Nach Freiburg!

We’re on the train from München to Freiburg, via a transfer in Manheim. We’ll have 7 minutes- not much time, but it should be enough. We’re seeing the first sun we’ve had since we landed in Franfurt- bright, early morning (it’s not quite ten, so less than 90 minutes since sunrise) light through the tearing clouds. We even had bit of blue sky earlier.

And now we’re rolling through the German countryside, west toward Karlsruhe (all trains here are indicated by their end destination) with a changeover in Manheim north and getting off in Freiburg.

We’re not sitting together- German trains salt in reservations with the non-reseverd seats, so you try to find a non-reserved one or risk getting booted. I got booted, then got booted again, and now I’m a car down from Amy, but at least I have a table to write at. Barring frustrations with seats, I still love the German trains. Fast, clean, efficient, on time, quiet, fast. Everything you’d expect in a former fascist country, really. Except Russia. I hear Russian trains aren’t so hot. But Italian trains are famous, and even the US is moving slowly but steadily toward a proper train service, even as we’re moving slowly and steadily toward fascism. Lovely thought, really.

And here’s Hauptbanhof Ulm (central station, Ulm).

Yesterday, we hit the Deutsches Museum. This thing is stupendously huge. It had sections in aeronautics (several historical planes, including the first solar plane to fly across the Alps, the first plane to fly the English Channel, etc, and dozens more starting with balloons all the way through modern jet fighters and new experimental aircrafts), manufacturing, machinery (including dozens of enormous steam engines), an entire weather station, a mining section including four stories worth of underground dioramas (no exaggeration!), a historical instrument display (I got pictures of a 16^th century drum), a boat display including a cut open sailship, steam ship and the U-1 submarine (first Germany military submarine), about a dozen smaller boats (from curraghs to “small” fishing vessels of 7 meters or so) and several life-size dioramas, a section on nanotechnology, a section on textiles, a section on high voltage electricity and nuclear power, a section on oil and natural gas, a section on historical and modern casting/foundry work, a section on printing, a section on glass blowing, a section on ceramics spanning from cave paintings to modern industrial uses, a section on turbines, a section on space travel (including the first liquid-fuel rocket that flew successfully), a section on 1950’s household technology (much more old-school than the 1950’s we think of in the US- this is pre-jet age. Gas-powered toasters, bikes with pushrod breaks, things that we’d think of as closer to the 30’s and 40’s), a section on the Deutschen Zukunftspreis (German Futureprize, a program to spur cutting-edge technology) and much, much more. Each and every one of these sections would work just fine as its own museum. Some, like the nanotechnology section might be a fairly small museum, or a section of a larger one, but others, like the aerospace exhibit or the mining section were so big I would have considered them large museums in their own rite.

So how did we see all that in one day? Easy: we got lost. We walked in, hit the boats, and promptly lose track of each other. No matter, that happens all the time in museums, right? We’ll just keep looking… and found each other again an hour later. But now, we’d seen different things, so we split up and agreed in about 20 minutes at the café. Not the front door one, the one in the back. Amy didn’t have a watch, so I suggested I could come find her in the musical instruments if she wasn’t at the café.

Well, twenty minutes later, I went to find the musical instruments, which took me 15 minutes, but she wasn’t there, so I went to the café. She wasn’t there. Then I started trying to find her, and discovered just how huge this place was.

I walked at a good clip for two hours, and kept thinking I had seen the whole thing when I discovered a another huge section. The mining section alone took me about 20 minutes just to walk through. Not stroll- walk, quickly.

In the meantime, Amy was at the café, waiting for me for an hour before she gave up, tried to find me, by which time the café closed so she left to get food and came back. We finally found each other in the musical instruments, sweaty, tired, footsore and (in my case) starving. It was 4:00 pm by now, and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and been at a quick walk for two hours. I estimate I walked over four miles in that museum, but I got to see a huge number of things, even if I didn’t get to examine them. It’s weird how much knowledge you can absorb just walking past something and glancing at it.

Anyhow, we finally found each other, having both spent more time looking for each other than at the things in the museum, and having spent all day in there- which we hadn’t planned on. But now we know that we’ll definitely need to go back and check this place out again. Truly massive, loads of brilliant stuff (including originals and The Real Thing quite often), and all very well signed out- far more in-depth information than we’re used to, and dozens of docents that wandered around to expound on anything you’re interested in.

