München/Munich

Link to photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/113880069774612153445/albums/6137611277223059425?authkey=CMyjntPClb22PA

München is the capital of Bavaria, the richest part of Germany. Things are indeed slightly more expensive than other parts of Germany I've been. Took the night train from Amsterdam to Muenchen. I'd highly recommend visiting the museums. A lot of the museums have 1 euro ticket on Sundays. The Pinakothek der Moderne is free on Wednesdays. Plan your schedule accordingly and you can save some $. There are a lot of biergartens in München (Of course! it's the home of Oktoberfest!). I don't drink beer but I really enjoyed the beer in München. It's less bitter. There's also the kind with added lemonade. That was also quite good. 

On a side note, München is about 2 hour train ride away from Saltzburg. It's a good idea to add a 2 day side trip to Saltzburg. :)

Civil Projects in NL

This is what we received in the mail from the city regarding a project they're doing in our neighbourhood. Basically they're building a highrise mixed residential/commercial structure aboout 300 m from our apartment. We have received similiar development plans last year. Now they're ready to start the construction,  and we are receiving stage by stage plans from them. 

This is a plan on how they plan on trimming, relocating, removing and planting the trees in order to facilitate the construction. The level of detail is surprising. The letter also explained they are doing it now before the birds' nesting season. The thoughtfulness is incredible. The government really feels it's their obligation and duty to explain to the people, and I believe the people would actually study the materials. This is a very healthy relationship between the government and the people. I wonder how long it'll take for Taiwan to achieve this.