The Pasing Scene

We have been living in a small suburb on the outskirts of Munich for about 2 months now, and last weekend due to our lack of plans, we scoped out "downtown" Pasing.

Let me paint you a picture of this "downtown." At one end is the busy train station, and on the other a lovely park with woods and a river. In between are the usual stores and bakeries, and a central "Marienplatz" a tiny version of its Munich counterpart. Our "host mom" claims that the Pasinger Marienplatz predates the Muenchner's, although the Pasing version has only a tiny golden Mary on a column with a few busy streets.

Friday night we craved a drink at the local pub. After walking around and seeing most places closed at 8 pm, we stopped at local hot spot, Confetti. It was a trendy and smokey little place, playing British boy band concerts on big screens. People were drinking 9 euro cocktails instead of the usual beer. There were some young teens drinking beer, and I was surprised to find out that the legal drinking age is 16 for beer and 18 for liquor. Ryan stuck by his Hefeweisen and I had a large glass of wine (the German standard glass is .2 L while Brits give out tiny .125 glasses) We had a very nice time reflecting on our whirlwind year abroad.

Saturday was likewise lazy, and after helping with a bit of yard work, we walked down to Ryan's favorite bakery, Wimmer. It is right across from the train station, and afforded some great people-watching. The Christmas goodies are already out, large bags of cookies tied with red ribbons, huge wreaths of sweet bread...drool. Ryan and I had cafe and kuechen. Outside a teen boy was handing out leaflets-- religious ones? Shoppers and commuters bustled past, and the line at the butcher's waxed and waned.

But the oddest sight is a lady I've seen before in downtown. From the waist up she is a well-dressed, sophisticated, elderly lady. Saturday she wore a cashmere-looking sweater and beaded scarf. But below that she wore only nude-colored panties and boots. Her varicose-veined legs must've been cold, it was about 40 Fahrenheit. A few old biddies would stop and scold her, but this lady would just bark them away. She apparently enjoys a little street-corner exhibitionism, society be damned!

So that's our little corner of Munich. Quite cozy, really.