Ah, queso...

My favorite is Mag Mud, which we gladly shared with our friends one night. We've also had the opportunity to go to the McKinney Architects holiday party - great to see everyone again, as well as meet the new faces. And other wonderful dinners with friends back here in Austin throughout the week. We've been staying with friends here in Austin, taking up a whole room for well over a week, and are quite grateful.
Now, though, on to our holiday adventures. Hope everyone has a happy holiday season, and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Merry Christmas!

The In-Laws Visit

No not the above, but this loverly couple: The creature in the top photo is actually this thing called Krampus which look quite evil and scary. We've encountered them several times recently, along with nearby children crying. Still don't quite understand how you can mix something so evil with something so nice like St. Nick, but ah well.

In any case, we've been having a ball going to Rothenburg and Salzburg, and now Munich, especially with all of the Christmas markets. As always, trains make for a great way to catch up on your sleep.

Tis' the season - prost !

All quiet...

On Saturday Heather & Todd ended up going to Salzburg for the day, while Amit arrived in Munich from visiting Regensburg. We were able to give him an overview of Munich from the top of St. Peter's before heading over to the ice skating rink at Karlsplatz, which conveniently has gluhwein during the holiday season. After dinner, we met up with Heather & Todd at the Hofbrauhaus to give our visitors some of that Oktoberfest/ gemutlichkeit feeling. After sleeping in the next day, Kyle treated us all to a bike tour (thankfully the weather cooperated!). We finished up at the Chinesischer Turm beer garden.

All in all a great weekend. We greatly appreciate having visitors, and hope they had as much fun as we did!

O'zapft is! (It's tapped!)

Last nite we went to a birthday party for one of Kyle's co-workers' girlfriend. She was turning 30, and rented out half of a pub to celebrate. Above you can see Heather, Todd, Elke (the birthday girl), and Kyle toasting. As part of the celebrations, they purchased old-fashioned wooden kegs of Augustiner to tap - and Kyle was able to open one of them! Below he is standing with Andy, one of his co-workers, in front of one of the kegs. Quite enjoyable night, and we all just barely made it back to the U-bahn station in time to catch the last train back.

Visitors from a far away land

This week our first visitors arrived - friends Heather and Todd from Austin. After arriving Wednesday morning, we made a quick stop at the apartment for some refreshing, and then headed out to the Dachau concentration camp. That evening we joined up with Kyle for a traditional Bavarian meal. The following day Heather, Todd and I headed out to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. Hohenschwangau, seen in the background of the following photo, is where the previously mentioned Mad King Ludwig II grew up during some summer holidays, .

Neuschwantstein (as seen in the photo at the top) was one of the amazing castles he planned when he was king, though this one was never completely finished. Gorgeous views all around, though on the way there I think Todd and Heather were still a bit jet lagged....

Christmas is coming!

I was in the Marienplatz today, and not only are all of the booths in position for the Weinachts markt, but the large Chirstmas tree is also up right in front of the Rathaus - so excited! Meanwhile, there is a skating rink going up in Karlsplatz. Other booths are popping up all over the city, though none are open yet. Hopefully soon!

Amsterdam good time

Well, our Amsterdam weekend proved to be quite enjoyable, though we have definitely decided that we are now too old for hostels. Sleeping in a room full of bunkbeds with 12 other guys and 2 other girls is just not my cup of tea. It was, however, quite beautiful, as the weather happily cooperated the first two days (but man was it freezing on Monday!). Believe it or not, Amsterdam actually has more canals than Venice. When we first arrived we noticed a huge bike parking garage right outside of the train station - apparently there are just as many bikes in the Netherlands as there are people.

We did a lot of walking around, sight seeing, museum visiting, and of course eating. We found a great little lunch bar called the Soup Kitchen - perfect on a chilly day. This is a photo in front of the skinniest house in Amsterdam - only 2.02m wide and 6m deep, which means that there are about 12 square m per floor! Where do you suppose they put the stairs?

While there we also met up with our friend Amit, who is in the Netherlands just south of Amsterdam doing some research on regrowing bones and cartilage. It was really great to see a familiar face. Additionally, we were lucky enough to catch the arrival of Sinterklaas (who looks more like an old Pope, instead of our fatter grown-up-elf-like Santa Claus). The way we understood it from the locals (who all thankfully speak English, as Dutch is quite the unfamiliar territory) he arrives on a boat from Spain with all of his helpers (so called 'Black Petes' - read the Sinterklaas link to find out more about them). There was a big parade, with lots of small gingerbread cookies being passed out along the parade route. Cooooooo-kies.....

