Munich weekend

Seb and I spent a weekend in Munich during the Munich Hi-End audio show.  Seb wanted to attend the event for two days while I wanted to visit our dear friend Nicole and her family. It was the first time we met her baby girl. 

We took the 7.20 am flight on saturday and reached Nicole's place by 10am. I spent the day with her and her girls strolling along the streets. The neighbourhood was holding a backyard sale / flea market. It was interesting as people put up stands and tables right in front of their appartments. There was usually a small table with food and drinks, and neighbours and friends chatted while waiting for buyers. 

I managed to get one musical box with story cards in French. The boys could choose a card and read the short story while the music played for a minute. 

We headed to the nearby park for the older girl to play and had her afternoon snack. In the evening, Seb came and picked me up. Upon Nicole's recommendation, we had dinner at Max Pett, a vegan restaurant. We were not disappointed.

We headed to our hotel for a night's rest and early next morning, Seb headed back to his show while I took a bus to Nicole's place. 

The family was invited to a birthday celebration and I tagged along. It was an hour and a quarter's drive from Munich. Schliersberg Bahn was the place and we took a funicular to get to the top. It is a family friendly place.

The view from Schiliersberg was breath taking.

There are self service restaurants, playground, giant trampolines, hotel and a heated pool. I spent a lovely afternoon chatting with the germans in english. I wish more french are open to speak english like their neighbours. I also spent the time eating white sausage with sweet mustard sauce along with a small beer. And then a burger with sparkling apple juice.

By 4pm, I walked down to the car with Nicole pushing the pram and another friend. Andreas and Nicole's older girl slided down on the summer toboggan run. It looked so fun. I have to bring the boys here the next time.

Andreas kindly drove me to the airport. I met Seb at the beer garden. We had a light dinner, shopped at the supermarket and took our flight back. This was the first time I traveled overseas with a backpack as baggage.

We reached home on sunday at almost midnight. Seb's mother had come and stayed at our place since friday evening to help take care of the boys and the pets. We are grateful for her help.

This trip though short was fulfilling. Seb was happy with his show. I was very happy to meet Nicole and her family. We had a good catch up and we enjoyed the time we spent togather. How I wish Singapore is a throw away like Munich.

Munich holiday

We spent a few days in Munich over the long weekend. Thursday the 14 May was Ascension Day. The boys skipped half a day's school on wed as well as school on friday. We drove 900km to reach Munich which meant that Wed was spent in the car. Sunday's return trip was the same.

We knew that the weather would be cold and grey so we went prepared. On Thursday, we met up with Nicole and family. We met Sara for the first time. The last time we were in Munich, Nicole announced the good news that she would be a mother. Now, Sara could walk. Two years passed fast.

Under the light rain, we walked towards a few different parks. The boys had fun playing at the various playgrounds. It was really "park-hopping".

On Friday, Seb went to visit the Hi-End show. As for us, we visited the BMW World with Nicole. There were a lot of tourists trying out the various BMW car models. There were also MINIs and I tried it with the boys.

There was a small three wheeled car zipping around. Mainly kids took turns to take a ride. A staff member drove it. Look carefully. The car door was actually in front and the steering wheel was attached to the door. It was a cute prototype.

I like this BMW below. It is compact and small. However I am not too sure it is on sale in France.

On the second floor were the BMW motorcycles. My boys tried on all of them taking turns to be the rider and the passenger. They spent much more time with the motorcycles than the cars.

 After the free visit to BMW World, we went back to Nicole's place for lunch. The boys helped to push the pram. Sweet darlings.

 In the afternoon, we strolled along the street and headed to the Deutsches Museum (Technology and Science). A2 was crying as he did not want to visit a museum. He wanted to play in the park despite the rain.

But once he was inside, he forgot about his protests. The boys were amazed to see different kinds of transportation. Old boats, new boats, big boats, small boats. And there were planes and helicopters. And there were trains and space shuttles. A1 loved the astronaute area.

After the museum visit, I went back to the hotel with the boys. Seb joined us and we headed for dinner nearby. We stayed at Novotel Munich which was very well situated in the centre of Munich. There were many good eateries nearby. The down side was that I did not appreciate the bed so did not sleep well during the stay. 

The next day, Seb went for the Hi-End show again while we went to the zoo with Nicole and family. Before that, we had breakfast just in front of the city hall. It was not unusual to see the Germans in their traditional costumes. 

 Munich is really a family friendly place. In the zoo, there were a few playgrounds. The size was just nice for an afternoon visit. We saw many animals and while having lunch, the boys played at the playground.