Then dinner, ein bier (a big one, so 0.51 liters), then noch ein bier (a small one, or 0.31 liters, part of which got spilled), then Weinachtsmarkt for Christmas shopping. I could go on about the Weinachtsmarkt, but I think you’re probably sick of this, and I’m certainly not saying what we got for people for Christmas- other than that there’s some quintessentially German stuff there, things I remember from my childhood. Then Amy found an H&M and dodged in to get some basics, while I enjoyed a Hirtenpunsch (shepherd’s punch, or mulled white wine). She came back and pointed out that they had men’s basics there- unlike the H&M Mann (H&M for men) I checked out earlier this week, which was tiny and seemed to cater to the higher end of H&M fashion, this was the general store where they had cheap t-shirts. Jackpot! I now have enough clean clothes to take me almost all the way home! A bit of handwashing, and I won’t even stink on the plane- Amy will be thrilled!

And now we’re climbing through the mountains- the Schwarzwald (Blackforest) maybe? I don’t even know. Forests (new growth- German forests are all managed crop forests), charming Dörfer (villages), with their medieval churches and Ratshäuser (city halls, often the biggest, oldest building next to the churches), Gasthäuser (pubs) and of course residential areas.

As the birthplace of Protestantism (Martin Luther and those theses he nailed to the church door), even the smallest German villages have at least two churches- on Catholisch (Catholic) and one Evangelisch (Protestant or Lutheran, not Evangelical).

Once we hit Freiburg, we’ll need to meet my uncle to get the house key from him, and then we’ll have a few hours to settle in and get ready before meeting him and his family for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is the big one here, and most things will close around noon. Christmas Day (or der Erste Weinachtstag- the first day of Christmas) is for visiting extended, der Zweite Weinachtstag (2^nd day of Christmas) is for extended family, neighbors and close friends, and then you sort of move out from there, so being invited to Abendessen (dinner) on Heilige Abend (Christmas Eve) is about like being invited to Christmas morning breakfast.

Christmas day we’ll have to ourselves in Freiburg, and hopefully we’ll at least get a chance to see a few things. The Münster (cathedral) will certainly be open, but probably hopping busy with enthusiastic Catholics. Nothing against enthusiastic Catholics, but I don’t think they want enthusiastic tourists in pushing through their masses to climb the tower than vice versa. But it should be a sunny day, so that’ll be nice.

Update: It’s now the next morning. Christmas Eve (and the whole German Christmas shebang is behind us, as well as Christmas morning breakfast, again with my uncle’s family. We weren’t able to get to internet yesterday, so this is a bit late. Expect very sporadic updates through the rest of the trip- the closest internet is in a Starbucks six blocks from where we’re staying. That might change on the 27^th, but will be like this today and the 26^th, at least.

Fish, Precious!

The food. Oh my god, the food.

But we’ll get to that. First the garden.

I woke up early again (I’ve been doing that), snuck downstairs and fired off a few emails, then grabbed Amy and we set off in search of breakfast. Unremarkable, in all, and we came back to the hotel, Amy fired off some emails, and we finalized details with my dad for the place in Freiburg (we’ll be staying in a rooftop flat that’s been in my mother’s family for decades, trading off with my dad), and then took the U-Bahn (the Untergrundbahn, or underground, as opposed to the S-Bahn, or Straßenbahn, the street car) to the Englischer Garten (English Garden) to see the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower).

Complex transit systems in foreign countries are always confusing, but once we got our bearings this one was amazingly easy, fast, efficient and comfortable. Seriously, if BART could be rebuilt to those standards, nobody in the Bay would need a car. Add the S-Bahn for local (block-to-block, instead of only every half-mile or so) and you’d be set. We surfaced, were completely turned around, picked a random direction, started walking, found a sign reading “Englischer Garten,” changed direction, and entered the garden.

Two things: first, the “garden” would be considered an unusually large and well-manicured park in the US. Close-cut grass, clay and gravel walkways, charming bridges, creeks and geese. Second there was no gate. Not “the gate was open”- there was no gate. And no fence. Public spaces aren’t fenced off in Germany, they’re there to be used. In fact, this extends to managed forests (anyone’s welcome to hike in them), some private lands (private parks, such as castle gardens, are about as well fenced off as fenced in public parks in the US, and camping is permitted on large parcels of private lands provided you don’t infringe on the owners and stay out of sight) and a lot of other space. Fences are rare, fences higher than a decorative, hip-high iron fence are almost non-existent without a major reason such as a hole in the street.

