We have enjoyed a wonderful two-week break from work with no
responsibilities but the dogs. Almost
every day we have slept in and then decided how lazy we want the day to
be. Mostly we have been watching movies,
doing lots of jigsaw puzzles, and eating good food. I’m sure there were a few days we would not
have made it outside if it were not for the dogs (thanks girls!). Just when our laziness streak was beginning
to violate social acceptableness, we had visitors come and pull us up off of
our butts for Silvester/New Year’s Eve.
As a side note, this year marks the 3rd Christmas
in Munich without snow. However, as
mentioned before, the day after
Christmas it started snowing and didn’t stop for the rest of the year. This was probably the most snow we have
experienced since moving to Munich.
Therefore, this is the first time we’ve captured Munich so detailed in
the snow, aka there are plenty of snowy pictures coming up!
Our new friend Jason, who is a Houston-native now living in
Mannheim, came into town with two of his friends, Jorge and Carolina. We met up first on New Year’s Eve, and I
joined our guests on a free, guided walking tour through downtown.
 |
| Odeonsplatz in the snow |
I learned a lot of incredible new stories about Munich,
although it was no real surprise that most of them involve beer in one way or
another. For instance, many years ago the
opera house had once caught on fire and the relatively modern gravity fed
sprinkler system was put to the test.
Unfortunately, it was winter and the water for the sprinklers was all
frozen which called for a plan B. Because
of the proximity to the Hofbräuhaus the officials called on the locals to form
an assembly line and pass mugs of beer down to the Opera house to put out the
fire. Well unfortunately, most of the
locals started drinking the beer as it came down the line, which meant not
enough beer made it in time to save the Opera house. I don’t know if it is true and I don’t really
care, this story is just too funny.
After the tour, we warmed up at our apartment before going
out for a lovely Indian dinner. Our
upstairs Colombian neighbors joined us as well, who shortly after New Year’s
moved back to Colombia. This meant Julie
and I were the only pathetic ones who could not speak Spanish (seeing as Jorge
is Cuban, Carolina is in fact Colombian herself, and Jason just happens to
speak Spanish too). It made for a lively
mixed language conversation with hints of German, Spanish, and English mixed
in. As usual, the food at Taj Mahal was
incredible.
We continued on our tradition of doing the German custom of
“Bleigießen” fortune telling, where we melt lead trinkets and recast them into
randomly formed shapes via cool water.
The new shape reveals what is in store for the following year. Just like previous years there was plenty of
arguing about the interpretation of the shape.
Where I was certain my new shape was a golf club, other people were dead
set that it was a sperm. Since neither
option was on the list of interpretations, the group settled on a frog
(tadpole), so my fortune for 2015 is that I will win a lot of money in the
lottery. Julie’s snake meant she is due
for some haters this year (“people are envious of your success”).
 |
| Before and After shots of Julie's Bleigiessen |
We finally made it to Hirschgarten about 11:30 with our
fireworks and alcohol in tow. Thanks to
the snow, we were able to pull our cargo down to the park via a sled, although
we were missing the rope to properly secure things to keep them from falling
off every 20 feet. Soon the cargo was
carried by hand, and replaced by Julie looking for a free ride.
Due to the foot+ of snow on the ground, we couldn’t post up
in the field. Instead we had to keep to
the groomed walking paths to start our fireworks show. We rang in the New Year with prosecco, homemade
cupcakes, and 12 grapes each to go along with the war zone of fireworks
surrounding us.
 |
| Between the two group shots, both of us are captured |
By 1am we ran out of drinks and fireworks, so it was time to
return to the apartment. Our party had
only just gotten started because we all stayed up and celebrated until 3:30am,
when Julie was the first to throw in the towel.
Go us! Lucky for us, we had rested
up plenty the prior weeks and were actually able to properly party.
All in all it was a really great way to start off the new year
– surrounded by friends (new and old), fireworks, and family (Julie and the
pups). Here’s to 2015 and everything it
will bring!
PS - Here are a few more snowy Munich photos just because.
 |
| Snowing in Nymphenburg park |
 |
| Across from our apartment |
 |
| Hirschgarten aglow from smoke and fireworks |
No comments:
Post a Comment