Not Your Average Motel 8

I'm fortunate enough to be able to travel to Oberammergau in southern Germany every so often on business and the hotel where I stay is worth taking a look at. I'd have to say that this is really just a typical, small Bavarian hotel; maybe their equivalent of our Motel 8 or even Holiday Inn. Well, maybe not...
This is the hotel and a couple of pictures taken from the small balcony off my room. You be the judge.

Any Guesses?

I'll give you a clue (alright, admittedly not exactly the most helpful in the world): it's almost a national symbol of Slovenia.
This is an example (albeit a very large and fancy one) of a hay-drying "shed," where the hay is slung over each wooden rack like towels in a bathroom, and then evidently nature does the rest. Most of the ones that we saw were much smaller and simpler, but this one (evil face and all) was worth a picture.

Croatian Sunsets

Heck, even the end of every day of our week-long vacation to Croatia was perfect! What a beautiful place, morning, afternoon, evening, whatever...

Why Water Slides Aren't Catching on in Croatia

I think the folks who run beach amusement areas in Croatia need to contact Disney or Six Flags to get some pointers as to how to make water parks appealing to customers. It seems clear that the locals near Dubrovnik are still missing a couple of key pieces of information. I don't predict record crowds at this particular park...

Livin' Large in the Sun

Jaspurr, our Norwegian Forest cat, now has "outdoors privileges." Like his brother and sister, nothing makes him happier than to sit in the sun in the backyard. For several days we let him semi-loose, on a leash, just to get acclimated. But in no time he let us know he was ready for the real thing, so now he spends every minute he can, soaking up rays, "unfettered." As sunny as it's been, I'm surprised he doesn't set himself on fire, with the heat on that jet-black fur...