Anyhow, the garden was gorgeous. Huge, more like English grounds than a garden, with a lake, creek, massive, multi-tiered Chinese-style pagoda, a Japanese teahouse (we didn’t see it), boat rental on the lake, etc. It was snowy and muddy for most of it, and we had the interesting experience of being both rained and snowed on at the same time, but it wasn’t too bad. Chilly, but only slightly drizzly, muddy, but not too deep. Those paths are well built. I got some new shoes yesterday, and am happy to report that they’re extremely waterproof and very comfortable.

The Chinesischer Turm was rather impressive, in the way only Western-built versions of Asian architecture can be. Large, solid, maintaining the post-and-beam construction and fluted roofs of the original, but still letting the stalwart, severe German medievalism shine through. It’s impressive. Seriously, go and Google “Chinesicher Turm München” right now. I’ll wait. There- wasn’t that totally worth it? And totally worth it in person!

And the food. There was a touristy Weinachstmarkt in the garden, but the only non-meat AND non-sugar food we found was Plätzchen mit Rahm und Lauch (flatbread with cream and leeks). Oh my god nom! A crispy, stone-baked sourdough flatbread with thick cream cheese like cream and leeks spread on, baked, and then fresh leeks sliced onto the top. Amy’s had Speck (bacon, but not quite American bacon- more like shaved prosciutto), which she said was delicious. Then Glühwein and Heisen Weisen (“hot white,” a white Glühwein), and back to the U-Bahn.

Then we came back to the Weinachtsmarkt to do some Christmas shopping, and find coffee. This was the first time in Germany I actually saw mochas on the menu, and had to get one- very interesting. It came in a small, narrow glass, and was about half foam with an extremely sweet chocolate syrup across the top- I’m glad I asked for no cream! The cherry/biscotti cheesecake was also delicious. I swear, I’ve been subsisting on variations of bread, cheese, coffee and the occasional beer here. Heaven!

Then Amy got some nifty new boots, and we headed back to the hotel to take a nap and drop off the shopping.

Finally, we headed back out again to find some t-shirts (I’m out of clean shirts, and since I need some anyhow, I figured I might as well buy them here and avoid the hassle of a washing run just for t-shirts) and dinner. Finding shirts was a total bust- it’s amazingly hard to find cheap staples like that in a city you don’t live in! We tried American Apparel, since they’re generally a source for reasonable, well-made shirts, but at 22 Euros for the cheapest ones, I decided I could hand wash. Next up: food!

We’d  passed a Thai restaurant this morning and had resolved to try German Thai food, but by this time beer sounded damn good, so we headed over to the local Gasthaus. There was a small section of side salads, a “small and healthy section” with four dishes (two, and possibly all four of which, were undoubtedly not much more than appetizers), and then a huge section of entrees, all of which included meat, a huge meat dishe section, then a wild game section, a selection of weekly specials that read like a taxidermist’s catalog, and deserts. Nary a fish or serious vegetable dish to be seen, which isn’t hugely surprising for the capital of Bavaria, but sad nonetheless.

We passed a tasty looking café, but a glance through the window revealed that I would be the only man without a tie (or, indeed, more than a couple of buttons on my shirt), and Amy would be the only woman wearing a color other than black, white or expensive red. We moved on.

Then we found an Italian place that advertised a salmon pasta. I’m a sucker for good fish, and hadn’t had any in a week, so that’s where we went. The salmon pasta wasn’t on the menu inside, but grilled salmon in green pepper sauce was. Oh, holy nutballs was that tasty! I like good food as much as the next person, but I’m no gourmand by any stretch- still, this was divine, no doubt about it. Buttered rice and crispy fried onions on the side, garnished with a sprig of thyme, scallions and a drizzle of reduced balsamic, respectively. The fish was perfectly cooked, light, flakey and moist, the sauce was rich without being at all fatty, peppery without being spicy, with quiet notes of herbs and, well, the whole, fresh pepper corns that floated amongst them. Amy had a seafood pasta with cherry tomatoes, which was also quite good from what little I tasted, but quite fishy- I don’t think either of us expected that, and while it was very well made, it’s not a flavor set either of us go wild for. I also had a Dunkeles Weissbier (“dark white beer”- white beer being the local term for wheat beer), which paired quite well.

Then, tipsy, we headed back to the hotel, checked email, and now Amy is upstairs, and I’m going to follow her and turn in. Tomorrow we’re shooting for the Deutsches Museum, and then Saturday we’re off to Freiburg.

