Munich and a little Vienna

I'm currently sitting in the Munich office "working". It is now 11.45am and I just went outside to take a few photos. While outside I checked the temperture - still -8C. It got down to -9.5 the other day and I was hoping that it would reach double figures... but no such luck.

I don't think I've ever seen a hoar frost that lasted throughout the day - its actually sunny today and everything is still pearly white. The ground etc is still white anyway from the snow a few days ago, but at the moment the trees, bushes and grass all have a white lining.

I'm looking forward to a months time when it should be even colder. So far the clothes I have already are still OK apart from my shoes - can't say that I've ever contemplated buying new shoes for winter before.

So far I've been to about 6 or 7 different Christmas markets - really popular here. Basically people just go along, drink a mulled wine or two - using it to keep warm in the freezing tempertures.

Here are a few piccies of the hoar frost.

This is from the view from the kitchen window here at the Munich office












This was walking down the main road to get lunch yesterday.












Here are a few piccies from when I was in Vienna last week.

This is the Summer palace "Schönbrun" where the Hapburgs used to swan around before they were toppled in the first world war after 700 odd years of rule. It is really quite massive with a zoo and very large landscaped grounds.









Here is the view going in the opposite direction - the hill you see is completly sculptured to look its best :)











Here are some crazy colourful little ducks that were in one of the ponds at the top of the formentioned hill.