Last Weekend

We are defintely behind in posting. These pictures are from last weekend, when we went house-hunting and rewarded Karl and Henri with a visit to the Wildpark Poing, most definitely one of their most favorite places. Not just because of the free roaming animals, but also because they got a killer playground the size of South Brooklyn. Karl took the lead and explained the intricacies of wildlife to his brother (and yes, we are aware of the common-sense-practice to not let toddlers stick their hands into animal cages, but that cage was exclusively populated by bunny rabbits and fluffy birds).



House hunting. Has occupied our minds and hearts for quite some time now. With our luck the Munich market overheated to a point of ridiculousness approaching SoHo/TriBeCa prices ca. 2005. So now our piggy banks, lovingly fattened over the years, look mighty anorexic around here. The hours preceeding the lovely outing to the Wildpark had definitely been a new low in real estate adventures. First we went to a depressing suburbia, where they had a lot of dingy 60s row houses with Jags and Range Rovers parked out front. Next we went to Ebersberg, a small town half hour outside of Munich. The place was nice. But sold. And a stroll across the Easter market to the local ice cream parlor made us realize in horror that our sons would be two of those "Deliverance" style Bavarians, if they'd grow up there. The day was topped off with a visit of a row house in the Olympic Village, which in 1972 was a model project in contemporary design. It was a strange mix somewhere between a 3rd world showcase in social housing and an eery set for George A. Romero film. Back when we left the US of A four years ago (!), Munich city marketing had just come up with a new slogan - "Munich loves you" (I think we sent around the accompanying image film back then). Well, after those last house hunting outing we can definitely confirm - Munich hates us. That's why we're leaving. Well, not for good, even though we're contemplating, if it might not be easier to find jobs in Berlin than appropriate family housing in Munich. Tuesday we're going to Italy for a couple of weeks, some friends' of friends place in the Marche near the port town of Fano. It's a no internet kinda place in a hamlet that has no store, but a bar. Henri already got himself some gear for the beach. And we got a whole list of fish places, Renaissance towns, caves and ravines with creeks to bathe in that we wanna go to. So you might not hear from us on this blog. But that just means that we will be too busy frolicking in the Mediterranean.