My Favorite Things Thursday: Müller’sches Volksbad

Still smelling faintly chlorine, I thought I would sing the praises of my favorite indoor public swimming pool in Munich, the Müller’sche Volksbad.

When it was opened in 1901 it was the largest and most expensive public swimming pool (as well as the first public pool in Munich).  The funds for the swimming hall were provided by an Munich engineer, Karl Müller, hence the name “Müller’s Public Baths.”  This Jugendstil (that’s Art Nouveau to you) building was designed by Carl Hocheder.  It was built along the river not far from the Deutsches Museum, which means it is my neighborhood, Au.

(Sorry about how blurry some of these pictures are, I was sneaking them with my iPhone)

The building originally cost 1.8 million gold marks. Pretty impressive for the turn of the century

I have read that the water reserve is kept in a tower here, I am guessing this one

The part of me that still likes fairy tales, is a sucker for Art Nouveau

This one is concerned because her baby looks like a monkey

I love the details you find everywhere on the building.

Blurry, but you can get a sense of what it is like inside.

The next time I have to teach the second half of survey, I am using this in class

When you pay to use the pool, you are given a time card which lets you into the rest of the building, you then put the card in a little post box sized cabinet and receive a key to wear around your wrist. This key has the number of your locker.

This is the larger pool, which was originally for men. It is colder than the smaller pool and therefore is better for lap swimming. Photo: not mine 🙂

Formerly the women's pool, it is now nice and warm and great for floating. You can admire the beautiful stucco work of the ceiling while you bob along

After the hard exercise, you will need sustenance. Fortunately, there is a great little cafe here

There is also something they call a Roman-Irish bath, I have never used these saunas and anyway I couldn’t take my phone in if I did. Next time you are visiting Munich, skip your hotel’s pool and swim in this restored gem of a building.

Wunder Wednesday: Innenstadt

It’s clean…too clean.

Since I am about to board a plane for a week/long trip in the US, I thought instead of writing about a specific place here, I would write about all of central Munich. Why? Because it is so damn clean. Also because it will be a week before I am surrounded by this level of cleanliness again, I wanted to celebrate our fair city.

I first thought Munich was kept this way by some sort of elves who totally lost out when they were assigning elf jobs.

(Ok! Listen up people. Group A, you guys get to save Middle Earth. Group B, you’re helping Santa. Group C, get to baking cookies, especially those grasshoppers–those are delicious. Group D, uh…let’s see what’s left…um…go and keep Munich tidy.)

But then I started seeing who is really responsible, people like these men.

Not only is he washing the bus stop shelter, he has to put up with the “advice” of this woman. I salute you, sir.

Salmagundi Sunday: My Favorite Things Meets Food Friday

I was more than a bit of a slacker this week with the blog and missed my favorite day, Food Friday. Try as we might, we humans can never go back in time. (Unless we inexplicably have a crazy scientist friend and a DeLorean). Therefore, I am combining Thursday and Friday’s posts into one.  The subject is the Österia, my favorite restaurant in Munich. I am stealing photos from their website.

[What is Salmagundi? A reliable source says it is 1. a salad plate of chopped meats, anchovies, eggs, and vegetables arranged in rows for contrast and dressed with a salad dressing or 2. a heterogeneous mixture. Obviously, my title refers to definition number 1]

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. The name.  A mix of osteria (literally translated from Italian it means a place where the owner hosts people) and Österreich (German for Austria). You gotta love puns.  Also it feels very much like a neighborhood place. Maybe because it is in my neighborhood.

2. I also love the atmosphere and decor.

 

Front of the Restaurant

 

 

The 'back' of the restaurant

 

3. The food is amazing. Thursday night I had pasta in an orange infused sauce with crab. For dessert I had chocolate gateau (the top part was like a brownie, the rest smooth creamy chocolate) with some sort of sorbet on the side.

 

I know this is a blurry picture, but I was taking it in a dark restaurant with my iPhone surreptitiously

 

As my friend said the next night, “how is any of this Austria?”  My answer, “well, Wiener Schnitzel is always on the menu.”

4. The Wine, which is in fact all Austrian. It comes from Oesiwine which is next door and is really all part of the same thing. Now you might say,  “Austrian wine??? I have had Grüner Veltliner and was not all that impressed.” And I would answer, “But that is why the wine here is so amazing. It is ridiculously good and they know how to pair things.”  [Alternatively, you might say, “This is a boring blog post.” My answer would then be full of obscenities.]

So if you are in Munich and looking for a great place to eat check it out.  If you do, you better damn well invite me.

