Die erste Wohnung (the first apartment)

We will have two apartments here in Munich this year... Why?

(Skip this story if you already know it.) 
There is, near central Munich in a highly-sought-after neighborhood, an apartment building for visiting international scholars: http://www.ibz-muenchen.de  It is lovely, remarkably cheap, and has social hours and international clubs etc associated with it -- but you may only reserve it through the academic or research institution with which you will be working.  Thomas knew about this place ages ago, and one and a half years before we were to come, he called the institute where he knew he would do his sabbatical work to ask them to reserve an apartment for us.  They laughed and told him it was much too early.  So he called again one year before our arrival.  This time the answer was, oh sorry, they're all booked, you know they often are reserved a year and a half in advance... (!)  However, it turned out that one large enough apartment was available after Nov. 1st, so we will have that eventually.  In the meantime, after I spent some time last year looking at sabbaticalhomes.com, we found the place we are now.  And we have been very pleasantly surprised!

This first apartment, Orleansstrasse 53, is very close to the Ostbahnhof (east train station) and on a busy road, but we are in a lovely building two courtyards back from the road so it is remarkably quiet.  The first thing I noticed was the somewhat elegant "driveway" entrance (check out the ceiling decoration) after coming in through the locked wooden door to the 1st courtyard.

(The large door is the car "elevator" so tenants with cars can park below ground.)  We walk through the smaller door beside that to the second courtyard,

complete with bike parking, small patio, and potted lemon tree, then through another small corridor into our building.  I think these buildings must have been built at the turn of the last century -- the ceilings are high and there is a lot of attention to detail, including hand-painted decorations on the walls.

When I think of our apartment, I mostly think of the stairs:  they are lovely, but the glass roof above them, which makes it so warm and bright also makes it remarkably hot when the sun is out (good for drying laundry on the landing however).  We are on the 3rd floor (or 2nd, by German counting, where you start with "ground floor" and then the floor number corresponds to the number of stairways you climb) and since there is no elevator I know these stairs very well now.

Here are a few pictures in the apartment, which is relatively small, but is completely furnished (including linens and dishes etc.) and suits our needs just fine.  The kitchen is sunny and well quipped (except I miss a microwave!)...

 Yes, that little white box behind Thomas is the fridge!  It's a good thing we live very close to 3 grocery stores, since I end up shopping pretty much every day, as is more-or-less the norm here.  Without a microwave, and only a tiny freezer, I try to keep left-overs minimal, and so far so good.  Actually, we eat a lot of bread and cheese (and liverwurst) all of which are fabulous, and of course an easy meal, with the occasional salad and fruit thrown in...  The above picture was our first hot meal in the apartment:  a stir fry (after I figured out where to find ginger and soy sauce).

The kitchen is the best part of the apartment, but the rest is pretty good too...

The (single) bathroom is nice enough, but as Julia likes to point out, the shower curtain is "awkward" for sharing a bathroom since it doesn't close around the end (it's on a wire strung across the room) -- so whoever is at the sink gets a fine view of whomever is in the shower ;-)   Ah well.

There are only two bedrooms, but the kids are being remarkably cooperative in sharing the one room.  Of course it helps that Benjamin is an early bird, and Julia a night owl, so the overlap time is there is not so much...

One of the best things about this apartment is its location, at the edge of a very desirable neighborhood called Haidhausen, with lots of great shops, plazas, restaurants etc.  We have found wonderful bakeries, grocers, an authentic little butcher shop, clothing, shoes, a department store, at least two great Italian restaurants, plus many a place for an evening night-cap, all within a 5 minute walk.  Here's the fountain and flower gardens in a plaza a few minutes walk away, in the middle of this shopping area.  (We call it the "pretty platz" although it's officially Weissenburgerplatz... Don't get me started on the length of names and words here! :-) )

Not bad so far, eh?

Munich... the way city life should be.

Hello all!  Where to start?  My goal is to record here some of our experiences, musings, and of course pictures, of our year in Munich.  Naturally the first thing we did upon arrival was hit a beer garden, for which Munich is world famous.  Such a civilized way to socialize... great beer, good food (your own, or lots to buy there -- always soft pretzels), tables in the shade of the hickory trees, and the pleasant murmur of many people enjoying themselves.  I think we tested at least five different beer gardens in our first two weeks here.

  I know, it's surprising how much "Apfelschorle" looks like beer eh?  That's what the kids are drinking -- a mixture of apple juice and seltzer.  When it's really hot, like in our first week here, Thomas and I like to have a "Radler" which is half beer half lemonade.  It's amazingly refreshing, but comes only in "Mass" sizes (that's one liter).  Most of the regulars here have at least a Mass of pure beer -- I'm not quite there yet, but maybe soon!

As well as the 24(!) official "Biergarten"'s within city limits, Munich is full of lovely outdoor cafe's and good restaurants with seating along the sidewalks.  You can't walk anywhere without seeing people eating, drinking (an often smoking) at outdoor tables -- there is something very welcoming about all these people chatting over "kaffee und kuchen" as you walk around town.   I'll save my ravings about the bakeries for later!  Yummm.   And the wonderful yogurt and cheese, ahhh.

You can't help but be impressed by the city skyline here, with all the beautiful church steeples and impressive regal architecture.  The best view of downtown is from the the Alte Peter bell tower.  It's over 300 steps, and very narrow (interesting when people are going both directions on the tight stairway) but the sights from the top are well worth it.  (Too bad the city icon, the 2-steepled "Frauenkirche" has one steeple under construction here...)

Finally, besides food, drink and architecture, my description of "the way city life should be" would not be complete without praising the fabulous public transportation system.  The U-Bahn (subway), S-Bahn (commuter rail), tram and bus system in the city and beyond are efficient and easy and really not all that expensive.  I love that you just hop on and off without having to go through turnstiles or barriers, or pay the tram driver.  It's mostly an honor system, with easy ticket machines all over the place -- or monthly passes, as we now have -- although if you are caught without a ticket when the plainclothes "control" come on board, you can end up with a hefty fine.  Although the subway and S-bahn are faster, I mostly love the tram -- so smooth and quiet as it glides through city!
     And the BIKES!!! There are so many, and fun ones too.  I will try to get a picture of these elegant ladies in dresses on their commuter 3-speeds, as well as kids, parents, people in suits, students, everyone!  Really, as a pedestrian you have to keep your eye our more for bikes than cars by far, but the sidewalks are usually split (and marked) for bikes versus pedestrians.  We are in the market for 4 used bikes, so hopefully we will join them all soon.  There are really some lovely bike paths along the river (the Isar) and all through the city.   And you see lots of them on the commuter trains out to the Alps and everywhere.   More about the Alps coming soon...