More macro shots of the butterfly exhibit at the Botanical Garden.
Though this one was a special exhibit, Vienna has a permanent butterfly house (Schmetterlinghaus) near the opera. I love butterflies, so we'll have to visit next time we're in Vienna.
There were several dishes with fruit or dots of nectar for the butterflies to enjoy.
I love the textures in this one and the greens and browns.
This pale one enjoyed a spot of nectar, while giving us a great reflection
This past weekend, we spent Sunday morning at the Botanical Garden. They have a special butterfly exhibit, which runs through 25 March. A perfect opportunity to get up close and personal with the butterflies and my lovely macro lens. Definitely a bit of a challenge to use, but beautiful results. I'm still working on getting the proper focus, but I love that we can capture their faces too, and the lens has a gorgeous, creamy background.
One of my favorites - for the color and the closeup of his face
Kinda cute with his curly proboscis
I'd really love to see the Monarch migration one day.
Not sure where these come from, but they have a beautiful blue and brown combination I hadn't seen before
Another of the blue and brown ones.
Cool how these have blue and black polka-dotted eyeballs!
We've been to the Nymphenburg Gardens many times, in spring and in summer. So it's only fitting we see it in winter, too.
On our recent Eisstockschießen outing, we spent an hour walking around the castle grounds before the Eisbahnen opened. Herr J and I will both say that photography at -15° is a challenge and that handwarmers are a necessity - both for keeping my hands flexible and for keeping his batteries warm!
We hadn't had that much snow recently, but after a good solid two weeks of subzero temperatures, the canals and ponds were covered in thick layers of ice.
This was my favorite view...though it looks like little ice floes, the dark part is also frozen. I guess the lake froze, partially thawed, and then froze again around the slabs of ice that remained. Whatever happened, it was a really cool effect on the ice!
There was one little pool of water, in which the little black ducks congregated.
To me - who is not used to much more than flurries or ice storms once per year - the different forms of ice are fascinating. I'm sure someone can explain it all in terms of temperatures and different crystalization structures, but the result is beautiful.
Despite the warnings of possible death, the ice fills up with people enjoying all types of winter sports. In addition to eisstockschießen, you can ice skate (rentals are also available), play hockey, sled, or just slide around.
This clever lady paired ice skates with her baby buggy!
It's only for a short time that the ice is thick enough for sports, but it's times like this that make winter not so bad!
One of the biggest lessons I've learned living in Munich (as someone who grew up in the Southern U.S.) is to make the most of every season. Especially Winter, my area of least expertise. Winter activities like skiing and sledding have been fun, but there was something new we hadn't tried yet. It's an activity that dates to at least the 16th Century, has European and World championships, and has been "demonstrated" at the Winter Olympics two times. It's called eissstockschiessen.
Below, you see the Nymphenburg Palace and a worker preparing the ice for eisstockschiessen and skating.
We'd wanted to try eisstockschiessen before, but somehow never made it in the last years. It needs to be consistently cold so the water freezes to a safe thickness - at the mercy of nature, lanes open and close with little warning. There are lanes all over the city, but the ones on the Nymphenburger Kanal (near the Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens) are the most popular. They have the capacity for 40 lanes (marked by the end boards on the ice) from the castle all the way to the bridge where the local tram stops.
Here is a view down the canal:
Since the temperature had averaged -10°C for the previous two weeks, we checked online and the lanes were open. Not knowing how crowded it gets on weekends, we called ahead and reserved one at 9am. We arrived a little late (9:15) but the rental shack was closed and the one person who seemed associated with it was out on the canal ice, driving a mini Zamboni to clear the lanes (see this in the first photo above). That is not very German (imprecise!), so we killed some time taking photos of the palace.
After 30 minutes and no indications that he would be finished soon, we ducked into a cute little corner cafe and warmed up with cappuccino, a krapfen (filled doughnut) and piece of marmorkuchen (marble loaf cake).
Now fuelled up and with full feeling in hands and face again, we headed back to see if we could rent the equipment and get our lane. The trailer was finally open for business. A lane costs €4 per person, for 4 hours - very reasonable.
