How we got to Munich

Well, Logan & I are now living in Munich. It has been a whirlwind since January, when he was recruited to work for ESEA, and work in Munich.

Logan accepted the offer late February 2005. (Sometime after the 18th).

We took an exploratory trip to Munich March 13 – 22, to see if we like Munich and if Logan likes the job.

It is a long flight to Munich from SF, we did have the luxury of flying biz class so we were able to sleep and they fed us well. Having the personal video was great too; there were many distractions to choose from. Roy, a new co-worker, picked us up at the airport, thankfully. He took us to the company’s current apartment, which is in the town of Unterhaching, south-west of Munich proper.

The apartment is on the 4th floor (they say 3rd, the ground floor is not numbered). It has 3 bedrooms, a living room, a couple baths and a kitchen/dining area. And an outside balcony. It’s not very big but it’s nice enough for a short period of time.

The week of our exploratory trip started with snow and ended with brilliant sunshine and the crocuses blooming. The weather here is variable; it can be clear and then rainy in half an hour; or overcast then thunderstorming in half an hour. The sky, even when overcast, is pretty light with lots of variance in the clouds.

Logan went to work the next day. Bruce and Barbara Birdsall came over in the morning. Bruce, another co-worker, took Logan in to work, while Barbara took me into Munich to go on a walk. She is a member of the International Women’s Club, an English-speaking club in Munich. The members are from all over the world, most of the women are not working while in Munich. The club has events most weekdays, from book group to yoga class to guided walks in interesting areas. The walk this month formed up at the Deutches Museum and we walked along the Isar for an hour to a 14th century church. The paths were still covered in wet, crunchy snow although the day was warm and the skies sunny.

We then had lunch in a beautiful restaurant. It was a great way to start the week for me, knowing there’s a group of women I can connect with.

Munich is a beautiful city. It was reconstructed after WWII to match the old-style architecture; the streets are cobblestone and they are rarely straight. The Isar river flows at the border of the city to the east. There are many beautiful bridges. Germans walk and bike a lot, there are 10s of miles of bike paths by the river (at least! maybe hundreds.). All the main streets in the city have bike paths, between the street and the sidewalk. It is common to see someone in street dress pedaling away; no helmet, no bike shoes. People ride to the grocery store and load up. Beware of straying into the bike path – you’re likely to get run down! Just like driving here, it is expected that everyone knows what they’re doing and that they all follow the rules.

Wednesday I walked around Unterhaching, to see what the town has to offer. It’s small, but has all the needed markets, a few restaurants and stores. It takes only 15 minutes on the train into Munich city center from the Unterhaching S-bahn station. So, it’s pretty close to the city, which has a population of 1.3 million or so. Yet there are farmed fields at the outskirts of Unterhaching. The population does seem to cluster around the train station. Everyone takes the train! Moms pushing strollers, to school kids, to elderly folks all dressed up.

Thursday I took the train into Munich, walked around for a couple hours. On Friday, Logan took off work & we went into Munich. We started at the newly reopened Villa Stuck Museum, and took in the show about Sigmund Bing – the man who started the ‘art noveau’ movement in Paris. He was a German art dealer that opened a gallery in Paris in the late 1880s, discovered and loved Japanese art. Took a trip to Japan and brought back tons of stuff, which then influenced the Parisian art scene. For example, Picasso bought all his Japanese prints from M. Bing. The influence ‘Japonnaise’ spread throughout the community, and M. Bing staged a showing of it, called ‘art noveau’. Great exhibition.

Then we walked through town. We fetched up at Maximillian Platz, and sat at a Bavarian restaurant, has sausages & sauerkraut of course. We then met Barbara at another museum, which was having an English-speaking docent led walk through an exhibit of the Bavarian culture. After this, we walked to the Victualien markt, the famous big outdoor market for food, drink and garden products. We had a beer in the beer garden, of course. From there we met up with Bruce at a hotel in town, where another coworker, Roseann, and her daughter had just arrived on vacation. We all had dinner at the Spaten House, a famous Bavarian restaurant on the Maximillian Platz. Afterwards we strolled around downtown for about an hour, then Logan & I headed back to the train to get back home.

Saturday was a bit overcast, but we took off in the car anyway and toured the Starnberg See. This is a large lake about an hour southwest of Munich. It has many little towns on its shores, with some larger cities that fill up with vacationing Munchners in the summer. To get to the See and tour around it took about 4 hours. That evening, we went into Munich and had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. (Wanted a burger, and to hear English!)

Sunday we went for a walk near the apartment. There was once an airport nearby, which has been turned into a park. Walking the runway gives you a long walk. There were many people out, walking the dog, flying a kite, using their rollerblades, biking with the kids.

Monday Logan went back to work. That evening, we went to Bruce & Barbara’s for dinner. Another coworker, Paul Jeffries, had arrived for 3 weeks, and he was there too.

Tuesday we gathered up our stuff and got back to the airport for our flight back to California.