One of the best things in German culture is definately Bretzen. Such a lovely thing! If I ever moved out of Germany, I honestly don’t know how I will survive without my daily source.

What is the best place to get Bretzen in München? Go to Bretzelina. I think everybody has passed it in Stachus Passagen in Karlsplatz.  The best place, without a doubt. Really fresh stuff. It costs a bit more than in your average Bäckerei, but I don’t think 60 cent is a lot.

I recommend!

Apparently there’s quite a fe things that I find unbearable here in Germany! Fortunately they are just petty things. In general I absolutely love München.

However, grocery stores. Cashier. Why do they not have bigger space to load the paid items into one’s bag? Do you know what I mean? I’m used to that I can take my time to put all the things into my plastic bags. Here the standard is that there isn’t enough space so when I have paid my things the next in queue is giving me the evil eye for not hurrying up.

Go figure. Maybe it is just my problem.

I love the ice cream cafes in München. Thank heavens for the big Italian population here in Monaco (Italian name for München)! They make sure that we get good ice cream.

My favorite place is Scarletti in Neuhausen. Their have more than enough of flavours to choose from… The service is friendly and also my allergic husband can get his special portion there. You might want to prepare for a long queue as it is quite popular amongst the locals.

But the wait is worth it.

I love Euro, I really do. In my opinion evey European country should join the Eurozone immediately. It is so handy to have the same currency! Some countries opted not to have it, like Denmark and Sweden, but I’m pretty sure their opinion will change at one point.

Finland made a drastic decision with the Euros when it was taken as the official currency. We blocked out 1 and 2 cent coins entirely. Finland is an expensive country compared to some other Euro countries so I don’t think we would have used those much anyway. The smallest coin therefore is the 5 cent coin.

So in the list of Things that drive me grazy in Germany are definately those small stupid coins. They only fill up space in my pocket and I hardly use them. I roll my eyes and prepare for a long waiting when in the queue Frau Schwarz takes out the purse and start to give the cashier all the small coins…

In my opinion, the least useful invention in the world: 1 cent coin!

The last days of the school are here!

Isar

Today we had a test in the class. We had to write an essay about Germany or München. On Wednesday we will get it back. Fortunately I had already written a blog posting about the German TV, so I wrote about the same subject. The topic was clear so I could concentrate on the grammatics etc.

Do you know the feeling when you all of the sudden realized that you made one awful mistake again and again? I had that about 10 minutes after the test when we were reading a text in the class. “Ein Mann”, 2 N’s: “man” with 1 N when you use the passive form.

Live and learn.

I don’t know about you but one thing that drives me crazy in Germany is the TV. Or more precisely the dubbing. In Nordic countries we do not dub, but watch the programs in their original language with subtitles.

I am not fluent enough to follow the German TV. Therefore I do not have a clue about current discussion topics for the average German. My knowledge of local news is close to zero, I’m afraid.

What I try to follow are some veeeery light programs. My favorite is “Slag den Raab”, a game show without a heavy discussion. The music shows are also easy to follow. At leat I try something!

We have about 40 channels in our household. The TV is usually turned on BBC or such English-speaking channel. I just cannot bear to watch some popular international shows in German. Let me ensure you, “Sex and the City” was a pure nightmare in German. Carrie just does not sound like that originally!

So TV is out of a question in my freetime. What we do is rent plenty of DVD’s nowadays. Fortunately usually the original tone is automatically included there. Thank heavens for DVD’s.

Summer is here! One thing I truly like in Southern Germany compared to Northern Europe is that the summer arrives earlier and it last longer. Did you know that in Northern parts of Finland the winter can last for 7 months!

I made a presentation in the class today. We all present our native countries in turn and now it was time to introduce Finland to my classmates. The title could have been: ” See, Sonne, Schnee –  Sauna und Santa Claus”.

Here’s some facts about Finland that raised some discussion in the class:
– Finland is about the same size as Germany but has only 5 million inhabitants
– Finland has over 60 000 lakes
– In the very north during the summer months the sun stays above the horizon for 3 straight months! However, during the winter you cannot see the sun for 51 days
– Finland has over 3 million Saunas
– Santa Claus lives in Finland

Everybody was curious how one can cope with the extreme seasons. Well, I have lived now in 5 different countries and let me assure you that the everyday is pretty much the same everywhere. You get to work, make your daily pasta dish for the family, buy the cartons of milk and watch TV. It’s not that different. In Finland we may get more snow than here and it may be colder, but we are used to it. The country does not go on hold when there is a bit of snow around. And we know how to dress warmly enough.

But now the glorious summer is here and we can forget all about the snow! The Biergarten might be calling me again after the class today…

My dear blogger colleague Martinez posted a while ago an article about Biergartens. I’d like to add something to it as well.

In my opinion Biergartens are indeed one of the best German inventions ever. How can you possibly beat that! A beautiful German summer day, nice German beer, food is great and in most cases there is a playground on the premises. So Daddy gets his well earned beer, the children can use all their energies playing instead of bothering parents all the time and Mama can enjoy a day out of a kitchen.

The favourite of our little family is Hirschgarten. With its 8000 places it is quite a massive place but that ensures that there is most likely a free table, too. The food is decent, there are deer right next to the restaurant and the park is filled with playgrounds. I recommend!

So Prost, friends! Let’s enjoy these hot summer days and get to know one of the corner stones of German culture – Biergartens!

I skipped the lection today and a lunch with my previous group. Our teacher had a birthday!

During my 2 courses in Deutsche Akademie I have had alltogether 5 teachers. I don’t mind. If you have only one teacher, you get used to how he/she talks. You maybe understand better, but having different teachers keeps you on your toes. However, having only one teacher guarantees that he/she knows you and the teacher can maybe respond your needs more.

Anyway, Luisa is one of my favorite teachers, so again, happy birthday!

I have lived in a few of the flattest countries on earth, namely Denmark and Finland. The highest point of Denmark is 171 m (!). In Finland the hills reach up to 1300 m, but I come from the area where there is none of that in sight.

So guess what I’m doing when I drive up to the Alps? Yep, it’s “oooooh” and “aaaah” and “look at that” all the way.

Last weekend I visited Oberstdorf which is about 2,5 hour drive from München. It is a nice little town in the middle of mountains and there is plenty to do in the area. The town center is car-free and it is very compact. The shopping opportunities are not the greatest unless you want to buy outdoorsy clothing. Plenty of restaurants, the turist-info is helpful (and they speak English) and even in this out-of-season time it is very lively. Cannot but recommend!

Below are some photos of Nebelhorn and Söllereck peaks where we visited.