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Then we bummeled around to the Catacombs of St. Peter. It was a verdant and overgrown graveyard that dates to early 1620.

I spied this cool tombstone that reminded me of that children's song, "The Worms Crawl In, the Worms Crawl Out."

This photo is of the front of the Neue Rathaus, or "New Town Hall". It has the Glockenspiel on the front (which is called a "carillion" in English apparently) and it goes of two-three times a day. The little figurines spin around. The building was built at the end of the 1800's, hence the term "new" town hall. The "old" town hall is adjacent to it and how houses a toy museum. The Neues Rathaus forms part of the Marienplatz, which is the city's main down-town square and named after the statute of Mary with child that is at it's center. Here's a photo of the Rathaus at night:



To get there, you can walk along various pedestrian zones filled with fancy shops.

The photo above is of Kev. I took this photo because this time of year Munich's Christmas market is just about to get going. This is a big deal. All of the stores get decked out in Christmas decorations, which you can see on the white building behind Kev. Also, you can see a wee bit of the Frauenkirche towers in the distance too.
But, before we go to the Frauenkirche, let's stop by the old favorite Hofbrauhaus. The Hofbrauhaus is located behind the new Rathaus on a small plaza called the Marienplatzl.

The Hofbrauhaus is a giant restaurant and beer hall that serves the best of traditional Bavarian food. I had actually never been there before and it was quite a trip. A loud German polka band would play a folk song every 10 minutes or so. The waiters had on lederhosen. It was like year-round Oktoberfest in there.

First, we started with the liter-sized maB. I had a Radler, which is a maB, but the beer is mixed with lemonade. It's good. As for food, Kev got spatzle with a turkey ragout, S got schweinebraten with potato dumplings (kartoffelknodel), and I got a sausage plate with sauerkraut with an order of bread dumplings (semmelknodel) on the side. Oh, and a pretzel, too. I was hungry!


Now, leaving the Marienplatz area but still very close by, is the Frauenkirche.
Heading toward the Frauenkirche:




Here's Kev waving just as we approach the Frauenkirche. The Frauenkirche is one of Munich's most distinguished buildings as it has two twin copper onion domes. The church was almost completely destroyed during WWII so the inside is still pretty bare and austere. It is also called the "Dom" or cathedral. K and I frequently stopped for coffee and a pastry. Here's Kev enjoying an espresso right in front of the Frauenkirche.

Also, around the Frauenkirche are some lively bars. We went to Augustiner am Dom, which looks a lot like a ski lodge. It has been in the same family's hands for the past 100 years.

Here I am at the bar-

At these older places, there are large wooden tables everywhere and you just take a seat where ever there is room. The waitress will separate the bar tab any way you desire.

We also visited the "Alter Peter" which, literally translated, is the "Old Peter." It is St. Peter's Church that was built in the 11th century and then largely renovated in the 14th century and again in the 1600's. Here I am in front of the old doors to the church:

For a small fee (1 -2 Euro), you can climb the 300 or so steps to the very top of Alter Peter and get some awesome views of the city.
Here's Kev climbing the stairs-

You can kind of see the wood beam supports. It's neat.
When you get to the top, there is a very narrow 350 degree balcony.

But the views are great. Here's a view of the Marienplatz and Neue Rathaus:

The yellow building in the distance is the Theatinerkirche (another church close at the Odeonsplatz, which I will get to soon). You can see all the way in the distance the Olympic Park tower and, directly to the right of the tower, the BMW building.

We also hit up the very busy coffee house that is right on the Marienplatz called Cafe Richard. The reason I'm mentioning it here is because I had a piece of raspberry cake the size of my head there. Of course, I got it with a side of "Schlagzahne" or whipped cream.

Mmmm.

Heading back toward downtown, you will pass by the Museum of Hunting and Fishing. We didn't go inside but I was introduced to the wild boar out front.


We hoofed it to Viktualienmarkt, which is the open-air food market that is very close to the Marienplatz.
It was amazing. We got a couple of cheeses to take home with us and a package of WeiBwurst, a traditional Bavarian veal sausage.

