and police! It was very nice to know. The architecture around was beautiful. I clicked a lot of photographs, did a lot of people photography too!

We then entered the church…

They didn’t let me use my tripod so I had fun using the floor, benches as tripod to click snaps!

We spent most of our time in Vatican City. We also went till the top of the building and got the aerial view of Rome and Vatican City.

From there we went to the wishing fountain. People wish and throw a penny in the pond! It is a belief that the wish would come true.

We found a group of people from ISKON promoting “Krishna” awareness. It felt nice to hear them sing. I joined them for a small dance

In Italy some have a very interesting way of earning money. This was the best. This man had completely painted him in silver and was acting dead in front of a trash can. It was a neat performance!

We continued loafing around on the streets to see better and better buildings around.

Day 3: 19^th November 2006