Of Christmas markets and more

A week in Munich was a reminder that Bavaria’s capital had once been our proposed retirement location: until we decided that Vienna was a better choice (for reasons I won’t go into but which one day I must succinctly write up if only to remind myself and be able to answer all those surprised questions we always get). Although there were moments when we remembered why it had been our first choice at one point, and occasional thoughts that maybe we had made a mistake in not going there, in the end we decided that for now it’s nice to visit, but Vienna will be our home....assuming we can find a permanent place to live of course!

Munich in December : there is only one show in town – Christmas and the Christkindl markets. When we entered Marienplatz we thought that it made Vienna’s market look rather tame in comparison and that was the impression we left with. It does seem bigger and brighter, almost overwhelming in fact. It got to the point where it was impossible to take any more dazzling displays of things Christmassy and more. And while it has lots of things which are different and is bigger – maybe? – than Vienna’s, after wandering through the market in the Rathausplatz yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I almost changed my mind: Vienna’s Christkindlmarkt has nothing to fear in being compared with Munich’s. One of the differences is that in Munich – surprisingly – there seem to be many more tourists (in the city in general – or maybe they are just more concentrated?) whereas in Vienna one feels that while there are definitely many tourists, a majority of market visitors – at the weekend anyway - seem to be locals. I could be totally wrong and it would be interesting to get some official data...

Another big difference is that Munich’s markets and Germany’s in general have much more traditional Christmas stuff – the tradition of cribs and carved religious figures is so much stronger in Germany than in Austria, whereas Austria’s markets are more influenced by secular and commercials factors. There’s a lot more on sale in Vienna with only a tenuous connection to Christmas. I wonder if anyone has done a serious comparison?? I did, however, make a startling discovery at the Rathausplatz yesterday: Vienna’s gluhwein mugs are much bigger that Munich’s! Prices are about the same so you get a lot more for your money in Vienna!

Be that as it may, we enjoyed Munich despite the crush and it was great to catch up with old friends Paula & Manfred and Moni and Hans. Weather was poor except for one wonderful late-morning and early afternoon period when the sun shone and the wind blew as we walked from the centre of town to the English Garden and on through its big open meadows, the bare trees lit up in places by the sun and forming a bright grey-purply contrast to the blue and white of the sky and the murky green of the winter meadows. In reality, the place is nothing like a typical English garden! And as for the pagoda...minimally decked in lights..maybe it looks better at night, but during the day it looked a bit incongruous ...but then I suppose it does all the time anyway!

Apart from wandering repeatedly through the markets and nearby stores (Kaufhof was a zoo as was the huge bookshop a few doors down) we managed to squeeze in a bit of education and culture, with visits to the Deutsches Museum (www.deutsches-museum.de) and the Residenz. The latter (www.residenz-muenchen.de) was a reminder both of the destruction that Munich suffered in WWII, having been almost totally rebuilt, and the power and wealth of the former Kingdom of Bavaria. As with the markets, it got too much and after a couple of hours of looking at the riches accumulated (or at least what was left of them), the fruits of the exploitation of the peasants and craftsmen of Bavaria and places beyond, I headed back to the mayhem of Marienplatz. A mug of warm, spicy gluhwein was just the thing on a cold, dank afternoon.

It's one in the morning, the end of November

Actually it's already December and I'm 15 days into the second year of my retirement. Today is World Aids Day and it's on days like this that I really miss working...the chance one always had to express a bit of passion for a topic. We called it advocacy but it was more than that. Yes, there were always the nonsense events that left you wondering if it was not all a waste of time, when you questioned people's commitment, their sincerity and integrity even. But overall you felt you were fighting for a cause. And there were really memorable moments, like seeing all those kids trying to win the song contest. And being part of the First Pitch with the Primera Dama at the stadium. Talking about issues that many people were still uncomfortable talking about, or having to confront the conservative and totally-out-of-touch-with-reality views of the church...But here I am in Vienna, instead of the DR.
Dominique moved out into her own apartment at the beginning of December and is working, albeit temporarily, for Berlitz. It had become a bit of a squeeze. Now it's nice to have your daughter come and visit you or popr oevre for a bit of lunch or dinner...something we didn't do during all those years of working and travelling.

End of October

This is clearly not working! While I do spend time on Facebook, this blog has turned out to be a complete failure. How can I get into a routine of blogging regularly? I keep up my private journal so I should be able to do something for this blog as well. In the two months plus since I last blogged so much has happened and we have done so much that it would be impossible to catch up or sum up - although I will have to do that for our annual Christmas/New Year letter on which I have made a tentative start (tentative? about 3 lines on a thought that occurred to me one day!)
Blogging really has to be a discipline. Anyway here is a list of what's happend to us since the last blog.
- we completed arrangements for the renovation of our house in Oxford and left it in the hands of the contarctor, returning to Vienna at the end of August
- Dominique installed herself (temporarily)in our small apartment making it rather crowded
- In the first week of September we travelled to Cordoba for a 60th birthday (Barry's)reunion of the "gang of 4" with respective spouses - a great time was had by all
- Annelore and I then spent an extra four days in Granada - absolutely fantastic! The Alhambra is out of this world. I could go on but I won't..I can no longer honestly sing "Nunca fui a Granada"!
- Return to Vienna for a few days ...then I went back to England for 10 days to get all the work finished on the house, sort out our accumulated "stuff" there and get the house ready for renting again. Annelore and Dominique stayed in Vienna.
- First week of October Annelore and I went of on another road trip, leaving Domninique and the cat in Vienna. This time it was to the UNICEF retirees reunion in Viarregio, Italy. Great to see many old/old fiends.
- Taking advantage of it being on the way, we spent four glorious days (well, mostly glorious) in the Dolomites, this time managing to actually see the mountains. Plus walking, eating and drinking. An area we will have to return to.
The rest of October is a bit of a blur ...though I do have photographic and other details of everything we did. But if I started this would never be completed so that's it for now.

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So much for blogging regularly

It's 3 weeks since the first post. This was supposed to become a regular blog but has failed rather miserably so far. Too much going on at the moment...but that's a poor excuse! Home has been a bit chaotic since we decided to go ahead with the renovations and we will have to leave with work still under way and much remaining to be done.
We have still managed to do a lot in the time we have been here but nowhere near as much as we wanted to. We've realised that this year is a year of transition with many ups and downs ....there's a pattern...it happens every 7 years or so, with some good things happening to us but also some not so good things affecting the family.

The new slave labour

A rather dramatic title for an article in the Guardian this past weekend, on a theme we are all too familiar with: the increase in internships rather than real jobs and the fact that people are taking advantage of the worst job hunting scenario in ages to hire young people without paying them.