Gymboree Music

Our Munich Gymboree has opened all their classes to all their members for the months of July and August which means Will and I get to attend music class for free this summer! My mom and dad came along with us last week (We were doing a trial run using the bus so they could get there on their own the next day.) which allowed me to step back and take some pictures.


Once the drums come out, things get a bit more tame and focussed (as seen above). Normally music class consists of parents singing along while watching their children run or crawl around the room at will ripping musical instruments out of each other's hands. It's really kind of like herding cats and pretty funny to watch.
Otis is our young, energetic teacher. He's so great with the kids and really, really creative. I love the end of the class because when Otis pulls out his guitar it only means one thing: Jack Johnson! Who knew a Bavarian could nail any Jack Johnson song? Every Thursday afternoon Otis and Jack help quell my homesickness by reminding me of San Diego and California.

We hadn't been to music class in two weeks due to Will being sick, and it's so amazing to realize how much he changes in such a short time. In class, Otis was holding a musical instrument and Will wanted it. So he took off crawling across the class, straight for Otis. I'd never seen him do this in a class setting before! By the time he got there, the musical instrument had been put away, so I wondered what William might do. My little guy turned around in puzzlement, saw me waving at him across the room, put a huge smile on his face, and came crawling all the way back to my arms. That's Mama's boy!

Will's favorite toy

Balls were Will's current favorite
toy . . . or so I thought!

Location:Bazeillesstraße,Munich,Germany

Feringasee

A gorgeous Munich summer is in full swing. So what do Munich haus fraus do with such gorgeous weather? . . . to the lake!

We (some Gymboree moms and myself) thought we'd start small and drive 20 minutes to Feringasee, a small, man-made lake, for the day to see if the kiddos liked it. If it worked out, we'd broaden our horizons to farther destinations next week.

Our group ended up being a bit smaller than expected due to illness and last minute appointments, but that didn't stop the fun. In fact none of the kiddos were all awake at the same time! Ha! So, I promise to get more pics of other international babies in a later post. For now, we like to introduce you to Holly, Will's first love.


Will and Holly met when when Will was 5 days old and Holly was 2 days old. That's right, Rachel (Holly's mom) and I gave birth in the same hospital. It's always fun to compare mommy notes with Rachel. It's even more fun to watch Holly do something before I even get the chance to ask, "Rachel, does Holly . . . ?" Here they are "sharing" every baby's favorite toy: Mom's iPhone.

This was Will's first time in a lake. No waves? Sun-warmed water? Will loved it!

Goof balls

My love

Our day at the lake was a success! Stay tuned to see what lake we choose to conquer next week.

Wurzburg

With Grandma and Papa in town, my mom had the fun idea to take an overnight trip to Würzburg, a small, German town on the Romantic Road where she lived in the late 60s while teaching on the army base. As we toured around, my mom recognized the standard centuries-old landmarks, but it was amazing to realize how any city, even quaint, little German towns, really can change in 40 years.


One thing that hadn't changed was Würzburg's great wine. At lunch, we ordered every Würzburg wine off the menu and made our own little wine tasting. Yes, even Papa got a break from Will's lunch for a few swishes of wine.

Here we are in front of the Residenz. We, unfortunately, didn't get to go inside for a tour, for my parents got experience the slower pace of traveling with a 9-month old! Sometimes we have to bypass landmark tours for naps, diaper changes, feedings, or just moving on to better time the before-mentioned baby activities. :)

Jeff and I in a city platz.

On Saint's Bridge in front of the fortress

On the bridge looking back into town

Breakfast
(for one of us)

Once we actually found the right path, we walked up the hill to the fortress. It was a gorgeous walk (aside from the 47 steps with a kinder-wagon at the start) among Würzburg white wine grapes.

We all had a really fun time!

Jennifer Warren visits!

July marked my first official friend from the U.S. coming to visit. Jennifer Warren, my sorority sister and roommate of 4 years in San Diego was traveling through Europe with her mom Sue. They made a special trip down from Paris just to visit the Munich Zabels!

We had fun showing them the in's and out's of European city living. It was fun seeing our city through new eyes and fielding fabulous questions that I hadn't even thought of asking myself!

Jenn and Sue's visit coincided my parent's visit, so we had built in babysitters as well. We enjoyed a dinners out, taking in landmarks, and even a day trip.

Sue had see the German town of Mittenwald on a Samantha Brown Travel Channel Show, so off we went of a day trip! I was excited to see this little town, but even more excited for my first official day off. Being gone from 9-5 is the longest I've ever been away from William. Wow!

This little creek runs through Mittenwald. Can you imagine how full it must be in the spring?

Jennifer and me in front of some of Mittenwald's famous painted houses.

While Sue rested at a cafe, Jennifer and I took off for a cable car ride to the top of a mountain in hopes of a gorgeous view.

Um, hello. It was quite a cable car ride!

Up top we found a crater-ish kind of peak. Yes, that's snow behind me.

While hiking around the crater, my cell phone beeped I had a text message. Jennifer laughed and said I must have a great cell phone provider. We laughed even harder when I checked my phone only to find out we'd "crossed" into Austria the text was notifying me that my rates had changed!

The mountain hut. We even trekked out to take pictures in the snow. I guided it carefully and cautiously, while Jennifer chose to careen down the hill on her backside. We both made it there to get a great pic . . . on her camera. Stay tuned for updated pics!