A few more Berlin shots

Here are a few more shots from Berlin. We visited the Reichstag when Kyle arrived - it was really cold and drizzly, with long lines, but pretty worth it. The Reichstag has played an important part in German history (Hitler used the burning of the structure as one of his stepping stones to power), it was therefore quite serious when the seat of German government moved back to the Reichstag in Berlin. Norman Foster did the addition/rediesign with a glass dome that really and symbolically overlooks the floor where the politicians gather, allowing the general public to be able to literally watch over those in power.

We also of course hit the Potsdamer Platz.

And walking around, the TV Tower in East Berlin was pretty much always present. It was built by the East German government during the Cold War to prove their might, but ended up as somewhat of a joke, as when the sun reflects off of it a cross appears - not exactly what they were aiming for. This photo was taken outside of one of the big department stores a few minutes before 10 - everyone was eagerly waiting outside for the doors to open and the shopping day to begin. Commercialism has definitely arrived with full fource in Berlin.

Bye-Bye Berlin

Well, we had a really great time in Berlin. Staying in East Berlin was definitely interesting. As Rick Steves says 'Graffiti is just their way of saying hello!' There was a noticeable difference visually between East and West Berlin, but all in all Berlin is just a big city. Coming back home makes Munich feel like a small town. Unfortunately, I did manage to lose my sketchbook while I was there - I tried really hard to explain to the people at the photography museum in my extremely broken German that 'Yesterday I had a bag with a paper book and 5 pen. Today I have not a bag' but, alas, no luck - a real bummer. Before Kyle arrived I visited several museums including the Bauhaus Archive Museum which was really good to see. They're actually planning on majorly expanding in 2010. Berlin is definitely in a building boom!
We visited the Jewish History Museum which was designed by Libeskind, the architect who won the original site plan for the World Trade Center site (which has been much changed since his original plans, and not necessarily for the better). The photo above is of the stairway.
We also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The information center below the site was quite moving and sobering as they had many personal family accounts representing what had happened. The photo below is of Kyle in the Memorial - it can be quite disorienting when you're walking on an uneven surface among all of the stelae, some quite tall.
We also visited this wonderful chocolate shop that has over 250 kinds of chocolate truffles, pralines, and other assorted yummies. I had a really hard time deciding which few to get. And those that I did buy didn't last long!
Meanwhile, Christmas season has started to appear in Berlin. In Potsdamer Platz there was a huge artifical snow hill which we slid down on innertubes, with some tasty gluhwein (spiced warm wine perfect for the holidays) at the bottom of the hill. Though I was hesatint to go up at first, it was quite fun!

Berlin!

In Berlin right now, and its pretty great. I've been doing museums non-stop for the past couple of days, but now Kyle arrives so we can hit some more touristy stuff. My first stop here was Checkpoint Charlie, which was pretty amazing. So ridiculous that even in 1988 people were trying some pretty far-out tactics to escape East Berlin. We're staying in East Berlin, and there's definitely a visual difference between the two sides of the city. It is good, though, to get a different feel of Germany from Munich. Munich is the typical German city that comes to mind, while Berlin is a Big City.
We'll post photos later!

more SNOW!!!

Yup, that's right. Today is our second day of snow! This morning it was really coming down quite heavy, which was very exciting. It was perfect for schneeballs (though we didn't make any)! Looks like this weekend we won't be making it to the Augistiner after all - sooooo cold here! And, I've decided some sort of warm/semi-waterproof boots will be needed. Time to start browsing...

Time is flying!

