Street Pianos

Have you seen the pianos randomly scattered around in Munich???

 

We came across one of the street pianos today on a walk in Schwabing. This is one is located near the University, on Geschwistersholl Platz, off of Leopold Strasse.

 



 

According to the website on the small brochure I found in a pocket on the back of the piano, "...touring internationally since 2008, Play Me, I’m Yours is an artwork by artist Luke Jerram. From Saturday 4 – Sunday 19 May, 14 Street Pianos will be distributed across the streets of Munich. Located in public parks, streets and squares, the pianos are for any member of the public to play and enjoy. Some of the pianos are also for the public to decorate and personalise, while others were designed by artists or social institutions in Munich."

 

Here is the website so you can check out the pianos...maybe they are coming to a place near you?

http://streetpianos.com/munich2013/

 

 

 

While we were there, several people approached the piano, and even sat down to play.

 

Some of the pianos will be available for sale after the installation to fund the project or donated to local schools and community groups. I see that there is another one close by...so I will have to give that one a look too...and see if I can be serenaded by a stranger or two....

 



 

 

Oktoberfest stats 2010

It is getting to be that time of year again here in Munich, so with many apologies that this post has been so long in coming, let's talk Oktoberfest!

 

In researching the statistics for you from last year's Oktoberfest, there are a few highlights to point out before the Wiki list.  Last year holds the new title for the most litres of beer consumed, at over 7 million liters.  Sheesh. That is a lot of beer.  The previous record of 6.94 million liters was set in 2007.  A Mass holds approximately one liter, just so you know.  This does not include the 310,000 liters of the special Jubilee Beer  that were consumed in the "Antique Wiesen", a beer that represented a never before moment of cooperation between the city's six big breweries -- Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hacker Pfschorr, Spaten and Paulaner.

With that, the recorded theft of the glass Masses was down last year comparatively...to 130,000 in 2010, more disturbing is the report of the rise in the weighty Masses being used as weapons last year in fights had seen an increase.

In the past 50 years, the consumption of pork sausage seems to be waning, while the chicken consumption has been on the rise. See below for evidence in sheer numbers!

It was the first "smoke free" fest, with the tents banning smoking inside in accordance with local laws about smoking inside buildings-the tents are really that big that they actually do qualify.

Oktoberfest 2010 informational tidbits:

• Area: 0.42 km² (103.78 acres)
• Seats in the festival halls: approx. 100,000
• Visitors: 6.4 million
• Beer: appr. 7,100,000 litres (151,200 litres non-alcoholic)
• Wine: 89,259 liters
• Sparkling wine: 37,733 litres
• Coffee and tea: 245,335 litres
• Water and lemonade: 1,028,522 ½ litres
• Chicken: 505,901 units 
• Pork sausages: 119,302 pairs
• Fish: 40,850 kg
• Pork knuckles (haxen): 69,293 units
• Oxen: 119 units
• Expenditure of electricity: 2.96 million kWh (as much as 14% of Munich's daily requirements or as much as a four person family will need in 52 years and 4 months)
• Expenditure of gas: about 198,489 m³
• Expenditure of water: about 107,489 m³ (as much as 27% of Munich's daily requirements )
• Waste: 678 t (2004)
• Toilets: about 980 seats, more than 878 meters of urinals and 17 for disabled persons
• Phone booths: 83, also for international credit cards
• Lost property: about 4000 items, among them 200 mobile phones, wedding rings, and even crutches.

 Some of the funnier things collected at last year's lost and found included:

• 1450 articles of clothing
• 90 cameras
• 770 ID cards
• 420 wallets
• 366 keys 
• 330 bags
• 320 pairs of glasses
• 90 pieces of jewelry/watches
• 37 children lost (this figure is up from 18 in 2009)

Most unusual things lost at the 2010 fest have to be:

• Leather whip
• Set of dentures 
• A hearing aid
• A live rabbit
• A tuba

Huh?  After living here and going to the Oktoberfest...the weird ones are not the whip or tuba...

