Beautiful, snowy Munich

Well, whaah. We were going out tonight, to one of the Christmas Markets, but Logan just called and not only is he not on the way home, he’s still in a meeting. So I have made myself a snack and decided to spend the time updating you, dear readers.

It is lovely to be here for the Christmas season. I don’t understand enough of the language to be getting blasted with the “BUY something” message from the shops & papers; and I’m not watching local TV so I don’t get the commercials. It also seems quite a bit less emphasized herre. What they do have lots of, is Christkindl markets. (Christkindl, the Christ Child, is the one who brings the presents here.) So, most of the pedestrian plazas have bloomed with wooden huts, filled with handcrafts, food, Gluhwein and Christmas ornaments. The markets are packed, people meet their friends for a mug of Gluhwein or punch, and wander around looking & shopping.

It’s great to wander around the markets, looking at everything and sipping – what’s that you say? Gluhwein? Simply one of the best winter inventions of mankind – hot mulled red wine. Sold by the mugsfull at the markets. The spicy scent rises in the cold air & mingles with the smell of grilling sausages, altogether making me hungry! So, we were going to go to winter Tollwood, which is a very large market held on the Oktoberfest grounds, but it’s not to be tonight. I hope for tomorrow night.

I have been busy the past couple weeks. One day after I got back, on Nov 21st, there was a meeting of the incoming board for Ladies International Association. I have somehow gotten myself elected to be secretary for 2006. Should be interesting. The next day was evening set-up for their annual craft & clothing fair – a fund raiser for the charities we support. I was OK during the day, but took a late afternoon train out to where we meet, to help with set-up, and was falling asleep on the train. I just couldn’t help it. Going either way, around 3 – 4 in the afternoon I can’t seem to stay awake. But I didn’t miss my stop. And it turned out that they place had sold the room for that night, so we were only able to set up the clothing.

A note about this – there is a thriving second-hand clothing scene here. I have seen several second-hand shops in the city, womens mostly but men’s clothing too. The ladies in this club work their contacts all year and get great stuff donated – lots of designer stuff. Mostly too small or big for me.

The next day, Wednesday the 23rd, was the fair. I got there early to help with the set-up, and work the craft table. And of course, shop. I didn’t see any books I wanted, and the white elephant table held no interest either. So I entered the tombola, and won a couple things. This seems to be a European thing, they all know the word ‘tombola’. To set one up, you gather lots of prizes, wrap them and give them all a number. Then you sell chances, which are tightly rolled slips of paper, most saying ‘better luck next time’. If you get a slip with a number on it, you’ve won the corresponding prize. I won a great casserole dish, blue & white, Polish pottery; a faux-leopard neck warmer and a box of greeting cards that I promptly put on the white elephant table – they had clowns on them.

I had not seen any clothes that I needed or that fit, but one of the other club members pointed me to a suit – beautiful sage green skirt & jacket, Bavarian style. Jacket fit, skirt a little too big but easily remedied. At that point in the day, the clothing was ½ price, so I got it for 10 Euros. Quite a bargain!

That night, I took a U-Bahn to nearby Lehel, and met Gayle for dinner, it was great to see her again. She was also a wonderful listener, she’s worked with elderly and mentally challenged people too and she knew just what I was facing with my folks. It helps to talk about it. (A girl thing, I know.)

The next day, Thanksgiving. For the other club, International Women’s Club, I’m on the ‘monthly lunch out’ committee. One of the other committee members had arranged for an American Thanksgiving lunch at Der Pschorr, essentially a brew pub at the edge of the Victualienmarkt, in downtown Munich. Der Pschorr is now the anchor of the newly opened Schrannenhalle, and we had tables on the balcony overlooking the open marketplace. It was beautifully decorated. Lunch was great – the server brought out the roasted turkey for us to admire and we broke into applause. There were mashed potatoes, (or ‘creamed potatoes’ as they call them here), steamed veggies and roasted sweet potatoes. Lunch was wonderful.

Afterwards, I went home to prepare my dish to take to … Thanksgiving Dinner – that night. Eva asked a few people over including Logan & me, and she prepared a beautiful roasted turkey, onions roasted with balsamic vinegar, a fresh leek salad, corn bread, polish-style cauliflower & broccoli (lightly simmers, drained & covered with buttered bread crumbs), I’m sure there were potatoes in there, I brought a sweet potato casserole, did I mention there were hors d’oeuvres? And sweet potato pie? And chocolates? And Eva-made biscotti? Oof! Dinners at Evas are well-known to be delicious eating marathons.

Friday the 25th I played badminton. Thank god for some exercise! And made another sweet potato casserole to take to … the Thanksgiving Dinner potluck on Saturday! Susie Lenz often hosts a potluck, there’s room in her house for lots of people, which is good – 31 showed up. She cooked 2 enormous turkeys and made gravy, and all the guests brought the rest. Someone brought a huge pan of my favorite kind of stuffing. That, the turkey and gravy is all I need! We had gotten a ride out with Eva & her husband Glenn, and a ride back with Lizbeth and her husband Roman and considered ourselves very lucky for all.

Sunday, the 27th, Logan had reserved spaces for the new Harry Potter movie. I really like this system. You reserve tickets on-line, then show up and pick seat when you purchase the tickets. We went early, and then lunched at a nearby Indian restaurant. Liked the movie, and how it focused more on the characters. It still left out huge hunks of the book perforce.

On the way back we stopped at Marianplatz, and walked around looking at the Christkindl markt - lots of little wooden huts, with people selling things. Mostly Christmas decorations at this one, and all pretty similar to each other. Touristy, I think. We continued on home, got off the train at Munchner Freiheit and walked through the Christkindl markt there. Much more interesting products. This market is a crafts & craftworkers market. In one stall, selling beautiful glass necklaces, the crafter was making the beads. We saw furniture and lighting and ceramics on our quick way through. I need to dress a bit more warmly to browse these outside shops - and I will!

Did I mention that it was a bit below freezing, with occasional snow, here? I had spent my last couple days in the states near Boston, visiting my friend Maggie. What a wonderful antidote that was, too. Chatting & hanging out with her & her family was a great decompression from dealing with mine. Maggie & I go way back, to college. She met her husband, Mike, at GE, about when I met Logan there. Logan had sent her an email showing the view off our balcony – the snowy snowy view off our balcony. I panicked, we went to Macys & I bought a real winter coat. They call them ‘duvet’ coats here – the quilted, hollowfill kind. It is toasty warm and washable. I had a hell of a time getting all my stuff, plus this big puffy coat, back, but I did it. My big suitcase weighed in at just 50 pounds. Lots of vitamins came back with me – they are so much cheaper in the states!

... and I need to stop now & go make dinner. More soon, I promise!