The Hills above Salzburg, Austria

Not what is used to be, that's for sure. A paradise of parasailers, gliders, motorcycles, mountain bikers and general tourists (like me), I can see the draw to be here. Even with all the activity, its still very quiet and peaceful. Didn't hear anyone singing in the woods, tho. Someone with a blue parasail apparently didn't make it!

All lined up and waiting to jump, uh, err, sail off the cliff... Ok... enough parasailing... here's the view of the Alps...

Salzburg Harley-Davidson, Salzburg, Austria

Sorry, Paul. No shirts from this one. Was closed for the May Day holiday. :( Will have to be able to settle for shirts from Moscow and Munich. I imagine it probably wouldn't be too cool wearing a t-shirt with the Von Trapp Family Singers all on Fat Boys on the back. Although, after seeing the movie Amadeus, I can imagine Mozart on a Hog.

Berchtesgaden, Germany

I found this little down while driving around the south side of Salzburg after crossing back into Germany. I was just following the road into the Alps. Was worth stopping and just checking out the scenery.

McDonald's Won the Cold War, Moscow

I wasn't surprised to see McDonalds spread across Taipei and other major cities in China and Japan, but was not expecting such a large presence in Moscow. The largest McDonald's in Europe is located in Pushkin Square, about a mile north of the Kremlin. 24 registers wait on customer lines sometimes 10 deep I'm told during the busier times. Glad that's not when I was there. :) This McDonald's is just outside of the Cathedral of Visily the Blessed, not far from the Rolex billboard. You can sit outside and eat your Big Mac while you admire the red bricks of the Kremlin wall just some 25 yards away.

World's Largest Billboard? Maybe. Moscow

I have no idea how much Rolex is paying for this space in Moscow, but I bet a pretty high percentage of the profits go here... just outside of Red Square on the north side of the Cathedral of Visiliy the Blessed is this 100+ meter advertisement... on Friday they were in the processing of taking down the blue winter scene above (if you look between the cranes on the top, you can the the heads of some of the workers on top of the billboard), and changing it to the green summer (horse racer) scene by Saturday afternoon. I saw at least 20 people making this change over the two days, pulling ropes, etc.

Lenin's Mauseleum, Moscow

Situated in the west central part of Red Square flush against the Kremlin wall, somewhere inside these marble-ized red and black stones rests the completely preserved body of Vladimir Lenin, who died in 1924. It was hoped back then that the embalmed body would allow all future generations of Russian citizens to pay their respects to him. Opinion is varied on how good an idea this really was.