MCS60

Born Margaret Clare Freeman on 25th May 1948, this page records the celebrations leading up to her "special" birthday.

 

The Munich Marge Fest

Tuesday 20th April 2008

As Jamie and Emma both had teaching commitments in Crete and Germany respectively that would prevent them being in Kendal for the big day, we decided to get the party rolling rather early with a family holiday in Bavaria.

We had originally intended to go to Lake Como but the logistics of getting Margaret and I from England, Emma from Munich and Jamie and Danae from Crete were just too great. Instead we chose a German alpine lake, Kochelsee, preceded by a couple of nights in Munich.  This had the added benefit of Scott being able to join us (due to an unfortunate clash of dates he had to fly to Wales for a stag weekend).

Jamie had been at home with us for a couple of weeks.  He teaches English in Haraklion so had Greek Easter off which, fortunately was about a month later than our Easter. We flew out on the evening flight, met Danae at the airport- her flight from Athens landed only a few minutes after ours, and were soon joined by Emma who had come straight from the International School where she teaches Spanish, French and Chinese.

We just missed the direct tube to Haidhausen so elected for the long roundabout journey rather than wait for half an hour on the platform.  On the train we were befriended by a beer swigging old German who found the birthday present that Danae gave Emma hilarious!

Margaret and I were staying at the Max Emmanual Hotel, a few blocks away from Emma and Scott's apartment.  Emma took us to the hotel whilst Scott met Jamie and Danae and took them home.

At least that was the plan.

What he actually did was take them for a beer and several carry-out pizzas.

Meanwhile, having dropped off our bags at the hotel, we wandered along to the flat, stopping only for Emma to buy several carry-out pizzas.

A slight breakdown in communications led to double rations all round, which remarkably vanished quite quickly.

 

Wednesday 30th April 2008

Margaret had a strange experience at breakfast.  She left me sat at the table to go and get her next course of smoked salmon, mackerel and other fishy things.  The serving area was a strange shape and it took her a while to find what she wanted but she noticed this German chap stood in front of her, loading up his plate.  She thought no more of it but when she returned to her seat she found that Gunther, as she had christened the German, was the transmogrification of English hubby, Don.  

 

All of which led to a change of characters for the morning:  Gunther und Greta Pschorr undertook a walking tour of Haidhausen.  

It is a very pleasant area, extensively rebuilt after the war and with plenty of character- interesting buildings, smart shops, public gardens and lots and lots of bicycles.

A word of warning to anyone visiting Munich.  The outer edge of the footpath is generally designated as a cycle path and often there is no clear demarcation line.

Even where there is, it is so easy to forget and just step into the path of a cyclist, storming up behind, who has right of way and intends to use it.  Silent Assassins, we called them.

 

 

 

After a coffee in the Bavarian Market style Wienerplatz (and a fortunately unproductive visit to a designer dress shop), Gunther und Greta crossed over the river and headed for downtown Munich.  

 

Gunther had not realised that the route he had planned would take them past all the big name shops starting with Armani.

 

Greta, however, declined the invitation to step inside, being anxious to see more of this lovely city.  

 

Through the medieval streets, past the Viktueln Market and into the Rathaus courtyard for lunch where Gunther made a tactical mistake.

He, naturally, ordered bratwurst which,of course, would need a beer to accompany it.  He looked down the list of beers and saw, in second place,a brand he did not recognise- Radler.  

He thought it would be good to try. Little did he know that Radler means cyclist and it is the beer that cyclists drink- i.e. a shandy. 

Silly Gunther- you would think his German would be up to that!  Perhaps he is actually Dutch?

 

 

After lunch the tour continued with a visit to the Residence (outside only) then to the cathedral.  This was remarkably simply decorated and very light.  Inevitably it transpired it had been bombed in the war although the walls survived.  it certainly looked rather more attractive in its current decor than as shown in the pre-war photos.  One hesitates to say that it actually benefited from the bombs, but.....

Gunther und Greta crossed back to Haidhausen via a different bridge to have a kip in the hotel and wake up as Don and Margaret.

Jamie and Danae meanwhile were visiting, inevitably, the aquarium.  Emma and Scott were working.

