Munich 2018?

Throughout the city you'll see banners emblazoned with a blue and white hot air balloon. These have been popping up at every event in Munich and Garmisch for almost a year, but now are out in force across the city.

These are part of Munich's campaign to host the 2018 winter olympics.

Munich is pitching these as the "sustainable" and "friendly" games, and if it wins would be the first city in history to host both the summer and winter Olympics.  

How would this work? The events requiring special topography (you know, actual mountains...) would be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with some events at Koenigsee.

Of course, the one big issue is opposition from the farmers who own the land by the slopes in Garmisch. In order to have any large event, they must lease fields to the event to allow people to get to the slopes. The farmers are protesting the environmental impact on Garmisch and have threatened to refuse to lease the land for the Games.

Munich was selected as a candidate, along with Annency, France and Pyeongchan, South Korea. The Olympic committee has just visited the candidate cities and will make the announcement in July.

Both Munich and Garmisch have hosted Olympics before - Munich would love to have a friendly Olympics to balance out the memories of the tragedy of the 1972 Summer Games and Garmisch wishes to forget the 1936 Winter Games that it hosted under the Third Reich. I didn't realize it, but the IOC had also awarded the 1940 games to Garmisch before they were cancelled due to the outbreak of WWII.

Munich Olympic Ads are everywhere...there was a foozball table wrapped in an ad at my gate at the Munich airport. Even Rischart, who is a big supporter of the bid, got into the spirit of things by topping their chocolate krapfen with chocolate wafers emblazoned with the Munich 2018 logo

Who will win? It's hard to say. Most predict that the decision is between Germany and Korea. Korea may have the edge in diversity, as the previous Games will have been held in Europe (in Sochi, Russia). Additionally, it was a candidate city in the last two bids, so some feel that its time is due.

Germany, on the other hand, has been praised by the IOC for the government's clear committment to the games. With the 2006 World Cup, Germany has proved its ability to successully organize a major world sporting event. And Munich deals with a few million visitors descending upon the city every year to drink vast quantities of beer. And, though on a much smaler scale, Garmisch has proved its capabilities with the World Championship Alpine Skiing.

The German love for winter sports is clear; though holding the Winter Games in Asia will likely inspire far more new winter sport lovers (as winter sports are not big in much of Asia...not having winter makes a difference....). And internally there definitely are some issues to work out with the Garmisch-Partenkirchen venue.

In terms of venues, Korea has presented an incredibly compact site and has already constructed some new arenas. Germany is pitching sustainable development and plans to integrate the Olympic venues from the 1972 Summer Games into the new plans, to create sporting venues good for both summer and winter events.

And what of France? Their initial bid was spread over 4 cities in the French Alps, and was criticized by the IOC for being too spread out. They revised the plans to focus on two venues (same as Munich) but stil face challenges with the plan. Their budget is relatively low, and the plan doesn't seem to have the same clear governmental support as does Munich's. However, it's still equally in the running and could surprise everyone.

You can check out the official sites of Munich, Pyeongchang, and Annency to see their plans and slogans.

Update on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 17:46 by Frau A

While Munich anxiously awaits the 6 July IOC decision, a major hurdle to the Games was overcome this weekend - Garmisch-Partenkirchen voters approved the Games in a referendem.  At 58% approval, it was not exactly an overwhelming victory, but a vote against the Games by a critical venue may have hurt Germany's chances at winning the Games.

The issue is not resolved - there's still the question of getting individual landowners to lease the necessary land at the foot of the slopes - but it's one step further in the process.

Until then, the flags and banners continue to cover Munich.

Photoblog - Vienna (City Tour)

Frau A and I went to Vienna in February.  It's just far enough to feel like you've escaped, but the trip is not too taxing.  Around 4 hours by car, a little more by train... you could fly from Munich (less than an hour in the air) but the trips to the airport are almost not worth it.