Peterskirche

It’s a dreary, wet morning in München. The weather forecast calls for rain, but no more snow- sad! Snow’s much more pleasant to be out in. Rain just gets you wet. Still, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be at the moment.

It’s just after nine in the morning here, and I’m sitting in the lobby surrounded by the hustle and bustle of breakfast. The wall of glass to the street is full of people going places, wrapped to the nose and with hats pulled low in the cold- it’s still not much above freezing. There’s a wide median, or narrow park, between the two lanes of the street, with a playground and a covered fountain. Many of the larger fountains are covered for the winter to keep them from freezing and damaging the pipes inside. Except for the odd bit clinging to rooflines, the snow has melted.

There’s a café across the street I’ll likely hit up for coffee and breakfast later, Ida’s Milchladen (Ida’s Milk Store, whatever that is), and Surja’s Hexenladen (Surja’s Witch Store). I’m intensely curious about the Hexenladen, and will likely be making a sojourn there before we leave. What does a Hexenladen sell? I imagine it might be some sort of new age or herbal store, or else cashing in on the local witchcraft legends (every German town has them), but we’ll see.

Yesterday was a day of minor errands (laundry! Postcards!), and some more walking around to hit the major sights in the Altstadt (oldtown). The Viktualenmarkt (victual market) is a sort of gourmet farmer’s market selling everything from prickly pears to fine cheese, local meats (and Bayern does know its meat!) to wine, honey, imported fruits in a variety I’ve never even seen in California, baked goods, breads (there’s a difference!) and much, much more. The Altes Rathaus (old city hall) was gorgeous on the outside (in daylight this time, no less!), but we didn’t go inside to see the toy museum inside. We missed the Glockenspiel on the Rathausturm (the glockenspiel with rotating carousel of figures on the city hall clock tower), but did make it to the Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church) between when it opened from cleaning and evening services.

The Peterskirche is gorgeous inside. First erected in the 14^th century, it has been renovated numerous times including in the Renaissance (added a spire) and Baroque (rebuilt the alter). In all, the church was an awesome testament to over 600 years of human dedication to their religion, and I mean that in the most literal sense. Walking into this place floored me with the opulence and dedication to gold leaf. To modern sensibilities, it’s a bit garish really, with gilded, larger-than-life statues on the columns down both sides of the nave, a huge, ornate alter (also gilded) a high ceiling covered entirely with brightly colored frescoes, etc, etc, etc. I couldn’t help but wonder what could have been done with that much money to feed the hungry, the poor and the ill. Sure, there were collection boxes throughout the church, but only one was dedicated to the poor and ill- the rest were dedicated to keeping up the church, keeping up the art, a petition to beatify a local woman who lived in the 1600 hundreds, etc. Still, quite a testament to generations of dedication.

Then back to the hotel where I crashed hard for an hour or two, while Amy went out for dinner and another turn through the Weinachtsmarkt. Today we’re making foray to the local museums (well, that’s the plan- we haven’t been too good with sticking to plans) and then… who knows?

Das Neue Kinokothek

So I’ll try to keep today’s post shorter than yesterday’s.

We’ll see if it works.

We spent most of the day trudging around outside, or in a museum. After breakfast we set out to find the Botanischen Garten- the botanical garden of München. It was a lovely walk, with a light snowfall, but when we found the garden it proved to be essentially a small park, like a big median stripe, full of bare trees and dead, snow-covered grass. Apparently botanical gardens don’t do so well where it freezes and weird white stuff falls from the sky. But that’s OK, we just got a new goal: Das Neue Pinakothek, or New Museum.

This was a bit more of an adventure. It gradually started snowing more and more, and a breeze appeared, so by the time we found the Pinakothek cluster (there’s three of them- Old, New and Modern, catering to ancient, 19^th century and modern art) we were shaking off snow. It still wasn’t sticking, but this was more than the errant snowflake from last night. We couldn’t find the Neue Pinakothek, though- the building where our map said it was didn’t seem to have a doorway. We kept trudging around it, and eventually found the door three quarters of the way around it, along with a sign that said “open every day of the week, except Tuesdays.” Naturally, it’s Tuesday. So we opted for the Moderne Pinokothek across the street, which is closed Mondays instead of Tuesdays.

