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Munich
May 12, 2011 

Munich surfer!
Munich surfer!

For three nights in a row here in Munich, I’ve gone to dinner with colleagues.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy them and had a great time.  But I can’t get used to the concept that, if I agree to to dinner, I have to realize that there’s nothing else I’ll get to do that night except crawl back to my hotel and go to bed.

Oh, well, it’s not as if I really did have anything important to do back in the hotel room.  But it still takes some getting used to.roof_1

I think the main reason I find it exhausting is that, if I’m still with clients, no matter how congenial things get – and they’ve gotten pretty damn congenial on this trip – I’m still on guard.  I’m still a little bit “at work.”  Meaning I’m not really relaxed.  That’s why I feel a little bit “behind” when I get to my hotel at midnight and I haven’t really had a chance to unwind from the day.

On the other hand, our four hour dinner last night was wonderful.  I had the best schnitzel I’ve had to date.  Ordering schnitzel was a bit of a cop-out, since we were in a noted Bavarian restaurant, and schitzel is of course Austrian, but I’m still glad I ordered it.  Yum.

 

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young_surferAt lunch we checked out the surfers.  Surfers in Munich?  You betcha.  There’s a small canal called the Eisbach which flows through the central part of the city and then through the massive Englischer Garten.  Right where it enters the park, there’s a natural wave that local surfers have augmented with blocks (or maybe a tree trunk) a bit below the surface.  And on this wave, which is all of 15 meters wide, they take turns surfing!  It’s really something to see.

Complete List of Surfing Movies I’ve Seen

  • Riding Giants (2004)

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 281 user reviews.

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Munich
May 11, 2011 

onion_domeAnother gorgeous day in the Bavarian capital. 

Work is going swimmingly, and even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t talk about that here.  Sorry.  But it really is going well.

moody_steeplesDuring my Potsdam tour on Saturday I realized, again, how woefully ignorant I am of continental European history.  The stories of the rulers of Prussia that I heard on the tour were so interesting  that I went to Amazon to look for a book that could shore up my education a bit.  I decided on The Iron Kingdom:  The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark.  It’s a huge 800+ page book, and while it’s a bit dry, I’m still enjoying it, and it’s full of great information where my knowledge is sorely lacking.  I hope I have the patience to finish reading it.  I’m about 17% of the way through it now.

Favorite History Books

  • The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman
  • Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie
  • Salt by Mark Kurlansky
  • A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich
  • The Bridge at Andau by James Michener
  • The Great Bridge:  The Epic Story of the Bulding of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough

    What the hell is this?
    What the hell is this?

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 196 user reviews.

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