Just in case you haven’t been paying attention, last weekend was the Expat Bloggers Meet-Up (WEBMU) 2009 in Munich!  It was just the excuse we needed to make that trip to Munich we’ve been talking about.  We also decided to add in a stay with some old friends of mein Schatz plus a visit with a friend of mine based there.  Phew!  It was a pretty ambitious weekend and I was left feeling like we didn’t really get to spend quality time with any of them, but fun was had, nonetheless!

We flew into Munich at around 7:30am on Saturday, took the train into the city and stored our bag at the central train station before wandering over to the first WEBMU event on our schedule.  It was the first time I’ve ever met other bloggers in person before and what a trip!  During conversations over breakfast, I was constantly trying to match names and faces to blogs in my head.  Before that made me too crazy, we took a walking tour around the Old Town of Munich, which was basically a repeat from my study tour in March, but at least this time it was sunny!  We also checked out the Eisbach Surfers, walked through the English Gardens (remember when I ran 9 miles in the rain there?), and had lunch at the Chinese Tower.

After lunch we tore ourselves away from the bloggers and picked up our bags from the train station before heading to spend time with our hosts, a couple with newly walking 1-year-old.  We walked along a canal in their neighborhood, had coffee and cake, and good conversation.  Then we dashed off once more to meet up with the bloggers for dinner at Blue Nile, an Ethiopian restaurant.  Yum, Ethiopian food is one of my favorites!  The restaurant was hot and stuffy and the service slow (thanks to our group of 20 and only one server on staff), but the food was delicious.

While the other bloggers went off to hang out at a local gay bar (a WEBMU tradition!), we bid the bloggers adieu and headed back to our hosts.  I was a little sad that we weren’t able to join in on the gay bar fun, but we also wanted to get in some quality time with our hosts.  And indeed, we had fascinating conversations over wine about the health systems here and in the U.S —  and it was the first time I’ve heard the perspective on the whole thing from a German medical doctor.  Interesting.

Anyway, the next morning our hosts headed out of town for a family event and we ate a late breakfast before meeting up with a Russian friend from my fellowship program.  We toured the Pinakothek der Moderne (only 1 Euro on Sunday!), had coffee, and ventured up to the Olympic Park, which really impressed me.  Even though it was the scene of such tragedy and history, today it is full of families, joggers, bikers, roller bladers and all sorts of people enjoying the space.  Loved it.  And before heading back to pick up our luggage, we said goodbye to my friend, who was nice enough to show us around her adopted home.

Our plane left Munich at 9:30pm and we were totally exhausted by the time we boarded.  We remarked to each other that the whole weekend felt much longer than two days, which means we did a great job of packing it all in there!  So thanks again to all the WEBMU 2009 organizers — it was fantastic!

Here are a few other WEBMU reports so far from: This Non-American Life, An American Expat in Deutschland, Regensblog, and That Queer Expatriate…

And a few photos (click here for the whole album)…