2010 - Year-in-Review

Two-thousand-and-ten began with New Year's in West Valley...

Running around the Great Salt Lake...

Brother Mike was sworn in as West Valley City Mayor...

While I was in Utah, I went with my old friend Alan on a Southern Utah tour. First stop was Bryce Canyon...

That night was classic burgers at Chillzz in Torrey...

And the next morning breakfast with deer at Uncle Ted's house...

Capitol Reef...

And Goblin Valley...

Moab and Arches National Park...

I said goodbye to the fam and went back to Munich...

One of the first Young Men activities for the new year was sledding at Theresienwiese (where Oktoberfest is held)....

Another time we made milkshakes...

And another time we played Risk (we played a lot of Risk this year)...

Spring came to Munich...

I got to go to the Gasteig to see the Munich Philharmonic perform the score to Return of the King live...

In April I went with some Slovenian friends on a road trip. Our first stop was Hall in Tirol (Austria)...

Later that day we came to Liechtenstein, my only new country for this year....

From Liechtenstein we drove on into Switzerland and made a stop at the beautiful Lake Wallenstadt...

And that night we came to the Bern Temple where we stayed for a few days...

We also met up with Lala from Madagascar/France...

One of the days we went into Bern itself and had a look around...

We even visited Einstein's house...

Another day we drove up into the Alps to see the amazing Jungfrau and her neighbors...

We stopped by Thunsee on the way back to Bern...

We left Bern and headed south through the Swiss Alps, paying a special visit to the Matterhorn...

That night we found ourselves on the shores of Lago Maggiore in Italy...

And the next morning...

We made a stop in the town of Bergamo...

And we spent the night in Bolzano in Italy's Alpine region of South Tyrol. In Bolzano we awoke to a street procession...

Bolzano...

And then we drove up into the Dolomites...

We ate our picnic lunch at a mountain pass...

And that night we were in Ljubljana, Slovenia...

After attending church in Ljubljana I took the train back to Munich passing through the gorgeous Austrian countryside...

In May I was invited to spend some time with my German relatives in Franconia (northern Bavaria). We had fun at the amusement park...

The next day we visited the town of Bamberg...

In May I took a lovely trip to Augsburg...

In June the Young Men played Bingo on a walking tour of Munich...

In June I had bursitis in my left elbow and couldn't get around too much and so I enjoyed Nymphenburg Park closer to home...

Also in June my good old friend Katie came with a school group to Munich...

Also in June was the re-dedication of our church building in Munich. I arranged a piano number especially for the occasion and was able to play it as part of the dedication. Here is our ward (Gemeinde München 1)...

Also in June the Young Single Adults had a BBQ on the Isar river...

The Young Men went swimming in a local water hole...

For another Young Men's activity we built a mini-golf course throughout the church...

And then the Young Single Adults had a go on it...

In late June I made the trip to Nürnberg to see what was up...

Saw a few historical sites...

In July I visited the town of Bayreuth. First stop was the opera house...

The grave of the composer Richard Wagner...

And the grave of Franz Liszt...

Wagner's Theatre...

Later in July I went on a grand hike starting with a passage through a narrow gorge...

And up to stunning mountain views...

The next day I paid my taxes. I remember because of how sore I was walking into the tax office.


In August I got to help my good friends, the Tagg family, move from Munich to Switzerland. Here is Joseph and I in Austria (it was a long story)...

Also in August, the Young Men had their Super Activity. It began with a game of Capture the Flag and then Dodge Ball...

Pizza for dinner...

AVATAR...

The Candybar Game...

And a proper American breakfast the next morning...

In September I visited the Bavarian city of Regensburg...

Night on the Danube was especially nice...

Also in September I made the trip out to the medieval town of Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber...

The train rides to and from all these German cities were always fun...

In October I visited Oktoberfest...

And rode a ride...

Late in October I went hiking in the Bavarian Alps with Toni from the ward...

One evening Sven and I went for a photo-shoot at BMW World Headquarters...

In November my friend Peter and I traveled to London and had a nice few days there. We stayed with the Bruces in St. Albans...

The St. Albans Church...

London!

It was most agreeable...

British Museum....

I got to handle millions-of-years-old Stone Age artifacts...

And meet Winston Churchill...

Good curry with some friends...

It was all proper...

Attending Evensong at St. Paul's was definitely a highlight...

Also in November, SRRN Games released Ash to critical acclaim (with music by yours-truly)...




In December I traveled again to Switzerland (the third time this year!) arriving in Zürich...

I spent a few days with the Tagg family, whom I helped move back in August. It was cold but beautiful and a lot of fun...

Megan and I at the Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory...

Hot-air balloon over Lenzburg Castle...

From Switzerland I traveled with a ride-share up the length of Germany to the village of Lüssow, where the relatives live. It was frosty...

Fifth-cousin Elias and I made snowmen...

Visited the ancestral home town of Putlitz...

Yummy Boxing Day lunch with relatives...

New Years with cousins...

Not long after I returned home from Munich I was able to release the soundtrack for Ash on iTunes. It is now available (click here)...



And last but not least, I think I've got myself a new TARDIS...

So what will 2011 bring? ....Well, bit of exoticism for starters. This Wednesday I fly away to India for two months for a bit of traveling. I expect to update the blog periodically, though not with full entries, maybe just a photo or two of where I've been. So look out!

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