I love Munich. Many years ago, when my ex-husband was working for Siemens, he was given the opportunity to go on a one month assignment to Munich. We jumped at the chance. At that time our older daughter was 2 years old and I was working as a contractor, so we were mobile. What a great experience.
I don’t speak German, but that didn’t matter. Most people speak “some” English, so asking questions and getting around was not an issue. I remember going to Oktoberfest and being really surprised AND not in a good way. I thought Oktoberfest was like the inside of the Hofbräuhaus, instead it was a big outside Fair and the drinking 
was done in tents and the weather was cold!
That’s Ok, it just wasn’t what I had visualized. There was a ferris wheel, different outdoor games, etc. I felt like I was at an American Fair. However, riding the train to Oktoberfest was fun, because people were dressed in their lederhosen and dirndles with the green hats and feathers. I took a photo today of this street singer dressed in tradtional Bavarian outfit.
It happens that my hotel has a view of the Hofbräuhaus. As I heard the singing, I remembered being in Munich for the World Cup in 2006. All of the soccer players were coming in town from different countries, they had their jersey’s on and they were excited, the fans were too, so there was a lot of drinking and singing going on.
For those of you who don’t know much about the Bavarian dress, I took a picture of 
this retail shop’s window, so you could see how the ladies would dress and what the men wear. I highly recommend a trip to Munich. It is so much fun and who knows, like me, ladies you might just go home with a dirndle. I’ve worn my dirndle to holiday cocktail parties many times. The guys would say I looked like a cute “Swedish girl.” So ladies, if you are single, dirndles are a good way to make conversation.
And men, “in Munich,” ALL guys wear ledershosen with bright colored shirts. You can do it too! Make sure you wear the red knee high socks with tassels. Am I scaring you yet? You gotta dress the part AND don’t go on the ferris wheel if you’ve been drinking!
Like a good Italian, I owned a Bialetti Moka Express that I bought in Italy. I say, “owned,” because like a good mother I gave my little espresso machine to my daughter when she went off to College.
Today I thought of my ex-father/n/law who is in heaven. He was 99 years old just shy of turning 100 when he passed away a few years ago! He was from Germany and loved breakfast. His favorite place to go for pancakes was “The Original Pancake House.” We would often go every weekend after church. A family ritual for Opa. His favorite pancakes were the 49er pancakes. A nice memory.
Unfortunately, due to tough parking, I was 30 minutes late. The line for being seated was so long that I was too shy to go through the line asking, “Are you a member of the Midwestern Meetup Group?” It wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if I had had a megaphone and made a Midwestern joke, but I hadn’t been prepared for such a crowd.
More pancakes. I work with two Ukranian Technicians and their mother’s often make crepe style pancakes, but instead of making them sweet, they add chicken or a vegetable and roll it up. Last week one of them shared with me a chicken crepe. He told me when he was young his mother made a lot of dinner dishes using these thin pancakes.