This turned out to be a stupendous idea, since all the modern art we hoped for was, in fact, here. Some of the art was truly awesome, some of it was less than spectacular. The whole thing was in rooms maybe 20x20 feet, and about 15 feet high, painted white with a gray cultured granite floor. One of the highlights for me was a room with black string vectors strung through it- five in total, going diagonally from floor to ceiling and to walls. The effect was off-putting at first- it was so huge, and filled the space so completely that my reaction was to stop at the doorway, try to take it in, and then move on. But then I didn’t. Instead, I noticed that two lines crossed, and might even touch, though both were totally straight, so no tension against each other. Then I realized that there was no barrier, no sign to stay away from it, no docent eyeing me from the corner, so I went and looked at the string crossing. Then, I walked beneath the strings into the space delineated by black cords. It felt like an oddly intimate act, like I was invading the art’s space. I pushed further into the space, focusing so closely on the black thread and white, brightly lit walls, that my entire sense of space became anchored in nothing by those thin black lines, sparse enough that I could get no real directional bearing- I could see I was five feet from the X, for instance, but not if I was in front, to the side, or even above or below- I had to take a moment, check gravity, refocus on the walls, and then find that I’d lost the X- profoundly awesome experience.

Then, another person showed up, and the whole illusion vanished.

They had some other neat stuff- loads of paintings which I won’t even try to describe, some photography and modern sculpture, and the bottom floor was entirely devoted to industrial design. Particularly neat stuff included a VW Beetle from 1944, and a BMW motorcycle from 1929. I won’t go on to describe the entire museum to you, and just say that there were a lot of interesting things, a lot of things we marveled were in a museum rather than on a fleamarket, and a few spectacular things.

I take it back- the ground floor had an interesting exhibit on wood as a renewable building source, with scale models of particularly large or intricate modern structures, along with blown up photos of the actual structures. I was particularly intrigued by one made of a series of massive, 40-meter-wide umbrellas with cross-hatched lath skins. The tiny humans in the model gave it a grandiose sense of scale, and I would love to see the original.

Then a swing through gift store, and back out into the snow. By now, it was probably two or three inches thick (pretty good for “less than an inch), and getting colder. We went back to the hotel, warmed up, pulled on some warmer clothes, and headed back out to the Weinachtsmarkt for dinner. The snow was taking on a decidedly wet consistency, a trend that continued for the rest of the evening. Currywurst and Kartoffelngratin (potatoes au gratin), Glühwein and roasted chestnuts- just what the doctor ordered. We window shopped quite a bit for Christmas gifts, but by then the snow was very wet and alternating with a light rain. The upside was that it was considerably warmer at 8:00 pm than at 2:00 pm, but also wetter. The precipitation overall was lighter though, so not too bad.

And now, I think, it’s bed time. Tomorrow we’re doing more Christmas shopping (and some decidedly non-Christmas shopping), and tracking down a Laundromat. Wish us luck- we need clean clothes!

Pictures!

 

It was definitely snowing- that's all new since we got into the museum!

 

A rather awesome wood model- you can see the scare of that thing! Each of the people in that are a half-inch tall.

 

Occupy Frankfurt, appropriately enough at the statue of the Euro sign. For the sake of sanity, it's to be noted that the Euro is not quite seen the same way as the dollar- in addition to being a currency, it's a currency that united nations. Hence the 11 gold stars.

 

A Tor- hier the Ratshaustor, or city hall gate.

 

Glühwein, bread, candle, and milk can full of silverware. Help yourself!

 

Amy found a tasty goulash! The chalkboard behind her has a number of alcoholic slogans, including "thirst is worse than homesickness." We agreed!

 

The Weinachtsmarkt and a Tor.

 

The Irish pub in Frankfurt.

 

An awesome old BMW motorcycle in the design section of the Moderne Pinokothek.

Münchener Morgen

Last night I woke up starving in the wee hours again. I did that the night before too, although this time it was happily delayed until 5:00 or so. This time I lay there and tried to figure out what the hell was going on with my body. Normally, I almost never wake up hungry at night- once every few years at most.

As I was dreaming (unfortunately only metaphorically) of catatoes and a delicious, cheesey mushroom burger at Cato’s, it hit me: back in California, it was 9:00 at night. My stomach was howling for its very overdue dinner. Eating something was out of the question of course, not only because I had no food in the room, but because I’m desperately trying to get my body adjusted to German time. I drifted back off about six, and was jerked from a deep sleep by Housekeeping’s knock at 9:15 or so. Great. My body’s sleeping in split shifts, with a break for food fantasizing in between.

