Unser Hochzeittag (Anniversary)

It has been ages since I sat down and wrote my blog.  As mentioned previously I don't always write things chronologically.  As I write this there are at least 5 other entries pending release and when I say "entries" I am being very generous in my description, in most cases they are just a place holder or some bullets points to remind me what we have been up to.

Tonight, however, I intend to publish this entry and finish the others some time in the not too distant future.  The reason I have been so tardy in keeping up on top of things is that my free time has been drastically reduced.  I have a job, I am gainfully employed, ich habe Arbeit.  The jury is still deciding whether this is a good thing or not.  I shouldn't complain because on the whole I have a very good deal.  I attend German class in the morning and in the afternoon I work a half day for a Geothermal Power Company, what is more, my place of work is a 20 minute ride from school, a ride that takes me through the Englisch Garten and then down the banks of the Isar.  A more picturesque commute would be hard to imagine.  However it is a small company and they do things differently to what I am used to.  As some one very wise once said "I don't have a problem with going to work it is just the waiting to go home that bothers me."

Yesterday was our anniversary, we have been married for 2 years.  2 whole years have flown by since Annika and I were married in Grossbrembach in front of our family and friends.  We celebrated the day by going out for dinner.  There were no gifts exchanged other than a single red rose that I bought Annika on the way home from work. Our choice of restaurant was a place not too far from  here and was chosen because we had a voucher there for a three course meal including champagne. (I have to continually fight the urge to start nouns with a capital letter, learning German has corrupted me I fear) Annika has discovered a website which sells vouchers and they are usually of exceptional value.  Last nights' was a perfect example.

We rode our bikes there and we never left the cycle path.  I think we must have crossed two sets of lights on the whole journey.  The restaurant was in a new Hotel (you see I can't help myself) and was very chic but quiet.  We had three people serving us during the night and they did an excellent job.  The meal was exceptional and the champagne included was Moet.  The set menu was a tempura risotto, followed by a fillet with sweet potato grattin and ratatouille then a chocolate fondue (all captured here for posterity).  In all we had an exception meal with wonderful wine for less than €60.

Starnberger See

The Sunday after our epic ride to Augsburg and an indulgent meal with Berndt and Verena we decided to visit Starnberger See.  Starnberger See may, or may not be, the largest lake in Germany.  It is surrounded by expensive architecturally designed house with expensive cars parked out the front.  If you want to get away from it all and relax Starnberger See may not be the best place to go.  As it is on the S-Bahn it is very easy to get to from München and a very popular day outing.  We spent our time wandering around checking out the public access points.  Being in Europe access to the shore is limited, the majority being privately owned.

Proof that Budgie Smugglers are attractive

Augsburg - mein Arsch tut mir weh

Annika attempting to high 5 a total stranger

Feeling adventurous we decided to accept an invitation to join Melanie and her friend on a ride to Augsburg.  Augsburg is famous for not being München and is 65km away.  A daunting ride on a fixed wheel bicycle.  To celebrate our impending journey I decided to wear my clip-in shoes.  I haven't ridden with cleats for quite a while so it was with a little trepidation that we rolled down Belgrad Straße that morning.  We met Melanie and her friend Daniel at her place.  We did introductions, checked out each others ride then started our journey.  I think I might have made about 4 meters before I fell off, falling for the old "put your foot down on the same side of the bike that you intend to lean to not the other way round" trick.  Daniel watched my untangle myself from my bike and pick myself off the ground before enquiring as to whether I had actually ridden any sort of distance on a bicycle before.  I tried to put him at ease by confidently recounting my cycling exploits back in Australia.  He wasn't convinced.

I think he relaxed a little bit once we had reached the 40km mark and I had proved that I could easily keep pace with him on the flat even though I had only one gear.  The ride was really good.  We went from village to village, riding on quiet country roads, taking it in turns to ride along side each other and chat.  The weather was wonderful and I actually got sunburnt.  We arrived in Augsburg around 4pm after covering 73 km in less time than we had imagined.  We celebrated with a beer and a few photos.  Annika and I chose to catch the train home as we were running out of time and a little sore in the arse.  Daniel and Melanie opted to ride back to München.  Hard core.  We, of course, would have joined them but we had a dinner appointment to keep.


