My alma mater!

(except it doesn't exist...)

Lindy, do you remember when we looked for random Wisconsin sweatshirts in Ireland? Guess we just had the wrong European country. :)

Living like a baller...

(also note the amount of wine glasses on the table)

When she learned of my interest in FC Bayern Munich, Judith promised to take me to several places around Munich frequented by the players. The first of such places was H'ugo's (yes, it's spelled with two apostrophes, why, ???), where we had a GEDS program party/reunion. All of the German students who visited Chapel Hill last fall were there, plus Peter and Judith, and of course Amie and me. The German students told us that H'ugo's is a very "in" restaurant in Munich, and that it's where all the rich men hang out. Judith told me it's a favorite of these guys:

Franck Ribery (left), Luca Toni (right)

(I believe both photos are from Bild)

So, needless to say, this was a totally baller place. Sadly, we did not see Mr. Ribery nor Mr. Toni (who is even more sadly no longer with FC Bayern). However, I did eat the BEST PIZZA OF MY LIFE. I am not even kidding. It's in the picture above--just a plain thin crust, cheese pizza with very lightly seasoned crushed tomatoes as sauce, but with white truffles shaved over the top. I've never really understood what the big deal was about truffles until now, but OMG. The flavor of the truffles somehow mixed perfectly with the mozzarella, so you couldn't even really tell where the deliciousness was coming from, but you also didn't really care, because it was that good. In "Eat, Pray, Love," there's a part in which Elizabeth Gilbert says she's having a relationship with a pizza she's eating in Naples. When I read it at first, I was like, ha ha, that's cute. Now I understand. You can see me with my soulmate in the above photo.

In addition to the truffle pizza, my friend Christina got a ridiculously good smoked salmon and balsamic dressing pizza, and there was so much other good food I can't even describe it all. (Case in point: when we were having problems deciding on appetizers to share as a group, Peter promptly ordered every appetizer on the menu.) There was also aperitifs and LOTS of wine and digestifs after dinner. The female servers started dancing on tables. There were hot reggaeton beats and flashing lights. It was a party, ballers or no ballers.

Seeing all of the German girls again was fabulous. (I'd hung out with Michaela since I'd arrived, but hadn't seen Christina, Andrea, or Kathrin since Chapel Hill.) We made some plans for after their exams, like hiking in the Alps (which apparently have amazing food shacks hidden all up in there) and visiting Neuschwanstein. Plus, Christina and I decided we'd come back to H'ugo's to watch El Clasico in April, 'cause she's a Real Madrid fan (and as you all know, I'm a Barcelona girl). Truffle pizza, wine, and a grudge match? Yes, please!

FYI to Mike and any other visitors to Munich (Jenny? Thomas?): you're eating here. And you're having the truffle pizza. As Peter would say, "it's a MUST."

xoxo

Especially for Mike...

Cocktail palms, drag reindeer, and early intervention: a weekend in Munich

No, silly, no one did an early intervention on me!! Although maybe they should have. Anyway, for the work part of this weekend, I attended a two-day block seminar on early intervention, conducted by our own esteemed colleague Peter. It made for some long days, but I also learned some pretty interesting stuff, especially about German laws regarding prenatal interventions for fetuses/babies that show signs of having disabilities.

Nerd time over! Following the seminar, Amie and I decided to head out to Karlsplatz, where there is an outdoor skating rink for the holidays. We knew that they would be taking the rink down at the end of the weekend, so we wanted to make sure we got our skating in! Oddly enough, I got carded when we paid for our ice rink admission, because apparently you get a free glass of prosecco. Awesome! Another cool thing about the rink is that they have these little ski-bears to help people stay on their feet if they're new skaters. I didn't need a bear for skating purposes, but I *did* need to get my picture taken with the FC Bayern Munich bear!!

