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

Manic Munich Monday: The Foehn, Headaches, and Lack of Good Headache Medicine, Oh My!

I don’t think I say this enough, but I love Munich. It is a great place to live. However, (you knew there had to be a ‘however’) for some time now I have had an allergic reaction to this place (self-diagnosed). It manifests itself in severe sinus headaches. The type where the pain gets so bad you think, “If I could only remove my eyeballs, it would alleviate the pressure and I would not want to throw up anymore.” Usually before I attempt this, I remember that I am an art historian and therefore need my eyes.

What is worse is that there is not a single sinus headache medicine that they sell here that works for me. Trust me, I have tried them all. It usually takes me a while to communicate that I have a sinus headache to the pharmacist, as I am not the most efficient mime. This is just adding insult to injury.

Thus, every time someone visits me from the states I ask them to bring me some pseudo-ephedrine. See, friends and family back home, I am not trying to run a meth lab.

Recently, however, I notice these headaches come about when there is a change in temperature. So that makes me wonder if it is the Föhn. Or the winds that occur on the lee side of a mountain range, in this case the Alps. According to a reliable source, “These winds are often associated with illnesses ranging from migraines to psychosis.” There is even a name for this in German, Föhnkrankheit (i.e. Föhn-sickness). I was warned about this when I first came here, and scoffed. I guess I have been comeupped, since now I must deal with this.

In the meantime, I want to test out this theory. So if you know of a good Föhn-tracker online, let me know.

You might wonder why I am writing about this and not the public transit strike.
1. Service is not that disrupted. As I write this though, the tram I am on is stopped.
2. These kinds of strikes are just a way of life in Europe, so I don’t let them get to me. Also it is not as bad as in Italy or Greece.
3. Until the strikes cause me to want to remove my eyeballs, the Föhn sickness will still be worse. It will just get less press.