Required equipment includes the Eisstöcke (plural of Eisstock) to toss/slide (like the "stone" in Canadian curling) and the Dauben (targets). The kanal lanes include end boards to contain throws that would send an Eisstock into the next lane. We saw many people come later (we were still the first that cold morning) with their own sets of Eisstöcke and Dauben - serious players indeed. Theirs were often bright metal, whereas the rental Eisstöcke are wooden (but good enough for us!). The rental Dauben were simply rectangular blocks of wood dusted with orange paint.
Here is Frau A showing the bottom of a stock.
The game is a lot like bocce or shuffleboard. The goal is to slide your Eisstock closest to the Daube. It's a great group activity -- especially the arguing about who is closest and the fun of knocking someone else's Eisstock away.
We played 1-on-1 this morning, but it's usually played with 2 teams of 4 people. This means that in each round, 8 Eisstöcke are thrown. The points are tallied at the end, and the next round starts from the other end of the lane. Usually the team that captured the most points on the prior round goes first, so the other team has the last chance this time to knock their Eisstock away from the Daube and score the points.
There are official rules to the game, since it is played competitively (and internationally). However, most people tend to have their own variation on the rules. For example:
First to 10:
In each round, the team with the Eisstock closest to the Daube receives 1 point. First team to 10 points wins.
Quick First to 10:
In each round, the team with the Eisstock closest to the Daube receives 1 point. If that same team also has the Eisstock that is second-closest to the Daube, they receive 2 points.
4 Rounds:
There are only 4 rounds, and the team with the most points at the end wins. In this case, the scoring is like in Quick First to 10 but not limited to 2 points. A team can receive up to 4 points (if all 4 of their Eisstöcke were closer than the opponents' closest one).
6 Rounds:
There are only 6 rounds, and the team with the most points wins. The closest Eisstock receives 3 points, and for each other Eisstock that is still closer than the opponents' closest toss, the team receives 2 points (up to 9). This is usually part of tournament play, so that a win after 6 Rounds gives a team 2 points (a draw 1, and a loss 0). Then teams move on to other competitors for the next games.
The official rules are, of course, much more precise and include a target area around the Daube. Only Eisstöcke within the target can get points, and the Daube can only be struck and moved within the target area (if it is pushed outside the target area, it is brought back to its position before the contact).
We took a video... I had to swing as hard as I could to toss the Eisstock, staying relatively low on the ice so not to fall! We saw many Germans who wore strap-on spikes while they played for stability.
Here are some of those more experienced players on the lane next to us. You can seel ice skaters taking advantage of the open space at the end of the eisstockschiessen lanes. (The shack rents ice skates too.) And again, the nice view with the Nymphenburg palace in the background.
They were pretty serious, and brought out the measuring tape a few times to settle a debate (we were too slow with the camera, unfortunately).
As with most Winter activities here, the proper way to finish is with a hot mug of glühwein (mulled wine). The shack was happy to sell this too, but oddly theirs included raspberries. This is unusual, but tasted nice -- although most raspberries ended up tossed onto the snow.
When we returned, we looked up the weather. No wonder we were chilled -- it was -15°C at 9am, and the high that day was -10°C.
Which explains my attire. Although it isn't easy to move, I recommend (for warm weather people like me) as many layers as you can manage. After thermal underwear, fleece leggings, 2 fleeces undercoat, and a down jacket, I added Herr J's balaclava to protect my face. (And you can't see the handwarmers inside my gloves.) Yes, I'm slowly learning to deal with Winter, but Herr J will usually carry extra handwarmers just in case...
The ice has mostly melted now, but fortunately we returned the following weekend with a friend to get in a few more games that season. We're looking forward to more next year. (Or maybe we should try the Summer version!)
A holiday to celebrate one of Europe's greatest contribution to the world.
Apart from the obvious Nutella on toast (or better yet, on buttery warm croissants), here are a few recipes I need to try soon. The Nutella waffles were a great experiment, but we have so many more to try!
Unfortunately we have no Nutella in the house for a picture: it's Sunday in Germany and I really can't keep Nutella around - it mysteriously disappears (Herr J???).
