München

A detour to visit an old friends of Ian’s. Anthony left Aus about 35 years ago, and eventually found himself firmly rooted in München in the late 90‘s. Anthony introduced Ian to Sabine about 2005 and we have not had a face to face since. It was fun to bunk in with Anthony and sample Euro big city lifestyle.
All the happy characteristics are there, like cafes that serve beer, supermarkets serve beer (really cheaply), Bierhaus that server beer, and even better Biergarten which actually serve lots of beer, in big glasses in a very relaxed atmosphere. I am sure other stuff was also going on that May come to me shortly. Of course! It’s Live music. We had to let a few shows go past, but we did get to see Wha Zho play in a community hall which sometimes houses kids activities, but tonight was serving beer. Avantgarde two piece of bass and drums. Great fun.
The Biergartens have a very interesting characteristic where you will find some tables with tablecloths and some without. If you sit at a tablecloth you will receive table service. No service for a bare table, but you can bring your own food and drink if you like. The Biergarten in Viktualienmarkt is located in the middle of a permanent market place providing plenty of options. Believe it or not, we are glad that October Fest finished a fortnight ago.

A big city of rich history where our meanderings lead us to uncover a surprisingly large number of sad events. Exploring the 1972 Olympic precinct turned up a memorial to the victims of the terrorist attack. The White Rose museum and memorial to some of the many brave Germans who tried to resist the Nazi terrorist regime. We visit some places, events and people who fostered the rise of Adolf Hitler. The impact on the design and architecture of the city by the bombings of WWII when most of the old town was raised.

The music scene here is very active with performances happening in some surprising locations where players pop up in different lineups. The city itself is also creative with relaxed usage arrangements for venues and the re-use of spaces. A cute one was a disused industrial space, where a heap of shipping containers were imported / stacked / modified to make a pop up retail and entertainment zone - very cool. On the infrastructure side they incinerate rubbish out of town and pipe in residual heat for public spaces and buildings.

Of course it’s a bike city. Can I say theGermans are rule followers? It appears so, but their cyclists and motorists are a little more aggressive than their Austrian neighbours, you are not likely to hear a warning ding - so beware. Their bikes are meatier than elsewhere, just think of the difference between motoring on NSW Central Coast and Paris. On the Coast we drive both types of cars - 4x4’s and Utes, but Parisian’s prefer compact and economical town cars. Munich has big e-bikes, many cargo bikes and trailers, and options for kids or shopping,Les mer