in a Brechtian Alabama whiskey bar with Jim in Munich

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I said yesterday that "have booked myself to Munich on a fast train tomorrow" - well that 10.54 and arr. 14.05 - you certainly pay for the speed - save 40mins and it costs you 93.50E incl. a reserve fee for teh "quiet zone" (i.e. no mobiles) - which proved to be in the nose cone, except it was the very tail end of the ICE train - whose speed on the screen I saw in the foyer I never saw as better than 160kmh - pathetic! I wanted to get to Munich ASAP so that better chance of getting hotel organised etc. At the Hotel Elbe last night in F'furt- which was big double room for 50E which was pretty good inc. breakfast - but had to pay 2.50E for wifi - and as it was after midnight just logged on - and almost got cut off in the middle of something important as time ran out no time for looking at hotels in Munich. So decided I would just go with the Lonely Planet (LP) reccs.

Well I woudl have to say that the Central Europe compile of country summaries I have got is now rather out of date (cover date Sept. 2009). Picked the Pension Gartnerplatz as it sounded "escape reality in this eccentric etc etc (as to furnishing etc)" - well update required! the current lady has been the owner for 3 1/2 yrs - lady before 10 yrs (clearly that incarnation that LP is talking about) - and prices - they say s/d for 70/95E - well I paid 80E (inflation I guess - and Munich is prob. like Berlin - exxy) but so is f'furt I would have thought - the Elbe was a 3 star hotel and it was 50E for a double room, single occupant. Anyway the Gartnerplatz only had room for 1 night - so I had to find another night somewhere else. And that's where it got interesting. The book "months ahead" (LP) Hotel am Viktuelienmarkt actually had only one room left - 110E "garden room" - but he woudl give me for 90E as single occupant - said I woudl think about that. Went for a walk and found another hotel that a room - but wanted 115E (? how many ***) - and the Hotel Blauer Block wanted 95E - so I ran back to the Viktuel etc (its very close to the "produce market" - which is just really stalls open all day selling vege and a lot of "bio" produkts (health food stuff) which seem to be very big here with "bio" restos etc as well.
After all this went to the theatre at Gaertnerplatz - my local street has an opera house down the end don't you know - as had seen the program at the pension. The idea of Brecht/Weill opera "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" (rise of fall of the city of Mahagonny) that night appealed more than Mozrt's Magic Flute on Friday, so decided the occasion of having such an opportunity at the end of the street was too good to be true. Tickets ranged from 55E down to 4E - which was standing at the very top of the "gods" gallery which is where I ended up for 33E. More on that soon.

I wandered around the produce market and had a glass of fresh juice of banana/kiwi/orange off a stand which was quite nice. Then where to eat? searchign aroudn one of these other hotels had seen a French resto called Cameleon so decided that was ikely th go. Was it ever - another culinary discovery and I will be back for seconds tomorrow night for 2 out of 2. It was interesting it was all on the blackboard (always a good sign) but in German - so the french speakig waiter did it all for me en francais - it felt so good being able to converse in a local language, even if not that of the actual country I am in! (I speak no German other than ja/nein/danke). Mind you their "little English" is pretty damn good.

Anyway dinner - decided on the soupe d'homard (lobster soup) which was somewhat frothy and only really luke warm - not sure about the chef's intention there? - but it was very nice in taste. Had little chunks of shrimp type stuff in it - and also surprisingly some tiny halved plums. I was also brought (also a good french sign) before hand an amuse bouche of a little glass of almost clear essence de tomate with a basilic froth, almost like a vege macchiato. I could see that good things were coming then! With 200ml of Cotes de Gascogne white - grapes unknown but more than OK. The fish was unknown to me in French or German - I went for it on the basis of artichokes in there somewhere (they are in season - but in the market saw them at 3.80E each??). I have just wiki'd "rochenflugel" (German) - and with a pic it was clearly what we know as skate - and that was what I finally thought when it appeared (too finny to be sole or flounder) - mounded over some diced potato and the aforementioned artichokes. With a somewhat strange dark purple puree of something which I could not really work out. When I returned after spotting it the first time I realised that the place had some sort of Michelin sticker on the door - well deserved I think and I will not bother with potentially dodgy options elsehwere but just go there again tomorrow.

Now as to that opera - I was in the Gods on level 3 of the usual tiered European opera haus thing in the front row so I could lean on the rail and peer down on the 35 or so piece orchestra - with a man playing at times banjo and guitar. Imagine my surprise when only a few minutes in the bordello dressed girls started singing something I know from somewhere else "show me the way to the next whisky bar - another drink then we will die - yes it was Alabama Song/Whisky Bar made rather more famous by Jim Morrison on the first Doors album I think - (never did visit him at Pere Lachasie cemetery in Paris - next time Jimbo) - I read that Bowie also did a cover as flip to Space Oddity single to "hasten the end of his contract with RCA" (says Wiki). Anyway the stage design was relatively all black but the one design element was these yellow wooden chairs from normal size up to about 20 times size! Having looked at the plot (it was first performed in 1930, banned by the Nazis in 1933) - check it out on Wiki, it is totally bizarre - involving Alaskan goldfields and mahagonny, the alleged city of gold.

It was an interesting evening anyway! - and how often can you see such things in Oz? (let alone at the end of the street) - Three Penny Opera is the most usually performed Brecht/Weill thing.

I'll quickly throw some pix in there and that's it for today. Did not turn out that dull after all (the weather did tho). The temps have plunged - forecast for Friday is 7-10 - and heavy rain on Sat. and 5-7- yikes!

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Photos

the skate by Cameleon
yes finally a discrete food pic!

Gaertner Platz
the theatre at the end of my street

Gaertner side view
so typically European opera haus

Gaertner stage and cast
the big yellow chairs!

Comments

[Huddo]

Fast trains.
Hi Mike, Fast trains indeed, giddyup son@ he he. Opera house at the end of the street! Mum would love it. Love those shots of the yellow chairs, the size of them. The whole Gaertner thearte, with the shot looking down, the side view, the bar area, and the outside all looked superb. How about Jim's whiskey song going around, only in Gaertner! Love Huddo.