We then headed to the Lowenbrau restaurant and beer garden for lunch.

I ate one of my favorite German dishes, kaesespatzle, which is a type of small, homemade noodle covered with melted cheese and, in this case, fried onions.

Kev had a WeiBwurst sausage and sauerkraut platter.


It was delicious.
Another day, the weather was warm enough for us to eat at a beer garden that was also close to the Vikuelienmarkt. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name. The views were good, though.
Here I am at the biergarten. You can see the Frauenkirche in the background and a bunch of people enjoying themselves with a beer or two.

There was a busy tram station next to this biergarten and people were just stepping off the tram and sitting down for some lunch. It had a good and fun vibe. It was crowded and everyone squished in on the wooden tables and benches.


I had scheweinebraten (pork roast) with semmelknodel (bread dumplings). Kev made an unusual choice and had blood sausage and sauerkraut.


Heading back towards Theresienstrasse you will come upon Odeonsplatz. This is where the Bavarian opera house is as well as the Theatinerkirche, which I mentioned above. We darted into the Residenz one afternoon, which was the city palace of Bavarian royalty. It is gigantic. It was partially under construction so "only" 100 rooms were open for viewing.
This is me in front of the Odeonsplatz lion:

And we also enjoyed some mulled wine ("gluhwein") and tea at a coffee house. This is K and his brother canoodling underneath blankets provided by the cafe. It gets chilly at night but why go inside when you can people watch so much better outside?


Also close to the Odeonsplatz is Kaffee Hag where we went on a different occasion and I had, quite possibly, the best piece of walnut cake of my life. I memorialized the cake in this photograph.


Anyway, we did not get a chance to see a concert or opera this time but we intend to next time we visit. There are a TON of concerts in Munich. K read somewhere in his guidebook that there is an average of 5 concerts a day in Munich! Woha.

Ok, so back to where we were, traveling north from Odeonplatz, you quickly come across Museum row. There is the old, new, and modern art museums. We went to the new and the modern. Here I am on museum row:


The Neuepinakothek ("New Art Musuem") contains European art from the 18th and 19th centuries. It has some of the royal portraiture from that time period up to an including the impressionists. It even contains a Van Gogh Sunflowers.

Last night, I had the pleasure of going to see The Richest Deadman Alive, an original play presented by a local company here called Theater Grottesco.  It was also “pay as you wish” night, which was nice because I’m a cheapskate.  :)

The comic play is actually quite funny; I even laughed out loud at several points.  I rarely laugh out loud when watching  TV shows or movies, so take it from me that it was funny.  What happens is a hapless man, plagued by severe allergies, is accidentally locked outside of his home by a well-meaning but dim delivery man.  Because the outside world is full of asthma-inducing things, the hapless man dies from exposure to pollen.  His wife and friends mourn his passing and lay flowers on his casket.  Enter the twist.  Apparently, the hapless husband had been paying on a life insurance policy for many years unbeknownst to his wife.  The insurance agent comes to the wake, cuts the wife a giant check, and leaves.  Enter the second twist:   the flowers laid on the casket muster up some crazy-strong allergic reaction that sneezes the husband back to life.  There is rejoicing… and scheming.

The husband and wife blow all of their money on a vacation.  They return home, wondering what to do now that they are broke.  Unwilling to get a job, they decide that insurance fraud is the way to go and they start cooking up plans to fake the hapless husband’s death again.  Hilarity ensues. 

The end is a little strange and contains some social commentary that is uncharacteristically poignant (and a little jarring) for this slapstick comedy.  It was rushed and abrupt.  Also, there was a some over-acting that caught me in an eye roll or two, but for the most part it was appropriate for the play which contained a good bit of physical comedy and puns.  On the whole, The Richest Deadman Alive gets 2 thumbs up. Oh, the stage and set design is simple but genius.

The Richest Deadman Alive was great.  It was entertaining and an all-around good time.  I recommend going.  It’s playing at the Armory of the Arts (on Old Pecos Trail) and is running until October 18th.

Ok, so here's the review I promised.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not familiar with the Batman comic books.  I know they exist in the general sense but I've never read one myself.  I preferred to pilfer my sisters' Wonder Woman comics, personally.  So I come from a place of ignorance.  

