Snowy day in Munich

Fortunately the rain/snow predicted for today turned into mostly wet snow. We donned our rain coats over our puffer jackets after breakfast and set off for Dictum, a woodworking store!! It is located near the Ostbanhof, east train station. After getting on the wrong tram, we backtracked a couple stops and found a street that led to the station. This street took us by a cemetery still in use with several generations buried under one headstone with a tiny garden in front of each.

Cemetery

The woodworking store was on the second floor of a modern building. I headed for the chisel section. They carrry there own chisels made with sheffield steel and ash handles as well as Pfeil chisels. The Pfeils were less expensive than buying them in the US by probably $10/chisel or so, but I hadn't kept a list of what chisels I already have so I didn't buy any. Next time I'll know to bring a list of chisels with me! They also carry very nice planes, other tools, a whole line of Festool, their own digital drill press of a compact size, garden tools,hunting clothes, and some bottles of liquor. The staff were helpful and didn't mind us taking all the time we liked to browse. They even had scrap wood attached to a nice carving bench so you could try out the chisels.

Art in an underground passage in the park

The Angel of Peace statue

German-Ukrainian solidarity

From there we set off for Villa Stuck, an Art Nouveau inspired villa. Along the way we stopped for coffee and cake at ZimtZike, a small cafe with a cute, but plump, dog in residence. We also stopped in a large church named for John the Baptist and passed along a park along the Isar river. Finally we got to the Villa, shook off the snow, and stowed our wet coats with the coat check. The new part of the villa with a small cafe and gift shop and a multi-story art gallery had an exhibit on Franz Kafka. I only made it though part of the exhibit before deciding it was just too grim. Jake saw most of it though. The historic part of the villa only has a few rooms open, but they are quite magnificent. Lots of details, furniture and fabric designed by the artist (Stuck), parquet floors, and inlaid or painted ceilings. It was not the art noveau styles that I'm most fond of though for the most part. Walking back across the river, we came to the Eisbach River surfing area, and despite the weather, 3 hearty wetsuit clad surfers took turns surfing the wave formed near a bridge. On the way back to the hotel we found a Vietnamese restaurant, LuBu Soul Food, where we each got a bowl of steaming hot soup and a cup of mint ginger tea. The soups were very tasty.

Bridge over the Isar

Surfer

Art Noveau ceiling decoration at Villa Stuck

 By 6pm the snow was falling faster and it was a pretty walk to a casual Italian trattoria, Lago di Garda, for dinner and afterwards a stroll over to the Marienplatz and back to our hotel room.