And today’s another cold morning, just a few degrees above freezing, high gray clouds that promise snow. There’s a dusting on the rooftops and medians, and the weather report promises more today- less than an inch over the course of the day, and then another 1-3 tonight, and more tomorrow. If it keeps this up, we’ll have that white Christmas we came here for.

Amy didn’t sleep well and was just rolling out of bed when I came down to the lounge for free WiFi (or WLAN as it’s called here), so she’s still upstairs making use of the amazing shower. Overall, the lounge and reception area of this place is gorgeous- huge, designed to the nines, lots of open space and frosted glass- and while the bedroom really only pays lip service, that design extends to our bathroom with a glassed-in shower with totally adjustable rain shower head. A massive waste of water to my California brain, but lovely for the groggy travelers.

München- Tag 1.

After last night’s post I joined Amy and napped and then we hauled our carcasses out of bed to find some food. The hotel had provided a handy list of local attractions (mostly restaurants and bars, some clubs and a few cultural things), but of course everything was closed- this is Germany, a country that shuts down on Sundays. It’s getting better (some grocery stores, for instance, were actually open today) but the prospects looked grimm. There was a note about a number of Apfelwein (hard cider, a local delicacy) establishments across the river, and that most of them served food, so off we went.

It was a bit chilly- we had to keep moving so we wouldn’t freeze to the sidewalk. We passed a street full of immigrant food kiosks and storefronts. There were Döner (rotisserie kebab) places (sort of like the taqueria of Germany), Asian food of every stripe, and dive bars mixed with new-and-used cell phone stores, luggage and import stores, sex establishments, Italian clothing stores, financial institutions and every sort of high and low-brow business you could imagine. No German Gasthaus though, so we kept walking. We found the street that promised Apfelwein, but most places were closed- the majority that were open were unapologetic bars and some high-end restaurants. Nothing against bars or high-end, but right then we wanted a place that would fill us with decent food at a reasonable price and not expect us to be particularly polite. No dice.

We got to the end, turned around and decided we’d grab the first likely-looking place that wasn’t a) super fancy or b) something we could get back in California, found nothing, crossed back across the river, and found Occupy Frankfurt. It was small, maybe a dozen and a half tents, but so weather proof it almost looked fortified- palette walkways, tarps over everything, people chatting. Interesting, but also cold, damp, and we still hadn’t eaten. Oh, and it was pushing six at night, so a good hour after the sun had gone down.

We went back to the first street we found, and turned in to a Lebanese place. It was, ultimately, a Döner place with Lebanese flair, but quite tasty. Cheap, loads of food, and they left us alone. Perfect. Then hotel, warmth, sleep.

It was a long night fighting jet lag, but we got ourselves showered, dressed, packed and out the door just about 11:00 am. We’d missed breakfast, but whatever. We checked out, left our bags with the clerk, and went in search of food.

Food, eventually, was found by way of a very German cafe and bakery (well, more of a baked good store- I don’t think they actually baked on site). Amy got pictures of what looked like a huge breakfast but ended up being just right, and then we headed off to the Weinachtsmarkt.

On the way, we stopped off at Occupy Frankfurt, and chatted with some folks there. One, an older gentleman from Spain, had been to several of the US camps, as well as the Portuguese camp and several German ones. He was well informed, but eventually wandered away as another guy took over more and more of the conversation. A tall, skinny German raised-in-Texas fellow with a five-day growth of beard, red paint smeared in his hair (I don’t know either), and a field mouse in his hand that he’d found nearly frozen and starving and adopted a few days ago. He showed us around and chattered non-stop about politics, conspiracy theories, genetics, etc.

We’ve all heard the US media speculating that the camps will break down as soon as it gets chilly, but these folks were well entrenched and braving the cold no problem. They’d laid down palettes to make walkways in the mud, and raised tents off the ground and tarped them off to keep them from flooding. They had a meeting hall, info booth, camp kitchen, etc. They had a permit from the city which had been extended through New Year’s, and was going to be extended more provided they turned “more political.” Apparently the city was OK with the protest, but didn’t want it to turn into a flop for homeless people or a party center, and so demanded louder politics. Interesting. They had not been raided, but were very aware of what was going on in the US (although this guy got some of the details a bit muddled). He did mention that the day after the coordinated crackdowns in the US the Frankfurt police had paraded through with K9 units, which everyone agreed was pure intimidation. Still, they had an issue with some drunks from a local bar causing a fight, and had no problem with calling the police, or the police responding. There's much less of the us-vs-them mentality between the Occupiers and the cops here.

