Backyard Lounging

Playdate

The weather has been warm, and the neighborhood kids are playing outside. Gwendolyn was eager to join Lorna, Zoey and Sarah for a playdate in Kim's backyard.

Sarah instructed her little sister Zoey and Gwendolyn in a German song. Zoey is very used to her sister's enthusiasm and seemed nonplussed, but Gwendolyn was smitten. Sarah's mom is from New Zealand but her father is German, and she goes to German kindergarten. So she ends up speaking to moms in English but to kids in German. We're not sure Gwendolyn even noticed the language change, but who knows, maybe she is picking a little up?

Laundry

Drying machines are not common in Germany. Generally people hang their laundry on the line.

Or on clothes racks.

As you may have guessed, the Wren likes to be involved in all household tasks. Usually her "help" is a bit counterproductive.

It's perhaps little wonder that even the most basic housework becomes exhausting :).

Wildschwein

Throughout much of Jacq and Dado's visit, our host-guest roles seemed to be reversed - they made coffee for us, washed our dishes, and even cooked many meals. The culmination of which took place on our final evening together.

Dado had lived in Germany before and enjoys cooking traditional German food. For us he made wild pig, or Wildschwein - pork marinated in wine, majoram and thyme - delicious!

German beers come in large sizes

The maβ (pronounced "mass") is a liter of beer. And is the standard size (believe it or not!) in Bavaria.

We don't usually order this much, but sometimes our German language skills do not get us quite us quite what we think we're getting. (Fear not, Gwendolyn is chewing on the glass in this picture, not actually consuming the beer. Though with three new teeth on the way, some beer on the gums might be a good idea...)

And together with a maβ of beer? Some traditional pig knuckle, sauerkraut and potato salad - whew - hard core!

Grass lounging...

Gwendolyn took Jacq and Dado's visit as an opportunity to indulge in one of her favorite past times.

Lounging in the grass.

Jacq and Dado tried to demonstrate to her that other fun activities are possible in a park, but grass lounging remains at the top of Gwendolyn's list.

Surfing MUC

The Germans tend to be very law abiding. But not in all contexts.

There's a great spot in Munich that daily demonstrates the non-law abiding nature of many German citizens.

Right in the center of the city, a fortuitous accident of 70's engineering resulted in a permanent standing wave in the Eisbach, a tributary of the Isar River. It happens to be perfect for the urban surfer.

Every daylight hour, there are lines of surfers on either side of the river, waiting their turn. It's really a strange thing to see in downtown Munich! Here's a great article detailing a bit more about this urban oddity.

We've had a lot of fun bringing visitors here. It's great to watch the surfers, but sometimes even more fun to watch the spectators!

Saturday in Munich

Saturday began with some poses at my favorite Munich U-Bahn stop: Marienplatz.

I love these orange walls!

We then visited an art supply store.

Looking for colored pencils, among other things.

Followed by some aimless wandering. One unexpected finding - Jacqueline noticed that the pavilion in front of the Residenz, a spot David and I had passed through many times, is covered in mosaics made of sea shells, barnacles, and coral - who would have guessed?! Jacqueline has spent the last several months teaching herself how to make mosaics - and hence has a special eye for this.

Lakeside walking, potato shredding...

Friday we took a nice walk by Lake Starnberg in the sun.

We identified freshwater fish in multiple languages.

And had a great meal. Jacqueline kindly let the Wren take potato after potato off of her plate. Many of which she consumed.

But the majority of which she tore into small pieces and threw all over the ground. Gone are our days of placid baby sleeping through meals in restaurants?

Jacq and Dado!

We haven't blogged in a few weeks, and much has happened - and is about to happen. We will soon be driving to Bulgaria where we will spend the summer doing field research - more on that soon! But first to catch up a bit. My parents left for home, and the Wren was bereft. She spent the first day without them wandering around the house (with her new found crawling skills!), looking forlornly into each room for her disappearing visitors. The next day I took her to work, which consoled her and amused my colleagues, but resulted in me getting almost nothing done. And the day after that, our friends Jacqueline and Dado arrived from Stockholm. The Wren was very pleased!

There was much to celebrate - Jacq and Dado got married since we'd seen them last! We made this sign for them and tried to photograph ourselves holding it to congratulate them the day of the event.

This resulted in a number of comical pictures of us trying to keep the sign out of Gwendolyn's mouth, but we did finally succeed in getting a few photos that worked.

It was wonderful to see our dear friends again, now as a married couple!

Hohenschwangau Castle

The day before my family left, we drove into the Alps to visit the Hohenschwangau, another of King Ludwig II's castles.

Unlike the nearby Neuschwanstein, Ludwig actually lived in the Hohenschwangau for quite some time. It had a much more homey feeling - for a fancy German castle, that is.

During our tour of the interior, Gwen Wren became extremely fussy. This is before nursing.

And this is after - transformed within minutes! And then transfixed by the texture of cobblestones.

We hiked around the area a bit.

And then settled in for a meal in yet another great outdoor cafe.