Munich Day Trip - sledding in Kufstein (Austria)

We've posted already about example skiing day trips from Munich, but sledding is an option too -- particularly if there are non-skiiers in your group, or perhaps a few knees recovering from the latest ski wipe out, or maybe you just want to try something different.

One of my favorite destinations for sledding is Kufstein in Austria.  Here it is on Google Maps.  It's just across the border from Germany -- and just a little more than an hour in the car.  There is a small lake call Thiersee nearby, not visible at this map level, that is available for winter/summer sports too.

 

There are some destinations where you can take a ski lift up, and then sled down, but that's not very German/Austrian.  Half the fun is the hike up, plus it's good for you and makes the ride down all the more rewarding.  Frau A took this photo of me on the hiking trail, on the way to the Kala Alm (an Alpine hut).  This was about 10 in the morning, with fresh snow and strong sunshine already.  The path alternates between woods like this and open fields.

Here is Frau A in one of the open spaces, the benefit obviously is getting a great panorama of the surrounding peaks.  In total, the snow is probably 2 feet deep, with the top fresh layer being so soft that she steps in almost up to her boot top.  We've been ascending for a good 40 minutes at this point, and she's opened the jacket to cool down!

The ascent takes about 1-1.5 hours total, rising over 400 meters and covering more than 6km.  You can continue past the hut to higher elevations and great views, but this was our goal on that day.  It was so sunny at this point that many people took their jackets off!  We're at the end of the second table, enjoying a snack and some apfelschorle or local beer.

When you're ready, the hut will rent you a sled - three euros if I remember correctly.  The sledding path is actually a road that is not used in winter, so it's just for sledders & hikers.  The great thing is:  now that you've ascended so high, the ride down is almost 10 minutes long!  You can really get going too, and risk takers will wipe out!

    

We didn't take any video (next time!) but here is a YouTube movie from the same sledding path.  Notice how you have to steer around people hiking back up!

It was a great day trip for everyone, and thanks to 30+ friends from Toytown Germany for joining us!

The Olympus "Dramatic Tone" art filter (in Stuttgart)

I've blathered on quite a bit about my new man-purse/bag, the new camera that fits in it, and filled other posts with night shots, macro shots, and pics from recent trips.

I'm starting to notice that with the Olympus E-PL2 I'm using the Dramatic Tone "art filter" a LOT.  (You've probably seen it in the posts, too.)  It just cranks out interesting results -- not realistic or Pulitzer Prize-worthy, but it adds some splash and fun to amateur photography and strengthens memories of the events that are captured.  Below are my "Top 12" favorite photos using this art filter, and some comments about using the E-PL2 and the resulting Dramatic Tone output.

The following photo was taken on a weekend trip to Stuttgart.  The specific location is called Schillerplatz, in the downtown area.  I'm actually standing next to the statue of Shiller but looking away towards a church on the edge of the square.  It's about 14:30 in the afternoon on a cloudy day.  A lot of this is luck:  the sun streaking throught those clouds at just the right time, and being able to frame the steeple's cross in the light a bit.  I do like what the filter does with brick and stone -- we'll see more of this in later photos.

The next photo is also from the weekend in Stuttgart, this time at the Porsche Museum.  I have a few shots of this Porsche 911 where I was standing closer, but after I'd walked away I looked back and saw that the floor had some interesting reflections from the flatter angle.  I am using the Panasonic 14-140mm (28-280mm equivalent) lens and zoomed out quite a bit to frame the car.  I like the intensity of the red too -- it's one of the colors that plays well with this filter, to my taste anyway.

Let's leave Stuttgart now.  Photo #3 is from our weekend in Vienna.  We were having champagne before seeing a broadway-type show and decided to pull out the camera, just for kicks.  This time, due to the low light, I had on the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens.  That's why there is some bokeh here.  In this setting the art filter = instant mood lighting.  This is one of the side benefits of the art filters - it's fun to just mess around a bit.

Photo #4 below is also from Vienna, this time looking out from the Schönbrunn Palace terrace onto its garden.  It was early afternoon.  The sun on the right was going into my face, so I framed it to the right and let it get blown out.  Again I got some light streaking through the clouds.  The filter took the sky farthest from the sun and gave it a little more blue, and the grass a darker green.  Works for me.  Although don't the people look like results from the diorama filter?

For the next photo I was standing in the same position, but pointed the camera straight at the building at the top of the hill and zoomed out almost to 140mm (280mm equivalent).  While none of the photos in this post are sharp, this is especially soft.  Plus, you can see I got some black-dot artifacts above and left of the building.  Not sure why this happened, and it hasn't occurred since.