We continued to the Weinarchtsmarkt.

German Weinachtsmärkte are famous, and a bit strange. The booths, first of all, are gorgeous. All wood, many with metal or wood roofs, fresh evergreen everywhere, flame-powered heaters standing around for people to warm up at (and with temperatures under 40 degrees F during the day, they’re necessary!), and packed to the gills. Unlike a lot of American markets, they tend to happen in the Plätze (plazas) and are accessible form all sides. They’re bustling, busy places, full of both tourists and locals eating Reibekuchen (sort of like deep-fried latkes), Wurst (grilled sausages of every stripe- mostly Weiswurst (what we’d call German sausage), Kielbasa, Kümmelwurst (Italian sausage) and Currywurst (Polish sausage drowned in a mix of ketchup and curry powder; delicious, if you can take the herbal equivalent of a boxing glove to the taste buds)), and drinking coffee, tea and Glühwein. Glühwein is everywhere this time of year- it’s a sweet mulled wine with cinnamon, cloves and orange wedges. Like at most Märkte in Germany, all drinks are served in ceramic cups or glasses, with a deposit of a few Euros. At night (the markets stay open until 8 or 9 at night) there are crowds of young people clustered around standing tables and heaters, clutching cups of hot Glühwein and chattering, laughing and enjoying the cold.

Did I mention it’s cold?

Much like the Renaissance faires or farmer’s markets, the Weinachtsmärkte have a few distinct types of booths that populate them, and you’ll see upwards of five of each within a single Platz. Würstchenbuden (sausage booths), Schokoladenbuden (chocolate booths that sell hot chocolate, coffee and tea), Holzschnitzerei aus Südtyrol (wood carvings from southern Tyrol), Imker (beekeepers, meaning honey, beeswax candles in a million different shapes, mead, etc), Bäkersbuden (bakery booths, offering pretzels, breads, cakes and some pastries) and of course Glühweinbuden (Glühwein booths). There are some others with wool crafts (gloves, socks, scarves) leatherwork (wallets and belts), gemstones and every stripe of candy booth, but those are the big ones.

After wandering about for a bit, we headed back to catch the train to München. We were too late to catch the 2 o’ clock train, so we stopped for lunch at an Irish pub. This thing was quintessentially Irish: tall ceilings, wood floor, hardwood bar with brass fittings, and traditional Irish music. And by “traditional Irish music” I mean “U2.” The waiter had a Dublin accent and looked about as Irish as could be. The fish and chips were spot-on, and of course the only tea in the house was black. Perfect for a cold day.

Then we ran back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, jammed to the train station, bought tickets, hopped on the train, and it pulled out less than 4 minutes later.

So: the train station. This thing was enormous. It had about 15 tracks, all terminating there, and was entirely roofed over in a huge metal hanger-like structure. In front, it was stone with gargoyles and statues, but inside it looked like a Victorian aircraft hanger. Truly stupendous. The trains, though, were everything but Victorian- sleek, fast, very quiet, with glass partitions between the cars and sliding doors. Comfortable and modern.

Three hours later we got to München, where it was (surprise!) cold and dark. We found the hotel and took some downtime, then slid on long underwear and ventured back out for dinner. First the Weinachtsmarkt down the block (in front of the local Tor, the medieval gate), and then down toward the Münster (cathedral). We got close, and found a Gasthouse (brewpub) that had been there since the 15^th century (supposedly). It was as Bayrisch (Bavarian) as the pub was Irish. Food was delicious, Bier (meaning “beer” since Germany doesn’t differentiate- this was a a Dunkel, meaning a dark lager) was good, and the service friendly. We shared a table with another couple, and then a couple of friendly middle-aged women who dropped in for cappuccinos. Germany is not for shy people.

Happily full of Glühwein and Bier, we hit the now-closed Weinachtsmarkt at the Münster, then wandered through the streets of München. Shortly after we passed through the Ratshaustor (city hall gate), it started snowing, first tiny crystals then big, fluffy flakes. We passed high-fashion stores (including the Apple store, the Northface store, the Tesla Motors dealership), medieval things, various Tore, Kirchen (churches), more vague memories like the Rindermarktstrasse (cattle market street) and Rossmarktstrasse (horse market street), and of course a myriad of Gasthäuser, each older than the last. Then back to the hotel to warm up, check email and finish writing this.