Dinner that night was with Berndt and Verena (our contracted friends) and our other neighbours, Daniel and Franzi.  A lovely night with lots of bbq meat, delicious salads and too much wine.  Annika introduced everyone to the Timtam straws.

Kramer and the Beer Factory

Cultural experience number 5 with the language class was a visit to the Spaten-Franzikaner-Löwenbräu Brewery in München.  The brewery has occupied the same site in down town München since 1854.  The place was just like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory only the Oompa Loompas were bigger and the chocolate fountain was, of course, a beer fountain.  The tour was spoken in Deutsch and luckily because of prior brewing knowledge I understood most of what was going on.  I came away with three poignant facts.  They produce an awful lot of beer, the average number of times a glass bottle is recycled is 21 and that the cost to deck out 6 normal wagon horses in traditional livery for Oktoberfest was over €700,000.

12 lucky and girls and boys were chosen to go upstairs to the senior management canteen to sample the product.  In Australia this would mean that you get a thimble full of their least expensive product.  In Germany it means you sit around a big table and a kind lady takes your order.  The beer is served in halves but this means half a litre and there are bretzels for as far as the eye can see.  The organiser of the event did a sterling job but let herself down at the last moment when she failed to account for some fundamental cultural differences.  Instead of saying we need to leave here at 6pm she said you can only order beer until 6pm then we must leave.  The difference is subtle but the consequences are far reaching.  For an Irishman, an Australian and 3 Koreans all we heard was you have 45 minutes to neck as much beer as possible.  The Koreans led the charge with the ambition of sampling all the beers produced in 500mL increments.  For myself and the Irishman we knew what we liked and stuck to it.  For me it was Dunkel Weißbier, for him it was a Helles. For the last round I whispered the magic words "Haben Sie Stark Bier" to the kind lady and verily there came 5 Stark Biers with their froth flowing, over their taste dark and malty and an alcohol content approaching that of a good Shiraz.

I rode home that afternoon.  It was peak hour and raining, the tail end of a thunderstorm.  There is nothing like riding a fixed wheel bicycle through a strange city at peak hour in the rain to heighten ones senses.  I had a moment, only a little moment, where I dropped the back wheel into the tram tracks but the force was with me and I managed to keep everything up right and travelling in the desired direction.  I also became geographically challenged for a little while but it didn't concern me because I knew that I was in München and if you know what city you are in then things can't be that bad.

The Miele Mystery

A little while ago the butter dish from our Miele fridge met it's premature demise.  There was a brief juggling act before it plummeted to certain death on the kitchen floor.  This was a shame for a couple of reasons.  The first being that it was a good butter dish. It met, and in some instances exceeded, the necessary requirements for being a butter dish.  It was big enough to fit a standard block of butter.  It had a see through lid so one could immediately ascertain how much butter was left.  It had a stable base so it would sit firmly on the table without rolling or sliding away and it was aesthetically pleasing.  Unfortunately it failed in one vital respect, that is the requirement for being able survive a one meter free fall on to a tiled floor.  The other reason it was a shame is because the butter dish actually belongs to Christoph and Tanja, the owners of our apartment and after they had successfully managed not to destroy their butter dish for some two years I thought it was a bit poor for us to do it in less than 2 months.

So Annika sent an email to Miele enquiring about a replacement butter dish.  An email was received stating her email had been forwarded on to the correct department and then nothing.  A few days later was Easter and we were in Salzburg.  As fate would have it, our hotel was just across the road from a Miele shop which, strangely enough, was open on Good Friday. Striking while the iron was hot, we went in a purchased a new butter dish.  When we returned to München we found a DHL tag on the door saying they had tried to deliver something.  We weren't expecting anything.  The next day I went to the post office to collect the package.  It was a butter dish shaped box with Miele printed on the side containing a free butter dish.  Strange.  We didn't order it, we had only inquired how to replace the broken one.

We now have two butter dishes and are hoping they will breed.

Salzburg

So we were at a loose end, as it were, for Easter.  Luckily the cost of a train ticket to Salzburg was inexpensive and the trains departed frequently.  We weren't set to a particular time table so there was no stress about leaving, we simply packed what we needed, jumped on our bikes and rode to the Hauptbahnhof.  The regional trains are set up for bikes, you just have to find a carriage with a bike symbol on the side and jump on board.  The bikes can be locked down stairs whilst you sit in comfort upstairs.

2 hours later we were in Salzburg.  Salzburg the birthplace of Mozart.  Historically significant because Austrias greatest composer was born there and of course because of the abundance of easily attainable salt, hence the name Salzberg.  Poetic licence had not been granted in the middle ages thus the names of places were not very imaginative.   Our hotel was just down the road from the Bahnhof and next to the river Salzach.  We unpacked and headed into town, choosing to leg it rather than take the Deadly Treadlies.  First impressions were good, it was warm and people were out by the river taking advantage of the late afternoon sun.  We wandered into the Altstatd and marvelled at the Schloß. Dinner was at The Waldmann, on the recommendation of a random stranger.  Annika has developed this charming habit of asking complete strangers where the best places to eat are.  Her selection of strangers is not totally random as I had previously alluded to.  She does in fact scrutinise each stranger with the aim of determining if they are a local or a tourist.  The locals are treated to a winning smile and a polite inquiry whilst the tourists are treated with the disdain that they so obviously deserve.

On the way home we chose to walk through Mirabellgarten and we were rewarded by a spectacular display of tulips. Spectacular is an understatement by the way.  I have a new appreciation of the Great Tulip Crash of The Dutch Golden Age in 1637.

Saturday morning had us wandering down the local café strip in search of Früstück.  We found it in a café that turned out to be vegetarian, the coffee was good though.  Next we decided to ride South down the river to Waldbad Anif.  Here we were treated by the sight of trout and tits. The trout were in the water and the tits were beside the water.  I never cease to be impressed by European women's love of the sun and for their propensity to sun bathe topless . It is easy to recognise a wealthy middle aged Austrian woman because she will have a face like a prune, tanned nut brown and breasts that she can tie a reef knot with or perhaps even a bow line.

From the tits and trout we made our way to Schloß Hellbrun.  Where we spent the afternoon lazily wheeling our bikes around the grounds. We climbed to the local vantage point to see the view and escape the tourists. From here we could look across the valley to Salzburg and not even know it was there, hidden as it were by the Schloß and its' berg.

The ride back was amazing.  We rode down a boulevard of large trees that led directly to Salzberg, dodging the pedestrians.  We decided to have an early dinner at the Stiegel Keller above the city on yet another recommendation gleaned by Annika from an unsuspecting local.   The Stiegel Keller is good and I am a bit reluctant to comment about it on such a public forum, afraid that I may contravene the laws of tourist attraction of which the Stiegel Keller is a prime example of Euler's first law.

If one applies Euler's first law of tourist transfer it is immediately apparent that a tourists interest in an attraction varies inversely with the amount of effort required to view that attraction.  Furthermore it can be seen that the relationship is exponentially decaying such that if you plotted the number of tourists (ordinate) against the level of effort required to view an attraction (abscissa) the number of tourists would reduce exponentially as the level of effort increased.  Further more when La Place's theorem of obesity and it's resulting gravitational attraction is applied the aforementioned relationship is further compounded, with each new tourist drawing yet further tourists to the attraction but only when said tourists are within the immediate vicinity of the point of interest and the level of effort required is minimal.  This phenomena can be observed time and time again in Europe with Salzburg being a prime example.

Me doing my Hugh Jackman impersonation, it's uncanny.