I thought the movie was "fine."  Hey! Quit throwing tomatoes! Allow me to explain.

The Dark Knight has that same super-cool feel of the acclaimed Batman Begins.  I really liked Batman Begins, actually.  Gotham City is a skeevy place where everyone seems to be a corrupt, tortured soul.  I dig.  From this evil ooze springs The Joker, a role that was masterfully played by Heath Ledger.  The Joker was, hands down, the BEST part of this movie.  Ledger creates a funny yet deeply disturbing picture of The Joker, complete with a unique voice, consistent body twitches, and a sick sense of humor.  Seriously, The Joker was fantastic.

The story is about how Batman sees hope in Harvey Dent, the new DA.  Harvey isn't corrupt and vows to clean up Gotham.  Batman realizes that Harvey can do what he can never do, because Harvey can be the face of change that everyone needs as Harvey doesn't have to hide behind a mask and fly around in the dark.  Very emo, I know.  Harvey also happens to be in a serious relationship with Rachel.  As we know from the first movie, Batman pines for Rachel in a strange, sixth graderish way.  Like, Batman thinks that if he reveals himself as Bruce Wayne Rachel will respect him or something, but he doesn't want to reveal himself, so he instead acts like a jerk towards her.  My eyes just can't roll enough in disdain for the Rachel-Batman subplot.  But, to get back on track, Harvey and Rachel are an item.  This results in Batman being conflicted over his need for Harvey (because Harvey will clean up Gotham) and his hate for Harvey (because Harvey's gettin' with his love interest, Rachel.)   The Joker appears on the scene suddenly and without backstory.  The Joker is essentially hired by the Gotham mobsters to take out Batman.  The mobsters, however, didn't really understand The Joker and his motives.  It becomes clear that The Joker isn't really out to kill Batman.  He just likes anarchy, chaos, and to prove that people are really all evil, deep down.  There is also a short but significant appearance of the villian known as Two Face.  I don't really want to get into it because it will give away too much.

So, that's basically what's going on.  The reason I only gave the movie a "fine" rating (on a scale of  boo, meh, fine, good, and super rad) is because of the following:

1.  It's really long.  We're talking looooong.  But more than it, it was needlessly long.  I found myself eagerly waiting for the movie to end because, well, I was getting bored.  Too many plot twists and extraneous characters can do that to a movie goer.  

2.  Rachel.  I already talked about this above.  I don't like her preachy, holier-than-thou attitude.  She also serves no purpose but to be an object of Batman's pathetic pining and, eventually, and object with which to manipulate him.  She's superfluous and all-around lame.  

3.  Batman's voice is laughably contrived.  Bruce Wayne's voice is normal while Batman's voice is excessively gruff and deep.  Oh, and spoiler alert- Bruce Wayne is Batman.  They're the same person.  Everytime Batman would speak my eyes would start rolling again.  It was just that terrible.  

4.  There's too much stuff going on.  This ties in with #1 above.  There's the Rachel subplot, The Joker subplot, the Harvey Dent subplot, the Two Face subplot, the Police Commissioner sublot, the guy who makes all of Batman's stuff subplot, the convicts on a boat subplot, the Wayne Enterprises employee who threatens to expose the real Batman subplot, the mobsters getting played by The Joker subplot, the guy who steals the mobsters' money subplot, and the copy-cat Batmans subplot.  Not to mention the random appearance of the Scarecrow for three minutes.  

However, all of this negativity is neutralized by the strong positive points of the movie.  These include:

1.  The Joker.  For real, his character is just that good.

2.  Morgan Freeman's short appearances as the guy who makes all of Batman's gadgets.  He seems like a real person.  He also engineers cool stuff.  When he's on screen, you will be entertained.  Also, Freeman is part of the "Wayne Enterprises employee who threatens to expose the real Batman subplot" and has a very funny couple of lines.

