New Apartment!

You might have noticed the slight lack of posts about the beer halls and gardens, the only excuse I have for that is before this week I wasn't living in Munich itself, but a town to the north called Garching (which one of my German friends calls the "Arsch der Welt"). So because of this I haven't had time to go as often as I would have liked.

Well that has changed! I have now moved into the city to a nice one bedroom place in Isarvorstadt, so I have much more time now to go and explore more of Munich :)

The blog about the housewarming party will come after the break :)

Just behind here is a perfect beer pong table :)

Viel Spaß homies

20's Bucket list

I have many lists on pieces of paper from throughout the years saying stuff like, things I want to accomplish before I'm 30 or things I want to accomplish this year. This list though I will share with the world, so now that you guys know it makes it more compelling to actually go out and do them.

I would like to point out though that a lot of stuff on my previous "ambitions lists" I have already done, some day I may write a post about some of them, but nor right now.

So, in no particular order, here is my 20's bucket list:

1. Visit every continent (Originally this one was to go to a strip club on every continent but I ruled that out because I don't think I'll find one in Antarctica)
2. Be fluent in German
3. Climb the Col du Tourmalet
4. Run a marathon
5. Race a Triathlon
6. Bungee Jump
7. Do the Africa Rally
8. Cycle the Euro Velo 8 (Mediterranean route)
9. Do the Mongol Rally
10. Sleep in a hammock 
11. Go skydiving
12. Go to the "Heart Attack Grill"
13. Home brew some hard spirit
14. Make a computer game
15. Go 200mph in a car
16. Do a brewery road trip of the UK
17. Learn to play Hotel California (The Eagles) on guitar
18. Learn to sail
19. Learn to use manual settings on digital cameras
20. Learn to ski
21. Get a Masters degree
22. Have a night out drinking only Tequila
23. Visit Oktoberfest
24. Visit 10 NEW European Capital cities
25. Get 100,000 gamerscore on my XBL account
26. Own land
27. Get a tattoo
28. Run an assault course
29. Learn an Eastern language
30. Go to the airport and get the next flight... to anywhere

This doesn't have everything, but my parents and possibly grandparents read this blog so I wasn't going to put all of then here ;)

So what do you think? Any ideas for more? Want to join me on any of the particularly crazy stuff?

Post a comment :)

Viel Spaß homies

Langwieder See (7 "cat-lives" remaining)

I've been over the injury I picked up on my "Tour de Austria" for quite a while, but a combination of the strange June weather in Munich and not having anything to train for I haven't really done much cycling around Munich. I have cycled to work quite a bit, which is 22 miles per day, so I have been keeping up my fitness and thought I would test myself.

There are 2 big lakes around Munich, one of which I have been to and talked about in a previous post is Starnberger, the other is Ammersee. I thought this time I would try and go to Ammersee - although it is further away and I hadn't done a ride like that in a while.

The ride was slower than I would have liked at the start because I had to get through the city, but eventually the traffic lights went away and managed to pick up some speed. Unfortunately it didn't take long to realize that I wasn't strong enough to make it all the way, so when I saw a sign pointing to a different lake that I didn't even realize was there I went for that one instead. That way I knew I would be able to go there, look around, lie in the sun and still be able to ride back home.

I was surprised to find that this lake was not just one lake, but 2 split by a fairly narrow path with space to lie on either side.

I lay down for about half an hour reading my book (Magnificat by Julian May) and ate lunch in the sun, this place must be really popular because there was people all the way round both lakes. I decided that if I were to train for a Triathlon then this is where I would go for the swimming and running parts.

I still had plenty of energy to get home but I could see that it was going to rain soon and decided to shorten my day a bit and go part of the way back by train. I was going to head for the nearest S-Bahn, but when the rain fell it felt really nice. It was that kind of warm refreshing rain, which if anything made cycling more comfortable, so I decided to head for Marienplatz (Munich Centre) and take the U-Bahn home. This is 10 miles (16k) from that lake, which made my daily riding at a nice round 30 miles.

