Sunday in Munich

After several days of gray, gloomy, rainy, sky-spitting weather, it was sunny on Sunday! S and I took advantage by taking a long stroll through the English Gardens. As it is whenever it’s sunny, Munichers were out in force – faces upturned to the sun. I’m sure they could be used as a rudimentary sundial. Days are still short here and if there are rays to be caught, there will be many, many trying.

The park was full – families with strollers, bikers with mud-splattered backsides, dogs wearing faux-fur coats, young couples holding hands… Every 1/2 mile or so, a street musician would be squeezing out a sweetly sad tune on an accordian. Eventually, we ended up here:

The Chinese Tower, or Chinesischer Turm. Originally built in 1789, the tower standing today is a replica built in 1952 after the first was destroyed in the war. In the summertime, up to 7,000 can sit here and enjoy the late evening sun, beer, and conversation.

Now you see it:

Now you don’t!

A Walk in Munich

Out the door, a left onto Amalien Str., a left onto Theresien Str., under Ludwig Str., a left onto Von Der Tann Str. and into…

The English Garden, or Englischer Garten, is sort of like the Central Park of Munich. It’s huge and has a couple of beer gardens, a lake, a couple of rivers, and all sorts of sport fields. Everytime I have been there it has been full of people out for a stroll.

We’re Here!

Finally, 11 months after we first visited, we landed in Munich. Here are pictures of us looking bedraggled and jet lagged on our first night:

We’re on Marienplatz, where the world-famous glockenspiel is, about a 20 minute walk from our temporary apartment.

We’re getting spoiled with this apartment. It’s probably about 20 sq.M larger than what we will actually be able to afford. The location is amazing, too. It’s walkable to just about anything you’ve ever heard of in Munich, 1 block from a subway station, and quiet because it’s nestled in the middle of a block. Like, literally. We are surrounded by a ring of buildings and you have to walk through a little driveway archway to get to our building.

And even though we’ve taken a bit of German, it quickly has become apparent just how little of a bit we know. Very rarely do people have formal exchanges with you, inquiring after your health and your place of origin. No, they want to know if you want to buy a bag for your groceries, if you want your receipt, and if you have a good reason for blocking the aisle. We didn’t learn that part yet. So we kind of make half-sensical gutteral noises and look sheepish. I’m starting some intensive language lessons on Monday.

Some very nice things about Germany, so far: Tiny refrigerators that look like cupboards, bottles of very good beer cost .79 euros for 1/2 liters, pretzels (oh my goodness, the pretzels), lieberkäse mit semmel, walking everywhere, watching ‘the simpsons’, dubbed.

As you can tell from that list, we haven’t gone too crazy yet with the ‘going out’ or ’seeing the sights.’ As many of you know, just before Christmas, S and I decided to get married. Before we left. So, instead of having 2 weeks to pack and get ready to move to another country, we had 1.5 weeks to organize and plan a wedding, and .5 weeks to pack and get ready to move to another country. Jet lag and wedding lag have meant a lot of sleeping. A lot. But, today I finally feel normalish. mostly.

Yargh.

Sorry. I haven’t been much into this lately. Moving is kind of exhausting. Hopefully I’ll have something interesting to write soon. In the meantime, check out my new blog, Sound/Curious, all about radio – pieces I love, inspiration, etc. etc.

Sold!

Moving is a pain. This is a gallery of success. Craigslist, thank you very much…. Yargh. One week left until the moving van arrives. Power through!

Good Boy!

Another non-post post. A link to a blog entry by fellow Grinnellian Molly Backes about the transformative power of kindness. It made me cry, in a good way.

‘I will always feed you’

So, I checked out of the internet for a few weeks.

I’ll post a real entry soon, but in the meantime check out this amazing multimedia piece. It is a good example of why I love radio. There are things that voices convey that written words just can’t capture.

Rasterate!

Just what the procrastination doctor ordered!

It may not look like much, but zoom out and it’s part of my banner picture!

At The Rasterbator, you can upload any image you want, and they will turn it into a pixellated pdf up to 20 METERS wide. You print off the pages one by one and tape them on the wall. If you like to change your decor a lot this could be great! You can print in color and just tape up a new one every time your mood changes. Who needs fancy wallpaper? The possibilities are almost endless. For example, I put this one up above S’s desk to motivate him to write his thesis:

Mabel, our cat that likes to glower, will keep him on task!

Congratulations!

And with celebrations, comes CAKE!

It was a great weekend – S’s parents and sister and her fiance were here to join in the festivities. Although S still has to write up his thesis, it was really nice the celebrate the years of hard work that have gotten him to this point. It really is impressive. So it was a really-almost-Doctor of Astronomy party. And for once, Ithaca weather cooperated!

Done!

Well, I finally finished up that darn skirt. It doesn’t really fit, there are things on it that would make my 7th grade home ec teacher cry, and I’m pretty sure the hem is crooked, but it is done. And that was the goal.