Weisswurst

We have recently gotten the chance to experience Sunday Morning Weisswurst with some friends.  Weisswurst is a breakfast tradition here in Germany-served until noon usually, with pretzels, beer, and lots of the sweet, brown mustard.  I wasn't so sure that I was going to like this wurst, as I am typically a red wurst lovin' kind of gal...but I decided to give it a try.

I especially liked the formality in how it is served...in a tureen like container:

When you order it, you generally order it by the two's...and it comes still in the almost boiling water!

You can't eat the skin off of these-it is too thick and tough.  There are a variety of methods to peeling a wiesswurst properly...I have provided a link below.  Suffice it by saying that my attempts were not nearly as efficient or pretty, but the wurst was pretty delish. The place where we had it controls the timing of the availability by the chimes of the clock in the central square at Marienplatz.  Once it hits the last stroke of 12, the weisswurst is off of the menu for the day. (we have rules....)

For those of you who are interested in reading about proper technique...here is a website that you can look at so you can be an expert when you visit:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A412534

good luck trying the Zuzeln method...I am certain that this takes years of skill and practice!

Recycle-rama

I mentioned in the previous post the canvas re-usable shopping bags of choice of the Hub.  They are my favorite too, until I get one of those darned baskets...here they are in use-for real!

This time the bottles are empty...mostly wine bottles because the beer bottles have a deposit on them called a Pfand that we get back in the form of credit at the grocery store.  But, the wine bottles don't have this deposit, so it is off to the recycling center I go.  All in the day of the Hausfrau, after all.!

There are actually 2 recycling centers very close to the house, but I prefer the one on the other side of the old cemetary.  I like the scenery...and it is situated on a really pretty street.  We almost lived on this street, and every day I bring my recycling (read...empty wine bottles...) I thank my lucky stars that we didn't. No, not because the cemetary is there, but because of the way my bottles clank and crash and make a horrible racket as they descend into the pit of the recycle bin with a final crash at the bottom.  The other bins are located in a more university focused area, and they just aren't as tidy...you see a lot of leftover debris collecting at the base of the other one...car batteries, clothing and other various items that don't fit into the bin categories.  This one in the residential area is kept pretty tidy...

We frequent these two bins the most...because the wine bottles are sorted into either in to the brown glass bin or the green glass bin.  But there is also a bin for clear glass, cans and some plastics to sort into. 

I appreciate that they take their recycling seriously here.  I don't mind at all swaggering down the street laden with the empties of days gone by.  In fact, I seem to wait until I can't carry any more before I head to the bins...and I place them in the bins as gingerly as I can.  I feel a little badly for the neighbors-although there are posted times that you can put the glass in the bins...not too early or too late...but when they come with the truck and empty the bins...sheesh!  You can hear it happening blocks away.  I might recycle on a more regular basis if I lived over here, but am glad that we decided to live elsewhere.

Oh, and by the way...I am beginning to think we are winos.

A tisket, a tasket...I really want a basket...

Okay, so I may embellish a tiny bit here, but not about these fabulous baskets.  I covet these baskets.  I want one of these...I mean I really REALLY want one of these...one that will fit into the back wire mesh basket on my bike that I can pop out for picnics (yeah, right) or for marketing. I want to skip to the market and pretend I am Judy Garland or someone in a musical....too much Glee?  Maybe...but take a look and you decide for yourself.  It's the little things after all.

One of the things I really admire about our host country is that they are very environmentally conscious.  There are markets dedicated to Bio grown foods and household products...(a bit more rustic than the Whole Foods we are used to...but who really needs to buy LeCreuset in their Bio market-really?) and in the regular markets there is a well stocked Bio section of produce and other goods.  The idea of re-usable market bags and baskets is alive and well here.  You see men and women skipping off (ok, not really skipping) to the market with baskets that look like they should be in the Easter Parade.  Not my man, though...the hub is very particular about his market bags. He doesn't like anything with decoration-just plain canvas, thank you very much. I bought a few here at the "drugstore" before our things came, and apparently, they were a little too girlie.  He won't use them.  I have since moved on to these great ones I found at Ikea-all cotton, long handles (which he won't use over the shoulder, but I do), and will hold as many beer and wine bottles as you can stuff in them!

I don't fault him in his market bag choosiness...after all, he doesn't mind walking to the market with a woman skipping next to him flailing a new lovely basket, right?

No Bikes Allowed?

I walked past this on my corner last week and it just cracked me up...someone had placed a sign saying "Standing Bicycles is forbidden" on this cluster of bikes.  You see these signs everywhere in Munich posted on the buildings in the city...typically on facades of apartment buildings and businesses.  But, it often doesn't work.  Bikes are parked EVERYWHERE in the city.  We are lucky that we have a special room for them in the basement of our building, and many other buildings nearby have a little spot for them in the courtyard.  With all of the people concentrated into small spaces, though, there are many more bikes than room available to house them so you see bikes locked to any available pole or fence or just locked standing on the sidewalk.  I guess someone got a little sick of seeing them everywhere and decided to make their feelings known...