The warm rain stopped and turned instead to a downpour, which wasn't so nice to cycle in, and when I got back into Munich I lost my second "cat-life". I realize now that I didn't write about that but this is basically what happened. I was trying for a 10 mile PB on the way home from work and in the last mile really gave it my all, on a road. The notification that I had finished 10 miles came and I slowed down and stopped concentrating. Then I rode off to the side off the road (which had a dip) and I lost control. I knew the bike was going to go down so I somehow dumped over it and landed on my feet, going at over 20 mph at the time! That is what I call losing my first "cat-life"

So this day I lost my second. When I got to the city centre I started heading for Odeonsplatz, which is the easiest station for me to travel from as it doesn't need cycling into the busiest part of the city. On the way there there is some tram lines. Normally I handle these just fine, riding over them with a sufficient angle NOT to fall in the line with my wheel, but not this time! I went into the tram line, couldn't get out and fell, but again landed on my feet! Seriously I don't know how I am doing it, but I am glad not to have had an injury!

Today I rode 31 miles in 2h 20m.

The workouts were split into 2, you can find them here and here.

Viel Spaß homies!

My "Running to beer gardens" challenge!

As runners know, when you really feel like going for a run, you go. That feeling doesn't happen every day but it happened yesterday. Another thing that happened yesterday was the first day in a while of bright sunshine and heat, perfect weather for beer gradens!

In this I was torn, should I go to the beer gardens or go for a run - and them my friend Evan suggested on Facebook that I run to the beer garden! Excellent idea.

So as I live in Garching (slightly north of Munich), I thought I would run towards Munich to a beer garden, stop, and take the train back. I found 2 good options, Aumeister and Seehaus, the former being about 5 miles (8km) and the latter 7 (11km). My normal long run is 6 miles, so I set myself the challenge of going further than usual.

I did the 7 miles to Seehaus in 1hr 6 minutes, which is a fairly brisk 9min 20sec per mile, which I was very please with the ability to run at that speed for that far!

And my reward? Well I was in a beer garden so it was of course a maß Radler and a pretzel, and following that a stretch and a walk then the train home. Quite a successful evening in my opinion. Mynext challenge then, is to run to Chinesischer Turm biergarten, which I think is one mile further. This could revolutionize my running training regimen :D

Seehaus is quite an excellent place, so it will get its own post in due course.

You can see a GPS track of my run here.

Viel Spaß homies!

Michaeligarten

This Michaeligarten is a beer garden in Ostpark, right by a Lake. On an evening after work it is a really great place to be!

So what drove me to go to a beer garden after work when I had to work the next morning also? Well, my colleague Gyula found a new apartment for his family after a stressful 3 months of searching, congrats again! He went to meet his friends and invited me to join.

It's a Löwenbraü beer garden which makes a nice change because most of the others I have been to have been Augustiner or Hofbraü. I like the beer, both the Wießbier and Dunkel are very good, and the price is OK (€7,40 per maß)

Fans of Bavarian food (and portions!) won't be going wanting here! I had a big portion of ribs and a nice spicy BBQ sauce, good times!

We saw one of the funniest things I have ever seen, a baby trying to drink from a maß!

I'm thinking of cycling somewhere this weekend, so my cycling sabbatical is over! Then i'll post about another beer hall.

Viel Spaß homies!

Greeting God

In Germany I greet god on a daily basis - no before you ask not in prayer!

The customary "formal" greeting in Standard German (Hochdeutsch) is Guten Tag, that's the one we learn in school and the one you would use in most parts of Germany. The Bavarian German is somewhat different. In fact, Bavarians themselves believe it to be a different language! Their formal greeting is "Gruß Gott", which literally means "Greet God".

