Finally!

Spring in the Englischer Garten.

Didn't spy any naked sun bathers, but I expect it's merely a matter of time until I do. We saw plenty of all the other ingredients for Munich spring: beer, ice cream, street musicians, including an enthusiastic young man having a go at Habanera on his violin. And a brass band playing in the Chinesischer Turm as people were drinking beer down below, of course.

Something also happened at the Monopteros.

Viennese waltzes at Hofgarten.

Oh, Finland.

As Munich moved further towards spring -- fighting it every step along the way, whining and crying -- we moved our rear ends to the airport and flew to Finland. Oh, the snow banks of late March! The sunlight has been plentiful however, and it hasn't been as cold as I anticipated: this winter has been long by Helsinki standards, but overall it's been quite mild as this year found temperatures below -40C being measured nowhere in Finland.

 Here, some photos.

 

Munich winters

This is what our winter looked like for a brief while.

I knew it couldn't last. This is the more typical Munich winter:

Children don't seem to care much; my views are not fit for printing. In retrospect, my decision to leave buying ice skates for next winter wasn't the worst one...

Still, there's a lot to do in town. We obviously go out, even if it involves some degree of whining on my part. (Merino wool underwear? Best thing I bought this winter.) For indoors fun, we have Deutsches Museum, the public libraries, a variety of indoors play parks around town, The Botanical Gardens, and of course our favourite haunt Hofbräukeller, complete with play room and childcare for the daytime hours. I'll get back to you on that last part tomorrow.