New Snow

 It's December in Munich and that means it gets cold and a bit snowy. Again - here is the view from the apartment.

 The kids and I walked to the bus this morning. After 4 inches of snow, there was no email from the school saying we have a delayed opening (never has happened) so off we went.

 The cars show the snow.

These bushes were there a few hours ago.  The bus pulled up on time and we had a full day of snow. Kids in Munich don't even dream of a snow day.

Christmas in Germany

 We would love to share some pictures of our preparation for Christmas 2012. The advent wreath is important and every household has one. Ours is a linear version.

 The candle in the foreground is our "count down candle".

 

Here is our living room and tree.

 

Boys to men and my photographers. Look at how hard they have become in Munich.

Our entrance shows our appreciation if Santa and Co.

 

What I cannot show as well is the snow outside - Cold (20 degrees) and blowing snow. 

Here's the view out the window.

 

Bayern Munich

 We won tickets to see a football/soccer game in Munich. We went to see Bayern Munich play in the European Champion's League game. The stadium can be lit depending upon who is playing - tonight Munchen so the stadium was red.

Getting tickets is not easy but Brian and David entered a lottery and somehow won. The tickets are face value $100 but you cannot buy them for  5X that cost.

Although it was early December in Munich, the 68K people were happy to be in the 25 degree temperatures. What you cannot see is the long underwear under our clothes.

The game was fun and the boys had an incredible experience. Munich won 4-1 and (almost) everyone went home happy.

Julia's new look

It's been 2.5 months since we posted anything - here is some of what's new in Germany.

 

Julia finished her 2 years of braces - just in time for Christmas.

She looks great and is quite pleased!

Oktoberfest 2012

Dan and Beth joined us for Oktoberfest - It was fun.
Here we are with 8000 of our thirstiest friends. 

 Behind us were the Dutch and in front was the Italians. Everyone singing and having fun.

 Lots of leather pants...

 ...and beautiful ladies in traditional Bavarian dress.

 

If there is a problem - see him.

 

Lazy Sunday

 Pictures say a thousand words.














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Visiting Bavarians....

 If you look this good, you can come to Munich and look good in traditional Bavarian dress.

The poor Hong Kong Oktoberfest will never be the same....

Feldl's Devil Wheel

 

One of the big hits for everyone was going to the devil wheel. It's one of the oldest things at Oktoberfest. It is a simple wooden disk that spins around and tries to throw the people off. Last man on the disk is the winner. The staff adds some extra problems for the participants including ropes and a swinging ball if the participants don't fall off from simply spinning.

The kids all did it yesterday. It becomes even more challenging (and fun to watch) later in the evening when the beer influenced participants try to play.

Here's a video of the boys.

Rides at Oktoberfest

 With our visitors, we have five children who love to ride the rides at Oktoberfest.

 We left the house early to ensure we could enjoy the rides without lines or problems from the Oktoberfest zombies.

 We were first in line (15 minutes before they opened) for the swings that go up 180 feet. "The longest 15 minutes of our lives..." was one quote.

 They buckled in

 Lifted up and...

 Dan and i joined for some of the rides including Top Spin.

 Rolling us round and round.

Here's the video

After a hard day, we retired with some brick oven pizza.

Visitors from HK

 We have some new visitors.

 The Hong Kong crew arrived and began doing some sightseeing in our neighborhood.

Maybe you even recognize the climbing tower from our Christmas card.

More to come...

Oktoberfest 2012 - opening

Oktoberfest 2012 is open. We went Sunday evening with Oliver and his new girlfriend Anastasia.

 Daphne was able to wear her new dirndl and a good time was had by all.

 Here's the gang dancing on the benches at the end of the evening.

Looking forward to going with Dan and Beth!

Gentlemen, start your ox....

 Today we continued our tradition of visiting local festivals and events with Joachim and Katharina. 

Today we visited Muensing, south of Munich which goes from being a small village of 2-3K

to hosting and event for 15K+ people. The event is held once every four years. It is - of course - Ox racing.

 We gathered on a cool and windy August day to watch the 24 competitors battle it out. I know what you are thinking - people only go to watch the crashes. While that has some truth, the day also was rich with tradition and good spirits. The "track" is a natural bowl in the farm land south of Munich and creates an amphitheater for viewing.

 

Kip walked through the 'pits' before placing a bet on the races.

 

Am I taking a photo of him or is he checking me out?

 The races were... interesting. When they did run, it looked quite exciting and dangerous. Most races had participants choosing to stop and relax, visit with the spectators lining the track, or turn around to run in the wrong direction. You needed to be on the beast as it crossed the finish line or you were not able to win. This means riders were constantly trying to remount if they fell off. Hardy folks.

Here's some short video. Please notice the excitement of the crowd (especially Brian).

Now if you want to see them "trading paint" like in Nascar, this is a better clip. Some of these boys are going to be walking with a limp in the morning but, as I told our boys why they do it, glory is forever.

We started to reflect on some of the snowmobile racing, dirt bike racing, etc. and came to the conclusion that any group of people, fueled by beer, decides that they need to race anything within reach at some point. Here in Muensing, it was Ox.

It was another global event to check off of our bucket list.

First day of school 2012

 First day of school is the best day of the year. No need to say more.

They need to go back.

Nice August weekend

This weekend was wonderful. We had 85-90 degree weather in late August. On Saturday we rode our bikes down to the river and jumped in. Well... the kids jumped in.

 The Official Safety Committee watched closely.

 Lovely day and the water was very cool and crisp. But then - it appears a leech or something similar found Julia.

 Is that blood?

 It turns out, several swimmers had the critters on their body. David was best able to describe the "pain".
Sunday brought another incredible day of 90+ degree weather so we headed back to our waterfall in the mountains by Krueth where we took our 2009 Christmas card photo.

 Clear skies and cool temperatures in the morning.

George was in heaven. Here is David posing while Brian is with Joachim.

 Some of the trails were tight but we made it work.

 This photo prompted the Official Safety Commission into action. Slippery rocks, moss, water, waterfall,.... what could go wrong on the rocks?

Brian doesn't seem to see the same issues as the OSC.
Here's a video of the fun.