White dragon on the Munich Rathaus (Town Hall).
Posts Tagged ‘Munich’
White Dragon
June 12, 2005You know it’s a slow news day when…
April 15, 2005…delivery of grass to the new football stadium makes the headline on the newspaper stands.
Indian Naan bread at Penny Markt
April 1, 2005Finding fresh curries at a posh supermarket is one thing, but the last thing I ever expected to see was Naan bread at my local Penny Markt (a discount supermarket).
It comes in 2 varieties: plain or garlic & coriander. I have no idea if they’ll be permanently in stock or if it’s just a special offer. Probably the latter, sadly, but if they are going to stock them permanently then perhaps it’s a sign that Indian food is becoming more popular in Germany.
Actually you only need to look how many Indian restaurants there are in Munich to see that Indian food is already fairly popular. I suspect that a large proportion of those restaurants’ customers are british expatriates though…
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz
March 21, 2005
Memorial stone for Sophie Scholl at Geschwister-Scholl-Platz.
Have a Banana
March 7, 2005
Banana graffito near the end of Maximillianstr.
Dachau
December 7, 2004Residence Permit Renewal – Part 3
September 12, 2004I just stumbled across this article: “Residence permits dropped for EU expats“
The new EU directive will enter into force in 2006 and will mean EU expats living in Germany will no longer have to spend considerable time and effort applying for a so-called “Aufenthaltsgenehmigung” or “Aufenthaltserlaubnis” (residence permit).
Which confirms what the lady told me when I went to the KVR, and means all the effort I went to in renewing my residence permit was a waste of time…
The Arc – Harry’s New Bar
August 27, 2004After missing the opening night last Friday, I finally managed to get down to Harry’s new bar, The Arc, on Wednesday. It looks like a nice place, but it was awfully quiet. Perhaps because it’s a new opening? Perhaps because it’s off the beaten track? Perhaps because it was early in the evening? I don’t know.
No doubt it’ll start to get busier when more people realise that Harry will be showing loads of sporting events, particularly American and Australian, that aren’t covered by other pubs.
I’ll certainly be there again – since it’s on my way home from work…
More info:
Residence Permit Renewal – Part 2
August 26, 2004The result of my security check came back last week, so I went back to the KVR this morning, safe in the knowledge that I’m not a terrorist, to pick up my shiny new “unbefristet” residence permit.
Here are some more facts that I found out while I was there:
Storm over Munich
August 13, 2004Apparently it was predicted on the weather forecast, but I hadn’t seen it and suddenly found myself in the middle of it when it hit central Munich at around 8pm last night.
I didn’t have my camera with me, so couldn’t get any pictures. Here are some from other sites:
Residence Permit Renewal – Part 1
August 6, 2004I’ve just been down to the KVR to renew my German residence permit. Since I’ll have been here for 5 years when the current one runs out, I decided to go for the unlimited one. Here are a few things that I found out:
- They won’t give you an unlimited one until you’ve been here a full five years. So if you’re “fleißig” like me, and go there a week in advance, you still have to wait anyway.
- You need to take 2 passport photos. This is because they will issue a brand new permit, rather than just putting an extra stamp on the current one.
- For unlimited permits, they have to do a background check to make sure you’re not a terrorist. This takes around 1 week. So if you’re “fleißig” like me, and go there a week in advance, you still have to wait anyway.
- You have to take a copy of your apartment rental contract and your last payslip (your employment contract isn’t enough).
- On the KVR website it says the renewal costs €25 (5 year) or €61 (unlimited). This doesn’t apply to EU citizens – we pay nothing at all.
To dispell a couple of myths that go around:
- I got there at 7:40 and only waited 10 minutes before I got called in. That would be at 7:50, 10 minutes before the official opening time.
- The lady who dealt with me was friendly. She offered me the unlimited permit straight away, and was happy to answer all my questions. I did not have to sign in my own blood, or promise the soul of my first-born.
And finally, a couple of questions that I’m going to ask when I go back to finalise the renewal:
- (For Allen) – There is a section on the form for periods of time spent living outside Germany. Does this affect the renewal?
- (For Shamim) – What’s the penalty for living here 8 years without renewing the permit?
This has been a public service announcement.
Weblogs
May 23, 2004- Munich Blogs – An aggregation of Munich-based weblogs. An interesting idea, but I’m not quite sure what the point is, considering you can achieve exactly the same with a Bloglines account, without using up your own server’s bandwidth.
- Slackmack – The online diary of a British truck driver living in Paderborn. Of note because it’s the first weblog to be hosted on The Britboard. Update: links are now dead.
Starkbierfest
March 20, 2004
On Thursday I went to the Starkbierfest at the Löwenbräukeller. They had an ox on a spit outside – there wasn’t much left of it by the time we got there.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
March 15, 2004
Having nothing better to do yesterday, I decided to go to the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Normally the parade starts at Münchener Freiheit and ends at Odeonsplatz. This year, the route was changed – they started at the Deutsches Museum and ended at the Kultfabrik.
Pictures here: St. Patrick’s Day parade, Munich, 2004.
Apart from the new parade route, it wasn’t much different from last year:
Anti-NATO protest
February 14, 2004
Jim and I went to watch the anti-NATO protest last weekend. We followed it from the Viktualienmarkt up to Lenbachplatz.
There are a few pictures here: Anti-NATO protest in Munich, February 7th 2004.