During our weekend in Vienna, Frau A and I took the city "circle" tour on a bus.  It's cliched, but actually a great way to quickly get oriented in a new city, and to see some of the interesting sites (and then decide which ones to see in detail the following day).

We boarded a train from the stop near the hotel, and headed towards the inner city.  Some trams look more modern than the ones in Munich, and almost have the curves of, dare I say it, a ski gondola.  It is Austria after all.

We arrived near the Opera Haus, from where the buses depart.  This is one of the largest Opera Houses in Europe, completed in 1869 and then rebuilt from the original neo-renaissance plans after the World War II.

It wasn't originally very popular with the Viennese -- the initial reception was so bad that one of the two architects comitted suicide, and the other suffered a fatal heart attack (Wikipedia always has the good news for me).  Nevertheless, they did decide to restore it like the original (with just a little modernization), and it's an accepted part of the city today. 

Unfortunately, because it was winter, the fountain on the side of the Opera Haus was boarded up.  (All the ones in Munich are, too.)  But it still is a common place for people to gather, and for the companies to sell tour and concert tickets to tourists.  We didn't capture them on film, but guys in traditional outfits roam this sidewalk accosting tourists, trying to sell event tickets.

One of the downsides to a bus tour is that it's not a great environment for photography.  The bus windows are pretty clean, but there is always a little grime on them.  Plus there are glare & reflections to deal with.  (Murphy's law:  when there's something interesting to film, the bus is moving and you're getting jolted around....when you're stopped at a red light, it's in front of McDonald's.)

We did get a few photos that are share-worthy...  The one below is the St. Francis of Assisi Church, also known as the Jubilee church (celebrating the reign of Emperor Franz Josef).  Unusually, it is located outside of the old city and close to the modern quarter.

We were then driven by the Austrian Parlaiment building, and decided to come back later on foot.  The streetcar/tram lines obstruct the view a bit, but you can definitely see the greek-style columns -- it was designed this way to reinforce the idea of democracy (completed in 1883).  The two houses sit here, and it's quite practical:  the Austrians include meeting lobbies, a gym, and of course multiple bars for their representatives.

Still on foot now, we're heading towards the Rathaus from the Parliament.  You'll see a lot of horse and buggy tours in Vienna, and it's easy to understand the romantic appeal.  The fence here surrounds the grounds to the Hofburg Palace, which we did not get a nice photo of... the bus didn't work for us and we didn't have a chance to walk by again later.  Ugh!  Check the link to Wikipedia or Google images, it's really quite impressive.

 

Finally we arrive at the Rathaus.  The building is so large that we tried my new wide-angle lens and had to keep it at the widest setting:  18mm!  Completed in 1833 in gothic style, the Rathaus seats the Burgermeister (mayor) and city council.  It has a pretty nice restaurant too, serving traditional Viennese food.  The park in front has events year round, and hosted the Vienna Ice Dream when we were there -- a blog post unto itself!

Overall, we definitely recommend taking the bus tour around the city, then pick your spots to come back to.  You'll need more than a weekend for Vienna, but it's a start.

Champagne Beer

We haven't had a chance to try Sam Adams' and Weihenstephaner's Infinium, but we did try a true champagne beer - Sylter Hopfen. While Miller High Life claims to be "The Champagne of Beer" (a title we feel more accurately describes weißbier), this beer truly is a champagne beer. In fact, it is labeled as a "Bierspezialität," as it cannot be called "beer" under German rules.   

So, what's special about this beer? 

• Natural ingredients for an organic beer
• Sylt Hops: The hops used in the beer are grown on the German island of Sylt. After much experimentation, they found that English hops best suited the unique island climate.
• Packaging: Packaged in champagne bottles, with individually numbered labels, embossed with real gold.
• Yeast: Brewed with two types of yeast, including French champagne yeast
• Fermentation Process: Fermented twice; the first, bottom fermented in vats. The second ocurrs in the bottles, at different temperatures, with each bottle rotated up to 20 times by hand during the second fermentation
• Dégorgement: Utilizing the champagne method, the cork is removed for a second (after fermentation) to allow the yeast to pop out of the bottle. The champagne yeast need to be removed prior to consumption, and this method allows them to do it naturally and avoid filtering the beer.

