Bavarian animal barns are attached to the homes in which farm families live. That's not to say they mingle amongst one another, it's more like what we Torontonians would call a semi-detached dwelling. Connie's on one side, Elenka and I on the other - see photos of our semi-detached house vs a Bavarian barn/home. We paid a visit to one such farm, it was where Renate Schönbach was born and raised. Her brother Gunter still runs the farm with his...

  In Toronto, a good portion, maybe thirty per cent of the populous, spend the day with plastic bottles or metal cylinders of water in their hands. In Berlin, roughly the same number of people carry open bottles of beer. Almost none of the Germans seem drunk, and hardly any of them are overweight. Would we Torontonians gain the same result if we ditched the water and took up the hops and malt?                        *** Elen...

We took the train from Prague, down to pay a visit with Ellen's amiga Renate in Muhldorf. The following day Renate took us into Munich for the day. It was very busy city and we were all happy to leave. Tomorrow we visit Salzburg, Austria where we'll bid farewell to Renate and then take the train through Austria on our way to visit Ellen's relatives in the foothills of the Low Tatry Mountains in central Slovakia.