Photo #6 is in a hotel bar on the same weekend in Vienna.  Again, we just pulled out the E-PL2 (with 20mm f1.7) for kicks.  Frau A put the camera on the table and got an interesting mirage-like reflection.  I like the overall golden glow that the filter came up with too.  As usual, the dynamic range is not broad enough and the lights are blown out, but small enough to not be too much of a distraction.  I'd photoshop out that guy's jacket if I could...

For picture #7 we're back to the Stuttgart weekend, this time on the observation deck of the television tower.  Somehow, again, I got the tendrils of light coming through the clouds.  The filter gave the metal fence a little to much light, but the telescope-thing on the right became a very "steely" color.  In general, I like the blues and reds resulting from the algorithm in the art filter, and the grenns are OK, but am not fully captivated by the browns.

Photo 8:  still in Stuttgart, but lookout out from the Mercedes museum onto another building in the Mercedes complex.  Interestingly, this time the glass/,etal building got the bluish treatment, and the sky became stormy.  This was taken about 18:00 in the afternoon/evening, and about 15 minutes later the sky was turning red from sunset (just in time for use to board the train - no opportunity to get a shot).

I mentioned that one of the side benefits of the art filters is just messin' around.  Now we're back in Munich.  In this case, it was maybe 21:30 and I just missed a train after work -- had to wait 15 minutes for the next one.  I'm able to carry my E-PL2 in the man-bag every day because of it's form factor, so I just stuck on the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 and clicked away.  Pic #9 was a simple as looking up the stairs to the platform, but the filter did nice things with the bricks, concrete, and handrail.  Once again, lights facing directly into the camera get blown out, but keeping them small controls the damage.

Photo #10 was also an exercise in passing the time, but waiting for the morning train.  Lots of clouds threatening to snow, but not much shape to them -- so the result is not nearly as "dramatic" as in other shots.  However, the red train and yellow sign/lights are cast pretty strongly against that background.  I should have put it in shutter priority mode and captured some motion, but wasn't fast enough.  No, it's not always overcast in Germany/Austria, although it might seem like it from the photos so far...

#11 is back at Schönbrunn palace in Vienna.  The sky gets a similar treatment by the art filter algorithm, but this time the stone gets an exaggerated yellow that I like.  I do wish the statue to the left of Frau A's head had more detail and wasn't so washed out - perhaps I could recover some highlights (if I were talented enough in post processing).  Also the sky is boring because the cloulds had no texture - this art filter likes texture.  Notice too that this is the first "dramatic tone" shot without the "border" effect thrown in.  In fact, it was used, but because of the shot I wanted to crop heavily.  Lesson learned:  use the "border" effect if you can frame the shot well, otherwise don't bother if you're going to crop.

Last photograph, #12.  Yet again, making the daily work commute more interesting.  I got one of the newer U-Bahn trains that are "open" along the entire length (cars aren't closed, but connected with the "accordion"-type thing).  It's late (23:00) so only two people boarded with me -- giving clear line of sight.  I pulled out the camera and at the second stop, jumped up and shot before we started moving again.  The image is extra soft because I was zoomed out quite a bit.  I was probably 3 cars back!

Well, that's it - just some examples and a mind-dump about the Olympus "Dramatic Tone" art filter on the E-PL2.  I find it thoroughally enjoyable and given the right subject and conditions it produces some unique and satisfying results.  When the sun (finally) comes out this Spring, maybe I'll do a similar post using "Pop Art" or "Diorama" - check out initial results with those filters here.

Munich 2018?

Throughout the city you'll see banners emblazoned with a blue and white hot air balloon. These have been popping up at every event in Munich and Garmisch for almost a year, but now are out in force across the city.

These are part of Munich's campaign to host the 2018 winter olympics.

Munich is pitching these as the "sustainable" and "friendly" games, and if it wins would be the first city in history to host both the summer and winter Olympics.  

How would this work? The events requiring special topography (you know, actual mountains...) would be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with some events at Koenigsee.

Of course, the one big issue is opposition from the farmers who own the land by the slopes in Garmisch. In order to have any large event, they must lease fields to the event to allow people to get to the slopes. The farmers are protesting the environmental impact on Garmisch and have threatened to refuse to lease the land for the Games.

Munich was selected as a candidate, along with Annency, France and Pyeongchan, South Korea. The Olympic committee has just visited the candidate cities and will make the announcement in July.