The company is located in Flensburg, which lies near the German-Danish border on the peninsula near Sylt. That this is a high end beer fits in well with Sylt's reputation as a destination.

But how does it taste?

I enjoyed it, but wouldn't drink it every day (plus it's priced closer to champagne than beer!). Herr J didn't love it, but thought it wasn't bad. Weißbiers are not his favorite, and the flavors that registered on the sides of his tongue were similar to those of a weißbier.

The first thing you'll notice is the major head on this beer. It pours similar to a champagne in that it takes much pouring and waiting in order to get a full glass. As you can see here, the flutes are all foam, with a sip of beer at the bottom. The extreme carbonation comes from the champagne yeast and the second fermentation.

In the mouth, however, it is not nearly as bubbly as champagne. Definitely more bubbly than normal beer, but not too crazy. Unlike German beer, Sylter Hopfen should be served very cold.

Since my only champagne flutes are red, we poured it into a normal clear glass in order to see the color (and also because it was too labor-intensive to get an actual glassfull!).
It's a darker beer, slightly cloudy due to the lack of filtration. Even with very careful pouring into a tilted glass, there's still a large amount of foam.
The taste is much sweeter than beer or champagne and very complex. So complex that it's difficult to identify the different tastes...there's a little of the champagne tartness, but the sweetness of a malty drink, and some very light hints of the clove taste of a weißbier.

Overall, it was an enjoyable drink, but not really a beer. It's something you should drink as an aperitif or wine. Perhaps it's a good wine substitute for beer drinkers who don't like wine?

We paired it with a cheese I saw when buying the raclette cheese. It's an Italian hard cheese (pasteurized cows milk cheese), called Bacchus. It looked very much like a wonderful parmesan-like cheese that was served in Tuscany with a wine jelly as an appetizer.  I crumbled it up and had some white wine and pear jelly. It was just the same as I remembered and a happy discovery!

If It Were My Home

This is a fun and interesting site...and easier than flipping through the World Fact Book.

If It Were My Home compares basic stats about average life in other countries. The first level compares all to the US, but you can compare any country here with another.

While many things are unsurprising, there are some shockers.

Of course, I had to compare the US and Germany

It's really no surprise that Germans use less oil and electricity, have more free time, and have a lower birth rate. I was shocked that it was half the oil and 40% fewer babies, but I do know the low birth rate is a major concern here and a big threat to the future of the social system.

However, I'm really suprised that health care spending is almost half that of the US. I know that based on my limited experience, health care (meaning bills for a doctor visit or minor surgery) is much lower than would be the same service in the US, but that's only one piece of what is a very complicated puzzle.

These are all averages and general stats, but it's still interesting to play around. Apparently the French work more hours per year than the Germans and Canadians use more oil than Americans....

via LifeHacker

Olympus "Art Filters" (in Vienna and Stuttgart)

One of the fun features of my new camera, the Olympus E-PL2, is its "art filters".  The Olympus art filters are basically a set of pre-packaged algorithms that apply Photoshop-like processing to a JPEG file, inside the camera.  There are six "art filters" available on my camera model:

- Pop Art
- Soft Focus
- Grainy Film
- Pin Hole
- Diorama
- Dramatic tone

Frau A and I played around with a few of them over the last couple of weekends.  First, here is a "regular" photo, taken in a bar on our first evening in Vienna. 

Now here is a photo a few seconds later using the "dramatic tone" art filter.  It appears that this filter pushes the contrast pretty high, probably the saturation also, and maybe a few other tricks too.  It's my favorite filter so far, and I'll probably do a dedicated post on it later.