As we skated around, Amie and I noticed that the people at the rink were almost all men. All of a sudden the free prosecco made sense:

It was HoliGay on ice!! We were so lucky that we just happened to skate that night, because otherwise there was no free prosecco (although since it's Munich, there was a two-level bar built on to the side of the ice rink), and we would never have made our new friends:

Yes, friends, that is a DRAG REINDEER. I think the other creature is a drag giraffe? We were never sure.

On Saturday, we spent the whole day at the block seminar, but then met up with my friend Michaela, one of the German students who visited UNC during the fall semester. We also got to meet Michaela's very nice boyfriend and three of her other friends. Michaela and her boyfriend had a lot of studying to do on Sunday, so we decided to go out for cocktails instead of going to a club. After seriously trying about five bars to find one at which all seven of us could sit down, we ended up at Drugstore, then moved on to Peaches. There I learned the following:

Fact #1: Everyone will order a pastel drink, even the men. They're all just cocktails, none of this "girly drink" nonsense.
Fact #2: If you order correctly, your pastel drink will come with one of these:

Little cocktail sparklies!!! I was so ridiculously excited by these that everyone gave me their sparklies, although I lost more than half of them on the subway home. Oops! Guess that just means more cocktails needed to replenish my collection! Anyway, apparently they're called "cocktail palms," and just about any cocktail bar in Munich will stick them in your drink.
Fact #3: David Hasselhoff music really *is* played in German bars (although there was a debate at our table whether or not Germans actually like him). This debate was not resolved.
Fact #4: Germans think Americans are really awesome bowlers. We're supposed to meet up with Michaela and her friends again to go bowling next weekend, so I feel like their world view will soon be shattered.

So. much. fun.
(And see, Mike, I did take my camera out of the box!)

Until I figure out my camera, I give you water poetry

From the bottle of water I drank yesterday:

Blütenkinder unter sich.

Die Mango lud die Orangenblüten zum gemeinsamen Sitzstriek ein.

Worum es ging? 

Natürlich um mehr Wasser für alle!

Thanks to our friend Google translate, here we go!!

Flower children among themselves.

The Mango invited the orange blossoms to a common sit-in.

What was it about? 

Of course, more water for all!

**I promise I'll have something better for you soon. And it just might involve a German drag queen dressed as a reindeer.**

xoxo

k

It's Complicated...

(photo courtesy of Amie)

This lovely painting looked down upon Peter, Judith, Amie, and I as we ate a wonderful dinner last night. As Judith said, "Wow! That painting is very complicated!"

For Mike: a free thing update. Today, we got a free round of after-dinner drinks at an Italian restaurant, a free chocolate profiterole at the same restaurant, and also a free X-acto knife and wallpaper smoother at a department store. Judith said she never gets so many presents as when we're with her! I'm glad my free thing mojo works in Europe, too!

Up for this weekend: hitting the town with (German) Michaela and her friends. She has promised to show me "the Munich nightlife". I can't wait!!

What I've Been Eating, for Mom

--Italian food. Peter and Judith love it, and there are lots of good Italian restaurants because Munich is only about an hour and change from the Italian border.
--yogurt. European yogurt is the BEST (but definitely not fat-free!).
--currywurst: a sausage (kind of like a kielbasa flavor) covered in ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder.
--kasespaetzle (there should be an umlaut on the a, but I can't figure out how to do it): like macaroni and cheese, but with spaetzle instead of noodles, and topped with roasted/fried onions. SO GOOD.
--krapfen: don't call them a doughnut (we're not sure why this is a big deal), but they are pretty much like jelly doughnuts, except a little bread-ier and with better jam inside (usually apricot).
--German Mexican food, which actually was not bad at all!
--roasted chestnuts from a street stand
--the ubiquitous German soft pretzels
--gluhwein (hot spiced red wine) and gingerbread
--a really good zucchini and mustard cream soup topped with smoked salmon
--some interesting salads
--apple strudel in vanilla sauce: Oh my God. This is one of the best things I have eaten in my whole life. I could have drunk the vanilla sauce with a straw.

I swear I am going to weigh about 400 lbs. when I get back. Amie and I are already wondering when we'll have to get new pants.