Monday, September 30, 2013

Wiesn 2013 - Song of the year

Folktronica appeals to the folky, the drunks, and the ravers.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Wiesn 2013 - Schützen festzelt

Getting a table reservation in one of the tents during Wiesn is a case of who you know and how early you can get the table. So I was somewhat stunned when Caro burst into my office on MONDAY to say that she'd suddenly secured a table and did I want to join? HELLS YES!!!

She knew someone who knew someone who had a company table in the Schützen and since they couldn't go, she could have it. And that's how a bunch of us ended up being representatives from an Immobilien KGaA (real estate association). 
The beautiful Schützen tent!

Our lovely Brotzeit platter!

And our incredibly gorgeous Kaiserschmarrn!

And then afterwards, when the tent closed at 10:30, we went out and marvelled at the lovely night
It was so purdy.

Also, I'm really impressed at these night photos from my phone.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Wiesn 2013 - Quaky und Trött Trött

Despite all the joy that Babe and Babe II were giving other people, Susi and I realised that there were a couple of big holes in our lives. A couple of bit, walking balloon animal-shaped holes. 
Mine was filled by this duck balloon - who I promptly named Quaky!

Look at how happy we are now! And I also scored this sweet hat from some guy!

Susi fell in love with this baby penguin, who she named Trött Trött.

Alas, tonight also ended in tragedy. Being a faithful pet, Quaky spent the evening following me around. While dancing the night away, some Italians (why is it always Italians?!) pulled on Quaky's leading string, resulting in his demise. Noooooooooooo!!! And heartbroken, I swore never to give my heart to (yet) another balloon animal again :(

Until maybe next week.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Wiesn 2013 - Babe and Babe 2.

Wiesn. Oktoberfest. 16 days of the year when the city loses its nut. A time when it is perfectly accepted to go to work in tracht, and when it's not uncommon to hear people say that they drank 3L of bier last night and intend to drink even more tonight! Saturday 21st of September was the first day of Wiesn this year, but since we'd been at Hyper! Hyper! the night before, an afternoon meeting was was decided upon and the Oide Wiesn the settled location. But this entry is not about how many biers I drank, or which Wiesn songs are the best to dance to. Oh no. This is about my beloved pet pig, Babe. 

Opposite the Oide Wiesn tent stood a clown. Normally I would avoid clowns like the plague, but he had something very intriguing - an entire set of helium animals at his feet. And even better, we saw someone buy an animal off him, and walk off happily with the animal tripping along in their wake! And I had to get one as well! And I named him Babe!
We had an instant connection. Maybe it was the way he just liked to follow me around on his red wool leash.

Maybe it was how cuddly he was when I decided not to let him get his trotters dirty. Either way, 

"OH MY GOD!!! LOOK AT THAT PIG WALKING BEHIND THAT CHINESE GIRL!!!!" was something I heard quite regularly while wanding around the Wiesn grounds.

Babe bewitched everyone who saw him and I had a few people asking me where he was purchased. But Oide Wiesn closes earlier than the rest of Wiesn and a few sad faces were to be had when they realised the clown would now be going home. Everyone except for one drunk Italian tourist who asked me if he could purchase Babe off me. Susi named a price that was, quite frankly, somewhat ridiculous. The Italian didn't even blink. (Un)fortunately, he didn't have the right amount of money for Babe, but he offered me $US40 instead. At approximately a 400% profit, we had a deal!
My new Thomas Jeffersons!

But a few minutes later, like literally, a few seconds after that Italian walked away cackling, I regretted it. I SOLD MY PET PIG!!! HOW COULD I?! MONEY DOESN'T BUY LOVE!!!

But it can buy a new pig!
Why hello there, Babe II! (And Swisschris in the background!)
We had a beautiful day together. Walking around, getting sweets, enjoying the day, and then Babe II came home and made himself comfortable on my rug. But eventually I realised that it was time to part with Babe II because there was someone who would appreciate his good cheer even more than I would!
Herr Priller was turning into Doktor Priller and I realised that there could be no better gift than the love of a good pig. 

Goodbye, my Babes! May you continue to give good cheer wherever you go!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

HYPER HYPER!

The new best place to be on the third Friday of the month in Munich? HYPER HYPER - 90s clubbing night! To celebrate Susi and Laura's birthday, they decided that we should party on with Britney, Aqua, the Vengaboys, random German songs I don't know and the Spice Girls while Baywatch was being broadcast on the walls.

Was it fun? Hells yes!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Movie review - Portugal, Mon Amour (La Cage Doree)

Maria and José Ribiero (Rita Blanco and Joaquim de Almeida) are a pair of Portuguese immigrants living in Paris. Both are doing reasonably well in blue collar jobs - José is the foreman for a building company, while Maria is the concierge in one of the more affluent arrondissements of Paris. They are appreciated by their bosses, and they and their family, adult daughter Paula and late-teen Pedro are well-integrated. Everything changes when José is informed that he has inherited his ancestral estate and winery, but with the condition that he move back and reside in Portugal. Confronted with the possibility of losing them, Maria and José's family, friends, and employers secretly conspire to keep them in France.

To be honest, since watching the movie, I've had mixed thoughts about it. During the film, I was laughing out loud at the various schemes and pratfalls, and walked out feeling thoroughly entertained and warm inside. Since then, I can't help thinking how selfish everyone was in wanting to keep them in Paris. I mean the argument is that it was all because the people around love them and/or appreciate their work, but really. These people have had the luck to inherit a legacy that they conspire to keep them from claiming by preying on Maria and José's essentially good natures. Having said that, the movie ends on a good-natures (if slightly clichéd) note that neatly solves all problems. 

