Beautiful Munich

Last week I decided to go to Munich (by train - which in Germany nowadays is a never ending adventure...) 

From my tiny village (1 track!) to Nürnberg the little red train needs only 40 minutes. But then I have to wait at least - and every time - 30 minutes, valuable time well spent on deepening my studies in mankind: the Central Station in Nürnberg is neither beautiful (but full!) nor safe (ranking position 3 in "the most dangerous Central stations in Germany" - running after Köln and Hannover - Nürnberg proudly presented 548 violent offences last year). 

But then - if it comes - the ICE to Munich speeds in 1 hour to its destination. 

This time I changed my visiting routine: nature before culture, I decided - so passing by the the Frauenkirche  

I took a few steps to the Hofgarten, bathing in the bewitching smell of flowering limes, 

crossed through the Diana Tempel: 

to reach the lovely "Englischer Garten" with the "Monopteros" 

and the "Eisbach" - light turquoise icy water, where surfers dash by.  

 I dashed too - and overdid it a bit to snatch up culture. 

In the heat, 31°!= 87,5 degrees Fahrenheit - Yours Truly walked all in all over 15,000 steps - meaning over 10 kilometres in relatively new ballerinas... ouch ... 

Next time I will be wiser, hopefully - otherwise: 

older, but not wiser. 

(Highly elegant position of legs and feet - but what can I expect after that gigantic walk? At my age?) 

Elating surprise in the English Bookshop WordsWorth (Schellingstrasse, university terrain) -  

the owner recognised me after almost 30 years! - and we chatted for a long time - but that is worth a few words in another blog post, I think. 

 

Après nous le déluge?

 

As the Flying Dutchman told me the newspapers and TV in the Netherlands were full of reports on the very bad weather we had especially in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. And it is not over yet. 

Luckily here we were spared catastrophes - on the photo you see the "Au" - a sort of natural overflow "basin" for a swelling little river. Two years ago I saw different pictures - no green left to be seen, seething water - and in the neighbour village many houses stood for a quarter under water. 

But Augsburg, Regensburg, Passau - they were no that lucky this year. 

Back to the Sixties in a minute

 

Do you remember the eye-make-up we did in the sixties? I still paint my eyes quite heavily - but I do not use baby-blue powder on the whole eyelid anymore, which will give you an instant sixty-feeling. 

And I do not paint the "Twiggy"-eyelashes (in the corners of the outer edge of the lower eyelid (though I liked it). 

But every day I paint - and love it, whether I am alone or going out. It is like a meditation, looks great, and gives me - together with my daring YSL-lipstick - a feeling of protection. 

"My eyes in shining armour" - to malappropriate a song title from the 

Rolling Stones. 

Wildflower-Bouquet of May

 

I sometimes wonder if I use the right word (bouquet) for the arrangement of a few wildflowers which I gather on my walks. "Bunch" might be more suitable? 

Today you find "A Study in Scarlet": dove or pigeon scabious, lucerne and one soft pink dog rose. 

I'm sorry to say that the photo does not show the many colour values of the lucerne, but as May is almost over in the blink of an eye this has to suffice. 

I opt to make things simpler, thus I decided to put the blog about plants and garden into "You are witty and pretty". 

The love of plants is part of my life, and a joy.  

Decision FOR My Happiness

 

I had to think for a while. Or better: feel. Recover from a (mild) shock. 

Then I came to the conclusion that it would be mad to let one person not only rain on my parade, but stop me doing something I love. 

I talk of writing. 

So I'll take a deep plunge and meet (the rest of) my friends again. 

Happy to meet you! 

(The Pegasus is a photo I took from the window of the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin; the the open-air bath is in Wantlitz, Brandenburg). 

 

"I've got it, yeah, baby, I've got it!"

 

Well, well, well... For days I was in a position that Yours Truly utterly hates: I was "Anonymous" - even on my own blog! 

"You only see those standing in the light/ Those standing in the dark you do not see"wrote our sociocritical poet Bertolt Brecht. 

Have you ever got the impression that I hate standing in the spotlight? Not me. Even while getting older I do not accept to be overlooked. NO. 

The photo above I took a few days ago - here in the early morning you sometimes see only a wall of fog, and a few tree tops. 

INVISIBLE. Bah! I even asked for help in the community, and they kindly answered - Thank you! - in English - THAT was not the problem, no - my problem was their technical jargon - and honestly: if someone does not know what they EXACTLY mean with a browser you have a problem. Which I had.(Though I know how to help myself and scrolled the Internet, which kindly did not start it's answer with "Dear Idiot"... :-) 

Of course I suspected that "cookies" had something to do with it - I avoid them as the devil avoids the the holy water as we in Germany say while you say: "to avoid something like the plague". 

Well - if you see how many users want your and my cookies... 

Long time ago Son explained: "Mama, you either pay with money or with data". 

But here I do not even have a choice. If I want to be seen. 

So: to be able to communicate with you further, also with  Rachel and others who will have very good reasons to close their blog completely against any anonymous commentator I scatter my cookies all around. 

Here, cookie monster: chick, chick, chick: munch, crumble, gobble! 

Back and almost ready for Easter

 

As you might guess: I spent one wonderful week in the Netherlands. 

Now I have a lot of work to do before I can start blogging again. 

I apologize to all of you for not being able to comment your blogs: I read them, but evidently I muddled something contra Google's wish for data - thus I am kept away from commenting. 

I'll try to fix that. 

Till then: I wish you a Happy Easter time. The little village here is already nicely adorned: