Oktoberfest 2012

The 16 days passed so fast... I had a great time!

Our "Brotzeitstandl" in the Löwenbräuzelt

Delicious "Kaiserschmarrn" 

7.30am queue: The tent opens at 9am!

Oktoberfest preparation

Only 1 day and 18hours to the 179th Munich Oktoberfest (22.09.-07.10.)!

This time is really special, because it will be my first work experience at the "Wiesn". I can´t wait and I feel more than ready for 16 days of "Wiesn Wahnsinn"!

Dirndl collection

My new Dirndl

Location check: Today we went to the tent Löwenbräu, to check our workplace for the next weeks. Our stand is bigger than I thought and tomorrow, there are still a lot of things to do :-)

silence before the storm

July (Munich)

July - Enjoying the Munich nightlife with partying till the sun rises and nearly no sleep. Too much energy :-)

Restaurants, Cafés, etc.:
Bella Italia Pizzaria (Asamhof): Good cost performance ratio and nice terrace.
Sarcletti: My favorite ice cream parlor. Large choice of flavors and only 1 € each scoop! 
Café Fortuna: Nice and quiet place to sip a coffee.
Cooperativa: Mix of Bavarian and Italian styles. Good food in great atmosphere.
Nach Hause: Bistro & bar with late night food. Good for groups & party!
Kiosk Fräulein Grüneis: Just around the corner of the popular river surfing spot of Eisbach serves this kiosk organic food, eg. sandwiches or cakes. Very charming concept!
Baader Café: Trendy and alternativly designed café with delicacies for big or small appetites.
Pardis: Turkish mediterranean food, very tasty! Nice terrace! My favorite plate: Pardi Salad with grilled cheese and pineapple.

Kalami: Kellerstraße 45, 81667 München 
Ordinary greek "taverna" with good food for decent prices.

Starters for three persons

Il Trullo: Albrechtstr. 32, 80636 München
Comfortable Italien restaurant with large choice of food.

Tollwood Summer Festival: This festival takes place in July (about 25 days) in the Olympia Park and presents more than 400 cultural events and environmental activities (about 70% are free of charge!). The Tollwood Winterfestival 2012 will start on 27th of November at the Theresienwiese in Munich.

Englischer Garten
One of my favorite spots in Munich to spend a relaxed afternoon with friends.

Kulturstrand
Summer, sun and beach culture in the center of Munich within 3 months (May to August) at the "Museumsinsel". Chill atmosphere with daily events and free concerts. Enjoy this urban oasis!

5 o´clock tea with friends. Very tasty scones and muffins! Thanx to Silvia :-)

Summer in Munich = BBQ as often as possible!

Akademie der bildenden Künste: Opening exhibition

Concert of Dizzy Erol

Munich nightlife
Konsulat Bar: Lounge bar with delicious cocktails!

Mango Daiquiri

Enrico Palazzo: Nice place for drinks and for meeting friends to start a club evening. Check out the cocktail "Melon Gin Fizz."
Zur Gruam: Discover this small hidden Bavarian pub in the "Schlachthof"-district and get ready to party till the sun rises. Great ambiance with special events of local electro DJs. 
Zum Jennerwein: Always a great ambiance with a mix of punk, house, rockabilly or ska music. 

Exhibition "Image Counter Image" (HdK - Munich)

The exhibition "Image Counter Image" (at Haus der Kunst till the 16th September) presents the artwork of Thomas Ruff, Alfredo Jaar, Harun Farocki, Radenko Milak, Trevor Paglen, Roy Samaha, Wilhelm Sasnal, Jasmila Žbanić, Ahlam Shibli, Nin Brudermann, Omer Fast, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Téo Hernandez, Monika Huber, Adela Jušić, Langlands & Bell, John Smith, Sean Snyder and Thomson & Craighead.

The show contains the critical analysis of violent conflicts in the media, beginning with the First Gulf War of 1990-1991 to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (9/11), and ending with the events of the Arab Spring of 2011.

The public tour (free of charge and no reservation required!) on Sunday at 3pm is very interesting and a helpful introduction. 

Lucky clover?

The first half of 2012 was amazing! I hope the second will be even better :-)

I had a wonderful semi world trip, met great people in different countries, and now I feel better than ever before!

In May, I opened my 1. January present: a lucky clover box.
Strange... it´s just grass, on the contrary to the description...

Maybe this special clover needs more time for growing! We will see... 

My find of the week: Roma I

Souvenir, souvenir :-)

This week I found my old and first Latin book "Roma I"!
I can´t believe that I had 9 years Latin in school!

My favorite stories are from Homer (Iliad, Odyssey) and Ovid (Metamorphoses).
Mostly, the lessons were really boring (Caesar "De bello Gallico") and the translations quite difficult (Cicero, Tacitus)!

