More Germany stuff

Some more things about Germany...

• Laundry.  

Oh, boy.  Most people don't have dryers, they still hang dry their clothes.  Also, many apartments have community laundry rooms.  So you own your own washing machine (the capacity of which is much smaller than the average American washer) and put it in the community laundry room.  Then you hang dry your items on a rack in the community laundry room.  Luckily, our washing machine was in our storage unit next to the community laundry room and we bought a dryer (no hook-up required, it plugs in and the water collects in a tray you have to dump out after every load) because let's be honest, hang drying garments in the community laundry room wasn't going to fly for us.  And if you hang dry things in your apartment in the winter your whole house is moist forever because German apartments are so well built / insulated that there is no air circulation at all.  And who wants to wait 24 hours for one load of laundry to be done?!

But doing laundry in Germany isn't fast anyway.  A wash cycle takes two hours and a dry cycle takes two hours.  And we couldn't run the washer and dryer at the same time.  And since the washer and dryer were in the basement and we lived on the fourth floor I couldn't always get down to rotate them right when they finished because sometimes Pippa would be napping and I couldn't leave her alone.  What this amounts to is that on a very good day I could get two loads of laundry done.  I absolutely do NOT miss doing laundry in Germany.  As a side note, some people owned machines that were washers and dryers all in one.  They still had a really small capacity and still took really long to do a full cycle.

• Appliances are smaller.  I've already covered washing machines.  A normal German oven could barely, if at all, fit a full size Thanksgiving turkey.  A German fridge / freezer combo is what you would normally see in a USA hotel room.  The dishwashers are also significantly smaller.  T and I used to joke that Germany is a country built for dwarves.  
• Buying items in bulk is not a thing in Germany.  They don't even sell gallons of milk (only 1.5 liters) much less have bulk stores like Costco.  It's kind of surprising because Germany is super into recycling so you would think they would have bulk items to cut down on the amount of original packaging but they are more into super fresh food.  Most German recycling seems to be post-consumer not pre-consumer.  I actually think we had MORE trash in Germany than we do in the USA because nothing comes in family sized packs.  
• The pizza in Germany is terrible.  And we tried a lot of pizza there.  The basic problem is that it's mostly crust.  But not even fluffy crust, just flat boring crust.  There's almost no sauce and no cheese.  We did go to a Pizza Hut in Munich once and they did have regular (American style) pizza.  
• Germany has some really good pastries.  Like really good.  The best pastry I have ever had in my life came from Munich.  Sadly it was on like our 5th day in Munich in a far part of town that we never visited again and I didn't pay attention to what it was called.  But it was SO good!
• No food items have ziplock packaging.  Like shredded cheese, you just cut the bag open and it stays open.  The same with frozen fruit and everything else you wish came with a ziplock built in.  Also, you can't readily find regular ziplock bags.  It's all twisty tie.  
• Hot dog and hamburger buns do not come pre-sliced.  I know, a small thing, but definitely something we noticed. 

Germany vs America

Some German things (of course with more to come later):

• German ambulances drive so slow.  Like the same speed as everyone else.  Also, as you've probably noticed in the movies, European sirens sound different.

• Everything is smaller in Germany.  Everything.  Even the giant blue Ikea bags are smaller in Germany.

• German roads (suburban, freeway, rural, and city roads) are SO well maintained and so smooth to drive on.  I literally didn't see a pothole the entire time we were there.  

• You have to bag your own groceries in Germany.  And you better do it quick because those cashiers scan three times faster than any American cashier and the people in line behind you aren't patient.  The cashier will shove the next person's items right into yours if your items aren't all bagged yet. (The thing to do if you're buying a lot is just put all your items back in your cart as they are scanned, pay, then move to the side and bag your groceries from your cart.) 

• American cashiers are so chatty and friendly.  Germans (not just cashiers) are all about business. Most of the time I really enjoyed not having to do small talk (especially because my German never got very good).  With Americans, I feel the general mindset toward interactions with strangers is "I don't know you - we could be friends!"  While the German mindset is more of "I don't know you - why would we be friends?"  That's a pretty broad generalization and that's not to say that Germans are rude.  They are very polite and very helpful.  I can't count the number of times people offered to help me with the stroller getting on or off busses or held elevators. And of course, our first day in Munich everyone was so wonderful.  T had to go to work and we couldn't check into our hotel until the afternoon.  So I had baby in the stroller and vague directions and headed to a museum. But I had no idea how to buy a bus ticket (you buy it on the bus from a machine, not the driver).  I didn't know any German so I just asked in English and several nice people on the bus helped me get a ticket and get me and the stroller situated.  Then people offered to help me off the bus before the bus even stopped (it was pretty obvious I was struggling).  The older woman who helped me was so sweet and made sure I was okay and headed the right direction before she left us.  So Germans are very nice and helpful, just more reserved.

• Along those same reserved lines, I almost never saw German couples holding hands and I think I only saw two couples (and one couple was teenagers) kiss in public the entire time we were in Germany.  I hope T and I didn't make the Germans blush with all our typical American PDA.  

• Munich public transit is awesome.  It is my favorite system in the world (and we've seen London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, NYC, DC, LA, and SF).  There are so many busses, trams, S-bahns, and U-bahns and they run all the time and are always on time and so clean.  Every stop is labeled clearly (inside and out) and almost every stop has a board stating how long until the next tram or whatever is arriving. You can get anywhere in Munich on public transit.  It's also fabulous because all public transit is so stroller / wheelchair friendly.  Every station has elevators and escalators.  There are big dedicated places on busses and trams for strollers and wheelchairs, and there is lots of space (though not dedicated) for them on the S-bahn and U-bahn as well. 

• The German grocery stores carry food specifically marketed as "American."  Two examples (though there were many more):  "American Hot Dog Pizza" (exactly what it sounds like - pizza with hot dog slices as the topping) and "Chocolate yogurt with carmel and toffee bits" (this wasn't pudding - it was yogurt).  These aren't my translating errors, it's actually written on the product in English.

• Everyone smokes. Everywhere.  All the time. (This is not specific to Germany, it's all over Europe).  It's very common to see parents smoking as they push their infants in strollers or while watching their kids at the park.  It's considered rude to ask someone to put out their cigarette.  It's also very common to see groups of teenagers smoking.  The signs in the store say they will check id if you appear to be under 18 when trying to buy cigarettes.  Which is a joke to begin with but even more of a joke when you realize that there are cigarette vending machines on every fourth street corner.  We rarely ate outside at restaurants (well, we rarely at at restaurants anyway), even though that would be easier with Pippa, because that's where all the smokers were.  Pretty sure I inhaled more second hand smoke during our nine months in Europe than I have the rest of my life in American combined.  

And since you just read all that text, here's a photo (chosen at random) of Pippa from our time in Germany.  She's about 8 months old here and double fisting her broccoli and chicken.  Her eyes are still grey / blue here.  Now they are definitely hazel (grey / green / brown).

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is upon us.  Dun dun dunnnnnn.  Over the course of the two weeks of Oktoberfest, Munich's population swells by eight million.  And it's eight million drunk people.  Which is why we planned our huge France trip over most of Oktoberfest.

But today was the first day of Oktoberfest and we went.   At least 50% of of the people we saw on the U-bahn there and at Theresienwiese (where Oktoberfest is held) were wearing the tracht (traditional outfits) of lederhosen for men and dirdnls for women.   It's actually common to see these outfits everyday here.  They wear the traditional outfits in Bavaria for reasons like "it's Tuesday, so why not?"  There is not an ounce of irony when Bavarians wear their tracht.  Real life dirndls and lederhosen are very beautiful and classy looking and the images google pulls up of lederhosen and dirdnls look very cheap and Halloween-ish in comparison.  We really should have taken some photos of the people at Oktoberfest, but instead here are some photos OTHER people (thanks, Paige in Paris) took of people at Oktoberfest:

It's not just the older crowd that wears lederhosen and dirndls, either.  EVERYONE wears them:  parents, teens, little kids, grandparents.  There are some very trendy stores that sell very trendy lederhosen and dirndls.

Anyway, we got to Oktoberfest late in the morning and caught the tail end of the Oktoberfest opening parade.  The parade is pretty much bands and horses hauling beer kegs.  Here we are in front of one of the bigger beer tents.

They are called tents and they are temporary structures, but there is nothing tent-y about them.  They are multileveled and have balconies, windows, and architecture.  You can kind of see the parade in the background here.  We tried to get closer, but it was too crowded and we didn't want to crush baby.  Using the carrier instead of the stroller was a fantastic move on our part.  I really don't know how we would have maneuvered at all with a stroller.

It was bright out as evidence by the face baby is pulling.

Since we couldn't get close T had the idea to just move down a few "streets" and then we were fairly close.   The parade is blown out in the background, but baby and I look the best in this photo, so here you go.

The parade, another beer tent, and 10 points if you can spot the "Gandolf hat." (The Gandolf looking hats are actually "traditional" hats but I've only ever seen tourists wearing them).

This is what the horses are hauling.  Decorated kegs of beer.

A somewhat failed attempt at a family self portrait.

With a set of horses that hauls the kegs.  Well, actually it's like 6 or 8 horses that haul the ceremonial beer, but we couldn't fit all of them in the photo.

Getting into Oktoberfest is free so we moseyed around.  Even though Oktoberfest is 90% about the drinking, there are a ton of places to eat, things to buy, and carnival rides to go on.  That last one doesn't really make sense to me - why would you want to go on a crazy ride when you are drunk?  That's a recipe for disaster.