Well, we're without internet at the flat this week, so a quick post from the internet cafe.
This weekend was great - we stayed in, and had a totally 'non-German' Saturday: Ikea for some shopping (a new larger duvet - the one that came with the flat was for 1 person, and it's becoming quite cold here!), a visit to the local English language bookstore (I purchased Snow , the recent Nobel literature prize winner - it's by a Turkish author, so it's a good read right now as we're a bit closer to the country than usual; Kyle bought A Traveler's History to Germany, as we're seeing so much stuff it's good to know the reasons why), dinner at a Mexican/Brazilian place (the salsa was tomato sauce, what can you expect, but still delicious; the margaritas not so good, as opposed to the ones at Tacos y Tequila here in town), and then a viewing of the recently released 3-D version of A Nightmare Before Christmas (quite enjoyable).
On Sunday it was off to a different beer garden after some pancakes for breakfast - I think this is becoming a Sunday ritual! The beer garden this weekend was the Lowenbrau one. Apparently what they sell in the States is not the same brew they make here - instead the recipe has been changed slightly to 'accomodate' American tastes. Hmmph... We have been going to outdoor beer gardens, but as it's getting chilly this was an indoor one. We're hoping this weekend will grace us with nice weather so we can check out the Augistiner - its supposed to be quite great, but best (and perhaps only?) enjoyed outside.
Meanwhile, also purchased a Lonely Planet guide to Berlin at the book store - I head up there soon, which I'm quite excited about! It's a virtual architectural mecca due to all the recent construction (despite Berlin's whopping 18% unemployment rate!). We've been enjoying Rick Steve's guide to Germany, but the Lonely Planet book was just published in Aug 2006 so a nice supplement (though Rick Steve updates his books yearly).
And - tomorrow is All Saint's Day. This is another holiday in southern Germany. Today in class we learned that southern Germany (predominantly Catholic) gets 4 more holidays than northern Germany (predominantly Protestant). No class for me and no work for Kyle! Ciao!

VOTE!

Please vote!

We sent in our standardized Federal ballots early this week, but this only allows us to vote in Federal elections. We had applied to vote via mail in all of our local elections. However, our ballot has been lost in the mail, as it was mailed the 4th of October but has yet to arrive, so we will be unable to vote for Governor as well as many other offices and some important bonds that are on the ballot in Austin. Unfortunately, Texas does not allow one to use the standard Federal ballot to write in your choices for state and local elections, so we're out of luck there. Especially in Austin, I feel like our local elections are much more important and my vote has more of an impact than in any of the Federal elections, so I'm a bit bummed about it. Ah well.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for resources on the candidates and issues in your precinct, I have found the League of Women Voters to be a very informational non-partisan organization.

Now, go and vote, either early voting now in Austin (very convenient) or on November 7th!

A first glimpse of 'Mad' King Ludwig II

This past weekend we stayed in Munich and went to the Nymphenburg Palace, the summer home of the Bavarian rulers. It's huge, but you can only tour a few rooms of the main palace, the old 'hunting lodge' on the grounds, and the carriage house. I'd rate the carriage house tops, personally. The palace itself (at least the part that is open to tours) is not kept up very well if you look closely. Supposedly the Wittelsbach family still lives in a wing of the palace. And if you haven't heard of 'Mad King Ludwig' before check here - he was one of the previous inhabitants of the palace and has quite an interesting tale to tell. I haven't been to his famous Neuschwanstein Castle yet, though Kyle has several times.

On Sunday, after a liesurely morning of ... pancakes (! - courtesy of some Bisquick mix found at one of the large department stores off the Marienplatz) we headed out to a beer garden in the southwest part of the city. We took a tram there, which was wonderful to actually see the city, instead of using the subway all the time and not really knowing where you are in relation to anything. Waldwirtschaft Grosshesselohe overlooks part of the Isar, though we couldn't see it through all of the gorgeous fall leaves. It was a very pleasant place to have lunch/dinner, a few beers, and read our books while enjoying the wonderful weather. Prost!

Day to Day

So, we're obviously not travelling all of the time. Day to day is pretty much like in the States. I have yet to work up the courage to go to the meat counter, so we're sort of becoming defacto vegetarians except when we go out to eat. Last nite we did have sausage, tho, so that was a change. After dinner Kyle usually sits down to a book (he's currently reading Munich and Memory, borrowed from a fellow Rice arch. grad who's been living in Munich for 3 years or so; and I'm reading Strong Motion, in case anyone's interested ;) while I usually sit down to homework. We've just borrowed a DVD player from the same Rice grad, so we purchased some movies in German to help us learn the language: the Matrix, Spaceballs, and Schrek. We've also borrowed the first season of 6 Feet Under, which should be interesting to watch, as I've heard it's great. We're still totally addicted to Lost, so are very appreciative that iTunes carries that show!

In any case, we still have the regular washing to take care of, which like most things here takes a little bit to get used to how the machine works. When we first arrived, I spent an hour translating, with a few calls to Kyle at work to help out with the random 'Achtung!' warnings. It's a combination washer/dryer, though it's ventless, so that means it's more like sucking and spinning the water out of the clothes more than anything else. It is also very teeny, which means that you can't even put a whole set of sheets in the tumbler. And if you expect it to dry anything, you need to put in even less. What this basically means is that we do a lot of airdrying, as apparently do most people here. Our balcony does not really face the sun, nor does it have a clothes line, so that means the drying rack is always set up in our dining room. I imagine at some point we'll hopefully have a few people over and we'll have to put it away, but currently it seems as if there is always a load that needs drying. Dry cleaning? Well, that one we haven't quite worked out yet....

