Germany is not all landlocked. The Island of Sylt on Germany's North Sea coast is a popular destination for many. Its downtown area as well as the beaches are superb. There is no bridge to Sylt, only a ferry - wth a hefty price for cars as a means to discourage them.

The Grossglockner Pass, one of the most scenic Alpine passes, travels the Alps between Germany and Italy, roughly paralleling A10.

Above: The Bavarian Alps near Garmisch, Germany

Right and Below: Rapeseed fields are in abundance throughout Europe in the spring, these in Bavaria, Germany. Rapeseed is used for animal feed and for vegetable oil.

Above: Autumn time in Berchtesgaden, Germany, near the Austrian border. In the background is the towering Watzmann, Germany's second highest mountain in the Alps.

Below: The famous chapel in Oberndorf, Austria, known as "The Silent Night Chapel" where the Christmas carol was first heard, Christman Eve, 1818.

Winter Olympic grounds, Innsbruck, Austria, 1976

Left: Tulips

Right: Sunflower

Bottom, left: Foxglove

Bottom right: Poppy

A hanglider's running board in the Alps.

Neuschwanstein is one of four castles of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. This is the real-life castle after which Disneyland is modeled. It's located near Füssen, on a rocky ridge of the Bavarian Alps.

Heidelberg, Germany's cathedral towers over Old Town on the Neckar River.

St. Bartholomew's chapel rests gently on the King's Lake (Lake Königssee) in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

Penon de Ilfach juts into Spain's Costa Blanca dwarfing the town of Calpe, north of Benidorm (below), in the Alicante region.

Left: Fishermen mend their nets in Hammamet, Tunisia

Except for the elephant shot above, the wild animal pictures were taken in zoos.

The female elephant was taken in Uganda's Paraa Lodge, East Africa.

This big guy captured my interest for quite a while. I ended up naming him O-rang. That's O-rang's hand on the right.