Am Wochenende

"On the Weekend"

The weather has (finally) started to improve here in Munich! This past weekend, we had a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, with temperatures reaching the 60s! Hooray for Spring! Inspired by the sunshine, we've spent the last two weekends out and about, experiencing as much of Munich as possible.

Last Sunday, we visited a modern museum here in the city. Matt and I are always saying that we really should take advantage of everything that Munich has to offer, especially the cultural aspects. So last Sunday, we did just that. Many of the Munich museums charge only €1 for admission on Sundays. Every Sunday. So for the grand total of €2, we explored the Brandhorst Museum. This museum (and many of the other art museums) is located within a 20 minute walk from our apartment. The Brandhorst is relatively new, as it opened in 2009. It is all modern artwork, so a little more abstract than what we are used to. We are by no means art experts, but we do appreciate seeing others' creativity. The building itself is really cool. It is modern and very colorful. I stole the photo below. The museum has pieces by many different artists, including Andy Warhol. It's a small museum, but we really enjoyed being "cultured" (or at least pretending to be!) for an afternoon. Afterwards, we enjoyed cappuccino at a nearby cafe. It was a very relaxing Sunday and we felt like the quintessential European "urbanites."





This weekend, we spent much more time outside, as it was sunny and warm. On Saturday, we explored Gartnerplatz, a really charming area of the city. There is a beautiful "square" (although actually it is a circle haha) and the surrounding streets are filled with trendy shops and restaurants. We grabbed a quick lunch outside at a cafe. Germans love to sit outside at restaurants. As soon as the weather is even remotely warm, all of the cafes and restaurants start to set up tables outside on the sidewalk. Many even offer fleece blankets on the chairs. This is one of our favorite things about Munich. We love to enjoy some fresh air and people-watch while we eat lunch. In the evening, we enjoyed dinner and drinks in a trendy part of the city called Haidhausen. First, we stopped at a bar called Negroni. It has great reviews online and is one of the most popular bars in the city. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place, and our drinks, although a bit pricey, were awesome. Apparently, the head bartender wins tons of awards for original concoctions. The inside was so cool: A lot of dark wood, dim lighting, black leather -- very sophisticated. For dinner, we tried a new restaurant called Julep's. It's "American," so we both ordered burgers. They might have been the best burgers we've had in Munich, yet! We also ordered the brownie for dessert. It was surprisingly delicious! (Most German desserts I've had tend to be a bit dry and not so sweet) The atmosphere was also great -- very packed, and the inside was so cool looking. Exposed brick and lots of "American" memorabilia, etc. We will definitely be returning.







On Sunday morning, we met our friends and their brand-new baby boy for brunch at a cafe. Matt works with Julian and his wife Suela is just the sweetest. They welcomed baby Luis to the world just a few weeks ago. Note: In German, when talking about the arrival of a new baby, they say that someone "bekommen" or "receives" a baby. I think this is just so funny haha Anyways, baby Luis is so precious! Breakfast was delicious as well, but let's be honest, the real highlight was admiring this handsome little guy. After breakfast, Matt and I rode our bikes out to Schloss Nymphenburg. It's a huge palace that was once the summer residence for Bavarian rulers. The entire property is so impressive. There is a very long canal that leads up to the palace. You can stroll alongside, or cross over one of the quaint bridges. While we didn't tour the inside of the palace (yet), the outside is beautiful. But in my opinion, the most impressive part is the gardens that lie behind the palace. Extensive does not even begin to describe them! We took a nice, long stroll and didn't even cover half of them. There are beautiful trees, fountains, and statues, although most things were still boarded up for the winter. We will definitely return in a few weeks when everything is in bloom and all of the statues are on full display. It was a great way to spend a pleasant spring afternoon.





Not much else is going on here. I'm still waiting to hear back about my work permit. Hopefully, I'll be able to start working again on Monday, May 6th. Fingers crossed. Until then, we're getting ready to celebrate our birthdays and also, to welcome the Shoafs to Europe in early May! Lots of exciting things coming up in the next few weeks!

Bis Später!
Matt and Kristin

Frohe Ostern!

That's "Happy Easter" in German. We get a lot of, "Do they celebrate Easter in Germany?" Haha, yes, they most certainly do. The Catholic Church has a strong presence here in Bavaria (southern Germany, where Munich is located). Matt (and just about everyone else in the city) has a day off from work for pretty much every Catholic holy day, including the small ones. So yes, Easter is about the same as it is in America. Although, probably less commercialization, gifts, etc. Since Matt had both Friday and Monday off from work, we decided to spend the long weekend in Vienna, Austria.

