Because the European Patent Office is located in Munich, I regularly get the chance to visit Munich. This is one of the few cities in Germany that was spared during the war. In fact, after Berlin was divided, many Germans migrated to Munich.  Now, few people who move here ever leave.

I can see why.  Munich reminds me a lot of Denver.  It has a similar climate, is close to great skiing and the people are very active and love to be outside.

 

Some of my favorite sights are the old cathedral and the stores situated around the cathedral. Although Germany isn’t known for its food, Munich has some great places.  This dish is from a vegetarian restaurant which serves fresh, locally grown foods.  I had some beetroot soup with some fried soy chunks (that’s how the waiter translated the name into English).  It tasted almost like chicken.

Most patent attorneys think alike and they are great to be around. After we finished our meetings, one of my German colleagues insisted that we go to the Alps and do a little skiing. I didn’t bring any gear, but that didn’t seem to matter.  He outfitted me up and we spent the day in Kitzbuhel.  Austria isn’t having the best snow year (not like the Rockies), but it did snow a bit the night before we went and we had some good powder skiing, even if it was a little bit heavy.

After skiing, we went to a local restaurant for some Weiner schnitzel.  For some reason I always thought it was a fancy name for a hotdog, but I discovered it’s really breaded veal.  Royalty used to coat it with some kind of golden coating, which made it so popular.  After a day of skiing it tasted really good.

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