Fortunately, this language is not spoken anymore. :-)

"Carpe diem!" (Horace)

June (Munich)

June was a really exciting month with very good weather, lots of parties and events!


The preconditions for this extreme kind of partylife are good health and fitness: 2 or 3 times a week Westpark-Jogging (I love bavarian food and drinks, so I have to do something to keep my weight). If possible, I drive everywhere by bike, sometimes more than 40 minutes on the road... With friends we organized day trips to lakes (e.g. Pilsensee) or were just being lazy at the Isar.


Here some of the places I visited:
Wöllinger: young people meets old people in a traditional cozy Wirtshaus. International and Bavarian cuisine. Their breakfast is huge!
Irodion: Greek restaurant in my neighborhood. 
Pasta e Basta: Italian food. Absolute bargain but often too crowdy and loud!
Box Food & Wine: Nice terrace perfect for people watching and a sundowner drink.
Hey Luigi: Nice place to hang out with friends and warm up for a long club night. Very huge portions! You have to be very hungry :-)
M.C. Müller: "Burger, Drinks & DJ´s" - If you wanna eat burger, go there! Very tasty and nice service in a locataion mix of bar, club and restaurant.
Café Wassermann: Nice for a sunday afternoon coffee, but the service takes too long.
Muffat Biergarten: Fantastic location next to the Isar with chill-atmosphere. I didn´t try the food, because everybody of my friends brought something tasty and that´s the real beer garden feeling!

Zoozies: Good cocktails :-) Prost!

Party life:
Ruby Bar: I love this location, the sound (Electro, Hip Hop), the people!
Atomic Café: "Herz aus Gold" - my favorite cocktail :-)
Cohi Bar: Great Latino ambiance! Absolute fun!
Pimpernel: Very dangerous place ;-) 
Enrico Palazzo: Melon Gin Fizz mhmmmm! 
Sauna: After 6 long friday nights in this club I need a location change. Always the same music...
other places: Favorit Bar, Sehnsucht, Schall & Rauch, Café am Hochhaus

Cinema: 
"Snowwhite and the huntsman": Nice special effects, but nothing more. 

Euro 2012 Football:
Public & Private Viewing with BBQ and friends. Party at Leopoldstr. when Germany has won a game.

Intersolar (13.6. - 15.6.): Fantastic fair experience with the Australian company Selectronic. Thank you guys for teaching me something about photovoltaik technic, inverters on or off-grid ;-)

with Rod and Lindsay from Selectronic

May (Munich)

What a wonderful month of May with many cultural events in Munich:
Stroke Urban Art Fair (Praterinsel): Absolutely impressive is the black light artwork of Lukas Fertsch "Jenseits unserer Tage"

Aaber Award (Stiglmaierplatz)

Nice installation for events or parties is  Juri Gottschall´s "push the button" Fotobox / Photobooth.

2012 UEFA Champions League Final in Munich:Even weeks before this important match the ambiance in Munich was already amazing! Everybody was looking forward to this historic "Finale dahoam". 

And then... Oh quel blamage! No Bayern fan wants to talk about this horrible result anymore... :-( It was so hard to believe that Bayern lost this match! When I cycled home, everywhere, the atmosphere was like in a funeral! 3times the second place! I think that´s the best motivation for the next season!

Fan party at the Theresienwiese

Now I have this T-shirt at home,
and I think I´ll never use it again...

Apart from that, I had a lot of administration stuff to do (employment center, finance office, get an health insurance, etc.). Leaving a country, isn´t easy at all! 
I´m still waiting for a special form of the French employment center... (since April!!!). To get an health insurance in Germany, I needed also a special form called E104. Many emails, calls, direct visits... So boring!!!
To compensate these uninteresting things, I started Jogging (3 times a week).

Westpark

Westpark

Westpark

And I spoiled myself with delicious Bavarian food :-)

Frühlingsfest

Chinesischer Turm

Isar Picknick

Isar

Cinema:

Bel Ami: HORRIBLE!
Dark Shadows: Fun
21 Jump Street: Incredible good! I was expecting a very bad movie, and really surprised that I couldn´t stop loughing!
What a pity that only a few cinemas in Munich are showing movies in their originial version! I miss UGC and MK2 and espacially my old card UGC illimité 2 persons!!! 

My favorite places:

Restaurants:
Pardis (Schwabing): Delicious Turkish-Mediterranean food!
Pepe-Nero (Neuhausen): Very cheap but good Italian specialities.

Bars:
Barroom (Haidhausen): Very tasteful and lovely decorated cocktails! 
Schall & Rauch, Sehnsucht (Maxvorstadt)

Clubs:
Atomic Café (Altstadt): Since years my favorite club in Munich
Charlie (Untergiesing): very stylish people, bar lights/decoration and "happiest bar in town"
Sauna (Maxvorstadt): Hot hot hot! I like this wooden design concept with swinging lights and cult tv commercials in the restroom.