Manic Munich Monday: Bells, Bells, Bells

An early morning-mare woke me up at around 5:30am.  I think the stresses of the impending conferences are weighing heavily on my mind, since I dreamed of trying to prepare at the last-minute for a colloquium.  For some reason, I had to put on a production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. A task made all the more difficult, because I do not even know the plot of this play. I think my sub-conscious is trying to tell me something.  I was just getting back to sleep, when they started.

“The bells, bells, bells, bells–

bells, bells, bells…

How they clang, and clash, and roar!

What a horror they outpour

On the bosom of the palpitating air”

Yes, Ol’ Mr. Poe clearly captured the experience of the tolling of the bells, bells, bells. Still, he only had to contend with the bells of Fordham University’s church in the Bronx. I, on the other hand, am surrounded.  When you first move to Europe, you think, “Oh, how lovely! How charming!”  As the mornings go by you begin to think you can tune them out. Then, the important holidays come. The bells toll about every 30 minutes…from each church.  Not so bad you think? It wouldn’t be if each church didn’t take turns, meaning that you are forced to listen to almost non-stop chiming.

Still, all things considered, if this is one of my chief annoyances, living in Munich must be pretty cushy.

Food Friday: Schnecken!!!

I woke up at 5:00 this morning. Thanks to all the cold medicine, I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin. I couldn’t fall back asleep because I was pretty sure that my toes wanted to remove themselves and go for a walk on their own. [Incidentally, this is why I could never do real drugs. The prescribed amount of Nyquil is enough to mess with my head].

I also knew that I had to wait three more hours before I would be able to procure some much-needed juice. The thought of going out in the drizzle was made all the worse by the fact that the Schlecker (a drug store like Walgreen’s or CVS but without the useful pharmacy part) next door just went out of business.  As their sign points out there is another Schlecker 300 meters away. In my book, however, that is 300 meters too far. Schlecker you have permanently lost my business! It is Rossmann from now on.

That's right Schlecker (barely visible in the background of this photo of a parade for FC Bayern), you are dead to me!

Thus, I had to set off on a five-minute walk to the nearby bakery. It wouldn’t be so bad, if the bakery wasn’t so full of beautiful baked goods. They practically beg you to buy them. “Look at me! I am covered in powdered sugar!” or “Screw that guy, I have a yummy sugar glaze and lots of raisins!” I knew I would have to fight against their powers of persuasion. It was a hard-fought battle.  If I were a Klingon, I would have composed a song about this glorious fight.

That is right, I lost to a Schnecke (literally: snail). It is not too difficult to figure out the etymology (or do I mean entomology?).  Do not be deceived! This is no mere cinnamon roll (patouey!!).  The dough has a different, flakier consistency. The icing is more like a glaze. My favorite are raisin schnecken, which unfortunately they did not have this morning. This did not deter me, as a purchased a nuss-schnecke instead.

According to a reliable source, in some parts of Germany it is called Schneckennudel (snail noodle). Now doesn’t that sound yummy?

Wunder Wednesdays: Die Apotheke

I had planned to write about the Alte Pinakothek, or the Müller’sche Volksbad, or Andechs, or really anywhere else today to fit the Wednesday theme of my favorite places in Munich. When I woke up this morning, however,  my body screamed, “Get thee to an apothecary!” (My body tends to get its Shakespeare quotes mixed up).

I looked at the clock. As it was only 6:30, I knew I had to wait two more hours until I could find a pharmacy in order to yell, “What, ho! apothecary!” (I don’t get my Shakespeare quotations as mixed up and I like to say What, ho!)

As soon as 8:30 rolled around, I quickly (as quickly as a sick person can move quickly) went to my local Apotheke. To me Apotheke is about 13.7 times better than the word Pharmacy.

What, ho! apothecary!

Now I have been known to complain about the lack of 24-hour pharmacies or that all real medicine (i.e. not homeopathic stuff), including ibuprofen and cold medicine, must be purchased at the Apotheke from behind the counter. In fact, I was complaining about it this morning.

Still there is something nice about telling someone what is wrong with you when you feel like death warmed over. Also they throw in a free pack of tissues and some zinc drink mix. Come on,who doesn’t like free stuff?! As I am feeling slightly better I thought I should sing the praises of my Apothekerin in blog form.

Consider them sung.

Time for miso soup and then sleep

Week of Oww: Movie Night

Until I moved to Munich I hadn’t been in a video rental store in ages thanks to Netflix.  However, my apartment came with a huge flat screen tv and a dvd-player that only works with region 2 dvds (grrr). Unless I wanted to spend money on movies that wouldn’t play anywhere else I would have to break down and go back to a rental place.  There is a nice little one on Humboldtstrasse, with an owner who is in love with Tina Fey (so you know I had to rent from here).  Also the sign says they have VHS, how great is that?