We took a four-hour train ride to Vienna on Friday morning. After arriving in Vienna and checking into our hotel, we decided to do some exploring. Although a bit chilly, the weather was pretty nice and we enjoyed leisurely strolling through the city, admiring the beautiful architecture of Vienna. After exploring for a few hours, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a "posh" restaurant near the main city square. Although we were a bit under dressed (oops!), we had a lovely dinner. We even interacted with the waitress completely in German! (and understood most of it)The main square was absolutely beautiful at night. I'm not sure what it was (maybe the red wine?), but while strolling through the city after dinner, I just couldn't help but to think how lucky we are to be able to experience beautiful cities such as this one. Unfortunately, we had left the camera back at the hotel, so I don't have any photos of this. Here are a few other ones:













And the view from our hotel window:





Interesting note: Our hotel room's shower had not one, not two, but THREE shower heads. Whoa.


It also had neon light in the bathroom which was kind of weird and not at all conducive to putting on make up. Nevertheless, it was a cool hotel. Here's me outside of the Moet & Chandon bar that is in the lobby (swoon!):


Also...Spotted: Justin Bieber (sort of). So we've been crossing paths with the Biebs over the past few weeks. I guess he is over here in Europe putting on some concerts. I think we missed him by a day or two when we were in Berlin, he's already been to Munich, and now we spotted crowds of screaming girls stalking him outside of his hotel. We passed by this hotel multiple times throughout the weekend, and every single time, there was a group of girls there. I think some of these chicks must have seriously spent their entire weekend hoping to catch a glimpse of him haha.





On Saturday morning, we started our day bright and early with breakfast at Starbucks. Classic Americans. But seriously, we eat croissants pretty much every other weekend, so an English muffin sandwich is a nice change of pace. After breakfast, we headed over to the Hofburg Palace. The Hofburg is a former imperial palace that was once home to the Habsburg Dynasty. It's a huge palace that now is a museum housing many historical artifacts, including royal silver and china, artwork, furniture, etc. It was pretty interesting to see how these rulers lived back in the day. Most of the museum focuses on one particular emperor, Franz Joseph I, and his wife, Elizabeth. In fact, a whole sub-section of the museum is dedicated solely to Elizabeth's life. Apparently, she pretty much despised her life as a royal (she married into it when she was 16) and spent much of her days traveling, away from Vienna. However, after her death, she became this idolized, "princess" figure. And now, I think the city of Vienna is pretty much obsessed with her. There have been multiple plays, films, books, etc. based on this mythical, princess figure. Matt didn't enjoy this section of the museum too much haha. Random fun fact: Marie Antoinette ("Let them eat cake" Marie Antoinette) was born at the Hofburg Palace. Her mother was Empress Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and ruler of the Habsburg territories.







Later in the afternoon, we stopped at a classic cafe to order a slice of plum cake and tea. It was a nice break from the usual touristy hustle and bustle. They had these really cool contraptions that held newspapers for customers to read. We were fascinated.



Re-energized from the sugar, we took to the streets again, exploring more sites and areas that we missed on the first day. For dinner, we enjoyed a low-key dinner at an Italian restaurant. No Wienerschnitzel for us! Truth is, we've found our favorite schnitzel in Munich and we enjoy it occasionally, so trying more schnitzel in Vienna just didn't seem that necessary. For those of you who don't know, "Wien" is the German name for Vienna, so Wienerschnitzel literally translates to "Vienna schnitzel." I literally didn't get this until we started learning German haha.

Sunday was Easter of course, and (after losing one hour of sleep -- Europe turned the clocks forward just last weekend) we started the day with breakfast at a picturesque cafe. Matt had the classic croissant and cappuccino, while I enjoyed yogurt with fruit and granola and a cappuccino, as well. We weren't in a hurry, so we really took our time to enjoy breakfast.



Next, we hopped on the subway (that oddly enough, runs above-ground most of the way) and headed to the Schönbrunn Palace. This palace, located in the outskirts of the city of Vienna, was the royal summer residence. In my opinion, it was much more impressive than the Hofburg Palace. We saw approximately 40 rooms that were decorated to show how the royals lived. Many of the rooms were really very beautiful. We also learned a little bit about the history of Vienna, thanks to the handy audio guides. Outside of the palace, there was a small Easter market. Many of you may recall that Germany (and Austria) are famous for their large Christmas Markets that are open during Advent. The Easter Market was basically the same thing, but on a smaller scale and with decorated eggs and bunnies as opposed to Santas and Nativity scenes. We walked around a little, but the weather was a pretty awful wintry mix, and so we headed back to the hotel after a short while. By this time, it was unfortunately time to head back to Munich.

Scenes from the Ostern Markt, and yes, sadly that is snow on the eggs...










We had a wonderful Easter in Vienna, but we really missed spending time with family. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend, as well!

Here's one more photo of the stunning Opera house at dark.



Bis später (until later),
Kristin and Matt