 

You can also get neat "mirage" like effects from reflections with the dramatic tone art filter.  We just set the camera on the table (marble and polished) and pointed it at the hotel entrance.  This has a warm golden glow, and the table looks pretty cool.  In this case, I'm glad we didn't have a mini tripod with us and tried the table.  Frau A did the creative work here.

A different example:  here we're at the Schönbrunn Palace gardens in Vienna, and taking a "normal" (unprocessed JPEG) photo of an arch.  The sky is slightly blue, the arch green, background buildings brick/reddish, and Frau A in front.

This is the result with the "pop art" art filter.  It cranks up the color saturation.  You can see how yellow the small part of the building through the second arch (in the background) comes through.  That I like.  The green is more intense too, and the brick colors richer.  And look how the gloves on Frau A stand out!  It's an interesting effect, but has its downsides.  For instance, the grass on the right starts out as a dirty green and becomes reddish/rusty with this filter.  That's not to my taste.

Here is one example on the streets of Vienna where the effect was OK -- probably because it was more localized.  The "regular photo" would have been a lot more subdued, because the sky was gray.  The filter took the yellow from the rental bikes and brought the color forward (it's unrealistic, but photography is art, right?).  The red car and pale yellow taxi behind it stand out a bit more too than they would without the art filter.  Because the graytone street was not affected too much, it's not too overwhelming.  The photo itself, of course, is not going to hang in the Met, but that's part of the process of getting to know a new camera and limitations of the photographers!

The "diorama" filter makes things look like a small model of the scene.  Here is a shot from the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, about one story above the cars in the exhibit (the effect works better the higher you are above the subject).  Some whites are a bit blown out (overexposed) and it's a bit grainy because the E-PL2 likes to crank the ISO in low light, but works for this test.

 Now here's a similar photo using the "diorama" art filter.

The cars definitely get a shiny, plasticy/metallic look to them -- not bad.  The downside is that this filter takes a tremendous amount of processing.  The camera literally locks up for maybe 20 seconds while the algorithm works on the JPEG.  Also, I've noticed that it makes a lot of the photo out-of-focus.  Look at the front tire on the red car... it goes from OK to just plain blurry.  I'm guessing this is part of the goal of this filter, rather than an error, in effect trying to create bokeh?

From greater elevation, you get something like this (shot from the television tower in Stuttgart).  Again, you see some significant blurring of subjects not in the middle of the frame, which is not evident with in processed shots.  Interesting.  I'm not sure about this art filter yet.

Perhaps I'll break down the others in another post, but I was not initially excited by the output from the other filters.

For casual photographs, the art filters are actually a lot of fun and much better than using Photoshop.  Pros will prefer to use more powerful tools that give them complete control, but for weekend getaways you can get some nice surprises and turn a dreary day into something really cool.

Sweet Sixteen Matches - Weissbier and Dunkel

Having selected the four representatives from the Helles/Pils half of the beer tournament, we moved to the other side to select the top four from the Weissbier and Dunkel regions.

Again we invited friends to help with the voting, and made a hearty beef stew to help absorb some of the alcohol...we knew anything with Dunkel, Oktobefestbier and Starkbier involved was potentially dangerous!

We began the games with a contest between two variations on Weißbier - Löwenbräu's Löwenweisse (a traditional unfiltered weißbier and another underdog victory for Löwenbräu*) vs Paulaner's Weissbier Kristallklar, which was like discovering a new style of beer. Equally shocking was the outcome - the Kristallklar pulled out another victory! What was most fun was hearing the reactions of our German friends.  Germans (especially in Bavaria, which has such a long and rich tradition) are very traditional and reacted to the kristallklar weissbier much like people reacted to Crystal Pepsi:  that's not what it's supposed to look like!  That's why we had everyone taste the contestants "blind".  In fact, by filtering the weissbier, it becomes a little less "mouthy" and a little fresher, almost riding the fence between a weiss and the beloved helles.  It took the contest by a clear 2/3 margin and left many scratching their heads, saying "I voted for a kristalweissbier???" Luckily, we have seen our friends since and the Free State of Bavaria ("Freistaat Bayern") has not revoked their citizenship for liking a filtered weissbier.

