On Sunday in San Leandro there was the annual Sausage and Suds Festival. The festival featured the local fire department (Alameda County) and the police department. They were handing out hats to the young kids. The "Biergarten" was set up in the Englander's parking lot. The first stop was the ID check table where I got a nice wrist band that identified me as legal to drink. Next up was the glass and ticket counter where for $20 I received a pint glass marked with the year's logos and three drink tickets. There was a wine table and of course a long line of beers on tap.

If there is one thing I wish I could do with my friends is sit down to plates of cheeses and share good wines. This has never happened with my friends but my in-laws set on hell of a spread of cheeses and wines. There were two lazy-susans filled with more than 25 cheeses ranging from mild brie to very sharp blue cheese. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

Mild
Ste. Andre Brie
Petite Basque
Mahon (Spanish)
Gourmandise au Kirsch

Medium
Gruyere (cave aged)
Manchego (Spanish)
Dubliner

Strong
Gouda (Winchester Farms extra sharp)
Point Reyes Blue
Societe Roquefort

On Saturday my family and I went to the Winchester Mystery House (www.winchestermysteryhouse.com) to take the tour. Before the tour we walked through the historical firearms museum where guns from civil war times right up to the last century were displayed.

Our guide was very knowledgable about the Lady (Mrs. Winchester) and the house she haphazardly build. The tour was quite cheep ($24 for Michell and I and $21 for my Parents). I recommend this tour for anyone who can walk a mile unaided.

From München to Penzberg:
Drive south on A95

From Penzberg to Füssen (Schloss Neuschwanstein):
A95 south
B472 West through Uffing, Schöffan, Böbing, Pischlach
Cross over the 23 near Ilgen
17 south toward Füssen

From Penzberg to Ettlingen
A95 north to München
96 west
99 north
A8 west toward Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsberg
A5 south to Ettlingen

From Ettlingen to Heidelberg
A5 north
Exit east on 535 to Speyerer straße

From Penzberg to Gstadt am Chiemsee
head east toward Bad Tölz on 472 (pass through Miesbach)
13 east toward Prien and Salzburg

Hello all,

Well the last week has come and gone. It was all work, and lots of it. I will be leaving soon on my way back to Michelle. Would I do this again for work and for a vacation? Genau. But I would much rather share the experiences with Michelle and stay for a couple of weeks not a month. I have had many great experiences while here in Deutschland and in Österreich.

Hello all,
One more week down and one left to go. I do not have anymore trips planned for the up coming week after my visit to Felix and Katja since it will all be about work. This week should fly by quickly since every day will be filled with work, lunch and dinner.

Hello all,
Well it has been another week in Deutschland. Here are the highlights so far. I am starting this email on Saturday night while you are all waking up on Saturday. It probably won’t be finished until tomorrow.

Hello all,
My first week is done. I am writing this over the weekend while you all are asleep. My travel companions Josh and David are now staying at the Roche Boarding House near the Roche facility. David rented a car for 3 months. It is, of course, a Mercedes-Benz (C220 turbo diesel). When in Bavaria, drive what the Bavarians drive. David and Josh will be back and forth for the next three of four months while I will come back once more in the next three or four months. Our other travel companion Cornelia (Conny) has left for vacation. She traveled from Switzerland with her horse (Zokkeking [Zokke is some kind of card game] the thoroughbred) and dog (Amelie the Weimaraner). We went out together for a last hurra to a nice lakeside Biergarten called Lido. You can find all of the pictures here.

Yep, I just visitied Lost Wages. We flew out on Friday on US Airways. Our flight was delayed by 1 hour. On Saturday we had cocktails and ate at Pure (64th floor of Mandalay Bay -- figure $100 per head) and we saw Zumanity in New York New York. Sunday we spent some more time in the casinos and had a nice dinner and cigars. We returned on Monday but with a lot of difficulty. We were originally on US Airways 9:44am flight but it was cancelled. We were switched to another US Airways flight that was also cancelled. Finally we were switched to Frontier and made it home 3 hours late. I will not fly with US Airways again. Frontier now has my Las Vegas flight business.

All shots are taken with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P72 (3.2 megapixel) digital camera.