3.  The convicts on a boat subplot that mirrors The Prisoner's Dilemma.  In the movie, there are two boats.  One has a bunch of convicts on it and the other contains regular citizens of Gotham.  At a certain time, both boats will blow up.  The only way to save your boat is the blow up the other boat.  There's a cameo by Tom Lister, Jr.  who I really like.  He's best known for his portrayal of Deebo in the Friday movies.
 

So, there's my review.  Has anyone else seen it?  What do you think?

Stuff is good in the good ol' City of Holy Faith.  I just spent a lovely birthday eating Spanish tapas, throwing a riotously fun BBQ at my house, playing obscene amounts of Wii sports and Super Mario Galaxy, and checking out the wares at the International Folk Art Market.  We bought a couple of cards and a nice wood block print by Jose Borges.  We're getting it framed.  Those of you who will be visiting us can check it out.  I also got a couple of pillow cases that are embroidered with strange looking animals.  The only animal I can identify is an elephant.  The other animals look like some sort of jaguar/pig/horse combination.  Scary and perfect for our new, as of yet unpurchased, sofa.  I'm not even sure what country these pillowcases originated from as I bought them at a multinational UNESCO table.  Based on the animals, though, I'd have to say it was sewn by Umberto Eco.  

In fact, the birthday party is still going strong.  K and I may check out famed local storyteller, Joe Hayes, at the Wheelwright Museum on Friday.  Then, we're off to see Radamisto at the Santa Fe Opera.  Radamisto is an Italian opera written by Handel.  It's described as "a musico-military spectacular" that celebrates the power of fidelity in marriage.  O...K.  I'm sure it will be great (how could it not at the awesome opera house?) despite it's off-sounding description.

That's all that's fit to print!

For those of you concerned about my lack of photos on my post, it's because I permanently misplaced my camera at a drinking establishment several months ago.  This is extremely strange considering I never lose things.  Seriously.  I'm very organized.

Ok, I know I've let my LJ languish for a month.  It's inexcusable, I know.

So, let me tell you about what I've been up to in a concise bullet point list.

- K and I went up to Boulder for Memorial Day.  We ran (I walked) the Bolder Boulder, which is gigantic 10K race.  We saw a bunch of pals and had a fantastic time.  

-  We adopted Frank the Tank, our new african pigmy hedgehog.  He's somewhat malcontented; he's always huffing and trying to spike us.  That silly Frank!

-  We've made some progress on our floors.  As many of you know from my incessant whining, K and I are replacing our wall to wall carpet with engineered hardwood.  It's only about 700 square feet of work but it's been a painfully slow and annoying experience.  Let me just say this, I will NEVER buy from Home Depot again.  

-  We went rafting in Taos 2 weeks ago.  One of K's pals is a rafting guide, so we got to live it up with a *private* trip.  That makes us practically celebrities!  The river was flowing very well because of the copious amounts of snow we got this winter.  

Ok, that's about all I can think of right now. 

Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  It's been a crazy month.  

1.  Kevin and I moved into our new house!  Yay! Even though I despise every aspect of moving house, I'm very happy that we're in our house now.  If you need my new address, email me or message me here.

2.  I went to Hobbs for a week and I got to fly on a really small plane.  I actually have pictures of this.  I'll post in more detail later.

3.  I went to Washington, D.C. on a work-related boondoggle.  I saw my fam and friends.  Can you believe that Cheeky McGee is already 8 months old?!?

4.  We had our first home disaster.  Of course, it happened on a Sunday evening.  A valve connecting to our water heater broke causing water to flood the garage.  Luckily, nothing was damaged except some carpet that is soon going to be torn out and replaced with nice wood.  Once the wood is in, though, it better not happen again.

5.  We had a joint garage sale with the in-laws.  It was very successful and sort of fun, actually.  If only it hadn't snowed the day before.  Brrr!

6.  Kev had a birthday!  We went on a train ride from Santa Fe to Lamy.  It was  ton of fun.  I have pictures of this, too, and I'll post in more detail later.  Perhaps I'll do another photo montage post in the near future.

7.  Two words: stripping wallpaper.  Time consuming and not fun.

So, in sum, we've been busy little bees!  We also don't have internet at our house yet and I happened to have lost my camera recently.  I'll get back on the livejournal bandwagon soon, though.