The hotel, by the way, is a little bit disappointing after the last one. This one, Hotel One, really made a big deal out of it’s designer decoration, which is certainly true in the lounge, but a bit lacking in the rooms. Downstairs it’s very postmodern with comfortable chairs, huge glass windows that open to the street (doors, really), modern lighting and aquamarine accents, but the rooms are small and Spartan, and look like the “designer” was a bit of an afterthought- aquamarine accents and a renovated bathroom. Still, it’s fairly cheap and in a good part of town and full of young travelers like ourselves. We'll take it. It's going to be our headquarters for the next 4 days.

And now I'm still typing away in the lounge (free WiFi!) while Amy's already upstairs, probably crashed out, and it's pushing midnight. The carols on the stereo are getting a bit desperate ("All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"? Really?), and it's high time to turn in.

Arrrrrrival!

Well, we made it! We’re here!

See, at first I thought we were flying out at 10:00 am, so with an hour BART ride to the airport, and having to be there two hours in advance, that would have meant… oh, dear! As it was, the plane actually left at 2:00 in the afternoon, and I figured that out not long after I got to Amy’s place late “last” night (Friday night).

So we had a mellow time of it, sleeping in, me recovering from year-end crunch and, oh yeah, the company I work for being sold, and her from her year end crunch and general jobbiness. Then a quick call to my bruvver, and we had a ride to BART, he had a car for the next 10 days, and I had a place to stash my wheels- win all around! We breezed through check in (neither full-body scanner nor courtesy make-outs from TSA! Another lawsuit dodged!), had a very tasty lunch in the duty free area, and then realized that boarding had started. We hastily disposed of the rest of lunch, got on the damn plane and winged it to Germany! Well, there was a minor hitch with the flight crew deciding the plane was too full and demanding all wheelie luggage be checked, which rightfully pissed off Amy, but not for long.

Customs were easy, the checked baggage all showed up, and then we got lost in the airport looking for the local train. We found the train, made a complete hash of the ticketing machine, then found the schedule, made a hash of that, went back to the ticketing machine, figured out we could search by city name (something about reading the screen- I’m not so good at it), and figured out that yes, we did in fact have the right train tickets. The train arrived slightly late, but it did arrive, and we whisked off to the Hauptbahnhof.

Allow me to digress for a moment about German trains. Local trains are somewhat akin, in theory, to the San Francisco BART system. They’re people movers for all walks of life, cheap, with limited seats, run on electricity (BART on a third rail, these on overhead cables) and generally look and behave a lot like the MUNI light rail in San Francisco or the light rail system in Sacramento.

The big difference is how amazingly quiet they are. Not only could we speak at a normal volume, but we had to all but whisper to feel like we weren’t blaring our conversation to the whole car. And we could clearly understand each other.

Well, we got to the Hauptbahnhof, and started off for the hotel. It was a balmy 34 degrees F out (1 degree C), and was precipitating ever so slightly. If you held still and looked up at a dark façade, you could see minuscule ice crystals wafting down. Yeah, it was a bit chilly, but overall fairly dry. We took a few wrong turns, and then figured out that the blocks here were not just smaller than we were used to, but much, much smaller. We walked in an inward spiral, but finally found our hotel.

The 25 Hour Hotel by Levis (yes, it’s a bluejeans themed hotel) is nothing short of awesome. It’s clearly aimed broadside at people like us- young (very mellow, the dude at the counter had a nose ring), tech enabled (you can borrow iPod touches to access the internet or to plug into the dock in the room, and they rent iPads), and stylish or like to think of themselves as stylish. This place drips design- blue walls with a weave pattern, orange and purple accents, geometric star wallpaper in shades of orange, a glass-enclosed shower, a picture of a naked Frank Zappa sitting on a toilet above, well, the toilet… I could go on, but just check out the website. We’re staying on the 70’s floor. So far, I haven’t let Amy take a picture of me emulating Mr. Zappa’s pose, and hopefully it’ll stay that way.

So now I’m here, freshly showered (it was a 10 hour flight, after all!) and enjoying the free, blazing fast internet. Amy’s conked out for “a short nap, not really sleeping,” and we’ll probably venture forth into the wintery Frankfurt later tonight in search of some decent Grub. Frankfurt is really just another metropolis, and no worse than the rest of them. Our hotel, and the train station, are both in a light industrial area, so not a lot of culture around here. Naturally, “not a lot of culture” is a bit different in a country where history is a native species, but still. Lots of steel and glass structures, keycard entries, loading docks, the works.

Tomorrow: Munich!