Goodbye, 2011!

2011 has been a challenging year, but looking back through our photos and posts I realize just how much we've done this year - and that it really was quite a good year!

What have we been up to this year? Here's a walk through the year at Schnitzelbahn through photos.

We began the year with a snowy walk through the English Garden, where the surfers and football players didn't let the cold spoil their New Year's fun.

Surfing at the Eisbach

English Garden

Armed with some new warm winter clothing from our Christmas trip to the US (thanks, Herr J!), I tried to really enjoy winter...and totally suceeded for the first year ever. Skiing definitely helps, as do these incredible Alpine views.

For Valentine's Day, we checked out some real skiiers and watched Lindsey Vonn take 2nd in the World Cup downhill event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Stacey Cook (team USA)

And then rounded out the weekend with a Cuban-Bavarian folk concert and a lovely dinner at the Charles Hotel with cake and tiki drinks.

die Cuba Boarischen

 

Munich had a few fun events in winter, such as the mini ski slope on Wittelsbacher Platz and we amused ourselves in the dreary February days by investigating Germany's supposed love affair with David Hasselhof:

Siemens Snow City

Yes, the Hoff is Back!

But for the most part, winter slow in Munich, since most people go to the mountains on weekend. The festivals and special events run mainly from spring to Christmas. We took advantage of the low period here to spend a long weekend in Vienna. We ate wienerschnitzel and goulash, drank Austrian beer and wine, and of course had cake and coffee.

Dinner and Doppelmalz at the Zwölf Apostelkeller

Café Landtmann

Building upon our recent cultural exporations, we saw a German schlager musical (based on songs of Udo Jurgens), visited Schönbrunn Palace, and explored all of the crazy instrument innovations at Vienna's Technical Museum.

Schönbrunn Palace Gardens

Player piano/violin

And, in one of 2011's high points, I received a call late Saturday night offering me a new job. No more haggling over paperwork with the Arbeitsamt!

With that news, March became a month of constant (and sometimes overlapping) travel. We fit in weekend trips to Stuttgart and Thuringia before I went to New York for my first two weeks of work. 

Though it was still winter in Munich, spring and crocuses were just starting to peek through in Baden-Wurtemburg and we saw these beautiful sun rays bursting through the clouds.

view from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof tower

We of course hit both the Mercedes and Porsche Museums, as well as getting our fill of wonderful Schwäbisch food. A zweibelrostbraten type dish with spätzle AND maultaschen? I couldn't pass it up!!

Porsche MuseumMercedes Museum

Between trips, we held the finals of the Schnitzelbahn German Beer Tournament, where Andechs Weissbier beat out Andechs Bergbock Hell for the championship.

And then headed off to Thuringen, where we were greeted with another beautiful set of sun rays.

We covered quite a lot of ground on this trip. The main purpose was to see Roger Hodgson play in one of the coolest concert venues anywhere - 500m below ground in the the former salt mines of Erlebnis Bergwerk Merkers.

From this base, we sampled some of the region's attractions. We visited Wartburg Castle, with its beautiful inlaid rooms and rich history. This is one of the few remaining castles from the feudal period and is also where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German after his excommunication.

We also visited Point Alpha, one of the more infamous checkpoints of the East-West German border.

Border at Point AlphaAnd of course, we sampled some of Thuringen's famously good food (here in Eisenach). The Thuringen sausages were good, as expected, but the pork cheeks with dumplings were and excellent surprise!

And finally, we stopped through the adorable baroque town of Fulda on the way home. Its old city is well-preserved, with churches and building from many time periods, and gardens reminiscent of Paris'. 

Fulda Cathedral (L) and St. Michael's Church (R)
And the next morning, I was off to New York to start the new job. Luckily I had the middle weekend of the trip to wander through the city with Herr J's new camera (and enjoy the art filters!) and to meet up with friends.

Strangely, New York couldn't decide whether it was time for spring, or whether it was still winter!

Bryant Park

We had planned to fly to Japan several hours after my return from NY. Given this schedule of back-to-back trips, I'd carefully packed suitcases for Thuringen, NY, and Japan - all of which required quite different attire. This would have worked quite well, had there not been a major disaster in Japan that forced us to cancel the Kyoto/Japan trip. But Herr J took charge and booked us on a trip to Finland we'd been eyeing since last year. Luckily the tour provided our gear, so I could easily pack and run back to the airport.

Our weekend in Helsinki and week of new winter sports and nature in Finland are definitely one of my best trips ever. In additional to trying dogsledding, cross-country skiing, snowmobiliing, ice climbing, and showshoeing, we can now say we built and slept in an igloo! While I'd like to try most of those again, I'd probably be OK sleeping indoors next time it's -25 C outside. The igloo isn't so bad inside, but it's the walk outside that hurts!