* Question: Is it correct to call something an underdog when it's this big and commercial? But really, Müncheners give Löwenbräu the short shrits and NO ONE thought it would get anywhere in the tourney...

Next up we had another traditional weissbier vs a dunkler weizenbock. After beating out all the other unfiltered weißbier, Andechs' Weissbier Hefetrüb took on the Erdinger Pikantus, which had blown away its weißbier and oktoberfestbier competion.

(Note:  At this stage in the tournament, we were past the point of comparing beers of the same style.  This changes the dynamics of the tasting... even more than before, votes represent preferred rather than better beer.  We noticed a few people vote against a style that generally is not to their taste, but most tasters appreciated all beer types and voted for the best of that moment beer.)

 

In this case, our tasters appreciated the Erdinger, but the smoothness and balance of the Andechs again delivered a convincing victory.  That has been the story of Andechs in this competition - the Andechs beers just work.  Maybe it's the water and water treatment they use, maybe they have exceptional braumeisters, maybe God really does want a monestary to win. Who knows?  But from the first hit on the tongue to the finish, this Andechs is a beer your can savor as a rich brew but not get taste fatigue after an entire bottle.  The vote istelf was about 80/20 for the Andechs Weissbier.

After the above matches, we're left with a future battle between Andechs' unfiltered weissbier vs Paulaner's filtered kristallweissbier for the champion of the weissbiers...a VERY important trophy in weissbier-loving Bavaria!

 

 

The Pikantus tasting was a good transition toward the darker, stronger beers of the Dunkel region.  In fact, we begin with another Erdinger. The Erdinger Dunkel, whose rich taste beat out the other dunkelweisbiers, was up against Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier, the only Oktoberfestbier to survive.  This was a close vote, with only swing of 1-2 people that made the difference.  The Oktoberfest was familiar and well-liked, but the complexity of the dunkel eeked out the victory.  Some proposed a theory that with a different/lighter meal (we had beef stew) the Oktoberfest would have won.  Perhaps the food made the difference, or perhaps because this was a later tasting (after 4 other beers) the dunkel stood out on its own more strongly.  In any event, the Erdinger moves on and the Hofbräu goes home.

And then our last match was the battle of the Paulaners. Like Andechs, Paulaner has had a lot of success in the beer tournament.  This matchup had Paulaner Original Münchener Dunkel, which defeated the Schwarzbiers in our very first matchup, vs Paulaner Salvator, which won The Dark & Dangerous Round. The Salvator surprised us in many ways - first, we never thought it was that good before...it's what you drink at Starkbierfest because that's what you drink...., and second, we always are served starkbier in the old-style pottery mugs, so we thought it was much darker and opaque than it really is.  The Paulaner dunkel had a nice roasted malty sweetness, but the balance (a bit more hops to it) and finish (more alcohol!) of the Salvator made the difference bay a margin of about 3:2.  The starkbier was truly "stark" (strong) tonight!

 

And now we have set for our regional finals the next matches:
Weißbier Region - Paulaner Weissbier Kristallklar vs Andechs Weissbier Hefetrüb 
Dunkel Region - Hasseröder Premium Pils vs Augustiner Edelstoff Export

Sweet Sixteen Matches - Helles and Pils

We started this round on a cold night, with all the happy beers lined up outside waiting for the games. The best thing about winter - outside of skiing - is that your balcony is magically transformed into a giant drink refrigerator for at least 5 months per year. We took fuuuuull advantage of this during the beer tournament.

