Munich and I Are Going on a Break

At work today they asked me to help out during the renewal season in our Dublin office, and of course I said yes. For 5 weeks, from November 16 until December 18, I will be working in Dublin! Hopefully I will be able to come home on some of the weekends since it will be Christmas Market season here in Germany, but if anyone wants to meet me in Dublin during that time I will have an apartment to myself. This is just one more advantage to being childless and single! And it seems like I just keep jumping from one beer capital to another. Interesting . . .

5 Days and 1 Bottle of Sunscreen (aka Sardinia)

That's right, in 5 days I used almost an entire "Urlaubs-Grosse" (vacation sized) bottle of SPF 30 sunscreen, but I managed to make it with only a 1st degree sunburn. I thought that wasn't too bad for 5 days on the beach in Sardinia.

I was with 4 friends on the northern coast of Sardinia for the past 5 days. The parents of my Italian friend own a sumer house near Porto Pollo (basically the kite surfing capital of the world) and we stayed there, about a 20 minute walk from the beach. The weather was perfect for all 5 days (hot and not a cloud in sight) and at only point while floating in the water I was looking up and could only see bright blue. I have never experienced that before and it was so cool.

I don't have much to tell since basically we laid on the beach and read and went swimming in the Mediterranean sea for 5 days. Then at night we went out for a fantastic dinner at some restaurant and then saw where the night took us. Once it was to a party on the beach with the rest of the entire island. Another night it was the city's street fair with all handmade items. One night for dinner we went to a restaurant where basically you get what they give you, and Good Lord is it good. We ate and ate and ate, and each thing was fantastic. Everything was traditional Sardinian food (which surprisingly doesn't include much seafood) including the pork, which I have to admit was amazing even though I am not a big pork fan. This place was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had. It is worth a trip to Sardinia just for this place. I could talk about the food for days.

One of the days we took a day long boat tour of the northern islands. We stopped at a few beaches and swam and also stopped in the middle of the Mediterranean at one point and jumped off the boat for a swim.

In general, the most unnerving thing about the beach was that I was without a doubt the whitest person there, probably the whitest on the entire island. It was crazy! Buts it is nice to know that I won't have a leather couch for a face at 35 like most of them. As far as the locals go, the one nice things is that for every woman on the beach that made me self-conscious about my body there were 2 others that made me feel good about myself.

Oh and the random event of the trip: in the bar on the beach we met an ex-Navy guy who retired in Sardinia who has actually been to not only Nebraska, but to a Huskers football game! I think he was more excited about this than I was. He kept talking about how nice everyone was and then even called his brother in the states to tell him he had met a girl from Nebraska. Just goes to show how great we must be when we leave that kind of lasting impression!!

This was without a doubt 5 of the most relaxing days of my life. And truth be told I didn't know the beaches in Italy were this beautiful. It reminds me of Greece, water so beautiful you would think it was fake. I was hard to not "accidentally" miss my flight.

Kaufbeuren, Tempting . . .

Yesterday the chief actuary of Allianz Re invited the department out to his house in Kaufbeuren for a garden party and city tour. Apparently the universe wants everyone to move there because the day was absolute perfection. If it wasn't a one and a half hour drive from Munich I would be looking for a house out there right now.

We arrived at his beautiful home in the mid-afternoon and proceeded on our tour of the city. Let me just say that a city is so much more interesting when you know the history and have a private tour! It was another medieval city with the remnants of the city wall and a small chapel that was built something like 800 years ago! Just amazing. Then we proceeded back to his house and had Kaffee und Kuche (it is a tradition in German households to have coffee and cakes at 4 pm everyday. Unfortunately/fortunately this doesn't happen at work!) I could definitely get used to that though!

Then we sat and talked and watched the kids play and then they announced dinner was ready. Dinner?! I didn't know this was going to be part of the day and man was it a good part of the day. There was everything from quiche Lorraine, summer salad, shrimp, salmon wraps, and more. It was fantastic. Then we sat and drank and talked until it was time for dessert. Just when I thought I couldn't eat another crumb out came the tiramisu and Linzer torte. Well you can't say no to either of those so of course I had to try both. (I mean come on, I have to really experience the culture. Food and all . . .)

I think I was finally back in my apartment by 2 am, so I would have to say the day was a success. Now if only I could have a house like Marcus's in a city like Munich for a price like in Nebraska with weather like San Francisco. And while I'm wishing, I'd like to speak German better also.

Medieval Festivals in Germany Make Sense (History Wise)

Today I met my colleague Kornelia and her boyfriend in this little historic German city called Schongau. The city sits on the top of hill and still has the historical wall from the middle ages around it. They were having a Medieval festival in the city center and it had all the trimmings. Everything from people in full out costumes, lots of Bavarian food, wooden swords, massages, and of course "witch-oil" for all your witch-protection needs.

Then we went to the lake and laid there for a while in the sun before having an eiscafe, which is coffee with a scoop of ice cream in it. (It is just as good as you think it is!) I am so excited that Kornelia and her boyfriend will finally be moving to Munich next month. This way our adventures will be easier to organize and we can even play some Settlers of Catan!

Well, That's a First

I can't remember the last time I went to a romantic comedy with a group that consisted of any guys at all, but tonight I went to see The Proposal with not just one, but 4 guys. In fact, I was the only girl. The best part was that they actually liked it so I didn't feel too self-conscious about having suggested the movie. Luckily at our standard post-movie bar I got some reinforcement in the female sense so I could more easily defend our gender! Then we proceeded to plan a group trip to Amsterdam in October. All in all I have to say it was a very productive night.

Hiking Like the Germans Do . . .

That means: getting up at the same time on a Saturday morning as I do on a work day, hiking up steep ravines and down poorly constructed paths, taking a 9, 7, 5, and 1 year old, and doing all of this for 6 hours.

The CRO department organized a hike at Hoellentalklamm yesterday. It actually ended up being an Actuarial department hike with a couple others from the CRO department. The hike took place in the mountains right outside Garmisch-Partenkirchen which is where the Winter Olympics took place in 1936. The Hoellentalklamm itself is this amazing ravine that you hike through to get to the base of the Zugspitze which is Germany's highest mountain.

We only made it to a height of t 1,387 meters, but based on the number of times we went up and then down and then up and then down on the path I am pretty sure we hiked up at least 2,ooo meters. The day was great and the waterfalls, caves, forests, and snow were all very impressive. (Sorry Yosemite, this place may have you beat.) We stopped at the hut that was 1,387 meters up and had lunch and took a bit of a break before hiking back down using the alternative route.

Overall it might just be one of the most impressive hikes I have ever been on. And of course I didn't bring my camera, but I will try to get pictures from one of my co-workers so you don't all think I am a liar. I promise, it was one of those places that helps me understand why the Germans are so serious about hiking and go every weekend.

Oh and one of the best parts of the day was the car ride to and from the hike. I rode with one of my co-workers and we got to do about 140 MPH on the Autobahn. That will never get old. I might just be willing to pay the 1,000 euros and spend the hours it would take just to get my license so I can drive that fast myself. Oh speed, why are you so much fun?