Anyway renting from here taught me some valuable lessons about Germany.

1. Germans really love forms. I had to fill out three pages to get a membership card.

2. They are wary of online business in almost any form, hence nothing comparable to netflix.  They also freaked out with Google street view.

3. The sign says family and adult videos. I have learned that “adult videos” does not mean same thing here. When I was getting the membership last year the owner was telling me how the adult ones couldn’t be rented from the automat. As I am not a fan of porn, I told him that wouldn’t be a problem. He just laughed at the stupidity that is an American.

4. From conversations with the owner I learned that not only are shops not open on Sundays, they are not allowed to be.

Anyway since we have had nice weather for a while I haven’t rented anything for months. Suggestions?

Week of Oww: Little Italy?

I don’t really like most German coffee. That being said, any cup of coffee I have had here is about four hundred times better than any cup in Austria (especially Vienna). Austrian coffee always tastes sour to me, which is a shame because Vienna has an amazing cafe culture.  Italy has spoiled me. Some mornings I wake up in beautiful, pleasant Munich I beat myself up for choosing to work on a German topic instead of an Italian one.  Fortunately, when I feel this way I can stop at the corner near the Kolumbusplatz Ubahn station at a small Italian cafe, for an amazing and cheap cappuccino (and a cornetto if I am feeling gluttonous). I also get to use my wonderfully limited Italian. So if you find yourself in Munich and need a coffee stop here.

I snuck this picture yesterday, which is why it is so blurry. The guy paying caught me and thought I was interested in him, so he kept winking at me as I was waiting for my cappuccino. I would like to point out some of my favorite things about the place.

1. Fresh juice

2. Cornetti (which are different from croissants. They are less buttery, usually have filling, powdered sugar)

3. Italian hot chocolate mix in the back (which is more like pudding)

4. The owner, who knows exactly what I want and starts making my coffee with the perfect amount of sugar when I come in.

Week of Oww: The Isar

Since the high today is only going to be 52 F/12 C (doesn’t that make it sound even colder?), I thought I would talk about sunning and surfing on the Isar in Au.

Here is our river after heavy rains (i.e. all the time). The tower in the background is of the Deutsches Museum, which is an enormous/boring science museum in the middle of the river. Its basement is constantly flooded. The museum marks the northern border of Au.

Anyway when life gives Munichers floods, they make weirs, which allow for…

surfing!!!

This is Germany so you need to line up and take turns. Of course you need to guard your spot in line with your life.

If you are like me and surfing is way too active for you (also did you see how fast that water is moving?), you can go to the southern edge of Au by the Wittelsbacherbrücke and catch some skin cancer.

There is the Wittelsbacherbrücke in the background. The city of Munich has been working to make the areas around the Isar nicer and more environmentally friendly. Here a bank is made and you can go sit out in the shallow relatively clean water.

But be warned the water is FREEZING! Those surfers were wearing wetsuits if that gives you any idea about the water temperature.

Now I am off to brave the August cold in my wool coat!

Week of Oww! (My Neighborhood and its Evirons)

In Munich I live in the neighborhood of Au. Stub your toe and if you are not inclined to profanity like me you will have correctly pronounced Au.  It is southeast of the Altstadt just on the other side of the Isar river.  If you know German (especially the Bavarian/Austrian variety), you will know that Au means floodplain. When you see “au” at the end of a town name it usually is by some water.   If you go to the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum you can see really cool maps and wooden models of Munich (yes I just called maps and models cool) and you will see that this part was mostly made up of farms even in the nineteenth century.  A lot of what is now built here is pretty modern by European standards. This is just one of the reasons I often forget I am living in Europe.

Anyway to start the week of Au, I thought I would be a good art historian and talk about the three large churches that surround me.

The only one of these technically in Au is Mariahilf:

It is the main parish church of Au and was built between 1831 and 1839 in a Neo-Gothic style. There was an earlier church here, but it was smaller (I think a church for a small monastery). Like the other two churches it was enlarged for the growing population and to celebrate old Germany. It was all part of the Romantic movement that swept over Europe at this time. In the foreground of this picture you see the tops of the stalls set up for the Auer Dult, a big market they hold here.

The Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche (I see from my window, technically it is in Giesing to the south)

This nineteenth-century church replaced a twelfth-century one. It is cheesy, but pretty to look at night while I fall asleep.

Maximilianskirche is across the river, so it is in Glockenbachviertel and not Au, but i can see it from my side so it counts.

The church was finished in 1908 and I think it is an interesting mish-mash of architectural elements. Like many things here in Munich it was heavily damaged in WWII.

If you can’t pronounce my neighborhood correctly after this boring blog post, then there is just no hope for you.