Both Herr J and I may independently have a "problem" with ktichen gadgets. Though we do actually use them, so it's yet to be decided if it's really a problem....
But there's a new one I'm really loving. One of the best Christmas gifts this year was a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma. And being a gift, I decided to buy stuff I wanted but didn't really need or might not buy for myself. And I've been wanting the Zoku popsicle maker for a while now.
The big problem was the space it takes up in the European freezers and the weight it would take up in my suitcase on the flight home. Well, they now come in 1 and 2 popsicle sizes, which seemed more manageable.
I had wondered if these really work as well as claimed. Past attempts at popsicles using the plastic molds didn't work as well. Those pops were more icy than the soft popsicle texture that you get with the ones from the store. But, as (1) they don't have popsicles in the store here, and (2) I don't want to have all that sugar, making popsicles seemed to be a good idea. I was a little sceptical of the claim that all you had to do was pour in fruit juice, but there were so many great recipes available online that I figured it would be useful.
The first batch we tried was a strawberry yogurt pop. I just put strawberries, sugar, nonfat yogurt, and a little lemon juice in the blender. Apparently you need to have a more liquid texture for the freezing to work, so I added skim milk to make it more liquid. They were great!
There's a little removal tool that screws into the hole in the handle and then lifts it out of the mold.
Then I bought some pomegranate juice at the store to test out if it really works with just plain juice. And it does - pomegranate was great! A little different taste, and a good balance of sweet with a little tart.
I'm sure the same is probably true in the US now, but Germany has a wonderful abundance of juice varieties. And though you can buy the expensive ones at the bio stores, they have some impressive range in the affordable section (i.e., under €3 for a box). There so many more to try, and to try mixing. But I brought home the Amarena Cherry and the Pineapple-Coconut for a taste test.
Yum! I'm a huge fan of cherry, so I liked this one. It's very tart, though, so is a good lesson. If you don't like tart flavors, you should test the juice and then possibly add some sugar or honey. But loved it!
It's hard to pick a favorite - all 3 of the juice ones have been favorites so far. But there's something special about the Pineapple-Coconut...probably because it tastes like a beach holiday!
We'll be back in the US for a wedding soon and I'm seriously considering getting another one, especially since I have a $20 coupon at Williams Sonoma. I'm using it almost every day! Great for summer and also for winter sore throats!
I'm sure we'll eventually try some of the more creative pops you can make...chili-chocolate paletas, pops with different color layers, or a different flavor center. But it's hard to beat the simplicity of just pouring juice out of the box into the mold.
Friday we had weird snow with thunder and lighting. First the fat wet flakes that were pretty and melted, and then it poured down these tiny little flakes that quickly turned the roofs white.
Usually it's gone by morning, but I awoked Saturday morning to find it still snowing and a nice thick layer on the roofs.
I hadn't taken any pictures in a couple of months, but I had a big internal battle between photographic desire and my strong desire to not be cold.
Fortunately, the creative side won. Shocking, actually. But a really good decision to not procrastinate and just go ahead and bundle up and go out. Though it was snowing hard while I was out and seemed it would continue, the rains soon came and washed away the pretty snow.
There are so many reasons to love Munich, but one of my top reasons is that when it snows, it feels like you're inside the picture-perfect world of a snowglobe.
Everything is coated with snow - I especially love how it coats every branch of the tree.
Of course, with Munich being the little slice of slightly unreal paradise that it is, Marienplatz was cleared of snow before the snow had stopped falling. (The kids will be playing on the snow piles for the next 2 months!)
The trees behind the Rathaus are some variety of gumball tree. The snow makes perfect ornaments of them!
Notice anything odd here?
It's actually a reflection. I was hoping this black glass enclosure would make the snowflakes stand out, but was surprised with the fun mirror effect.
I'd somehow never put together the cow fountain in the Rindermarkt with its name, but it actually was the cattle market in the old walled town.
And the Löwenturm has a lovely decorated tree in front of it.
It's not actually raining snow, but just playing around a bit with a slow shutter speed and Herr J's tripod.
A fun morning and probably a positive lesson in why not procrastinating sometimes is good. Really happy I had the chance to go enjoy the beautiful snow!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 9:01 