 We left the zoo and headed to a nearby beer garden for afternoon snack. Seb joined us there. Along the way, we passed by the Isar river. There were people BBQing along the beach with their portable BBQ. Children splashing in the calm water. And at another bank with stronger current, teenagers swimming. There was even a small island for nudist. Crossing the bridge, we could spot a few exhibitionists.

No visit to Munich can do without a drink at the Beergarden. However this was the first time Seb and I did not get a beer. The boys played at the park and a boy tore off the paper hat from the zoo that A2 was wearing. A2 came crying and would not want to go back to the playground with 'bad kids'. He wanted to go to a playground with 'good kids'. My funny boy. After a while, he went back when he was sure that boy was no longer there. We chatted and snacked until it was time to go home.

For dinner, we had tapas nearby our hotel. On the way back, the boys played a game counting the cars parked along the road that were the same brand as mine or Seb's. In the end, there were more BMWs than Volkswagon. Wow. Indeed, there were mainly German cars in Munich but there were a significant number of BMWs. I wonder if they were much cheaper there.  

On Sunday, we checked out early from the hotel and had breakfast at Nicole's place. We bade our last good byes and drove back home. This time, we did not stop long for rest and meals and reached home in a record of 11 hours. It was not easy for the boys and I am glad that they were patient boys. 

Munich again

On the second week of A1's school holiday, we drove to Munich and spent a few days there. We left the house at 5am and reached Munich at 5pm. We had a few toilet stops, a lunch break at Stuttgart and got lost while in Munich looking for the service appartment. We stopped by a gas station and bought a map. While we were checking the map, a man knocked on our car's window and offered to help us. He spoke french as he could see that our car's plate was french. What a good samaritan.

 

We stayed at Concept Living service apartment. It came with a bedroom and a studio with self contained kitchen. A supermarket was 5mins drive away and we made a simple lunch once. The location was good and it was only 4 train stations away from Marienplatz. There was a direct bus from the English Garden.

 

Our first day was a rainy day and we drove to Marienplatz for dinner. The next morning, we shopped at Lugwig Beck. Seb loved to visit the music section of this big departmental store. We met Nicole and her boyfriend for lunch at the Augustiner Keller restaurant. After that, it was the usual stroll to the English Garden for beer. The boys had ice cream.

 

On our third day, we drove to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle which was 123km from Munich. Nicole joined us. More on that castle in the next post.

 

Seb went to visit the Hi Fi exposition the day before we left. It was bigger than the ones in France and he spent a whole day there. The rest of us met Nicole in the city and as it was raining, we went back to our service appartment. We bought cakes and made tea and spent the afternoon calmly. Nicole played with the kids and read to them. When Seb came back, we all had dinner at a nice Italian before sending Nicole home.

 

The next morning, we packed and headed home. It was another 10 hours drive back. We stopped by Chinatown in Paris for dinner. It was a fruitful trip. The kids and my mum love Munich. Seb got his day visiting the Hi Fi exposition. I got to catch up with Nicole in person.

 

Below are some photos of our visits. There was one of the children with their grandmother in a moment of calm. Yes, when they were watching a TV programme for kids.

Munich again

I just realised that the last time we visited Munich was almost 4 years ago. Wow. Time flies. We spent 4 days over the long weekend to visit Nicole and celebrated her birthday.

The weather was great and at times too hot. This time round, we flew there. Once everyone was settled on the packed plane, the pilot announced that a technical problem had to be fixed before we could fly. It took 2 hours for the repairs to be done and during this time, no one could leave the plane because we were in the middle of no where. We took a bus to get to the plane. No other plane was available and some passengers were complaining as flights between Paris-Munich catered mainly to business purposes.

Baby A fell asleep once the plane started moving. He woke up only when we landed. My fear that he would have ear pressure due to altitude changes were unfound. At Munich, Nicole and her dad came and fetched us. We had a late lunch prepared by Nicole's mum before heading back to our hotel to freshen up. Baby A enjoyed exploring their home and even played with Nicole's childhood toys.

In the evening, we had dinner at Ratskeller's in the city hall's court yard. The next day, we celebrated Nicole's birthday at the Beergarden in the English Garden. During this trip, we visited the uptown, the Residenz Musuem and the Tresury Musuem. Seb had a great time browsing thru' the huge collection of Jazz and Classical CDs in Ludwig Beck and of course trying to be reasonable in his purchaes.

As the FIFA World Cup was going on, we watched in a beergarden the live broadcast of Germany against England on Sunday. Germany won and the atmosphere was great. Baby A entertained himself with the pebbles on the ground.

