Dirndls and Lederhosen

We have been really surprised by all the people who wear the traditional clothing here in Munich.  There has been a renewed interest in recent years. Dirndl Dresses for women and the Lederhosen pants for men. I think the younger people must be bringing it back in fashion because we see them wearing it the most. The older Bavarians often wear just the hat or jacket for everyday wear. When we first moved here we thought they were dressing up for a costume party or something but they really wear it just to go out. We see it more often during  festivals but there always seems to be some celebration they are gearing up for.

Flea Markets

In Europe they generally don’t have garage sales or yard sales.  It is just not something they do here. When we lived in Holland, there was one day a year, the Queen’s birthday,  you could put old toys and stuff out on the sidewalk to sell. I think Ruby did it one year.  In Munich, once a year, each neighborhood is allowed a day in spring or summer when the residents can open up their courtyards and have a ‘flea market’. Our neighborhood flea market was last Saturday. I was  more interested in seeing inside the courtyards then in buying anything. From the sidewalk, you can’t see the houses behind the buildings on the street and I was really curious to see inside. I am just nosy.

Berlin

Beer garden in the Tiergarten Park

Now that I have found a dog sitter I am hopefully going to  start traveling more with Steve. Last week I went along  to an airline conference in Berlin.  I love, love, love Berlin! When we knew we were relocating to Europe, we considered moving to Berlin, it was one of our choices. But, from the research that I did, it looked a bit gritty and rough. I didn’t think I would like it.

completely random

At the beginning of April it was still snowing and then the weather seemed to improve, sporadically. Some days would be gorgeous, warm, sunny. Other days were cold, damp, wintry. I was told (several times, thank you!) this was normal for April in Bavaria. There is a saying here that translates to “April, it never knows what it wants to do”, or something like that. We had a few really glorious days, we even went and bought outdoor furniture for the roof terrace. I happily sat up there in the sun for hours. Then it started to rain, really hard. And it hasn’t stopped since. Bavarians are not saying this is normal anymore. A woman I spoke to yesterday said this was the wettest May in at least 25 years. The month of May, it seems, knows exactly what it wants to do, RAIN! Looking at the bright side though, everything is super green. And the rain can’t last forever. Right, June?

Delicious

I just finished a beginning German language course. And although I don’t feel I know very much, I know a whole  lot more than I did a month ago. And that has been very helpful in the grocery stores and restaurants. I can read and understand more signs when I am wandering around. And sometimes I even think I know how to sound things out to pronounce them almost correctly. ha!

And then there was light!

Spring cleaning

I am someone who has PAGES of  old emails in my Inbox,  I always think I will delete them later.  I also have carbon copies from checks that I wrote years and years ago in my desk. From time to time I clean out my desk and I always hesitate when I come across the ancient checks and paid bills and then I decide to deal with it later. Later, never comes. So, it doesn’t make ANY sense that this last week  I decided I needed to do some spring cleaning in my photo library on my blog and on my iPhone and I deleted a bunch of pictures without much thought. I figured the pictures I had already used on my blog would not be used again so why have them honking up my library, right? Unfortunately, when I deleted them from my library, they disappeared from my blog as well. I didn’t find out about it until I received a comment on my blog from a friend  saying she couldn’t see any pictures. She thought it was a problem with her computer.