A Rainy Day in Bad Tölz

Munich has been awfully rainy this week. What to do? Grab some friends and hop on a train somewhere, of course. Bad Tölz is an adorable little town about an hour from Munich. Despite the rain we had a lovely day. We… …wandered the streets and imagined how cute they would be if the sun … Read more

Regensburg: dults and other diversions

This weekend we hopped on a train up to Regensburg to party with the Regensbloggers. Their housewarming party conveniently coincided with the Regensburger Dult, an adorable little city fair complete with beer tents, disturbing rides, carnies, and strange shopping opportunities. I was surprised to see that it was bigger than the Auer Dult, and almost … Read more

Springtime on the Wies’n

Look familiar? Ah, springtime in Munich. On the heels of the Starkbierfest comes the Frühlingsfest, or spring festival, which takes place on the Theresienwiese, Munich’s famous Oktoberfest fairgrounds. With just two one-story beer tents, Frühlingsfest is much smaller than Oktoberfest, but the general idea is the same: carnival rides, carnival food, and drunken crowds in … Read more

Scavengers in the Biergarten

In case you were wondering what summer in Munich is like, it’s simple: all biergarten all the time. These photos are from the biergarten at Seehaus, in the middle of the English Garden. This beer garden distinguishes itself from the millions of others in that 1) it’s on a lake and 2) it has a … Read more

Isn’t every day Beer Day in Munich?

I have fallen down on the job, dear readers. There was an important event here in Munich yesterday, and I failed to attend it. From what I hear it was magical. OK, it was free beer. Helles, dunkles, and weißbier, free-flowing and plentiful from the beer fountain, at least for a couple hours in the … Read more

Scenes from an early spring weekend in Bavaria

While Germany was busy swooning over our new president, we were out enjoying Germany. We squeezed in one last sledding trip with the Rendenii (which is where we spotted this guy); rang in the beginning of asparagus season in a beer garden on the lake; and then got the balcony garden started.

Starkbierfest Munich: when regular beer isn’t strong enough

Finally we’ve made it to that time of year again – time for a beer festival in Munich. Starkbierfest is a lot like Oktoberfest, with a few key differences: Different beer (duh). Starkbier is very strong and so sweet it’s practically undrinkable. No smoking! Smokers have to go outside. Your throat will still hurt from … Read more

Germans love Obama and his body parts

By now you have probably heard about Obama Fingers, the tasty new frozen chicken snack food* available in Germany. Although much ado has been made over the possible racist overtones of the convenience food’s name, personally I doubt that those behind the name intended offense. I’m guessing the only reason the fried chicken strips are … Read more