makfaulls in munich

always up for visiting a new city. love wandering aimlessly, taking in the sights and sounds and the general feel of the place. munich struck me as, dare i say, shabby? not as youthful and buzzing as berlin, nor as 'official' looking as frankfurt. it had a certain faded charm but not what i'd in mind for a large german city? then again i'm not articulating this very well. maybe i expected something new and shiny, swankier even. also felt i didn't really give it a chance as landed on friday night, spent saturday largely in the country and left on sunday evening. walked around on sunday and again maybe went to the wrong places but wasn't impressed? felt a wee underwhelmed and was even relieved that we'd spent saturday out of the city because i got a little bored on sunday and wondered if i was missing the plot. 

the food, however, was excellent. and one of the highlights (apart from all that deep fried goodness and white beer) was catching up with J&A. serendipity had it that this was my third makfaull sighting of 2015, and maybe fourth in 12 months! caught up with A when he was in london at the end of last year, meant to stay with them in KL over summer when i went for P's wedding but, naughty, they surprised me with a room at a lovely hotel i've since fallen for and gone on to stay at (incidentally in munich too!) because it's such a great brand. they were in singers soon after with J's parents who've kindly hosted me in aix a few summers now, and when A was seconded to munich, the far east's loss was the continent's gain! chuffed to have squeezed out extra time with them.

for people who move around as much as we all do, it's a homecoming to see a familiar face, to be spared what we've come to term 'friendship foreplay' with the usual FAQ and pre-amble about where we've come from. for them, they've to explain he's aussie she's french and they met on exchange in stockholm. after which she moved to australia (perth then sydney) before they relocated to KL for work and now munich. who knows what the future holds?! and for me it's the whole barrister-turned medical student spiel which i don't mind on a good day but am admittedly self-conscious of on a bad day because people then expect me to be cerebral when i'm far from, or start asking tricky medico-legal questions i can't always answer, or try to get free medical and/or legal advice which i feel doubly irresponsible dispensing. A put it so nicely when he described 'wafer thin' experiences and friendships in a new place. because one has to start all over again, establishing connections is such a painful necessity and there's the odd person where it all clicks but more often than not it's tedious and don't really achieve anything at the end of cursory pleasantries. hence it's a bonus to meet up and go straight into deep meaning conversation mode because there is quality time without quantity. 

had dins with my folks then escaped to J&A's beautiful apartment. they've impeccable taste and by chance had two of J's aix girlfriends and their respective +1s over too! funny story - i'd met the lovely girls summer 2010 in aix. one of them had a new bachelorette pad and we'd all gone round for the provencale cliche of rose on the terrace (with tapenade!). little did i know then that five years later our paths would cross once again in munich. the world is small and it shows just how J draws people to her from all over. was secretly relieved to be having a cosy night in with wine and chocolate because after a crazy week and marathon day out with folks the last thing i wanted was to be head banging in a grungy club. too old? or more like too lazy :P and with J&A i know they pick their nights and a grown up night in with riveting conversation (hitting one pressure point after another in a safe environment...) was just what i'd wanted. without going into two much detail, there was a german, three french misses, a frenchman, aussie and me and oh boy did we play to our national stereotypes ;)