Both Munich and Garmisch have hosted Olympics before - Munich would love to have a friendly Olympics to balance out the memories of the tragedy of the 1972 Summer Games and Garmisch wishes to forget the 1936 Winter Games that it hosted under the Third Reich. I didn't realize it, but the IOC had also awarded the 1940 games to Garmisch before they were cancelled due to the outbreak of WWII.

Munich Olympic Ads are everywhere...there was a foozball table wrapped in an ad at my gate at the Munich airport. Even Rischart, who is a big supporter of the bid, got into the spirit of things by topping their chocolate krapfen with chocolate wafers emblazoned with the Munich 2018 logo

Who will win? It's hard to say. Most predict that the decision is between Germany and Korea. Korea may have the edge in diversity, as the previous Games will have been held in Europe (in Sochi, Russia). Additionally, it was a candidate city in the last two bids, so some feel that its time is due.

Germany, on the other hand, has been praised by the IOC for the government's clear committment to the games. With the 2006 World Cup, Germany has proved its ability to successully organize a major world sporting event. And Munich deals with a few million visitors descending upon the city every year to drink vast quantities of beer. And, though on a much smaler scale, Garmisch has proved its capabilities with the World Championship Alpine Skiing.

The German love for winter sports is clear; though holding the Winter Games in Asia will likely inspire far more new winter sport lovers (as winter sports are not big in much of Asia...not having winter makes a difference....). And internally there definitely are some issues to work out with the Garmisch-Partenkirchen venue.

In terms of venues, Korea has presented an incredibly compact site and has already constructed some new arenas. Germany is pitching sustainable development and plans to integrate the Olympic venues from the 1972 Summer Games into the new plans, to create sporting venues good for both summer and winter events.

And what of France? Their initial bid was spread over 4 cities in the French Alps, and was criticized by the IOC for being too spread out. They revised the plans to focus on two venues (same as Munich) but stil face challenges with the plan. Their budget is relatively low, and the plan doesn't seem to have the same clear governmental support as does Munich's. However, it's still equally in the running and could surprise everyone.

You can check out the official sites of Munich, Pyeongchang, and Annency to see their plans and slogans.

Update on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 17:46 by Frau A

While Munich anxiously awaits the 6 July IOC decision, a major hurdle to the Games was overcome this weekend - Garmisch-Partenkirchen voters approved the Games in a referendem.  At 58% approval, it was not exactly an overwhelming victory, but a vote against the Games by a critical venue may have hurt Germany's chances at winning the Games.

The issue is not resolved - there's still the question of getting individual landowners to lease the necessary land at the foot of the slopes - but it's one step further in the process.

Until then, the flags and banners continue to cover Munich.

Photoblog - Vienna (City Tour)

Frau A and I went to Vienna in February.  It's just far enough to feel like you've escaped, but the trip is not too taxing.  Around 4 hours by car, a little more by train... you could fly from Munich (less than an hour in the air) but the trips to the airport are almost not worth it.

During our weekend in Vienna, Frau A and I took the city "circle" tour on a bus.  It's cliched, but actually a great way to quickly get oriented in a new city, and to see some of the interesting sites (and then decide which ones to see in detail the following day).

We boarded a train from the stop near the hotel, and headed towards the inner city.  Some trams look more modern than the ones in Munich, and almost have the curves of, dare I say it, a ski gondola.  It is Austria after all.

We arrived near the Opera Haus, from where the buses depart.  This is one of the largest Opera Houses in Europe, completed in 1869 and then rebuilt from the original neo-renaissance plans after the World War II.

It wasn't originally very popular with the Viennese -- the initial reception was so bad that one of the two architects comitted suicide, and the other suffered a fatal heart attack (Wikipedia always has the good news for me).  Nevertheless, they did decide to restore it like the original (with just a little modernization), and it's an accepted part of the city today. 

Unfortunately, because it was winter, the fountain on the side of the Opera Haus was boarded up.  (All the ones in Munich are, too.)  But it still is a common place for people to gather, and for the companies to sell tour and concert tickets to tourists.  We didn't capture them on film, but guys in traditional outfits roam this sidewalk accosting tourists, trying to sell event tickets.

One of the downsides to a bus tour is that it's not a great environment for photography.  The bus windows are pretty clean, but there is always a little grime on them.  Plus there are glare & reflections to deal with.  (Murphy's law:  when there's something interesting to film, the bus is moving and you're getting jolted around....when you're stopped at a red light, it's in front of McDonald's.)

