Another Munich New Year

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 3^rd 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

Post World Cup (Adventures?)

Julie here!  Now it is my turn to write about the World Cup, or the Weltmeisterschaft if I want to be cocky with my German! 

Since Noah has returned from Brazil, no World Cup game has lived up to his USA v Portugal experience.  But that doesn’t mean we didn’t try.  The first big match we went out to watch was USA v Belgium in the Sweet 16 (or whatever FIFA wants to call it).  Sadly for us the game was at 10 pm on a weeknight here.  But who cares – we decided to go to be real fans and go out and watch it at Hirschgarten with all the other true Americans!  Yep – all 9 of us were there. 

To be fair – it had been raining that day, and it was even sprinkling on us a bit while we waited for the game began.  This reduced the massive crowd from about 30 people to about 20 (not everyone was American, you see, hence my earlier estimates of 9).  Noah and I were set up on the first table under the tree with our American flag spread out on the table like a nice brotzeit tablecloth.  Noah had on his jersey, and I was sporting the scarf.  USA! USA! USA!

A group of three American college kids sat at the table next to us, though sporting exactly 0% America.  Lame.  I get that you might be uncomfortable drawing attention to the fact you are an American tourist as you travel through Europe, but come on!  You are there to root your country on!  Have some pride!  After two drunk Germans came up to us and our American paraphernalia and started wishing our team luck and wanting to talk America with us, the youngsters next to us finally stopped whispering their English and relaxed.

The other 5 Americans that I counted sat two tables behind us with some of their international friends.  For the record – Noah and I were the original ones there, so I like to think our outlandish patriotism drew our fellow countrymen to us like magnets.  So even though it was a late night, and even though we lost, Noah and I had a good time in our tiny crowd of people cheering on America.  

Now that USA was out of the running, I decided to throw my support behind the country that gave me a work/residence visa.  Go Deutschland!  Now I had been saying from the beginning that I thought Germany would win, which was reflected in my ESPN bracket that I set up.  It sometimes seemed I had more confidence in Germany than others around here.  I heard many people voicing their doubts due to the wake of the injuries the German team had sustained before the tournament.  Soooo un-American.   (Get it?  Because they are Germans?)

We decided to go back to Hirschgarten to see Germany play France in the Elite 8.  This time it was a Friday afternoon, so we knew the place would be packed.  To keep it more low key, we took the dogs and blankets and dinner and posted up on the grass behind the beer garden.  The view wasn’t amazing, but it was nicer than being jam packed into the beer garden.  As I wrote that I realize how old I sound.  Anyways, the crowd inside the beer garden was massive, plus many others were on the grass with us, so we all got to cheer Germany on as they won 1-0.  Viva La Germany! 

Skipping Germany’s 7-1 domination of Brazil (poor Neymar) in the Final 4, I’ll fast forward to the finale on Sunday.  Earlier that afternoon we took the dogs to Hirschgarten for their walk, and the beer garden was already full of people – many who were decked out in German colors and already plastered.  As I already established our lameness earlier, and adding the fact that the game started at 9pm, I will readily admit we just stayed home and watched it in our living room.  I was really hoping Germany could just win in regular time so I could get to bed at a reasonable hour, but they decided to stretch it out into extra time.  Finally around 1am Germany scored the only goal of the game, and I was super excited because of the win it was bedtime. 

Only (partly) kidding – I was happy for Germany.  And I couldn’t truly get to sleep for another hour and a half with the fireworks booming (scaring poor Sadie, but what doesn’t?), the people from Hirschgarten screaming, and people driving down the street outside our bedroom honking their horns until 2:30am.  Though I wasn’t angry about that – I mean I am not going to deny these people their celebration for their country’s fantastic win!  In fact I was in awe that so many people had fireworks.  This highlights the wonderful planning of Germans – these people had to prepare 7 months out at New Years.  They stockpiled fireworks back in December for a potential World Cup win.  I was impressed. 

I do have to admit I was a bit disappointed the next day on my way to work.  I felt like barely anyone was continuing their celebration.  I believe if this was USA, and USA loved soccer as much as the rest of the world does, then everyone would be wearing USA clothes or colors or flags, high fiving each other all the way.  Instead I saw a whopping three people with tiny painted flags on their cheeks throughout my entire commute, both to work and home.  What is going on here Germany?  Where is your outspoken pride??   Just one more difference between our cultures I guess - Germans will totally shout and celebrate, but only for a reasonable timeframe.

Overall I do enjoy watching the World Cup, like I enjoy the Olympics.  It is cool to be able to get with your entire country and cheer with pride for your team.  And all those people who think those of us who only watch soccer during the World Cup are somehow ‘lesser than’… I also only watch Gymnastics during the Summer Olympics, and snowboarding during the Winter Olympics, so don’t worry about it.  That is why it is so exciting – because it is only every 4 years.  Though unfortunately here in Europe, there are about 16 different soccer championships every year or two, so I won’t be able to escape it completely until 2018.  

Sledding into the New Year

After our awesome trip to Budapest we settled back in Munich for act III of our family adventure.

As we were down to the last 2 days of the year (and the last 2 days of our family visiting), we wanted to make sure we got to spend some time with Aunt Ellen and Uncle Rüdiger.  With 2 cars, we easily fit crammed all 9 of us in for a drive down to Garmisch again.  However this time, our destination was different – we wanted to see Partnachklamm again, but this time we were hoping to see it partially frozen.  After hitting a rather large Stau (traffic jam), we finally made it down to Garmisch. 

