Tag Archives: customs

Adventures in Munich

Beer Garden Sketch

Augustiner Beer Garden, Munich

Labor Day back home, I hope the weather is cooperating as everyone relishes that last three day weekend of summer.   It’s raining and muggy here today, but the weekend was gorgeous.

We spent the weekend exploring Bavaria, first Regensburg on Saturday with Ursula and baby Simon, then Munich on Sunday with Markus.  Both days we enjoyed traditional lunches featuring schnitzel or roasts, with potato dumplings or potato salad, and Really Good Beer.  Light beer is called “Hell” on the menus, or “helle” on one menu… so in the college vernacular, I suppose I could say I drank hella beer?  That is especially appropriate since in a “real” beer garden, the only size beer available is one liter.  That’s a lot of beer… Markus and I split one.

Architecture.  Wow.  At the moment I’m feeling very much like this time last year at the Grand Canyon: I don’t know where to look.  I sit with my sketchbook and gape, so for now I content myself with pretzels and beer mugs and objects to which I can relate. 

Cultural Differences.  Just in the course of describing moving her furniture from Berlin to Inglestadt, Ursula mentioned that when you move in to a rental apartment, you must install your own light fixtures.  The last tenants take theirs, leaving you with just the wires hanging out of the ceiling or walls.  Ouch.

Traditions.  What goes around comes around.  Leiderhosen and dirndl skirts are making a comeback with the 20-something set.  Our travels over the weekend took us past several local harvest festivals, with many such outfits in evidence.  The twist is that more often than not, girls are wearing leather shorts, and/or some pretty risqué reincarnations of the classic little blouse and vest.  Fun!

We’ve found accommodations in London, more on that later.  We’re looking forward to a few more days here, then on to other German locales.