Football & Opera
For those not living in Europe, or simply lack interest in football, you won't know this, but the Champions League is currently underway. And Germany, or Bayern to be specific is doing rather well. I'm the first to admit that I'm not a huge football fan, although if Germany is in the World cup I will get up in the middle of the night to watch. And I still prefer it to rugby...oooh yeah Kiwis are gonna hate me for admitting to that! It's just more beautiful to watch (when it's good football!) than a bunch of burly guys jumping on top of each other, in my less than professional opinion...
On Tuesday FC Bayern played Barcelona in the semi-final, and I didn't have great plans to watch it. Until my friend Julia (previously mentioned here), and her brother invited me to "go out" to watch it with them...Since I had nothing better to do, I thought "why the heck not?!". After having caught the subway in the wrong direction first (mini-adventure!), I met them at the Augustiner Biergarten. I always knew this was a popular Biergarten, but upon arrival I was kind of stunned. Not only was it huge, but so was the collection of guys. Good-looking guys! Guess I've discovered where they are all hiding! Was kind of obvious now that I think about it...Anywaaay...it was very cool to watch it (the game, not the guys!) on the big screens, in a crowd of 2000+! Although my personal highlight was every time the "empty-glasses-collecting-mini-van" drove through the aisle, blocking the screen during some intense moments of the game and the crowd went wild at him! I really wasn't sure he was going to make it out alive! So that was football. Oh yeah, and we won 4:0! :)
Last night things got back to being a bit more classy again. Mama had organised tickets to the opera. But not your usual, sleep-inducing opera, it was more like operatic cabaret. With food. So naturally, I was happy.
The venue is called Cafe Tambosi, apparently Munich's oldest, longest running cafe, since 1775. The front of this place has always amused yet intimidated me somewhat. The tiny tables and chairs are lined up in an outward facing manner, to optimise the "people watching" location. Obviously this "system" works both ways, and the idea is that if you go there, you want people to see you there...interesting.
We began with a drink out back, in their Biergarten, which still allows for "people-watching-pleasure", but leads into the Englischer Garten (English Gardens), so much more beautiful.
Upon arrival at the "opera", the upstairs part of the cafe, we got to choose our plates for entree. I couldn't be bothered digging around the pile, so I just took the one that came next in the pile...
In keeping with the royal theme, I opted for a 'Sissi' cocktail. Sissi was the peoples' nickname for Empress Elisabeth of Austria (originally from Bavaria), and very much like the Duchess of Cambridge, she was loved by the people. I loved her cocktail counterpart; a concoction of Campari and Limoncello, but Sissi packs a punch, and is not for sissys...I was tipsy very quickly.
Thankfully, entree was served promptly, so we lined our stomachs and could continue drinking.
The "opera" was set in Munich and Venice, who both have lions as their city "totems", and the conflict in the plot was that both these lions had gone missing. It was up to the womanising Casanova to find out where they had disappeared to. Turns out they had fallen in love and wanted to be together, not one in Munich and the other in Venice...awww. The singing and acting wasn't amazing, as was the food, but I did love the idea of having the five courses served between the operatic acts.
The worst part of the night was the heat! Upstairs was scorching! And all I had to drink was alcohol...I was glad to escape into the cool night air after four hours.
All in all though, it was a very nice night! Especially with our family friends who accompanied us, and are also so kindly providing a home (as well as a spare set of parental guidance) for me in the interim.
Happy weekend kids!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
On Tuesday FC Bayern played Barcelona in the semi-final, and I didn't have great plans to watch it. Until my friend Julia (previously mentioned here), and her brother invited me to "go out" to watch it with them...Since I had nothing better to do, I thought "why the heck not?!". After having caught the subway in the wrong direction first (mini-adventure!), I met them at the Augustiner Biergarten. I always knew this was a popular Biergarten, but upon arrival I was kind of stunned. Not only was it huge, but so was the collection of guys. Good-looking guys! Guess I've discovered where they are all hiding! Was kind of obvious now that I think about it...Anywaaay...it was very cool to watch it (the game, not the guys!) on the big screens, in a crowd of 2000+! Although my personal highlight was every time the "empty-glasses-collecting-mini-van" drove through the aisle, blocking the screen during some intense moments of the game and the crowd went wild at him! I really wasn't sure he was going to make it out alive! So that was football. Oh yeah, and we won 4:0! :)
Last night things got back to being a bit more classy again. Mama had organised tickets to the opera. But not your usual, sleep-inducing opera, it was more like operatic cabaret. With food. So naturally, I was happy.
The venue is called Cafe Tambosi, apparently Munich's oldest, longest running cafe, since 1775. The front of this place has always amused yet intimidated me somewhat. The tiny tables and chairs are lined up in an outward facing manner, to optimise the "people watching" location. Obviously this "system" works both ways, and the idea is that if you go there, you want people to see you there...interesting.
We began with a drink out back, in their Biergarten, which still allows for "people-watching-pleasure", but leads into the Englischer Garten (English Gardens), so much more beautiful.
Upon arrival at the "opera", the upstairs part of the cafe, we got to choose our plates for entree. I couldn't be bothered digging around the pile, so I just took the one that came next in the pile...
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| Part of upstairs |
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| ...And look at that! It was a royal plate! That even matched the mask! |
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| Ingredients for a special night. |
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| Apparently not as much as Mama though, who couldn't even put her mask on the right way up! |
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| She got there in the end. |
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| Antipasti Veneziani |
The "opera" was set in Munich and Venice, who both have lions as their city "totems", and the conflict in the plot was that both these lions had gone missing. It was up to the womanising Casanova to find out where they had disappeared to. Turns out they had fallen in love and wanted to be together, not one in Munich and the other in Venice...awww. The singing and acting wasn't amazing, as was the food, but I did love the idea of having the five courses served between the operatic acts.
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| The lions (lionesses?). No I don't think they were lesbian lions, although that could make for another conflict within the plot. |
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| Until next time Tambosi! |
Happy weekend kids!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
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