The plan was to meet up at Emma and Scott's for pre dinner drinks then walk along the river to a high class restaurant that Emma had discovered in the New York Times. However a thunderstorm put paid to those plans.  We took taxis directly to G Munich.

We had been warned that it was a little like Hogwarts but only in the sense that candles seemed to float in mid air at the tables.

It was smart, minimalist design with a very unusual menu with many inbetween courses culminating with a birthday cake. Margaret found it a little strange with it being a month off her birthday so we didn't sing to her!  But we had enjoyed the meal even if we could remember all the courses afterwards!

We finished off the evening with a night cap back at Emma & Scott's. Jamie and Scott stayed up very late watching Liverpool's heroic but ultimately doomed effort to knock Chelsea out of the European Cup.  We left them to it and wandered back to the hotel.

 

Thursday 1st May 2008

The Germans do the job properly- they celebrate May Day on the historic date. Hence both Emma and Scott had the day off.  We were due to travel to Kochelsee but were persuaded to leave that for the afternoon.  Instead we went to the Wienerplatz and watched with a large crowd whilst the fire brigade erected the most enormous Maypole.

 

Lots of cheering when accomplished and then, of course, everyone troops off down to the nearest biergarten.  We did likewise and had delicious currywurst with chips and beer (no Radler today- lesson learnt).  In order to get a bit of variety into our diet we also ordered a side salad which turned out to be a few leaves of lettuce and a big pile of thinly sliced salami!  But we did also have a big bunch of radish.

That afternoon Emma drove Margaret and me plus all the bags to Kochel-am-See whilst Jamie and Danae, for whom there was no room in the car, travelled by train.

I had booked a chalet for three nights.

We found the hotel to which it belonged without problem but the first attempt to find the chalet failed, with me trying the keys in a very attractive turreted property fortunately without being challenged.  

On checking back with the hotel it became clear that there had been a misunderstanding in the directions and we had been directly opposite where we should have been and when the hotelier said "on the left" he meant on the left of another house, not on the left had side of the street.

Our residence was a wooden chalet was in the garden of a much bigger holiday house on Kalmbachstrasse- quiet back street- very aptly named.

Choosing where to sleep was a challenge.  We bagged the downstairs double room. Jamie and Danae (who would not arrive until much later) were allocated the upstairs room that had three double beds whilst Emma had the upstairs open area which slept five!

We went for a walk down to the lake.  This is a very dramatic region of contrasts- to the north, the plains of Germany, to the south, the Alps rise quite rapidly.  Inbetween are lakes, in this case two- Kochelsee which at its northern end is on the plain and Walchensee which is reached by a short drive over a hill at the southern end of Kochelsee and dropping into a truly Alpine scenario.

Today however we just wanted a gentle stroll before going to meet the train.  It was so quiet we wondered where everybody was.  Then a small boat came in with a man stood on its roof playing an Alpine Horn.  To the strains of "Auf Wiedersehen" and "Wooden Heart" a surprisingly large group of people came ashore and promptly vanished.

We carried on with our walk, round a small hill, past some bunny goats (tiny goats that seemed more like rabbits), a small chapel, a ferocious statue and back to the chalet.

 

Later we met Jamie and Danae from the train and went for dinner at the hotel.  

The streets were still very quiet but when we went into the hotel cellar we discovered where everyone was.

Fortunately we found a table and joined in the Sparglfest (the celebration of the asparagus- with sausage and beer of course). 

Plus a rather strange pudding for Jamie.

 

 

 

Friday 2nd May 2008

We had a late start and then decide to circumnavigate Kochelsee by foot and boat.  Plan A was to go to the Kochel-am-See landing stage where we had seen the boat with the horn player and catch the boat for a couple of stops.  However when we got there at 12:30 and read the timetable we discovered it would be an hour before the boat arrived.  We reckoned that we could cover the distance on foot in that time so off we set.  And we were quite right.  By the time we got to Altjoch with its little chapel there was no sign of a boat.

We had another look at the timetable, this time looking at the small print which said that before 17th May the boat only ran on Holidays and Sundays.

Thursday of course had been a Holiday. No boat today.

Brief rest, then carry on round the lake.

 

The next section of lake footpath was the most challenging, being along a cliff path with some steep drops if you cared to look closely enough.  

