Sunday, Sept. 5 – Today was a relaxing day since it is Sunday. The weather was sunny and cool. There was a wine festival nearby, so off we went. There were several food and drink booths and they had a 2 man band, which was actually pretty good. The band played German music and even some American music. They played “The Twist” and an Elvis song “Teddy Bear”. A few of the German ladies were doing their version of the Twist, we think. Jay was a little under the weather since he was getting a cold, so we didn’t stay there too long.
Week Sept. 6 – Sept. 10 – We didn’t do too much this week. Jay had a cold and he was busy with meetings at work. We had two dinner meetings this week, one with his boss from PLC and the other on Thursday with a big group, some from the US office and some from the German office. On Wednesday, we went to a really nice Italian restaurant only a few blocks from the hotel. The waiters spoke Italian, another language that we don’t speak. Thursday’s dinner was at a restaurant called See Haus, which is on a lake (See) in the English Garten (The German spelling). The English Garten is a huge park near the center of Munich. The park is about a kilometer wide and 5 or 6 kilometers long. It is a very popular place on nice weekend days.
I managed to get Jay’s cold on Thursday, so now I’m under the weather. I did go out this week during the day for about an hour or two just walking and seeing what is around. On Monday, my job was to find a pharmacist to get some medicine for Jay’s cold. The pharmacy’s here are different from the US. They don’t have one store like CVS where you can buy everything. They have two that you would need to go to – one for medicine and one for everything else. You cannot buy any over the counter medicine like we can in the US. I managed to find a pharmacy with no problems. Communicating with the pharmacist was easy, as he spoke excellent English. You explain to the pharmacist what is wrong and they tell you what you need.
The train workers went on strike on Friday, so it took Jay a little longer to get to work. He said that the trains were still running, but not as often as they usually do. Instead of waiting about 5 to 10 minutes he waited over 20 minutes and the trains were very crowded.
Saturday, Sept. 11 – Since I was still not feeling well, we did a little walking around. We tried to find a place to get Jay’s hair cut, but all the places we found they didn’t have any openings. So we went to a place where you can watch people surfing. On the river there is a natural formation that makes a good wave, so we watched some of the locals. Of course they made it look so easy. As we were walking, we walked through a courtyard and there were several people playing bocce ball. We sat and watched them for a while. The bocce balls were different than the wooden ones that you see in the US. The bocce balls here were steel. One of the men playing was very good. He would always hit the ball of his opponent. After that we walked to a main street and found out that later that afternoon they were having some kind of festival. We came back to our apartment and I rested and Jay did some work. Later that evening, we visited a local beer garden. This beer gardens was about the size of a football field. Some are smaller, but there are also bigger ones. They have tables that you can sit at all day if you want. All they ask is that you buy their beer. You can also buy something to eat or bring in your own food. There were groups of people that you can tell do this often. They have their table cloth out and they are playing cards and board games. There is even a playground for the kids to play. We had to try a beer of course and we ordered a half of chicken, which was quite tasty. Jay is enjoying trying the different types of beers. We ventured off to the festival to see what was going on.
Sunday, Sept. 12 – Since the weather was sunny and warm we decided to go back to the lake where we were last weekend and go for a boat ride. We went on the 3 hour boat ride. We stopped at several little towns to pick up and drop off passengers. There were a lot of sailboats out, but very little wind. Looking to the south you could see the Alps. In the distance you could see some of the leaves on the trees starting to change. I am looking forward to seeing the seasons change.
After our boat ride we went back to the festival that we found the night before. It was very crowded. I can only imagine what it will be like during Oktoberfest. We ate dinner at the festival, drank some beer of course, and listened to a band.
Monday, Sept 13 - We had some great news on Monday – we will be able to move into our apartment early. We’ll be able to move in on the 24th. Can’t wait!!!!
At Jay’s office they provide a free lunch to all the employees. Monday’s lunch was interesting. One of the choices was ostrich, prepared Namibian style. It definitely doesn’t taste like chicken. It was a dark meat with a little bit of a game favor.
Wednesday, Sept. 15 – I’ve been craving some real meat, so tonight we had to go to the Hard Rock Café to get a cheese burger. It was GREAT!!!! We will definitely be visiting the Hard Rock often.
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