Dani Dépaysée: Biergartens and Friends in Munich

Today we met a family friend of the Higgins’s named Anette who lives in Munich. A long time ago, Cathy – Jessica and Derrick’s mom – needed a place to stay while she was in Munich studying abroad. Luckily, Anette was there, and she let Cathy sleep on her floor. Ever since then, it has been a tradition for the Higgins family members to come visit Munich and sleep on Anette’s floor (or couch or what have you).

Sooo, because I am basically an honorary Higgins, I have become part of the tradition and naturally have now slept on Anette’s couch. With Jessica.

I'm so pretty.

Anette lives in an adorable apartment, her balcony decorated with flowers and overlooking the river. We sat there for a while, chatting about ourselves and Anette’s travels (she is going to Italy this week and is planning a trip to Nepal in November) before heading to a Biergarten to enjoy traditional German beer and food.

At the Biergarten, we met Hanna and Paul, a young German couple who are very close to Anette. Hanna is from Munich, but Paul is from Muenster, further north – they met in Washington, D.C.

As soon as we entered the biergarten, it felt like we stepped into a fairy tale where food and beer was made for giants. The pretzels were huge, the beer was huge, even the serving of sauerkraut was huge (I, of course, ate it all without a problem)!

Carpe... bier!

Ohhh myyyy.

The Germans like it big.

Jessica and I hanging out with Anette!

We sat and chatted for four hours, talking about everything from American politics to the environmental movement.

It was nice for us to get a break from staying in hostels and being in an actual home again. Thank you, Anette, for the hospitality and warm welcome. <3

August 13^th

Today, I was able to put my hair in a ponytail!! I was so excited!!

For those who don’t know, I’ve been growing out my hair from a pixie cut since September. So this is BIG NEWS.

What Jessica calls "the samurai bun."

We accidentally missed our walking tour today, and it was raining really badly, so we decided to do some shopping after visting the Glockenspiel, pictured below.