We did get a few photos that are share-worthy...  The one below is the St. Francis of Assisi Church, also known as the Jubilee church (celebrating the reign of Emperor Franz Josef).  Unusually, it is located outside of the old city and close to the modern quarter.

We were then driven by the Austrian Parlaiment building, and decided to come back later on foot.  The streetcar/tram lines obstruct the view a bit, but you can definitely see the greek-style columns -- it was designed this way to reinforce the idea of democracy (completed in 1883).  The two houses sit here, and it's quite practical:  the Austrians include meeting lobbies, a gym, and of course multiple bars for their representatives.

Still on foot now, we're heading towards the Rathaus from the Parliament.  You'll see a lot of horse and buggy tours in Vienna, and it's easy to understand the romantic appeal.  The fence here surrounds the grounds to the Hofburg Palace, which we did not get a nice photo of... the bus didn't work for us and we didn't have a chance to walk by again later.  Ugh!  Check the link to Wikipedia or Google images, it's really quite impressive.

 

Finally we arrive at the Rathaus.  The building is so large that we tried my new wide-angle lens and had to keep it at the widest setting:  18mm!  Completed in 1833 in gothic style, the Rathaus seats the Burgermeister (mayor) and city council.  It has a pretty nice restaurant too, serving traditional Viennese food.  The park in front has events year round, and hosted the Vienna Ice Dream when we were there -- a blog post unto itself!

Overall, we definitely recommend taking the bus tour around the city, then pick your spots to come back to.  You'll need more than a weekend for Vienna, but it's a start.

Champagne Beer

We haven't had a chance to try Sam Adams' and Weihenstephaner's Infinium, but we did try a true champagne beer - Sylter Hopfen. While Miller High Life claims to be "The Champagne of Beer" (a title we feel more accurately describes weißbier), this beer truly is a champagne beer. In fact, it is labeled as a "Bierspezialität," as it cannot be called "beer" under German rules.   

So, what's special about this beer? 

• Natural ingredients for an organic beer
• Sylt Hops: The hops used in the beer are grown on the German island of Sylt. After much experimentation, they found that English hops best suited the unique island climate.
• Packaging: Packaged in champagne bottles, with individually numbered labels, embossed with real gold.
• Yeast: Brewed with two types of yeast, including French champagne yeast
• Fermentation Process: Fermented twice; the first, bottom fermented in vats. The second ocurrs in the bottles, at different temperatures, with each bottle rotated up to 20 times by hand during the second fermentation
• Dégorgement: Utilizing the champagne method, the cork is removed for a second (after fermentation) to allow the yeast to pop out of the bottle. The champagne yeast need to be removed prior to consumption, and this method allows them to do it naturally and avoid filtering the beer.

The company is located in Flensburg, which lies near the German-Danish border on the peninsula near Sylt. That this is a high end beer fits in well with Sylt's reputation as a destination.

But how does it taste?

I enjoyed it, but wouldn't drink it every day (plus it's priced closer to champagne than beer!). Herr J didn't love it, but thought it wasn't bad. Weißbiers are not his favorite, and the flavors that registered on the sides of his tongue were similar to those of a weißbier.

The first thing you'll notice is the major head on this beer. It pours similar to a champagne in that it takes much pouring and waiting in order to get a full glass. As you can see here, the flutes are all foam, with a sip of beer at the bottom. The extreme carbonation comes from the champagne yeast and the second fermentation.

In the mouth, however, it is not nearly as bubbly as champagne. Definitely more bubbly than normal beer, but not too crazy. Unlike German beer, Sylter Hopfen should be served very cold.

Since my only champagne flutes are red, we poured it into a normal clear glass in order to see the color (and also because it was too labor-intensive to get an actual glassfull!).
It's a darker beer, slightly cloudy due to the lack of filtration. Even with very careful pouring into a tilted glass, there's still a large amount of foam.
The taste is much sweeter than beer or champagne and very complex. So complex that it's difficult to identify the different tastes...there's a little of the champagne tartness, but the sweetness of a malty drink, and some very light hints of the clove taste of a weißbier.

Overall, it was an enjoyable drink, but not really a beer. It's something you should drink as an aperitif or wine. Perhaps it's a good wine substitute for beer drinkers who don't like wine?

We paired it with a cheese I saw when buying the raclette cheese. It's an Italian hard cheese (pasteurized cows milk cheese), called Bacchus. It looked very much like a wonderful parmesan-like cheese that was served in Tuscany with a wine jelly as an appetizer.  I crumbled it up and had some white wine and pear jelly. It was just the same as I remembered and a happy discovery!