This is peculiar. Why would you greet god when you greet someone? It seems a little blasphemous if you ask me. Does it mean you are greeting this person as an equal of god? Or that you are greeting god instead of the person you are talking to? I honestly don't get it, perhaps I am being an ignorant atheist. If anyone can explain it post a comment.

The first time I heard Gruß Gott was quite interesting. When you say it out loud it sounds like "gru - Scott". I was well confused, I looked very shocked and asked the girl "Wie wiessen Sie mein name?". Then it was her turn to be confused! Suddenly all my German had left me but luckily she spoke English so we had a good laugh at the misunderstanding.

Warum wurde man Gott grüßen?

Viel Spaß homies!

Zu Hause - Part 2

Following on from a previous post.

The next day I went to the coffee shop for my favourite bagel lunch (again) and saw Thor with my dad. It was my second time watching it but it was still brilliant, if you've seen it but didn't stay till after the credits then you missed something and should go to see it again :-)

We did NOT follow that up with a cheeky beer at our local Wetherspoons...

The next day would be another cinema day, with it bring both Orange Wednesday (buy one get one free tickets) and the opening day of X-Men: First Class it had to be done! First up came the return of  the "Game Meetings" where Russell, Sarah and I would meet every week to talk about the game we were making (and now are again!). This is good news for me because it keeps my creative juices flowing. I'll link to our website and stuff when its ready.

X-Men was awesome, but you need to know about the unusual characters they have chosen to really know what is going on.

The next eventful thing that happened was Friday, it was a 2-fold drinking sesh starting at 4! Good times :)

The first of these was a friend's leaving party from my previous company Sharp. Congratulations Chris! Glad you have been able to get out of there and move on to better things! Maybe one of these days I'll write a blog about why I have such disdain for that company, but not as long as I have friends that still work there.

Saying that I was greeted well from the guys that work there, and even a former manager, and all eager to buy a round and hear some stories about Munich ;). By the end of the drinks there were just as many former Sharp employees as current ones! There were some rueful smiles when I said that out loud.

After this I went to Reading with some friends (including fellow bloggers Sarah and Erik, which you may remember from previous posts). We went for a meal to a Micro-Brewery come Italian restaurant called Zero Degrees. That's an odd mix but a great combo! Some of the best pizza's you're going to get and also a large selection of their own-brew beer.

Then I think we went to Yates' (maybe) and I know we lost Erik at some point. Post a comment Erik and let us know where the hell you went!

I had an early flight on the Sunday morning and I promised my parents that I would't drink much on Saturday night so that I would actually get up when my alarm went off. But what they neglected to mention for a while was that they were having friends over for a meal. Time just flew, those guys were such a laugh. Then I thought "Shit, I need to finish packing", but then at the same time dad thought "ooh now would be a great time to get the Gin out" suffice to say I didn't finish the packing until 2 hours later, after the booze flavoured chocolate and more drinks.

I still got up when my alarm wanted me to, albeit grudgingly. At the airport some dudes way overpacked their luggage in my queue and I was waiting for ages for them to sort it out, to the point where I nearly missed my time to have cleared security. Ah well. All's well that ends well eh? I got to Munich with basically no trouble.

Getting to my home was a different challenge. I didn't fancy spending €50 on a taxi so I took the normal route I go, 2 stops on the train and then a bus that drops me practically at my front door. Great plan. Unless you are stupid enough to forget that the bus (like everything else in Munich) doesn't run on Sundays. Crap, I said. Okay I'll get a taxi from here. Crap, I said. No taxi rank.

The only thing I could really do was walk, it's only 7km. Not so bad. But when you add a 13Kg sports bag with the most uncomfortable carrying straps and a heavy(ish) rucksack it gets a bit trickier. As I got nearer home I realised I hadn't eaten all day and I started flagging. It took well over an hour to get home, and I didn't even put it as "backpacking" in my endomondo program!

I dropped off my bags and went straight out to a beer garden for the biggest schnitzel you can imagine.

Viel Spaß homies!