Olympic Park

On Sunday we visited the Olympic Park here in Munich, which was developed for the 1972 summer Olympic games. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for our picnic. The site is amazing - in the photo we are standing upon a hill completely made of rubble from WWII, overlooking the pond and the rest of the complex. The park is quite huge, and there is some concern as to what will happen with the large Olympic stadium now that the new football (soccer) stadium by Herzog and De Meuron is complete. As you can see, the Olympic stadium still carries some concerts (David Copperfield, George Michael...) but during non-football season won't be as popular as the Allianz Arena. We haven't visited the Allianz yet, but trust me, it's on the list. The Olympic swimming arena, however, remains in use and open to the public and was quite packed this weekend, complete with kids jumping off of the super-tall 10m platform.

Adjacent to the Olympic Park are the primary offices for BMW. A new building is going up designed by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU and looks quite amazing. It was originally scheduled to be open in 2006, but as you can see it's still under construction. The BMW website lists the opening as 2007 - hopefully before we leave!

Fall in Munich

Well, fall has definitely arrived in Munich. As have apples - Kyle purchased 5 kg of them, so we've been eating them steadily. Sunday, however, was baking day. After an interesting trip to the grocery store on Saturday -there's no such thing as all-purpose flour, so I purchased Type 405 after searching ToyTown; brown sugar comes as crystals; plain oatmeal is hard to find; real vanilla is so far impossible to find; and the word for cinnamon is 'Zimt' - the cooking began. End result - lots of delicious homemade applesauce and a very crunchy apple crisp. Instead of using cups and teaspoons, they measure everything by weight here, which is very exact. The ironic thing is that our oven doesn't have the most precise of temperature knobs - it's marked every 25 degrees. In Celsius, 25 degrees is quite a bit!

Woher kommen Sie?

Well, I started my language lessons this past Wednesday - I jumped into a class that started on Monday, but I've been able to catch up just fine with Kyle's help. So far we've done the basics of My name is__, I am ___ years old, I come from ___, I am a ___ for my job. And lots of counting. My class has bout 15 people in it, from all over - I am the only American, there are people from Turkey, Tunesia, Iraq, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Portugal, Brazil, Afghanistan, and I forget where else. German truly is the only common language, which means that our teacher does a lot of acting to get everyone to understand what words mean. But we're getting there!

Meanwhile, some of Kyle's co-workers were kind enough to invite me to a 'Girl's Nite' last night. We played Cranium - in German! It was a ton of fun, even though I didn't understand quite a bit of it. The girls were all very good about speaking English though and translating for me. A new word I learned - Butterfahrt!

Weekend in south west Germany

On Thursday I took the train up to Nurnberg to meet Kyle. We drove to Karlsruhe in western Germany (yes, on the Autobahn ) where he had another seminar/presentation. Then we headed south for a relaxing weekend in Staufen, which is outside of Freiburg. We basically stayed at 'Grandma Lotte's' house, in one of her rooms upstairs above her bar/restaurant, with a bathroom down the hall. The town has an old castle overlooking it, as well as many wineries specializing in white wine. We took a day trip out to Freiburg and to a clock museum in a small town called Furtwangen. The museum was really quite good, and surprising for such a small town. On a recommendation, we went to the Hohenzollern Castle the next day on our way back to Munchen - it was absolutley amazing. A bit of a hike up to get to it, but what a gorgeous day to visit!

German Reunification Holiday

Today was German Reunification day, celebrating when East and West Germany became one Germany again in 1991 (relatively recently!). Germans celebrate by taking a holiday, though we haven't exactly figured out what they do. The streets were quite empty today, and of course all the grocery stores, shops, etc. are closed much like they are on Sundays. However.... beer gardens are still open! We went to the nearby Englisher Garten, alternating between lying in the grass reading and sleeping and going to a beer garden . We also rented a paddle boat for a half hour, introducing ourselves to the local ducks and swans. All in all a great day, and quite relaxing.

Live at the Wies'n!

Well, we managed to hit up the Oktoberfest three times while we were here - once the Sunday of 'Italian weekend' (many excessively inebriated Italians, as they can't quite hold their liquor, apparently), the Thursday of the last full week with some of Kyle's new workmates, and then the Saturday of the last weekend, which was quite packed. Altogether, quite enjoyable, though I think I've had my fill of beer for quite a while!