T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
Oh, that pesky dollar, more and more worthless every day (currently around $1.56 to the euro). I know, I know, I feel your pain – I have earned the wrong currency at several points in my life. At any rate, for those Americans still hoping to enjoy a European vacation this year while exchanging their … Read more
As part of the summer-long celebration of Munich’s 850th birthday, the middle of the city was taken over this weekend for the Altstadtringfest. Despite the crowds and weather which alternated between oppressively hot and torrential downpour, we had a pretty good time sampling the offerings. And we saw a lot. A robot parade. A glorified … Read more
We were this close to going away for the weekend, but in the end decided to stick around and check out the hundred million things going on in Munich. We just got back from a day at the Tollwood Festival out at the Olympiazentrum. Tollwood had been described to us as kind of a hippie … Read more
Not only does Munich have surfing, but there’s also a beach here. Well, not so much a beach as an outdoor bar with some dirty sand and a couple beach chairs, but hey, what do you expect? The nearest sea is a couple countries away. We went to check out the Strand Bar last night. … Read more
Last week we went to a Pfarrfest at a small parish church in Munich. A multi-generational crowd was gathered for food, drink, socializing and music. The preist worked the crowd, greeting everyone and making them feel welcome (upon learning I was from the US, he even broke out with a couple words of English). Dessert … Read more
Alas, our butts are planning to be out of town (at the Regensburg expat weekend, if you must know), and thus unable to participate in the Naked Bike Ride through Munich 2008 (NSFW) this weekend. Which reminds me of a useful bit of German vocabulary: FKK (short for Freikörperkultur). It’s basically a fancy abbreviation referring … Read more
Gotta love superfluous English. Although at least the ‘outdoor’ on my new bike makes a little more sense than the ‘street racer’ written in big letters on my skis. (Or could it be that I’ve been using my skis in the completely wrong environment all these years?) Not unlike skiing, I learned to ride a … Read more
The Eurovision Song Contest is coming up this Saturday, with the preliminary rounds on Tuesday and Thursday evening. If you love cheesy euro-pop, you won’t want to miss it. Will the Eastern European countries continue to vote as a bloc and piss off the West, who has been voting in much smaller blocs since the … Read more
A couple days ago we discovered three burnt-out cars in our neighborhood. Other passersby were taking pictures, too (usually in these situations, I’m the only one with a camera out). Perhaps they were set on fire as part of the May 1st demonstrations? I wasn’t here that day, and I can’t seem to find any … Read more
After suffering through the ridiculously smoky bars and restaurants of Zurich for two years, we were delighted to learn that Bavaria was planning to go smoke-free a few days before our arrival in January. Hooray for going out without coming home smelling like an ashtray! Our initial excitement is wearing thin, though, given the number … Read more