blogging at the speed of light.

Let's face it...I've been truly, truly slacking off on this blogging thing. Much has transpired over the last few weeks...most of it relatively unimportant, but fun and interesting nonetheless. Here's the important bit: our friend Nanda had her baby two days ago, and I got to go visit them today. Little Finn is by far the newest baby I've ever seen, but super tiny and cute and--despite his parents' protestations--quite entertaining. How can he make so many faces in such a short amount of time? How can his tiny wrinkle-y fingers be so tiny? And can he possibly love the little green monster that I made for him as much as I (and pretty much all adults, apparently) love it?

This may be my finest work yet. Along with the wiener dog, the turtle, and the plesiosaur. And all hippos and octopi out there. Plus a few blankies and hats. And a teddy bear here and there. Ok...so I love them all.

In other news, we've been doing a little short-range traveling, and it's been a good time. But first, there was Sechseläuten on April 16. You remember...the exploding snowman holiday. One of my favorites. As you may (or may not, whatever) remember, the snowman is Zürich's rough equivalent to the groundhog: the faster his head explodes, the longer and nicer summer will be. Despite the rain and wretchedly cold temperatures, he went up four minutes faster than last year...and, perhaps coincidentally, one could actually smell the accelerant they'd thrown on it earlier (many, many buckets of which, or so I'm told). I was supposed to meet up with Mike, but couldn't get across the parade route, so his view of all of this was way better than mine. Hence, his video here.

Sigh. At least the crappy weather meant that we got to have raclette and glühwein on the way to a barbecue at Dave's apartment. (No grilling sausages over the sacred flame for us, this year. TOO COLD AND RAINY. Bah, humbug.) 

We spent the next weekend in Munich with Dave and Jen, but not for any museum/church/art/cultural purposes: it was solely a lederhosen-shopping, meat-eating, and beer-tent-visiting weekend, make no mistake. It was actually kinda fun having no "we have to see this thing!" agenda...we were really just trying to find Mike a pair of lederhosen. And to dine on Munich's finest sausages and pork products. Mission accomplished.

But first, Munich itself. I really like it: it has some old, pretty buildings, mixed into what feels like a warm, modern, liveable city, replete with fancy markets, interesting little shops, and lots of good food.

Palace of Justice.

Karlstor (city gate from the 18th century).

Marienplatz (town hall on left).

Detail of glockenspiel on the town hall.

Lions on Odeonsplatz.

Michael Jackson memorial...??

Wittelsbach fountain.

Isartor city gate, dating to the 14th century and restored in the 19th.

And then there was the food...

Possible tons of Nuremberg-style sausages and pork steaks, marinated, not-marinated, grilled, with mustard, etc. And sauerbraten, cheese spätzle topped with fried onions (SO tasty), and German potato salad at Bratwurst Herzl. Yes, please.

Mike's giant stack o' meats at Wirtshaus Ayingers.

My Bavarian breakfast at Wirtshaus in der Au. Look at those meats and cheeses and scrambled eggs positively stuffed with bacon and the tart-berries-and-yogurt and homemade jams. Seriously loved this place, and I didn't even have the knödel. (Although Mike's were delicious.)

Dallmayr market (ok, "luxury delicatessen"): LOOK AT THIS CHOCOLATE COUNTER.

AND THIS PASTRY COUNTER. 

Dallmayr, incidentally, also had gorgeous meat and cheese and coffee and fruit and all manner of other gorgeous counters and displays and it seems like it might be an easy place to spend lots of money. As was Manufactum, where we had some truly delicious coffee and small plates. Other notable meals: smoked pork, various delicious cuts of beef, actual fresh vegetables, and HERBED BUTTER at Der Pschorr. And extremely fantastic coffees and fresh breads with frischkäse and chives (or jam, in Mike's case), plus a slice of rhubarb tart at Aran. Sooooooo tasty.

And then...the shopping and the outfits and the beer tents.

Mike in the shorter lederhosen...

...and in the slightly-longer-than-knee-length ones he ended up with.

That's a lot of belts and suspenders.

To the tents, and the carnival...

The spring festival carnival.

The wee, Augustiner-colored lion that Mike and Dave (collectively) won for me at the shooting booth in the carnival. (Jen got one, too.)

The Hippodrome beer tent.

The Augustiner beer tent.

Hofbrauhaus...a Munich institution.

Hofbrahaus interior, complete with oompah band on the right.

I may have been talked into purchasing a quasi-authentic costume (dirndl, to those in the know) myself.

Jen was persuaded, as well, but Dave already owned his ensemble. He's something of a lederhosen enthusiast.

Annnnnd...the full picture. I am very happy that my get-up is green-on-green.

This, people, is what a successful and delightful weekend in Munich looks like. It was so nice to visit a new city and spend time with friends and eat fantastic food and shop for fun outfits and just hang out. Too bad these guys are ditching us for the U.S. in just a couple of months...  :(

What I'm reading: finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened and absolutely loved it. Next up was Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space, by Chris Jones, about the members of Expedition 6 getting stuck on the International Space Station after the Columbia space shuttle disaster.  A completely fascinating and well-written read, and one that may or may not have made me cry. A time or three. Really enjoyed it, although it did make me twinge just a bit re: being an astronaut (which was a dream of mine for a while...and why this was always so funny to me). And now back to my history-nerd fare, with The Nelson Touch: The Life and Legend of Horatio Nelson, by Terry Coleman. Thus far, only marginally dry, and it's fun to read something on a subject entirely new to me.

Next up: a brief sojourn to NM for my sister's wedding (WOOOO, CONGRATULATIONS, JOY!!)...and after that, a bit about Bern and Lucerne.