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Oktoberfest 2009 day 6: Bavarian Heaven

Thanks to its charming decorations and lively atmosphere, the Hacker tent (Himmel der Bayern) makes it onto lots of people’s list of favorite Oktoberfest tents. The walls are painted up into a fairytale-like Bavarian town, and the ceiling is a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. Today (a Thursday) we decided to go for lunch, … Read more

Oktoberfest 2009 day 4: itty bitty tent

Last year I don’t think I even noticed the tiny tents interspersed amongst the big Oktoberfest tents, but there they are. Most of them have names which describe what kind of animal they most like to kill and cook up for your dining pleasure. We spent yesterday evening in the Heinz Wurst- und Hühnerbraterei, a … Read more

Oktoberfest 2009 day 1: Ochsenbraterei

Ozapft is! Munich’s mayor tapped the ceremonial first keg at noon yesterday with two brisk swings of the mallet. Bring on the drunken revelry. We spent the first evening in the Ochsenbraterei tent. We had a table reserved, which is the only reason we even considered going opening day. All the tents were full, and … Read more

A long night of Berlin’s museums

Our recent trip to Berlin included the Lange Nacht der Museen. Long museum nights are popular in many cities around Europe (we’ve also been to them in Zurich and Munich). Berlin has two a year, with 100 museums around the city opening their doors from 6pm to 2am. Special events for the evening include concerts, demonstrations, and things like the opportunity to destroy your evil things with a special machine (after first attending the Dinge-Sprechstunde, during which an expert will evaluate your thing for evilness).* 

Read moreA long night of Berlin’s museums

There’s a new lady bag in town

German Company Invents Pocket Toilet for Women Lady Bags became sort of a conversational leitmotiv during the Whiny Expat Bloggers Meet-Up. We think they should market these at Oktoberfest by handing them out to bedirndled women waiting in long bathroom lines. Except they’re going to have to make them bigger, first, since I believe most … Read more

Munich: So many bloggers

Whew, what a weekend. We Munich bloggers had the honor of hosting this year’s Whiny Expat Blogger Meet-Up. Bloggers from the far corners of Germany descended upon us for a weekend of eating, drinking, wandering around, and lots and lots of conversation. We tried to give everyone a glimpse of our city with some unexpected … Read more

Berlin: as enchanting as ever

After almost three whole months (oh, the horror) of sleeping in my own bed, I finally got out of Munich for a few days in Berlin. Berlin is one of the few places I go back to over and over and over again, because I will never get enough of it. It’s so big and … Read more

Dublin notes

[I spent about a month in Dublin this past spring, and wrote most of this post then. I figured it’s high time I got around to publishing it.] What I enjoyed most about this stay in Dublin were the little bits of daily life: the grocery stores, the pubs, the friendliness of the people. Spending … Read more