Walking through one of the biergartens we saw a woman (a waitress of beer, if you will) seriously carrying 10 steins of beer in her hands.  And just so you know a stein of beer holds about three bottles of beer.  (Again, photo from Paige of Paris)

She's putting the beer down here, but they walk across a whole beer tent like this without a tray or anything.  I actually couldn't figure out how they hold them all.  It's very impressive.

I'm glad that we went to Oktoberfest when we did because though there were a lot of people, the beer doesn't start flowing until the parade ends so very few people "pre-gamed" and were already drunk.  Quite a few families with little kids seemed to have the same idea.

I had to take the U-bahn again later today around 5:30 p.m.  Kind of funny to see the police standing in a line next to the tracks to make sure drunks don't fall on the tracks.  On the train some people had glazed alcohol eyes but there was only one loud obnoxious drunk and one falling over drunk.  But I imagine the real party crowd wouldn't be heading home at 5:30.

I'm glad we experienced a small bit of Oktoberfest and ever gladder that we will miss most of it.

The M Family

It's not exactly easy to make friends in Munich.  But we became good friends with the M family before they moved back to the USA.  They have three little girls and we loved hanging out with them.   These are from our last playdate the day before they left Munich.

 Okay, not quite.  These are before their last day.  Their Baby A (a few months older than Pippa) snuggled T.  Quite a rare (and happy) occasion for T to get a snuggle from a baby because Pippa is not a snuggler for either of us.

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The two older girls were playing with a set of play keys and kept "locking" T up in a cage.  Pretty sure the arm that appears to be coming out of T's head is one of the older girls attempting to lock him up.

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And these are from their last Sunday in Munich.  I love that they are all wearing traditional Bavarian dirndls.  I know these photos are all incredibly similar, but I feel like they really show how it is - especially the interaction between Pippa and the M family's middle girl.

Now THESE are from their last day in Munich.  We met at the Laim S-bahn, picked up some popsicles  and spaghetti (for the deer, of course!) and headed to Hirschgarten.

We started at the splash pad area.   Pippa was pretty fearless and I wish I would have brought my swimming suit.  C'est la vie.  I was surprised at how steady on her feet in the water Baby A was because she hadn't been walking very long.

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The older girls got tired of the splash pad so we moved on to feeding the deer spaghetti.  No idea who first found out the deer like uncooked spaghetti, but they do.

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S.M. (the lovely mom of these cute girls) is so impressive to me.  She had THREE girls and seemed totally fearless in taking them all over the city and seeing and doing so many things.  Lately I've been a bit whiny because we've had to take public transit to church the last month and it seems to take forever and it's always raining or dreadfully hot.  But then I remember the M family took public transit to church for almost six months.  And they were almost never late!

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The oldest girl (in the green skirt) would stick the spaghetti through the fence and as soon as a deer grabbed it she would jump back.  It was adorable.

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The middle girl REALLY wanted to feed a baby deer and finally one came over!

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Pippa slept on me in the carrier while everyone else fed the deer.

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Then we headed over to the playground.  This little girlie biffed it hard and cut her chin.  But she cheered up and was ready to play again surprisingly fast.

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The baby and Pippa are a bit different personality wise.  Pippa always wants to follow the big kids and play with them and this little one is happy to play by herself most of the time.

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I'm so glad I'm friends with S.M., an experienced mom.  It's probably typical first time mom stuff, but I was reluctant to put Pippa down in the sand or take her to the playground when she wasn't really mobile, just sitting and scooching a bit.  But S.M. just put Baby A right down in the sand and let her go to town.  She took her kids out to the playground in the rain.  She let them play in the water feature and get dirty.  None of these things were a big deal to her.  And so I did the same things with Pippa learned that it's not a big deal.  I'm very glad I learned these things (relatively) early in my mothering career.

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The playground had kind of a African / tropical theme.  German playgrounds are much more adventurous.  Pretty sure the USA ones are going to seem tame / boring by comparison.

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Baby A LOVES swinging.  Germany isn't big on baby swings, so when you find a park that has one it's kind of a deal.

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We put both babies in the swing at the same time.

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Pippa was having a lovely time, but Baby A wasn't so keen on sharing...  She gives Pippa the evil eye, but Pippa is too busy living it up to notice.

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Baby A winds up...

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And POW!  It was all rather humorous and Pippa wasn't hurt.

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The girl on the right LOVED to get up in Pippa's grill all. the. time.  And Pippa LOVED it.

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This is how we roll at the playground.

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Every single playground in Germany has sand.  I think it's one of Germany's quirky laws.  Like how you can't homeschool and pillows are considered passive weapons.

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Pippa went over to play with S.M. and Baby A totally got jealous and posessive.  It was really cute.

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When we first moved here Pippa and Baby A were pretty close to the same size, but clearly Pippa hasn't grown nearly as much as Baby A!

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When we left we took the same S-bahn train.  The M family got off a few stops before us and it was rough.  I really had to hold back tears.  We miss them so much.  They weren't just our favorite Munich people, they are some of our favorite people period.  Maybe one day we can live in the same city again...