We decided to follow wine tasting procedure and move from lighter to stronger, so we began with two classic Bavarian helles, Löwenbräu Original and Tegernseer Hell.  You'll recall from the first round matches that Löwenbräu shocked us by winning a blind tasting against Munich favorite Augustiner. (Theories abound as to why:  the difference between keg and bottle?  The Augustiner beer gardens somehow bring additional magic to the maß?  Who knows.)  Tegernseer, however, predictably demolished the competition, though we did discover the surprisngly good cheap beer (39 cents per half liter!) Hubauer Urhell.

We had around 9 people voting most of the night. As expected, the Tegernseer was really much lighter and smoother than the Löwenbräu... but that ironically was it's downfall here.  We prefered the more complex Löwenbräu to the silky smooth Tegernseer.  Other were surprised to find that they preferred the Löwenbräu too -- again a prejudice shattered. The Tegernseer was crisp and refreshing, but perhaps a little too light for a winter evening.  However, it did reinforce the experience of seeing people bringing cases of Tegernseer to the Isar river, leaving it in the water to cool, and grilling wursts.  It's a great summer beer, but lost 6 to 3 with the temperature hovering around 0 degrees.

Next up were Hacker-Pschorr's Münchener Kellerbier (beer made the way they made it in 1490) and Andechs' wonderfully caramelly but light Bergbock Hell. 

As in the prior round, the Andechs' Bergbock Hell trounced the competition (basically unanimous).  At this point, it probably has the most votes and widest margin of victory of any beer in the tournament.  It just has a great mix of sweet maltiness, a balance of hoppy bitterness, and the extra alcohol just works.  Ironically, this surprised our Bavarian tasters too because they always knew they liked Andechs, but by default the regular Helles.  Many think they now prefer the Bergbock Hell!

So those two matches leave use with a Helles Regional Final between Löwenbräu Original and Andechs Bergbock Hell.

Moving down to the Pils/Export region, we start off with Paulaner Premium Pils vs Hasseröder Premium Pils. Neither prior round match was particularly close, with Paulaner plowing through the Beck's and Hasseröder clearly beating down the bitter beers with its malty take on the pilsner tradition.  We had been really surprised by the Paulaner Pils, enjoying its flavor that was like a Pils for Bavarian palates. (You could argue that it is halfway to being a Munich Helles because it is a little sweeter and less hoppy, but it does use "noble" hops like a pils should.)

When the Paulaner Pils then went against the Hasseröder, a similar thing happened as with Tegernseer.  Despite the advantage of being like a smooth helles, the Paulaner goes home while Hasseröder was voted through to the next round.  The tasters thought Hasseröder had a better overall blend with that extra hoppiness; in this case, the crowd wanted a little more bite to the beer. The voting was pretty close though (5 to 4).  On this evening, we're seeing some tasters consistently wanting a more "forward" beer that is on equal footing with any food on the table, and other tasters consistently looking for the biergarden/refreshing/ahhhh type beer.  This evening, the testers wanting complexity had the majority.

And finally, we had Krombacher Pils vs Augustiner Edelstoff Exportbier. Krombacher was fresh off a victory in the Power Pils Round, while Augustiner beat out Veltins and the other two Munich exportbiers to move on to this matchup.  Krombacher is a prototypical pils:  light golden color, crisp taste with noticable hoppiness.  The Augustiner Exportbier is more like a helles but with significantly more hoppiness than their regular Helles.  Think of it as coming to a similar place as the Paulaner Pils (sweeter/less hoppy than a pils, more hoppy than a helles) but from the other direction.  That was the difference:  the hops balanced with a more malty complexion gave the game to Augustiner Exportbier.  It was a solid victory, with 2/3 choosing the Augustiner.

This night leaves us with happy memories (and headaches the next morning), as well as two regional final matchups:

Helles Region - Andechs Bergbock Hell vs Löwenbräu Original
Pils/Export Region - Hasseröder Premium Pils vs Augustiner Edelstoff Export