Suomenlinna fortress (Helsinki)Dogsledding near the Arctic CircleIce ClimbingEarly morning in our igloofireside dinner of reindeer stew and Finnish beerWe arrived back just in time for Starkbierfest and the beginning of spring in Munich!

Starkbierfest at Paulaner am Nockherberg

To get in one last bit of winter, we made a late April trip to the Stubai glacier, where there's powder on top and beautiful spring in the valley.

We spent most of spring and summer doing what good southern Bavarians do - enjoying nature and festivals. We attended the major local festivals, hiked in the Alps, and made many walks in the Nymphenburg and English gardens. With so many cute baby animals, it was hard not to go check on their progress every week!

Raising the Maypole at Augustiner

Frühlingsfest

Dachauer Volksfest

Picnic and football in the park

We also took avantage of the gorgeous weather for some sunrise photowalks and experimenting with HDR photography. (On a weekend morning when half the city is on holiday or sleeping off the previous night's partying, you can get some great shots without too many people walking across your shot)

Bayerisch Staatskanzlei

Morning in the Hofgarten

Sunrise at Olympiapark

As with fruits and veggies, everything has a season here.  Adult beverages are no exception, so Munich residents turn to radlers, spritzers, and rosé wines in the summer (along with the normal light helles)

This year we finally made it to the Kocherlball, where we donned our new trachten and watched people dancing traditional dances.

I love my new dirndl!

We had a great visit from some Dallas friends, who we took hiking and then mountain-carting in Austria.  This was one of my favorite hikes so far - an amazing view (and from only halfway up!).

Fuschl am See

Walking dogs at the animal shelter

With the local economy booming, we see scaffolding all over the city - for both new buildings and restoring historical sites.  Despite a tough campaign, Munich was not awarded the 2018 Winter Olympics. But there were huge parties and public viewings of the official announcement.

In addition to culture and nature, we tried to enjoy the sports here too. We were able to attend 3 of the Women's World Cup matches (in Augsburg and Frankfurt), as well as a couple of Munich Cowboys' American football games.  Since we've been searching for Munich's best burger, we also sampled the flame-grilled burgers there. Not bad, but still not beating Hard Rock! On that front, we've also been enjoying tasting whisky and  schnapps, new Mexican restaurants, pizza, and of course beer.

Japan vs Sweden

Munich Cowboys vs. Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns

And we visited the BMW museum, to round off 3 of the 5 top German automakers' museums. Their Art Cars exhibit was worth a visit.

On the professional front, Herr J's division was sold and he was moved into a (literally) crappy office with a spectacular view of the Alps. My contract was extended another 9 months and I started spending a lot of time in Frankfurt and on the train. 

The view from Herr J's offic
My "2nd Office" (in diorama filter)

Given all of the work committments, we weren't able to take a long summer vacation. To stave off my restlestness, Herr J planned some fun weekend excursions in the area, as well as some great day hikes and a trip to a nearby ropes course.

Waldkletterpark (ropes course)Another walk with the Tierheim dogsthrough the Höllentalklamm (Garmisch)
Using my awesome new (birthday) backpack!Best of all was a trip to the Hopfenland (in the Hallertau area). Since we'd been learning about beer, we wanted to learn more about the ingredients - especially since they were less than an hour from home. Not only was it educational, but also just a really beautiful part of the country. When our morning began with sunlight streaming through the trees, we knew it was going to be a great weekend!

Herr J in the hop fieldsLittle brewery.......BIG brewery!

And I spent another two weeks in New York working, coming back just in time for Oktoberfest (good timing, since we'd finally learned most of the songs). We had a couple of friends visit and join us, and then Herr J proposed (also at Oktoberfest) and made me an incredibly happy woman.

Central ParkOktoberfest - perfect excuse for a new hat!12 hours later, we flew to Spain for an adventure-filled hike from the Spanish Pyrennees to the French coast.  I believe the quote of the week was, Just so you know, we will NOT be hiking on our honeymoon! We had some amazing views, flora and fauna different than we see in the Alps, and a relaxing final couple of days in a French seaside resort. The rest, well...we'll save the story for another post.  But the little old Spanish and French towns were beautiful and the views worth the hike

fun with the macro lens
Our final destination: Banyuls sur Mer

And then we come to fall and early winter. Though we haven't posted much lately due to work, fractured ribs, and sickness, we did manage to fit in a bit of fun in late October and November.

We attended our first WEBMU (Whiny Expat Bloggers Meetup) in Cologne, where we made some new friends and toured Cologne's sites. I think this tiny chamber in the top of the Dom is my favorite place anywhere.