As this was not our first time in Munich, we were cool with this trip. No rushing, no plans. Just leisure. Still, we were dead tired at the end of each day. It was not easy to travel with a baby who just walked and me being pregnant. Baby A did not want to eat baby food jars and throughout the trip, we shared our meals with him. We ordered food in function of what Baby A could eat. One thing for sure, he loves bretzels and we love Munich.

3 times in Munich over 3 weeks

This is written to myself for future reference:
I write so much lesser over here because I have been very busy. Even the journals I kept for baby A and his younger sibling had not been updated recently.
Well, I was away in Munich every week for 3 consecutively weeks. The first week for a day, the second week for 2 days and the third week for 3 days. Work obliged but they were good trips. In one of them, I even got to meet up with Nicole for a nice catch up. We will see each other again in end June for her birthday bash in Munich.
I guess I would allow myself another worktrip in first week of June if necessary. After that, I would be too big to move easily. Already, my back was starting to hurt.
For the next few weeks, I would still remain somewhat offline here. Because Tim and gf are coming to visit. I already put up a nice itinerary for them and sincerely hope that they will enjoy their time here.
Ending: Baby A weighed 10.15kg and measured 74cm as of last thurs. Really an average boy in perfect health. Here, he was looking out at the balcony with his friend Evan.

September vacation

Seb and I went visiting Nicole in Munich in Septembre. We took the night train at Gare de l'Est and the journey took us more than 10hours. This was not the first time that I took an overnight train but it was the first time in a sleeper train. It was of course not easy to sleep as the beds were small and the train was moving and sometimes stopping abruptly at small train stations.

Once we reached Munich, Nicole was there welcoming us. It was so good to meet her after so many months. We took the metro to her place. And interesting in Munich, there was no barrier or gate for entering the metro station. It was based on a trust system. There was a machine for validating the tickets but just no gate.

Our tireness was pushed away after a good coffee at her place. After a quick shower, we started our Munich walk. As she lived near the English Garden, we started with it. The park was really big. There was a big lake and home to different species of ducks. There was a beer garden and we drank beer and ate roasted chicken while listening to the Bavarian brass band playing in the chinese pagoda nearby. The atmosphere was really festive. And it was a working day. People were really cool and you could see families and friends chatting over beer. As we walked around the English Garden, Nicole pointed out to us the nudist lawn. Here, there were naked bodies suntanning. The nudist lawn was separated by just a small stream. There were however one or two naked people lying in the non-nudist lawn just along the path we walked.

We continued our walk in the heart of Munich. We visited the Theatinerkirche church, Viktualienmark; where there was a brass band playing, Hofbräuhaus brasserie; where there was another brass band playing and the City Hall (see pic on left). We also visited the various monuments and historic buildings in Munich like the Olympiapark constructed for the 1972 Olympics, the site for the coming Oktoberfest. It was a pleasant city with colorful buildings. The interior of the churches were white and clean and well maintained. A big contrast to the cathedrales of France.

I drank beer at almost all meals. One breakfast I took weisswurst (the white sausage) that should be eaten with Suesser Senf (a sweet, grainy mustard) and brezel with a beer. That was impressive.

After spending two days in Munich, we took the train to Salzburg which was about 2 hours from Munich. We crossed the border and arrived in Austria. Salzburg, birthplace of Wolfgang Mozart. There was Mozart written everywhere in this little town. We spent our day walking along the small streets with their famous metal shop signs hanging outside shops.

For lunch, we tried the famous apple strudels as dessert. After that, we walked up to the fortess Honensalzburg. It was big and like a mini-village. The view from the fortess was beautiful with the surrounding Alps.

At the end of the day, we took the train and stopped mid-way of Munich at Lake Chiemsee. We stayed at Nicole's summer apartment for the night.


Lake Chiemsee was huge and had 2 islands on it. We took the boat for visiting the 2 islands. The first island called Herrenchiemsee had a castle modelled after Versailles built by King Luwig II. He revered the French Sun-King and created with this castle, a monument to absolute monarchy.

The second island Frauenchiemsee housed some beautiful houses and a convert. There were plentiful of blooming gardens. We had a fish sandwich there. The fish was caught from the lake.

In the evening, we continued our journey back to Munich. On the last day of our stay in Munich, we walked along the river Isar and visited the outskirt of Munich the baroque palace Nymphenburg SchloB. We spent a great 5 days of vacation and it was really kind of Nicole to be our guide. Munich is really a nice city to live in. The people are sociable and the life style is cool. The streets are well planned and big with large pavements for walkers. It is not at all a boring city. We will definately be back there to visit the Bavarian region one day.