March 11-17

Monday, March 11th


Deep breaths... So much to do and we're all still trying to return to normal! I returned the rental car to the airport in the morning and took the S-Bahn home. I did laundry--lots and lots of laundry. I hung up as much as I could on our drying rack and took bags of damp laundry across the street to the laundromat to use the giant dryers (2 washer loads will fit in one dryer with room to spare and dry in 30 minutes). As I waited for the dryer to finish I read my book club book. We have a supper meeting this week and I'm not quite finished. It's been a different sort of read for me, but I've loved it! "Soul of a Lion"--read it if you love Africa or animal rehabilitation and conservation. It's a fascinating story of the Harnas Wildlife Foundation in Namibia.

The kids had a normal day back at school and in the evening I took the bus out to Perlach for Frauenchor rehearsal--we are using the other church for a few weeks because the normal rehearsal space in Sendling is being used for a performance recording. Last week in Lübeck I'd gotten a couple of Überraschungstüten (surprise goody bags which are filled with odds and ends of the unsold bulk merchandise and then sold by weight) from the Niederreger Fabrikverkauf--for the purpose of sharing with the Frauenchor. They were delighted with the treat during the rehearsal break. One whole bag of marzipan treats went home with G who was the one who noticed my Niederregger bag that I carry my music in. Fresh chocolate covered marzipan!

Snow?!?! This is the view that greeted me as I left our building to go take the rental car back to the airport. Thankfully it was a wet, light snow and didn't stay. Mostly melted by 3 p.m. and the sun even came out for a bit.

Tuesday, March 12th


The sun came out today! I worked on the blog and did more laundry and made another trip across the street to the laundromat dryers. I finished my book club book while I waited. HR had Mathe tutoring in the afternoon. She also came home and told me that she had raised her hand (a BIG deal) in Mathe class and given an answer AND gotten it right. All auf Deutsch. Yay! I celebrated with her--so grateful for this sweet daughter. She teaches me so much about patience, compassion, and appreciating small victories.

J and I had tentatively planned to go out for a date night this evening and see the new Captain Marvel movie, but when HR heard that we were going to see this, she had a bit of a meltdown. She wanted to see it as a family to celebrate her 13th birthday which is coming up at the end of March. I had misunderstood and thought she wanted to go with school friends on her actual birthday. So, plans adjusted, we got tickets for everyone to see a 5 p.m. OV (original version; i.e. in English--because we didn't want to miss any of the subtle quips that might get lost in translation) showing at the Mathäser Kino and then we went out for dinner after. HR wanted pizza, so we found an Italian restaurant, Bella Italia, near the movie theater. We took a bus home. Happy 13th Birthday, HR! (More celebrating to come at the end of March...)

My Salat Nizza

HR and GE split a plate-sized Pizza Prosciutto.

ME got the Fisch vom Grill platter! Yum.

Wednesday, March 13th


The delayed blog posts are finally starting to come together! I stayed in for the morning, working on the computer, and doing the last of the wash. After lunch I had a session with Stellario which went pretty well considering I hadn't practiced properly for a week (other than some score studying) while on our Winterferien trip. Afterwards, I took the S-Bahn across town to the Stadtbibliothek at the Gasteig to return some library books, went to the big shopping center across the street for some groceries, then took the bus back home. I made dinner for the family and headed out for book club. We had picked an African restaurant, Restaurant Savanna, for our dinner (because our book took place in Africa). It happens to be in our neighborhood and was just a short walk--in fact, it's on the way to GE's school and has a huge sculpted elephant head over the entrance that hangs out over the sidewalk! I told GE I was going to dinner at that elephant head place. 😆

Slate skies over the Isar near the Gasteig. Au Haidhausen neighborhood.

My curried vegetable dish for dinner. It was delicious!

Last book club meeting? Not sure... we're going to try to meet one more time in May before I leave. Grateful to have gotten to know these fascinating world-traveling women.

Thursday, March 14th

Tomorrow we will have visitors, so I deep-cleaned the apartment between putting the final edits into the blog posts (and hit PUBLISH! Whew...), took down the dry laundry from the rack and finished folding the clean wash--the girls had two piles each to put away! I felt pretty run down between coming back from our trip, jumping right into rehearsals, and with a lingering sinus thing hanging on, so I skipped the Himmelfahrtskirchen Chor rehearsal and went to bed early.

Friday, March 15th


I've been looking forward to this weekend for a while! One of my "German daughters", JS (lived with us 2010-2011 as an exchange student at our local high school in Augusta county, Virginia), has been planning to visit and will bring her mom, MS. JS had never been to München and her mom had only visited once. The weather was not so agreeable, unfortunately, but we made the most of it.

I met them at their hotel around 10 a.m. (they had arrived by train yesterday) and we walked into the Altstadt with our umbrellas up against the wind and constant rain. MS's pocket-sized umbrella kept getting turned inside out and JS's was bent by the time the day was over! So blustery!

We strolled leisurely through the Altstadt, stopping to see some of the typical sights like the Neues Rathaus in the Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, Peterskirche, the Nationaltheather, and the Maximilianstraße. Mid-morning when we were tired of being damp and chilled, we sat down and enjoyed a coffee in the Oberpollinger café. We window-shopped and did some good old-fashioned sale shopping at TK Maxx (the German version of the US T.J. Maxx), picked up some gifts at the Hard Rock Café Munich, bought Easter treats at the Dallmayr shop, and then had lunch together in the Ratskeller restaurant.

