Munich, Money & a Much appreciated visit

January is the Monday of the year and it was quite a shitty Monday. Cold, still dark after work, and just a tinsy bit of blossom on the trees would make it easier to get up in the mornings after we’ve scrolled through the outrageous happenings of the world on our newsfeeds. But despite the above, I did just about manage to avoid the January blues.

Munich

I headed down south to Bavaria last month, where Lederhosen, beer and pretzels just can’t be missed. It was fricking freezing, I’m talking -10 degrees at 8 o’clock in the morning. I’m a July baby and I genuinely look forward to summer from the day that Christmas is over, but seeing Munich covered in a blanket of white, fluffy snow was worth the cold toes and several necessary coffee stops.
The Englischer Garten (English Garden) is lovely in the summer but can only be described as magical in the winter. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I realised that what I thought was a man-made ice rink was actually a frozen over lake. Something I have only ever seen in films. I was speechless, and definitely felt uncomfortable walking across the lake, but considering people were pushing their buggies on the ice (omg!) I guessed it would be ok.

As usual, I got chatting to the locals, who told me that the lake freezes over for about two weeks during the winter. Unlike London, where the city seems to stop at the drop of a snowflake, people look forward to this rare moment as soon as winter approaches.

Money

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s still my pet hate and something I don’t think I will ever get used to. Why is it so damn difficult to access my own money in Germany!? Perhaps England’s sufficient online banking apps were a luxury that I took for granted, but seriously, I had to wait 3 working days for my money to transfer before I could withdraw it, rather than the usual 30 seconds.  I even called the bank, and they literally didn’t care! It is for this reason alone that I will never close my NatWest account (most loyal customer ever), who will happily compensate me with a cushty £25 if they realise they’ve messed something up… something I don’t even suppose exists in Germany! Rant over.

You can take the girl outta Croydon…

The galdem made it to Frankfurt! We were non-stop for 3 days: We ate loads of sushi, did an escape room (I nearly had a breakdown at the thought of losing against the clock), ate German wurst and the famous Frankfurt ‘Grüne Sosse’ (green sauce), before heading to the ‘Hot to Cold’ exhibition at the German Architecture Museum. We partied hard and looked over Frankfurt from the Main Tower. Can’t say I miss Croydon, but I do miss the girls, and there was nothing better than having them all here – init 😉