Cologne Dom rooftop tourThe bone chapel at St. Ursula's Beautiful fall day in CologneWe enjoyed one of my birthday presents (time with a falcon) in the gorgeous countryside near Bad Tölz and hiked with friends at the very end of fall (with some of the first frost on the ground).

hiking around StaffelseeLuckily we did get in one trip to the Christmas markets with our friends from German Gems and Deutschland Über Elvis and a weekend in London (where my stolen passport decided to stay) and saw the great comedy band Axis of Awesome.  We spent Christmas in the US with family and set a wedding date/location, and then spent the last few days of the year relaxing and catching up in Munich.

St. Nick

And in great news, I got a permanent contract at year end and now have some better job security! Looking back, 2011 was a pretty great year - and we're looking forward to an even better 2012!

Privacy with your Pilsner

Probably has something to do with the fact that it's the season of Christmas parties, but we've discussed several times recently how we're glad we didn't have smart phones when we were younger and less wise.

These days anyone can snap an embarrassing photo of themselves - or another person - and immediately upload it to Facebook or Twitter or any number of other sites. Kind of scary - at least in "the old days," there was a time lag of developing or downloading the photos the next day and usually realizing that sharing them was not a nice idea.

South American beer brand Cerveza Norte has come out with a solution: A beer cooler that keeps your beer cold and blocks photos of your party by responding to photo flashes with its own light that blurs our the photos.  According to Fast Company, it's a device for anyone "who values privacy along with their pilsner."

And of course it comes with another fun foreign commercial.

via FastCompany

Cobblestones are Evil

I've said this before, but usually it's in the context of shoes...how they ruin your heels and rapidly wear out the soles...and how they prevent me from wearing most of the cute shoes I brought with me from Texas. 

But this time it's different. Cobblestones are painful.

December has been a very interesting month, beginning with a routine walk to pick up some lunch on the last Friday in November. While crossing over to the Viktualienmarkt, I collided with a woman in such a way that her foot tripped me and sent me flying Superman-style. By some miracle I didn't hit my head or put out my hands (which at best would have made two badly sprained wrists), but instead landed flat on my chest. After a few moments of disorientation, I got up and walked home, still shaking.  I was very thankful for the calming tea the man at the Lebanese restaurant gave me while I waited for takeout. One of those small acts of kindness that really make you feel better!

Nothing was broken or cut and I didn't twist an ankle or hit my head, so nothing to worry about, right? Just a little shaken up.

A couple of hours later, I realized my neck was sore and it hurt to bend over or twist. But, it's unlikely that I could have done anything serious. I would have known if I'd really hurt anything, of course.

At this point, it's sore and hurts when I lay down or get up, but not too much when I sit still. So I still think it's probably just bruises and swelling but unlikely to be anything serious.

And so the next week I go to London for work. One night after our Christmas party, my purse is stolen. Luckily I had most important items back at the hotel, but I had my passport with me as ID. And at this point with the effort of lugging bags through the airport and the stress of having my purse stolen, I'm starting to hurt a lot more and also pretty unsure how to get back to Germany with no passport.

Thanks to a friend in another embassy, I find out how to get a temporary emergency passport, and by 1pm the next daz have a new passport in hand. Thank you, US Embassy for the excellent service!

To make the story short, by Monday I'm incredibly sick, with high fever, chills, coughing, etc. So I decide to see the doctor, which is something I usually avoid. At this point coughing is excruciating and even sitting still yields a dull ache. After a few visits to different specialists I learn a lot of new German medical words, have my first CT scan and get the diagnosis of having multiple infections and THREE fractured ribs. I really didn't think it was possible, but those cobblestones are hard.

Fast forward through 2 1/2 weeks of pretty stressful and long work hours (working from home, at least) and sickness and discomfort...I somehow met all the deadlines, got to the US, and am feeling almost normal again. Relaxing in front of a fire with a couple of dogs and football in HD is helping a lot!

Not an experience I'd like to repeat, but I feel proud of myself for having made it through the past few weeks and am enjoying a well-deserved vacation. And incredibly thankful to have someone like Herr J to take good care of me and feed me ibuprofin, vitamins, and ice cream. And to stock the fridge when I'm too sick to go out or unable to carry groceries.

And I've learned that cobblestones are lovely and quaint, but truly evil!

More Design Gifts

Tis the season for gfits... Here are a few on my wishlist. Though since the wishlist would also have to include space for them, I may have to settle for the fun of giving them as gifts.