Seth and Rüdiger hanging out in the traffic

As we walked up to the Olympic Ski Jump – the start of the hike to the gorge – we sadly learned that Partnachklamm was closed due to the melting ice.  Apparently there was danger of icicles breaking off and potentially killing everyone in sight.  And the worst part is there is a website that tells you if it is ‘geoffnet’ or ‘geschlossen’, but it had been down for a few days.  This must be how Chevy Chase felt when he finally made it to WallyWorld and it was closed.

Thankfully we had Ellen and Rüdiger with us as they came up with a wonderful backup plan for the day.  Right at the same ski jump stadium is the lift to the top of Eckbauerbahn!  After Rüdiger finagled us the group discount (technically we were 1 shy of the 10 needed), we hopped in line for the gondolas.  But before we handed our ticket over in exchange for a ride up the mountain, Sandy announced she really wanted to try sledding (a true sign she was born and raised in Texas).  Noah and Seth had her back and quickly ran back down to the store to rent 3 sleds for the group.  Finally we (and our sleds) were on our way up the mountain in the gondolas. 

We were really excited

Once we reached the top, we immediately headed to the sledding hill.  Marty, Margie, and myself all hung back at the bottom to photograph my mother’s first sled experience ever (and capture the others too).  Ellen and Rüdiger went to the top of the hill to cheer the sledders on. 

First up – Seth. 

Next – my mother’s inaugural sled ride.  With the ‘breaks’ on the majority of the time, she ended up with pretty good snow spray. 

Then it was Noah’s turn. 

Then the self-proclaimed expert, my father.  Though based on the photo you can see he didn’t really have the best form.  (He blames the sled…. sure Gary) 

After a few more runs in for all, including a brother run, and a run where Seth flew all the way to the restaurant, we had all built up our appetite and were ready for some food.  This was when I took my turn on the sled – to slowly make my way down the path to the restaurant.  What can I say – I know the dangers uncomfortable-ness of snow spray first hand. 

After our fill of food and beer (and a few more runs on the sled), we were ready to call it a day and head back down the mountain. 

Before heading back to Munich, we decided to walk around the town of Oberammergau first. We asked a random man on the street to take a group picture of us in front of the famous painted houses, but sadly the bill of his hat pushed the flash down, resulting in a dark and grainy picture. 

When we returned to Munich we said farewell to Ellen and Rüdiger and took off to downtown for a delicious meat-filled dinner at Der Pschorr.  Even Margie’s vegetarian baked cheese dish was amazing.  

It's hard to see, but the name of the restaurant behind us is 'Weisses'

New Year’s Eve found us all rather spent from the past 2 weeks activities.  The day was spent playing Settler’s of Catan between packing (as everyone flew out the next day).  Before dinner though, we partook in the German tradition of Bleigießen.  This is where you melt a small lead figure and dump the liquid in water.  Then you have to determine what your newly created shape looks like.  The shape is interpreted (via online blogs for us) to predict how the upcoming year will be.  For instance, my lead came out looking like a swan.  Based on the list, a bird means I have good luck coming in 2014!  Unfortunately ‘penis’ wasn’t on the list for Noah’s shape, so we had to go with a different opinion on what his object looked like. 

After our fortunes were foretold, we went out for a wonderful Indian dinner.  And since this is all about ‘firsts’ this trip for the parents (Margie’s first time in a gondola, Sandy’s first time sledding), it was now Gary’s turn.  This was his first time eating Indian food!  We went with some safe choices for him of butter chicken and tikka masala, and I was happy to say he didn’t go hungry that night.

It was finally time to grab our blankets, champagne, and fireworks and head to Hirschgarten.  Last year Noah and I marveled a the way German’s do fireworks on New Year’s, so we thought the park near us would be a good place to 1) set off our own fireworks and 2) have a nice view of others as well.  Noah and I were also looking forward to showing our guests how over the top it gets here.  To quote Adam Fletcher’s ‘How to be German in 50 easy steps': “New Year’s Eve in Germany is the evening in which all the nice, normal, practical, risk-averse people are replaced by gun-powder-touting, death wish-seeking pyromaniacs. Running around lighting fireworks with reckless abandon. Sections of the country become much like Baghdad on market day. In Germany, leaving the house on New Year’s Eve is like stepping into a giant, 80 million person multiplayer game of Bomberman.”.  

We get started around 11:30 lighting our bottle rockets and our 3-foot long sparklers.  With all that time waiting for the sparkler to burn out, I had my go at sparkler-writing. 

At this point we were really the only ones around, and Noah and I were a bit nervous that maybe we misremembered last year and exaggerated the experience to our family.  But once the clock hit midnight, the warzone broke out.  We did have a few more groups show up to the park, but the main event was over at the Hirschgarten restaurant.  They had their own professional show going, and we had great viewing spots away from the massive crowd we could see in the distance.  Between their show, and all the fireworks that began to explode all around us, we could see the awe in our family’s faces.  It was a great way to ring in the New Year. 

The next same morning we bid ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to our loved ones and spent the rest of the day recovering from both the late night and the 2 weeks of hosting.  Plus our apartment resembled how the city streets looked after all the fireworks… it was time for us to clean for the first time all year.