Call a Bike

A sure sign of spring in Munich is the reappearance of these bikes sprinkled randomly around town.  Deutsche Bahn, the German rail system provides these bikes around town and to rent them you call a # on the bike and you are given a 4 digit code to open the locking mechanism.  You then type the code onto the touch screen to unlock the bike and ride away!  I think that the charge is incurred on your cell phone bill.  When you are finished with the bike, you press "return bike" on the touchscreen and then another code is generated by the bike.  You call that code into a call center, give them the code and the bike's whereabouts and walk away.

As you can see, these bikes are not so fashionable, but are very functional..there is a child seat on the back and long fenders for bad weather.  I think it is a pretty neat concept, and you do see people riding around town on them.  I know that similar programs have been attempted in the US in cities like Boston and Washington DC, but the theft of the bicycles ended up making the programs be scrapped.

Munich revisited

So..............

You have probably noticed that the blog has taken on a traveling reference as of late...when I started to write down what was happening in my new life in Munich, I was understandably all consumed with our  life here.  It is a fact that I didn't leave Munich much last year at all.  I didn't go back to the States with the Hub when he passed through for work, nor did I go home on my own.  I had Bailey the Dog to take care of, and learning German and how to get through my days here was adventure enough for me. I was in Germany (or close) from April through mid-December. Christmas break was the first time that we packed Bailey up and took her to the Hund Hotel for a week and I left Munich for any days strung together.

I have now been here for one year!  My official arrival anniversary was April 4th.  Last year and this year that was Easter weekend.  A year ago on that weekend, I woke up to a new city, a new language and no job... I didn't have any clue about the adventure that was ahead of me.  It has been absolutely wonderful.  I have enjoyed so much about the ex-pat life and what I found challenging, I made sure I learned something from the experience.

This year on April 4th we were in Thailand.  How things have changed!  We are now a petless couple and can pick up and leave at a moment's notice.  It still feels strange and I miss her everyday. But Bailey's gift to me was helping me get through that crucial first year-and I feel so fortunate to have had that time with my girl. 

We are back to the normalcy (what there is of it!) of our every day lives here.  I continue to find my way as best I can, am planning on getting back into Language School soon, and find others here to befriend who are in the same boat as we are. We will travel as much as we can this year, and for that I am both excited and apologetic...but I promise to keep the Munich alive on this blog.  I mean, really, there is so much that is funny or interesting that goes on around me or happens to me-the blog will not completely turn travel oriented.  But I do appreciate the flexibility that you all have afforded me.  Please continue to read and share the journey...no matter where it takes us, ok?

In that spirit, here are some funny things I have spotted around Munich in the past few months and have been storing up and waiting to share with you.  In no particular order, of course...

Back to your regularly scheduled pretzel.....

Thai for two...

 

You may notice in the London pictures that we are both sporting a bit of a suntan.  Before London, we took a week off around Easter and traveled to Thailand-to Khao Lak.  It was the perfect quiet get away.  Khao Lak is north of Phuket by about an hour and is a rather remote beach location popular with Swedish tourists. Khao Lak was covered by 4 miles inland by the wave of the Boxing Day Tsunami, but they have done a lot to rebuild quickly in order to keep their main source of income of tourism going strong.

The Hub's dream vacation has always been Thailand...snorkeling, SCUBA diving to see clown fish, Thai food!  All it took was 10 hours on Air Berlin direct from Munich to Phuket and we were there! Here he is enjoying one of his favorite dishes-Chicken with basil (and baby corn):

For this trip, we decided to just go for a week-to give Thailand a try.  We needed to get away and relax, so we took it easy-no blackberry, no work, no worries.  Thailand is beautiful and HOT!

We took a snorkeling trip to the Similan Islands. We stopped for lunch and hiked up the rock to an overlook.  To get to the top, we climbed up plank walkways and  through rock tunnels to get to the top and  were rewarded with a view of breathtaking turquoise waters.

 

Another morning we took an elephant ride through a rubber tree plantation.  Riding an elephant is not necessarily a comfortable ride, but it was an experience that I will not ever forget. And we got to feed our elephant some bananas after the ride, which she really seemed to like! Our guide made me a grasshopper out of palm fronds.  

I couldn't believe how strong her trunk was!  I kept dropping the bananas...but it was cool to get to put bananas right to her trunk and watch her scarf them up.

Our second snorkeling adventure was to the Phi Phi Islands-and we stopped where they filmed the movie "The Beach".  I didn't see Leo, but the scenery was again breathtaking!

We had a great time, and I am certain that we will return to Thailand again.  It was a good first trip...and we absolutely want to take advantage of being this much closer to so many places by being located in Munich.  So many places to visit...I posted only a few pics here of a few things we did...if only the relaxation that you feel when you are on vacation could linger a little bit longer in the real world when you return.  We are now back in the swing of Munich and our day-to-day lives.....