I'm so grateful to both Jennifer and Sue for extending what was already a long European vacation. They were so much fun to be around and definitely satiated my great homesickness I didn't realize I had. Thanks, girls!

Daily series - BMW Campus

My usual work day starts here at the BMW Forschungs und Innovation Zentrum. We call it the FIZ for short and it translates to the BMW Research and innovation center. Which is a little bit strange since it is really more of a entwicklung or development center. Basically all engineering development for our vehicles is done here. There is a research and development center, the forschungs und technik center is also in Munich. Research was the parent department for my old job in Palo Alto.

Moving to Munich headquarters has been a big change for a couple of reasons. One reason is how many people work here. In the FIZ there are thousands of people. I honestly don't know how many, but lots! A can say in Palo Alto it always felt like a small company, but the size in Munich is a new challenge.

Also the job stress level seems tougher. In Palo Alto I did research projects and always tried to "hit a home run". If I struck out, it was research, if I succeeded a home run. With bringing a product all the way to production, I forgot how 90% of the work is in the last 10% of the project.



Here is the building where I work. It is across the street from the main building of the FIZ. My product first came to Mini, so that has been really fun as the brand is quite hip and cool.


Next up, what it is like in these buildings! At least what I can show you:)

Brainsucker

Will this past weekend wasn't feeling too well and so we thought we would try something to take his mind off not feeling well. He has only watched TV one other time in his life (at a hotel in Budapest as he needed some distraction while we were packing and nothing else seemed to work). Also we try to not have it on when he is up either.

You can see the result. My mom used to call it the brainsucker and now I can see why. Thanks for making us play outside mom!
Will, you will thank us when you have kids. Never thought I'd say that:)

The daily series: Trains

One of the coolest things about Munich is the awesome public transportation. The title should really read "trains, trams and busses". Basically anywhere you need to get in Munich is faster and easier by public transport.



We are lucky to live on the Stammstreke of the Sbahn lines at Rosenheimerplatz. This is nice because the trains are super frequent. The s bahn lines run out to the suburbs of Munich, but all of them run through the city on the Stammstreke. This means usually we have a train every 2 minutes or so and the city center is only 2 stops away! Also, the S8 train runs direct from here to the airport making it only 30 minutes or so to the airport and this train runs every 20 minutes. Getting around has never been easier.



We honestly only use our car on the weekends and sometimes it sits sometimes for weeks at a time in the garage. However, we do really enjoying having for escapes from the city.

Basically everyday Sarah and I take public transport. My ride to work starts with a ride on the sbahn to Marienplatz and then the U3 Ubahn to U2 to at scheidplatz. Overall it takes me about 30 minutes door to door, by that is clear across the city.



Even on the weekends we use it. My favorite is to go for a long walk and take the public transport home. It is also a good opportunity to update this blog!

Sonnbuehl Kitzbuehl

What else do you do on a Sunday when it is 100 degrees and humid in the city? Why go to the mountains of course!

One of my favorite memories of a past business trip was a weekend I spent in Kitzbuehl and couldn't wait to take Sarah and Will here. The town is just across the border in Austria and is a super nice ski town. I have heard that Vail, CO has been modeled after it.

We joined our buddy Oskar in the morning and took off for the 1.5 hour drive. When we arrived we enjoyed a morning coffee in the town and checked things out, and then took a ride up the lift cool down.

At the top, we took a very short walk to Sonnbuehl, a nice Austrian restaurant and cool hang out at the top of the mountain (pictured above). Sarah and Will's favorite part was the single swing looking out over the endless valley and mountains of Kitzbuehl.

Here they are in the swing enjoying the view and relaxing.

They even had an outdoor ping pong table where Oskar creamed me. If I was to make excuses, I would say I couldn't keep my eye on the ball because the scenery was so amazing.

After a great lunch, a couple beers, and a complimentary schnapps, we headed back to take the lift down to the car.

Will really enjoyed taking the lift. He is aware enough now to know when he is high off the ground.

Initially on the way up he was a little hesitant, but on the way down he couldn't get enough of it. Here he is checking out the gorgeous view.

What a fantastic Sunday:)

The daily series

After living here for almost a year, I thought it would be fun to give people an insight to our daily lives and my general daily workday/life in Munich. I know when we first came over, I didn't know what to expect, so I thought it would be fun to shed some light on our everyday activities. After all, we aren't always on vacation or traveling around as one might think after reading our blog (although we do get around Europe quite well!). So here goes the first of a series of posts about our daily life.

A normal day for me starts out with a walk down Balanstraße to the Rosenheimerplatz S-bahn stop. Here's a shot one winter morning of the neighborhood church St. Wolfgangs were we went to Christmas eve mass. It was a rare clear day and the light on the church and shadows from the low winter sun was really stunning.





In the summer the trees and street are gorgeous.



Along the way I pass an italian coffee shop. It is awesome, but only open from 10am to 5pm Monday through Friday and 10am to 2pm Saturday. Closed on Sunday. What a life huh? Italians:)

I also pass a great Spanish Tapas restaurant, some strange neighborhood bars and tee shop, an Augustiner pub, an ASL school, more apartments, a toy shop, a cooking/kitchen shop and a huka smoke shop to name a few.




The walk takes me about 4 min and I'm on the train! We love our neighborhood.

Location:Marienplatz,Munich,Germany