On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 10:20:54 -0700, "frank" wrote:

Not far outside Munich is Neuschanstein (sp??) the castle of "mad" Ludwig.
It is spectacular, even if somewhat a cliche.

For me, an odd details was one of the most moving things I saw on my
trip in '95. In Berlin, outside what was the national art musem of East
Germany, there had been a fire fight.

That was at the tail end of WWII. 50 years later the workers' paradise had
not yet gotten around to repairing a bridge right in downtown Berlin. The
50 BMG dents were still there, with rusting paint.

Saw the same thing on the outside of the Pergamon in Berlin when we
were there just after the wall came down. My assumption, though, was
that the lack of repair was intentional, to remind the locals what
happened the last time they crossed the Russians.

As far as places to see, the Deutsches Museum in Munich is worth a
visit. When I was there 10 years ago it was in need of a good cleaning
and updating, but still was worth while. And, the Pergamon by all
means if you are in Berlin. It has an excellent collection of middle
eastern artifacts excavated by German archaeologists 100 years ago.

Jack