Watching the Glockenspiel play.

Picking out gifts in the Hard Rock Café shop.

Glitter in the windows of the Juwelier Wempe (a ritzy jeweler) on the Maximilianstraße.

Cakes on display at the Dallmayr shop.

Easter and spring are in the air... at least inside the Dallmayr shop! The weather outside leaves much to be desired.

My lovely lunch salad at the Ratskeller.

JS got the Schnitzel mit Pommes and her mom had the Käsespätzl (cheesey egg noodles, a traditional Bavarian dish)

A couple of Americans joined our table while we waited for our food to arrive. I couldn't help asking what they had ordered after the waiter brought their food (mental note: J would love this!). It's called the Münchner Brettl (Munich "little board" although it was hardly little!). It's basically a sampling of traditional Bayerischen Wurst und Fleisch along with a basket of Brot.

After lunch we wandered through the Viktualienmarkt, stopping to get some fresh Lachsfilet from  Fisch Witte for supper, and then walked back toward their hotel. They went back to their room to rest and refresh, while I went home to make preparations for dinner (roasted asparagus, rosemary potatoes, and pan-seared salmon; here's how I cooked the salmon; YUM!). We had a wonderful time talking--auf Deutsch--and just being together.

Fresh Lachs for dinner!

Saturday, March 16th


JS and MS's hotel had a breakfast bar included, so they came over to the apartment around 10 a.m. and we headed out for a coffee shop pitstop--tea, cappuccino, coffee, and hot chocolates at the Leib & Siegel--before taking an express bus down to the Tierpark Hellabrunn (zoo; read a little of the history of the park). The weather was MUCH more agreeable! Forecast called for no rain, a mix of sun and clouds, and temps in the 50's. Perfect for an outing. We ate a simple lunch at one of the outdoor food kiosks in the Tierpark, took in lots of animal exhibits, and then headed home.

[photo credit: MS/JS]

Not-so-patiently waiting for the grown-ups inside the café to finish their drinks and get the show on the road...

Checking out the dwarf crocodile!

We spent a long time in the Welt der Affen (ape house). Chimps and gorillas are so fascinating! So human-like, yet not. We stayed for the feeding of the chimpanzees then went through the aquarium to the monkeys.

Giant green anacondas (there are two intertwined). Oh my!

Do you understand me?

They know it's almost lunch-time and are waiting for the food!

Showing off! "I get the food first--hands off!" she seemed to be telling us through the glass.

Sleepy orangutan. My favorites.

Tamarin! Also one of my favorites. They look like stuffed animals--little and cuddly.

Black swan cygnets (can you see the two little grey fluffy "ugly ducklings"?)

Jacket is off! (Someone really wants spring to come.)

Big cats!

Arctic owl: "Now I see you...

... now I don't!"

Arctic Hare... just a bit of brown fur starting to appear on their heads!

The sea lions were cool too, but impossible to photograph! Constantly moving and mostly underwater.

A few baboons came out to see what was happening right as we came by. They stayed out for a few minutes, looking around with their eerily old-man faces, then disappeared back inside.

Yes. That tortoise is doing what you think he's doing... You should have heard the snickering of the adults who were staring through the glass--meanwhile the little kids couldn't figure out what had all the grownups so amused! 😂😁

After hopping off the bus, we split up: the kids went with JS and MS back to the apartment while I made a swing through the little REWE City behind our apartment complex and hit up the Ihle Bäckerei for fresh bread. Together we enjoyed a simple Abendbrot supper (don't know what that is? Learn how to enjoy this  simple meal, German-style). It was hard to say good-bye. It suddenly sank in that we were saying farewell for another 2 or more years. Such a deep connection with this family now--nearly ten years! We've exchanged children, stories, food, gifts, and shared experiences. It's a gift for a lifetime that we are always thankful for and try hard not to take for granted. I'm so grateful to my parents who set the example: Mom is still close with her German "sister" and "brother" from her gap year and with the "brother" who lived and worked on her parent's Iowa farm when she was in high school. We consider VM and her parents and brother to be "like family". I'm still close with the family I was an au pair for in the summer of 1991. We've stayed in touch with these families through the years, vacationing together, swapping kids for summer breaks, visiting or hosting them whenever the opportunity arises... It's a rare gift and we feel so privileged to give it to our girls now too. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

One of my favorite streets, coming back from the Bäckerei.

Sunday, March 17th

JS and MS headed back north on their train. We regrouped: girls worked on homework, practiced cello and piano, and then went outside. The sun continues to shine, thank goodness! Later in the afternoon two of HR's classmates showed up to see if she could come over to practice her part of their group project for Deutsch, a poster and presentation (about the book, Boy in a White Room) which is this coming week. ME's friend came over and played board games with her and J. I was in a funk--I think saying good-bye has me thinking about all the good-byes that are coming in the next couple of months and I'm not ready. So, I did some cooking, took a nap, practiced a little, and talked to one of my sisters on WhatsApp. I'll be OK. Processing it here helps.