Munich - Organ Pipes

I have always been fascinated by pipe organs. I love the sound, but I also love the architecture. As far as I know, a pipe organ is the only musical instrument that doubles as an architectural design element. Even the same size and type of pipes can be placed in any number of patterns in any number of places.

These are from Theaterinkirche, Frauenkirche, and St. John's (I think.)

Bucharest - Orthodox Churches

The first church pictured is close to the Arch de Triomphe, but the rest of them are in the old part of downtown. They are more what I would think of as little chapels rather than churches per se, most of them quite small on the inside, with lots of icon-type paintings and crosses. Lots and lots of gold color. Very dark on the inside. All I needed was the Rachmaninoff Vespers on my Ipod and the mood would be perfect.

Bucharest - Old City

There isn't a whole lot left of fin de siècle Bucharest, the thriving "Little Paris of the East." Only a few square blocks of mostly rundown old buildings survived both World War II and 45 years of communism. Because of a large oil refinery in Ploesti, about 30 miles north of Bucharest, the city was guarded by a large contingent of German soldiers, so both the refinery and the city were repeated bombing targets. Ploesti was the site where the first American bombs fell in Europe during WWII; that raid was more symbolic than destructive.

The Soup of the Day at St. Patrick Irish Pub. One of my favorites.

This has to be one of my all time favorite building additions. When we were redoing our house on Quinn Street in Jackson, because Belhaven was a Historic District, the lady from the City Planning Commission would not allow me to re-use a 9/9 pane window because it had to be different from the original architecture so that one could tell it was an addition or alteration to the exterior. I'm sure that lady would heartily approve of the approach in this photo.

A very nice awning.
Covered patio.

The concert hall, the Romanian Atheneum (Ateneul Roman) on Benjamin Franklin Street, on George Enescu Square. The George Enescu Philharmonic is headquartered here, and the George Enescu Music Festival is held here. The George Enescu museum is up the street about half a mile in the Cantacuzino Palace. One arrives in Bucharest by airplane at the George Enescu International Airport. Quite a lot of homage for a favorite son.
The School of Architecture at the university.

National Bank of Romania.

Approaching Tirana

Kruja, from the airport. In Tirana we take a bus to the plane (even if it's only 100 feet), and I took this before boarding the plane. Compare it to the bottom photo with snow on the mountains.

Approaching Tirana from the northwest. Tirana would be to the far right of the photo.

A mine, probably chromium, and the mountains of northern Albania.

Kruja, built on the side of the mountain about 20 miles north of Tirana.

Men of Munich

While walking around the altstadt I ran into these two gentlemen and was intrigued by both of them.

Munich - Frauenkirche

Frauenkirche is probably the most recognizable landmark in Munich. Quite heavily damaged by WWII bombing, it has been rebuilt and has many modern stained-glass windows. I liked the pattern of the roof.

The windows below the dome are the observation deck. It is now accessible by a small elevator which holds about six people.

Munich - Rathaus Glockenspiel

The hometeam (Bavarian knight) unseats the other guy. Funny how many centuries this gene has persisted. The top rotation is the parade/joust, and the bottom is the Turkish dance troupe. They don't rotate at the same time; top goes first, then the bottom.

Marienplatz and Rathaus, with Frauenkirche (on the left), Theaterinkircher (on right). I had forgotten how flat Munich is. The Alps were totally obscured because of clouds, and that gave it the impression of being even flatter than it is, if that's possible.
Marienplatz.