One can demonstrate La Place's theorem quite easily at almost any tourist local that is rich in attractions.  Simply stop and look up at some random piece of architecture.  Look at intently for a while and perhaps take a few photos.  Before too long you will be joined by others wondering what you have found.  The more astute will move on quickly but the majority will stay, too worried that they will miss out on some obscure, yet startlingly important piece of history, afraid that they will return home and their well travelled friends will say.  "Oh you were in Sienna.  You must have seen the Prophetic Brick of the Twelve Apostles set high into the wall in that little alleyway just down from the Piazza del Campo".  The very fact that people have stopped to wonder at the imaginary attraction will draw even more people to it.  Once critical mass has been achieved the system becomes self perpetuating and one can step away and observe the phenomenon.

The journey home was interrupted by possibly the best Apple Strudel I have ever had.

Sunday morning found us back on the café strip enjoying Frühstück.  Then it was a walk up to the Schloß for a little culture and history.  Once our collective cultural cups were full we decided to explore the hill directly across the river. It was a bit of an enigma because in a country where space was limited and a city where real estate was scarce the hill across from the Schloß was empty, with nothing but trees and the remnants of the old city wall.  Finding a route up the hill suitable for a fixie was difficult and in the end, when finally faced with a never ending set of steps, we chose to lock the bikes together and walk up.  At the top we were amazed to find a small Bier Garten in a converted fortification.  (we weren't really that amazed, I think we were more amazed to find only one)  Once again Euler's first law applied and the Bier Garten was quiet.

I had a little moment on the fixie on the way down.  I have a problem with riding over curbs at acute angles of approach.  It is an affliction I have borne since learning to ride and one that James can attest to. It is all about timing, or more specifically the lack there of. When you want to jump a curb on a bicycle it should be a matter of pulling the front wheel up just before you hit the curb then flicking the back wheel up an over. My problem is that I get lazy with second bit and this leads to problems if the approach angle is acute.  In this situation the back wheel may choose to track along the curb rather than up and over it which invariably results in bike going in different direction to that of your body.  I managed to address the problem of my bicycle beginning to disappear from beneath me by putting a foot down and kicking the bike up right.  This worked very well in that it managed to get the bike over the curb and back underneath me but didn't work that well in avoiding a large ivy covered wall.

After my near miss with death we headed back into the Altstadt to visit Mozarts birth place.  It is now a museum full of interesting things from the period Mozart was alive, some of which actually belonged to Mozart. Dinner was once again at the Stiegel Keller followed by Strudel at the café strip.

Monday was our last day and we decided to try the Früstück in the hotel.  We wanted to walk along the old city walls in the park so rode to start and then walked up past the monastery. Our wanderings eventually took us back to the small beer garten where we stopped for a refreshing beer.  We had one more task before we caught the train home and that was to blow more than the cost of a meal on some cheese and sausage in the Altstadt Markt.  The Truffle Camembert was worth it

Our stuff has arrived

After 3 months our stuff has finally arrived.  Everything has made the journey intact and we are quite happy with how smoothly it all went.  Looking through the stuff that we packed I have to question our sanity in the last days before we left.

The whole experience went quiet smoothly with the truck driver providing updates of where he was and when he was likely to arrive.  He turned up on time and the only hiccup was when he managed to park the truck with the steering lock engaged and the front wheels of the truck hard up against the curb.  This doesn't sound like much but it had far reaching consequences.  Occasionally when you park a car with wheels turned the steering lock engages in such a way that you cannot turn the ignition.  In such instances one usually jiggles the steering wheel until the lock releases allowing one to turn the ignition fully and start the car.  In this particular instance the truck wheels were up against the curb so the steering wheel could not be jiggled, the truck could not be started and the hydraulic tail gate could not be lowered.  Big problem.  Solved by me, the truck driver, his mate and any hapless passer by having to push the 10 tonne truck backwards until the steering wheel could jiggled.

So we now have some more of our belongings with us.  Most importantly for me the stereo and TV are here.  The neighbours are blissfully ignorant to the perils that await them but soon they will feel the sub and hear the obnoxious sounds of TISM and The Bloodhound Gang.