Germany

Degrüezification

I think I’ve finally done it: I’ve gotten “grüezi” out of my system. After merely a week, I’m able to walk into a shop in Munich and not automatically blurt out the Swiss greeting. It’s actually not too hard here, since the standard greeting in Bavaria is “Gruβ Gott!”, which starts out a bit like … Read more

It’s not just the neighborhood that counts

One day our apartment hunt brought us to this building in the hip neighborhood of Schwabing, Munich. As I contemplated having to include the sentence “just look for the Statue of Liberty holding a hoagie” in directions to my apartment, Scott realized that we were at the wrong address for the apartment showing. Whew.

Nice people, these Bavarians

As part of our search for the perfect apartment in the perfect neighborhood, we have spent a lot of time this week standing on street corners puzzling over maps. Trying to figure out which direction to explore next, which streets might have interesting stuff on them, which areas near the apartment we have yet to … Read more

Trapped in Munich

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I don’t recall the German train workers ever going on strike when I lived in this country in the 90s. These days the German trains are going the way of the French and Italian, with multiple strikes in the same month. A 48-hour one started this morning, conveniently … Read more

Which country would you choose?

So our two possible destination cities are Limerick, Ireland, and Munich, Germany. We have made our choice, but it wasn’t easy. I’m interested in hearing what you guys would have chosen before I tell you what we decided. Munich has a lot of obvious benefits, including… Large, dynamic city with plenty of cultural activities and … Read more

Lindt has been holding out on me

While in Munich last weekend, I wandered in to a Karstadt department store and perused the chocolate section. It really wasn’t bad (and I say this as someone who lives in Switzerland). Of course a lot of it was Swiss chocolate, like the gigantic Lindt display which contained quite the array of dark chocolate flavors. … Read more

Mellowing out in Munich

So after being home in Zurich for, oh, less than a week, it was high time to get out of here again. A weekend in Munich, Germany, was exactly what we needed. Munich is a fun, livable city, especially once you escape the hordes of tourists in the very center. Actually the touristy stuff is … Read more

On Ampelmänner

I meant to write about this in connection with our trip to Germany in December, but I guess it got lost in the holiday shuffle. At any rate, Ampelmänner are back on my mind, so today you’re going to learn about them (or stop reading this post – unfortunately I haven’t found a way to force you to pay attention to me yet).

The Ampelmann, simply put, was the man on the pedestrian traffic lights in East Germany. He came into existence in the 1960s in East Berlin, and lights with his likeness were soon installed all over the country. He stands out amongst other pedestrian crossing signs because of his big hat, dramatic gesturings, and all-around adorableness. The Ampelmann was so popular that he made the jump from traffic symbol to film star in the 80s, coming to animated life in road safety movies that were compulsory viewing for school children. Thus the Ampelmann became even more loved by the East German people.

Read moreOn Ampelmänner

A few more things about Berlin

Of course we did more than visit Christmas markets in Berlin in our four days there. Not that we can remember much after all that Glühwein… kidding, kidding. I remember a lot of stuff. Well, some. To start off our second Berlin trip of the year, we first went to the ever-fascinating Checkpoint Charlie museum. … Read more