Dear Mom, & Dad
Well it's been a long time since Iv'e sent you any pictures, so you're probably ready to see some more, so here they are. This roll is quite an assortment of different subjects that I've taken in the last few weeks.
To start with, I have a few shots of the "Befreiungsholle"in Kelheim. A few weekends ago, I went out looking for a place near Regensburg that I had read about. It was a building that was supposed to look just like the Acropolis in Athens, and had been built in the 19th Century as a memorial to great Northern European Scientists. Well I got to Regensburg OK, but someplace along the line I took a wrong road, and couldn't find the place I was looking for. I was just about to give up, and go back, when in the distance on a very large hill, I saw this other massive building. At first I thought this might be what I was looking for, but when I got closer to it, I could see that it was round, rather than rectangular.
So as an alternative to the place I was really looking for I went to this one. It turned out to be a very interesting building in it's self. The name of this place was the Befreiungshalle", but I can't tell you exactly what it is since I couldn't find any information on it, in English. I do know that it was built around 1850 and it has something to do with King Ludwig of Bavaria. His name is above the entrance. I think you will agree that it is an unusual design for a building. You can get an idea of how large it was by looking at the people on the side walk.
These are just closer shots of the front of the building. Those statues around the outside of the building are probably 10 to 15 feet high, I would guess.
This is a poor picture, because my one little flash bulb didn't give out enough light, to illuminate the whole inside of the building, but it will give you a general idea of what the inside of it was like. I took this one from a balcony looking down on the main floor. (Note the people walking along the side) Besides the ring of statues, holding hands, and the inlaid tile floor, there wasn't much else inside.
As I said, the building was on a high hill which offered a very good view. I took this from the top of the building. That's the Danube River and the small town of Kelheim, below.
These next five pictures were all taken in Bamburg. The event was the annual "German-American Shoot". This is when we open up one of our rifle ranges here on post to the public, Germans and U.S. For a small fee a person can come and try out one our M-16's. It is co-sponsored by the Bamberg Polizei, and the funds collected go to some kind of worthy cause, so I'm told. Also as you can see a lot of the units here bring out some of their heavy equipment for the kids to look at, and play on. I thought some of these were kind of interesting pictures of your tax dollars at work. I know for a fact that three 50 cal. machine guns were broken during this demonstration, by kids.
These next two were also taken in Bamberg. I wanted to get a shot of some of our German allies. A Bundeswehr truck, and some Bundeswehr (German army) troopers. It's not unusual to see the Bundesweher on and American post because we do a lot of joint maneuvers and training with them.
These next pictures were not taken in Cody Wyoming, but Bamberg Germany! This is a travelling rodeo that goes all around europe to American installations and puts on shows. All the riders and contestants except a few, are local GI's who enter it for small cash prizes. It was real good entertainment for a change of pace,
My last shot is of a small collection of German beer mugs I have started. The one on the far right is a 1/2 liter mug. This is the usual size given in Guest houses and restaurants. The 3 in the middle are 1 liter mugs. This is the size that is usually given at Beer- fests and other special occasions. The one on the far left is a 2 liter mug ( a little more than 1/2 gallon!) and is for real BIG drinkers. I that one from the Lowenbrau "Beer House" in Munich. Well that's all the pictures for now. I will have some later from Heidelberg. Also in my next letter I will tell you about a deal on how you come to Germany, Round Trip for $230.00