For the eco-savvy LEGO lover (or just someone living by the German recycling rules), Italian designers Flussocreativo have created the cool LEGO-style "Leco" recycling center. Space-saving and cool-looking!

via w ooh ome

Another clever way to make use of space is Finnish designer Martina Carpelan's Kulma shelf. Kulma means corner in Finnish, and works to take advantage of either negative and positive space created by a corner.

via CMYBacon

For a smaller gift that's both clever and cute, Icelandic designer Stefán Pétur Sólveigarson's I Could Eat a Horse spaghetti measurer brings truth to that phrase. It measures pasta portions to fit child, adult, and the super hungry. (The horse-shaped measure feeds 4)

via w ooh ome

Also cute and useful in the kitchen would be Australian designer Toro Legno's Kitchen Bull. This cute guy combines a cookbook shelf with a knife holder and and a cheeseboard that pulls out of the bull's back.

I have a magnetic knife rack mounted on the wall and way too many cookbooks to fit him, but he is adorable!

via CMYBacon

For your world traveller friends, the Scratch Map is a world map that lets you use a coin to scratch off each country you've visited. And provide fodder for future travel dreams

Available from iwantoneofthose.

For those who want a little bit of creativity, the MoMa store offers Ricard Saint-Clairs Chalkboard Bud Vase. You can use it for messages or to draw your own vase.

Also from the MoMa store is this great collapsible water bottle. The difference is that this one not only rolls up into a light and portable piece of plastic, but it also stands up like a bottle while full. And comes with a mini caribiner to attach to your hiking pack.  I got one of these for Herr J when in NY last year and was very sad on our Pyrennees hiking trip that I hadn't bought one for myself also!

I'm a sucker for kitchen gadgets and clever designs!

Herr J's New Scarf

I still haven't finished the dirndl, but did take up a new hobby that:

1) Fits into my work-travel schedule,

2) Is portable, and

3) I can actually finish in a reasonable time!

KNITTING!!

It kind of started as a joke, with me asking Herr J if he wanted a scarf. He said he would wear one but didn't have one. I joked, "I'll make you one," and he replied, "I'd definitely wear it!"

And so off to the wool store I go and find some lovely wool dyed in different shades of blue, grey, brown. And some needles.

And then I consult Google and figure out how to knit. I found a pretty simple pattern for a manly scarf that was ribbed and only had knit and purl stitches - nothing too fancy.

There were some speed bumps along the way and something I did was wrong (perhaps winding the yarn the wrong direction?), but i actually liked the way it turned out. And then halfway through it started to be ribbed again. I had to figure out what I had done wrong, rip out the "right" rows, and go back to the wrong way. But, it worked and Herr J now has a warm scarf.

And of course having no experience, I bought twice as much as I should have. But I love this yarn and am making myself a girly scarf (long, ribbed, narrow, and with fringe).

The key to this is that I've been knitting on the train between Munich and Frankfurt. I'm sure it's a funny sight - the 1st class car is mostly German businessmen in suits...and one businesswoman in a suit, knitting.  But it helps to pass the time and I feel great accomplishing something.

Street Artists

Remember Kurt Wenner's cool 3-D chalk art ("Anamorphic Painting," to be exact)?

There have been a few other really cool examples this year.

Planet Streetpainting's version of the Terracotta Warriors (even better, the LEGO version of the warriors!)

via w ooh me

This was from Florida's Sarasota Chalk Festival earlier this month, which had the theme "Pavement Art Through the Ages." Can't wait to see next year's art on the "Circus" theme!

A video of the making:

Another this month in Canary Wharf, by 3D Joe and Max, who are currently on a world tour. Sadly, no dates yet in Germany!

via w ooh me

Whisky Tasting - Winter Jack

Winter in Germany means many things. One of the best things is glühwein, which warms you from the inside as well as warming your hands while you hold a warm mug at the Christmas markets.

We've also been learning a bit more about whisky and trying to figure out what we like. So, when we saw this new product from Jack Daniel's, we had to give it a try. 

Jack Daniel's has carved out a good niche in Germany, and now has several types of Jack in stores here.  This winter they're promoting Winter Jack apple whisky punch. Sounded pretty good, so we grabbed a bottle at the Edeka. 

This stuff is tasty! It's very mild (around 15% Abv) and not too sweet, with nice cinnamon and clove notes. Also extremely simple to prepare. All we did was pour it in a mug and heat in the microwave. 

We were afraid it would be syrupy sweet, but they seem to have used an apple juice more to the German tastes (i.e., natural and not overly sweetened).  Definitely a good choice for a nightcap on a cold winter evening. Like warm adult apple juice! 

On another note...while Jack Daniel's certainly can't market this as medicinal, it's pretty close to the old southern cold remedy of warm Jack + honey + lemon, and so much easier to prepare!

Has anyone seen this outside of Germany? According to one British whisky store, it was created for the German market (though is beginning to be available in the UK).