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. 

Disneyland Paris 20th Anniversary

I had a wonderful day with my Spanish friends in Disneyland Paris.

I´ve worked there for 3 years and it´s always a pleasure for me to come back and visit old work colleagues and friends.

The nightspectacular "Disney Dreams!" with special effects, water screens, lasers, fountains, pyrotechnics and projections is amazing!

Munich: Long Night of Music with Alev Lenz & Band

Saturday 28th April 2012 I will miss the long night of music in Munich :-(

With a ticket for only 15 € you can choose between hundreds of music stages in different places (small stages, bars, restaurants, churches, big concert halls, etc.) and enjoy live music of various international and local artists!

All music events start at 8pm and last till 3am!

My recommandation:
Alev Lenz, the storytelling, piano-playing singer and songwriter.

at 11pm: Gasteig - Philharmonie
with her band from London: Aicha Djidjelli (drums), Harry Deacon (bass), Stevie Wyatt (guitar) and special guest Werner Klemm will join the band for some songs.

Check out the website: www.alevlenz.com

Berlin: Book presentation and exhibition "In Between - Sibiria China Mongolia"

If you are in Berlin between the 26th April and 19th May 2012, check out the exhibition "In Between - Sibiria China Mongolia" (Tue-Fri 2-7pm, Sat 11pm – 4pm).

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 25th April 2012, the book presentation for the exhibition opening takes place at Only Photography, Niebuhrstr. 78, Berlin, at 6pm and you have the golden opportunity to meet the artist Katrin Streicher!

About the book

"In Between: the starting point and the final destination of a long journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In between the centers of the big cities, where the eyes and the imagination find room to wander. In between ambiguous perceptions and away from ones own culture. In between a different experience of space and time, within the confining walls of the train compartment, for many days, with complete strangers." 

The photo book "In Between – Siberia China Mongolia" has been released by the publishing house Nimbus Art and books, Zurich in September 2011 with an essay by Janika Gelinek.
26 x 23,5 cm, linen with dust jacket.
88 pages, 65 photographs.
36,00 Euros, ISBN 978-3-907142-64-6.

About the artist
Katrin Streicher is a documentary photographer who currently lives and works in Berlin. In 2003 she graduated in photography from the Staatl. Fachakademie für Fotodesign in Munich and since 2007 she holds a Master's degree in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester. Katrin Streicher is available for photographic assignments (editorial, portraiture, reportage and commercial).
Check out the website: www.katrinstreicher.com

Munich Nightlife

It´s a strange feeling to come home after such a long time in France (9 years) and this incredible 3 months travel experience.

The difference in temperature -> Cairns 30° - Munich 10° and the grey rainy Bavarian spring weather distroyed my idyllic travel bubble in seconds and brought me directly back to reality!

Of course I had already a new travel destination in my head, but, for the moment there are no visas available anymore, and I´ll wait till December to apply for 2013. Till then, I stay in Munich.
Well, I had to change my ideas and since saturday 14th of April, I had a very exciting week with lots of things to do, for example:

- Organizing my new room (the old one of my sister), because the next months I will do flat sharing with my parents :-) 
- Visiting friends and babies (OMG, the kids grow so fast!),
- Going in cafés, restaurants, etc.
- Inspecting friends new flats and houses in construction, 
- French and German administration stuff... Boring!
- Choosing the best pics of ca. 12.000 pics I did since January... not finished yet...
and of course: checking out the Munich nightlife :-)

Café Kong (This website must be a joke! That can´t be serious! Horrible!)
Elektro sound in creative atmosphere.
Good place for singles around 30 ;-)

Das Provisorium - Kunstbar und Lesesaal
Nice little bar with exhibitions of local artists or cultural events near Goetheplatz.
Next time I have to try their own special vodkas.

Favorit Bar, Damenstiftstr. 12, 80331 München,
I went there already 10 years ago, very often on Monday and/or Thursday. 
Same style, same people, still great music and atmosphere. Can be really crowded, but I like!

Ksar
Good cocktails in club ambiance.
Nice to start the night!

Paradiso
I was there for the second time to give this club another chance, but this was the last one!
The DJ (I didn´t know that it´s still allowed to smoke in a club, maybe only for DJ´s?) has a very special way to choose and mix his sound (classics and chart music). I don´t like it at all.

Furthermore, I felt 10 years younger, because the other people are much older!
I think it´s the perfect place for stag parties, if you´re already really drunk and you don´t care about good music anymore.

I´m still surprised, that this club didn´t augment the entry and the place in front of the cloakroom. It´s really narrow (if there are more than 5 people) and difficult to go in or out. 
Could be really dangerous in some cases...

Munich (Rotkreuzplatz): Café Neuhauser & Sarcletti

Saturday evening, my family and I had dinner at Café Neuhauser, near Rotkreuzplatz.

The foto quality is bad, but the food was really good! 

Café Neuhauser

Lasagne

small mixed salad

Big choice of wood oven pizzas in the menu.
You have to be very hungry, the pizzas are huge!

And for dessert: Just around the corner, is situated one of the my favorite ice cream cafés in Munich: Sarcletti. 

Large choice, very tasty and so cheap! One cone =1 €.