Then it came down to lakeside again, through meadows, strangely (to English eyes) full of dandelions, with an idyllic Alpine backdrop.  Our target was the monastery brewery (nowadays just a hotel) in Schledorf which we reached in time for a very late lunch, i.e. at 4 p.m.!

 

 

The trail back to Kochel-am-See was a bit of a flog along a cycle track across marsh land but we completed the circumnavigation on foot- a rather longer 10 miles or so than we had originally envisaged. We passed some strange sheep that looked like dogs- a bit like Bedlington terriers in reverse.

 

Long sleeps followed before a delicious late dinner cooked by Danae- a sort of mega ratatouille.

 

Saturday 3rd May 2008

We took breakfast outside in the garden in the sun before driving up the lake and over the hill to the next lake, Walkensee.  

 

There we found a cable car up the mountain so we took it to find half of Bavaria on the hill despite there being snow around.  Not surprising really because the weather was lovely and the views spectacular.  

We did the Bavarian thing of lunching in the mountain restaurant on white sausage, rosti and beer.

Jamie, Danae and Emma walked down the hill, whilst Margaret and I took the lazy way back to the car, picked them up and returned back to the chalet for afternoon tea of the best waffles I have ever tasted.

Jamie and Danae then went for a swim whilst Emma festered and Margaret and I had a walk round the back of the village, making friend with an old German who found the hill too steep for his bike and was desperately trying to tell us something but about the only word we understood was "Oxford".

We had a look for the Franx Mark museum- he of Der Blaue Reiter fame- but it was closed for redevelopment.

Lots of the houses had strange markings chalked above the door and we had seen similar markings in Schledorf. 

The letters have two meanings.

They are the initials of the traditional names of the Three Magi:
Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

They also abbreviate the Latin words:
Christus Mansionem Benedicat.

May Christ bless the house.

The letters recall the day on which the inscription is made, as well as the purpose of blessing.

The crosses represent the protection of the Precious Blood of Christ and the holiness of the Three Magi sanctified by their adoration of the Infant Christ.

The inscription is made above the front door, so that all who enter and depart this year may enjoy God’s blessing. The month of January still bears the name of the Roman god Janus, the doorkeeper of heaven and protector of the beginning and end of things. This blessing “christens” the ancient Roman observance of the first month. The inscription is made of chalk, a product of clay, which recalls the human nature taken by the Adorable and Eternal Word of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So now you know!

More sparglfest for dinner in the hotel Keller.

 

Sunday 4th May 2008

I had been warned that everywhere shuts on a Sunday but I thought that bakeries would be an exception.  So I set off at 8:15 to try and find our daily bread.  All the shops bar one were closed, even the bakery.  The exception was the ESSO garage but they had no bread.  Yet old ladies were cycling past with bread.  I saw one emerge from a house with a bag and thought "I know what she is doing".  So I followed her and discovered that although the bakery shop was shut, if you went round the back you could buy bread direct from where it was produced.  And they had just three loaves left!!!

Today was going home day.  Jamie and Danae would go to the airport by train but Emma would drive Margaret and me.  This meant we had an extra half hour or so to sunbathe in the delightful chalet garden, with its statue of the little boy playing frisbee, before setting off.  

 

Emma had to dice with some deristricted German nutters on the motorway but successfully dropped us off at the airport.  We thought we might see Jamie and Danae there but due to a mix up with mobile phones and Danae meeting a friend in a Sushi bar it didn't happen.  Indeed Danae did well to finish her all-you-can-eat sushi and catch the plane before they unloaded her bags!

Driving back up the M61 it was raining and a huge dark cloud hung over Preston but the town looked as if it were on fire.  it was like an Armageddon scene.  Then, as we joined the M6, the sun dropped below the cloud and fired its full blast horizontally into the rain causing the most spectacular double rainbow I have ever seen.  Welcome home!

 

 Afternote:  

There was a shop window in Kochel with some paintings in.  Margaret took a liking to one (as, I must admit, so did I).  However it was never open when we passed.  Nevertheless with the aid of the internet and Emma & Scott, the original arrived in time for Margaret's birthday and now proudly hangs above the fire place!

 

For more celebrations see MCS60

 

 

For more celebrations
see
MCS60

 

 

 

  

  

 

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