On Monday morning RLG and I walked to Café Vits near the Isartor for a Munich International Women's Club (MIWC) coffee hour for new members. Then we walked into the Altstadt and went a little shopping. On Tuesday I took her to the Hauptbahnhof and saw her onto the S-Bahn out to the airport so she could fly home to Paris.
Otherwise this week has revolved around getting settled into the school routine again and my usual social calendar events: MIWC monthly meeting on Wednesday a.m. (featuring a lecture about Lola Montez; very interesting story about a scandalous mistress of King Ludwig I!), a German conversation group on Thursday, trips to the library to return books we'd checked out before the holidays, groceries, laundry, helping kids with homework and making sure they remember to practice. I went to both choir practices again. I have at least one solo (Brahms piece; she's still handing out music, so there might be others) with the Frauenchor and have been invited to sing in the smaller ensemble, Kapellchor, within the Himmelfahrtskirchen Chor for a Bach Cantata in March. I have a lesson with Stellario next week, so I'm working my daily practicing back into my daily routine.
It's been snowing on and off pretty much all week with temps staying at or below freezing. Maybe you've seen it in the news?! Bavaria and Austria have been hammered with snow this past week and multiple deaths have been reported from downed trees, traffic accidents, and avalanches. The snow has been wet and heavy. Many businesses have set out signs on the sidewalks warning of Dachlavinengefahr (roof avalanche danger). The little orange city maintenance vehicles have been working overtime and I see them in the evenings and early mornings filling their Benzin tanks at the Aral station by our apartment building. They don't use much salt here, but will plow the sidewalks and spread gravel onto the packed snow. It's still pretty slippery and many people walk with walking poles similar to ski poles to help stay steady on their feet! I'm thankful for my solid winter boots with good traction. I avoided walking on the Isar park trails this week since they are hardly cleared at all. Instead, I built my walks into my errands and shopping--choosing stores a little further away and walking instead of taking the bus. The big girls took the bus to school every day since the bike paths are a slushy, snowy, icy mess. GE wore her snow pants over her clothes so that she could join the kids in the snowball fights and snow play during recess. The two families in our building with small children had upended sleds sitting outside their front doors, drip drying in the hall--pushing a stroller on these sidewalks would be nearly impossible! Only a handful of brave folks with large tires are biking and those that I do see are going slowly and carefully since you never quite know what's going to be wet slush and what has frozen into ice. Yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) it is finally above freezing and the snow piles on our balcony have mostly disappeared. Our outings this week included a trip to the big Stadtbibliothek (city library) at the Gasteig where GE and ME got a pile of books, graphic novels, and comics in German. HR went to her cello lesson while we were at the library. ME's friend came over Saturday to hang out and play games for a while, and on Sunday she went to the board game gathering on the north side of the city. Otherwise the snow has kept us from being too adventurous.
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| From the kitchen window... |
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| Walking down the sidewalk to our building... |
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