If It Were My Home

This is a fun and interesting site...and easier than flipping through the World Fact Book.

If It Were My Home compares basic stats about average life in other countries. The first level compares all to the US, but you can compare any country here with another.

While many things are unsurprising, there are some shockers.

Of course, I had to compare the US and Germany

It's really no surprise that Germans use less oil and electricity, have more free time, and have a lower birth rate. I was shocked that it was half the oil and 40% fewer babies, but I do know the low birth rate is a major concern here and a big threat to the future of the social system.

However, I'm really suprised that health care spending is almost half that of the US. I know that based on my limited experience, health care (meaning bills for a doctor visit or minor surgery) is much lower than would be the same service in the US, but that's only one piece of what is a very complicated puzzle.

These are all averages and general stats, but it's still interesting to play around. Apparently the French work more hours per year than the Germans and Canadians use more oil than Americans....

via LifeHacker

Olympus "Art Filters" (in Vienna and Stuttgart)

One of the fun features of my new camera, the Olympus E-PL2, is its "art filters".  The Olympus art filters are basically a set of pre-packaged algorithms that apply Photoshop-like processing to a JPEG file, inside the camera.  There are six "art filters" available on my camera model:

- Pop Art
- Soft Focus
- Grainy Film
- Pin Hole
- Diorama
- Dramatic tone

Frau A and I played around with a few of them over the last couple of weekends.  First, here is a "regular" photo, taken in a bar on our first evening in Vienna. 

Now here is a photo a few seconds later using the "dramatic tone" art filter.  It appears that this filter pushes the contrast pretty high, probably the saturation also, and maybe a few other tricks too.  It's my favorite filter so far, and I'll probably do a dedicated post on it later.

 

You can also get neat "mirage" like effects from reflections with the dramatic tone art filter.  We just set the camera on the table (marble and polished) and pointed it at the hotel entrance.  This has a warm golden glow, and the table looks pretty cool.  In this case, I'm glad we didn't have a mini tripod with us and tried the table.  Frau A did the creative work here.

A different example:  here we're at the Schönbrunn Palace gardens in Vienna, and taking a "normal" (unprocessed JPEG) photo of an arch.  The sky is slightly blue, the arch green, background buildings brick/reddish, and Frau A in front.

This is the result with the "pop art" art filter.  It cranks up the color saturation.  You can see how yellow the small part of the building through the second arch (in the background) comes through.  That I like.  The green is more intense too, and the brick colors richer.  And look how the gloves on Frau A stand out!  It's an interesting effect, but has its downsides.  For instance, the grass on the right starts out as a dirty green and becomes reddish/rusty with this filter.  That's not to my taste.

Here is one example on the streets of Vienna where the effect was OK -- probably because it was more localized.  The "regular photo" would have been a lot more subdued, because the sky was gray.  The filter took the yellow from the rental bikes and brought the color forward (it's unrealistic, but photography is art, right?).  The red car and pale yellow taxi behind it stand out a bit more too than they would without the art filter.  Because the graytone street was not affected too much, it's not too overwhelming.  The photo itself, of course, is not going to hang in the Met, but that's part of the process of getting to know a new camera and limitations of the photographers!

The "diorama" filter makes things look like a small model of the scene.  Here is a shot from the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, about one story above the cars in the exhibit (the effect works better the higher you are above the subject).  Some whites are a bit blown out (overexposed) and it's a bit grainy because the E-PL2 likes to crank the ISO in low light, but works for this test.

 Now here's a similar photo using the "diorama" art filter.

The cars definitely get a shiny, plasticy/metallic look to them -- not bad.  The downside is that this filter takes a tremendous amount of processing.  The camera literally locks up for maybe 20 seconds while the algorithm works on the JPEG.  Also, I've noticed that it makes a lot of the photo out-of-focus.  Look at the front tire on the red car... it goes from OK to just plain blurry.  I'm guessing this is part of the goal of this filter, rather than an error, in effect trying to create bokeh?

From greater elevation, you get something like this (shot from the television tower in Stuttgart).  Again, you see some significant blurring of subjects not in the middle of the frame, which is not evident with in processed shots.  Interesting.  I'm not sure about this art filter yet.

Perhaps I'll break down the others in another post, but I was not initially excited by the output from the other filters.

For casual photographs, the art filters are actually a lot of fun and much better than using Photoshop.  Pros will prefer to use more powerful tools that give them complete control, but for weekend getaways you can get some nice surprises and turn a dreary day into something really cool.