Olympic Hopes

 

Take a look who was staring back at me when I rounded the corner in the Sendlinger Tor Ubahn station... none other than Mark Spitz.  He won 7 Gold Medals in Swimming here in Munich in the 1972 Summer Olympics.  This record would stand until 2008 when Michael Phelps won 8 Gold Medals for swimming in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Munich is one of 3 cities to make a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, with the Bid Committee in Germany headed by Figure Skater Katarina Witt (also a gold medalist!).  The other Bid City Candidates are Annecy, France and Pyeongchang, South Korea.  The winning city will be announced on July 6th.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is south of the city of Munich, will host the Skiing events.  There is a lot of hope for Munich to become the first city to hold both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.  The Bid Committe has big name sponsors like Lufthansa backing it, and we have seen posters and props for the bid quest all over the city and the airport.  I don't know if we will be here in 2018, but it would be a fun time to be living here!  Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted on the announcement!

Merry Markets

We have had a wonderful time visiting the various holiday markets that populate what seems to be every bit of space around the city. I had heard about the markets when we moved here-and they have lived up to the considerable hype. There is nothing better than a crisp day or evening, strolling around the markets with a steaming mug of Gluhwein-a hot mulled wine, of which my favorite is the cherry version that you can get at Sendlinger Tor. The air is filled with the aroma of roasting chestnuts, warm sugared nuts (we tend to favor the macadamias-see below), delicious baked goods and, of course: wurst grilling. I have been filled with a sense of fun and wonder (maybe after a few Gluhweins...) and the Christmas spirit.

I get now why people come here just for the markets. But, if they only see the large one at Marienplatz, they are missing out on the real gems. Many of the markets are themed-there is one over by the Rindermarkt that has nativity scenes...the one at the Muenchner Freiheit Ubahn station is full of local artisans...and the one at Wittelsbacher Platz (I think..) is medieval in theme.

Here are a few pics of several of the markets, including some of the fare we have sampled:

At Muenchner Freiheit where we had yummy delish fried apples rolled in cinnamon. We were treated to the market this day with a lovely dusting of snow fluffies under the hanging lanterns-gorgeous!

In Marienplatz, the largest market which is set up all around the beautiful Rathaus:

At Sendlinger Tor, where we sampled our favorite cherry Gluhwein and Rotwurst:

At the Chinese Tower, where we had yummy, warm, sugared macadamias and I bought some wonderful felted wool:

In the courtyard at the Residence, arranged in a beautiful setting, with mechanical animals (think big, talking moose that sings) for the kiddos amusement:

This has been my first winter holiday season in many years that I haven't been swept up in the business of the retail season at work...this year, I was swept up in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes that are the Christmas markets here in Munich!

Coldplay Concert Munich 8/29/2009

When Coldplay tickets went on sale here in Munich they sold out really fast. I got an email from someone that is in a new friends group that I belong to saying that she had an extra pair of tickets because the friends that they bought them for weren't able to come to Munich-so, their concert miss was our gain! I snatched them up and then one of Robert's associates found that they needed to be out of town and couldn't use their tickets-so we grabbed those for our friends C&P. The concert was last night and it was a fantastic! We had "Steht" tickets, which means that you are on the ground level standing...along with about 10,000 of your closest friends. We arrived and started to scope out a spot..hemming and hawing about whether or not to go over to the other side of the stage, when all of a sudden the security guard in front of us opens up a gate and we get to go into a closer ring-excellent! The picture above is taken while they are playing "Yellow"...and they brought out these huge yellow beach balls for the audience to swat about. Fantastische. It was our first concert here and actually the first concert for Robert and I to go to together. We all had a terrific time. We came home humming songs and with multi-colored thin paper butterflies that they shot into the air covering the crowd during "Lovers in Japan". It was so cool!