Otherwise, it's a nice film showing conflicts that immigrants can have when balancing their origins and the lives made for themselves.

6/10

Monday, September 16, 2013

Dumpling day

Remember my purchase of this?
Well I finally put it to the test.

Instead of making ravioli though, I decided to try to make my own dumplings using this recipe.
My filling - pork mince, prawn mince, bamboo shoots, spring onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a bit of corn flour to make it all stick together.

My pastry dough - plain flour and warm water. I need to work on the dough; it was a bit difficult to work with.

Putting it all together with the help of the guide to make sure I don't overfill it!

And voila!

Boiled and ready to eat!

So I clearly ended up with dumplings but did it actually work? Well yes and no. Being made out of plastic, the rollers moved when I turned the knob, meaning that not all the dumplings sealed properly and I would then seal them by hand to make sure it was completely closed. Doing that, I lost the fluted effect :( To be honest, it probably would have been much faster (and neater) to just use my hands. But on the other hand, it was pretty fun and Fabi got a good laugh out of watching me use the device!

Also, I then got to eat dumplings, so that's always a win!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Fröhliche Floßfahrt!!!

Although it started terribly, I had to admit that it has been a glorious summer. And how better to celebrate the end of the season than to take a delightful river raft ride? Caro had organised an event with her sister and so we hopped along for the ride. Cast off was at Wolfratshausen at 9am which necessitated a very early wake up time (I think 6:30am) in order to put on tracht and get the s-bahn.
But it was a beautiful clear day - perfect rafting conditions!

Blonde Susi and Blonde Laura in their German best.

Markus had just arrived back from Shanghai and he'd been thoroughly integrated into Asian-ness.

Caro and Carola

But a raft ride through the Upper Bavarian countryside isn't just a raft ride. There was also Bavarian breakfast consisting of leberkäsemmel (no suesser senf though :/), and a lunch consisting of half a roasted chicken, krautersalat and kartoffelsalat. And bier. Many litres of bier. In fact, we received our first bier at 9am.
Chugging down from our souvenir Steinkrug

A raft on the river
A beer with pleasure
So let us celebrate it:
Cheers to Bavaria!
(roughly translated)

And we're off!!!

Heading through the wilderness *duelling banjoes playing*

Yep, nothing but wilderness and guys in lederhosen.

The ride took us to some strange places...

Nah, that's not quite true. We passed a few landmarks and a lot of people waved from the riverbanks or from bridges

When I first told Pooey that I was going to do this and sent her a few photos, she said, "THAT LOOKS SO UNSAFE!!!" So here are a few photos of the raft
Which was literally a bunch of logs lashed together.

With a few more logs as seating.

Yep, I'm pretty much just standing on the water here - when it got hot, I even sat on the side and dangled my feet in the water as we floated along. It was a pretty stable craft though - and the drivers had some extra rope and an axe in case of emergency.

At a few places in the river, we had to take canals that would drop the height of the waterway and we'd all be told to sit down. It didn't stop the party though :D

All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a warm afternoon. Totally recommended although I'd just like to warn everyone who does this to watch their alcohol intake. Just sayin'.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Rome - Day 5

Alas, all things must come to an end and our last day in Rome was filled with an orgy of trying to do a last few activities.
Such as going to the Villa Borghese and pretending to be a statue

Or go to the Vatican museums and see this guy who was being a bit more a random cowboy statue.

One last chocolate-dipped gelato!

And admiring the classical proportions and architectural wonder that is the Pantheon.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Rome - Day 4

If you thought we'd be all ancient-ed out after Pompeii, you thought wrong! We'd already discussed seeing the Fora, Palatine Hill and Colosseum with Laulita. Rosa refused to come on the grounds that it was supposed to be 30C again and she'd rather be in air-conditioned shops. This is a fair call.
Our meeting point - the not at all ancient, and in fact, somewhat ugly Wedding Cake. 

Much better view!

Being my third visit to Rome, this is also my third visit to the Forum. But one of the great things about being a history nerd (or possibly just an all-round nerd), that I can look at the same things over and over again and still find them interesting. This next section is going to be pretty boring as I give names to the structures we looked at.
The Arch of Septimus Severus Snape 

The Temple of Saturn

The Temple of Antoninius and Faustina

The Temple of Caster and Pollux 

In the garden of the house of the Vestals

With Laulita and that big thing in the background!

With H and that big thing in the background!

Palatine Hill

Also on the Palatine was a museum that had an exhibit on how themes were repeated over time. 

Also interesting on the Palatine Hill is the house of Livia with these amazing frescoes. 

Gotta love that tromp l'oeil painting. 

A word to the wise, there is nowhere really great to eat near the Forum and Colosseum. I can't remember the name of the place where we ended up, but I should have because it was not great (although H liked his canelloni). In fact, a waitress gave Laulita the biggest dirty for asking for a bottle of water!
Maybe we would have been better off getting stuff from the supermarket - like this Fonzies!

Last tourist action of the day - we went to the colosseum. Now here is something I never entered in all my previous visits.
It is quite impressive from the inside.

I kinda wish we could have wandered around the cells though.

Lovely view of the Temple of Venus and Roma from the Colosseum

I don't know why, but I was really impressed by stairs. I don't know, I guess I'm just easily impressed?

What I do know is that I'm a clown :D

We also go a bit confused as to how to get out. 

It was pretty exhausting and we all had to return to our various accommodations before having dinner at Riz's place. Despite not taking any photos, all I can say is that it lived up to what I'd been told about it and she served us a wonderful dinner.