SOME MEMORIES OF MUNICH

Today is Nostalgic Tuesday for me in Munich, so I'll share stories from my stay here a little more than 14 years ago, and more.  I would say that Munchen (nowhere do you see Munich) is my favorite German city.  Note how far south it is, making weather here better than the rest of the country.   This particularly featured day was a time for Fasching, the carnival season.

• Carnival originally began as a pagan festival, and later became associated with the Catholic Church as a celebration the day before the beginning of Lent.
• During the main Fasching season in Munich, there are more than 800 balls, the biggest parties with thousands of people

One early example for this blog site goes back more than 14 years:

• 
  In 2010, this was my 600th posting since my blog began.
• I woke up in Munich only aware that I was to have lunch at the Hotel Konigshof.
• I began to walk around and found myself next to Marienplatz:

I don't think this is how people from Munich dress on a normal day. Most had costumes of some sort, and many, outrageously so. The police and security were standing in corners talking to themselves and not bothering anyone. Drinking on the streets was encouraged, and I saw a clown (Howdy Doody, actually) with a Jeroboam of champagne, and a few with only a Magnum, drinking out of the bottle. This was totally unexpected, and entirely memorable.

Well, the highlight was yet to come, for I had my best 4 hour lunch...in fact, most outstanding lunch ever, at the Hotel Konigshof. Considering that my second best luncheon was on Lufthansa, I would never have imagined that two German lunches would ever be at the top. I walked in not all that well dressed, for men were in suits and ties and women were fashionable...but the staff warmly welcomed my presence.

Not only that, but my table was the best in the house.  You can read the details, but toward the end of the meal:

It's coming to an end, for the braised beef shoulder was oozing with melted Goose Liver (most foie gras, almost anywhere these days, is from a duck...not this one) and Perigord truffles totally covering the beef. You can get these truffles for $1600/pound in America. The meat itself was nothing compared to the Chiang Mai Four Seasons Wagyu Beef, but, who cares with the topping. Oh, there was a wine, a Domaine Roger Perrin Chatenneuf du Pape, heavy bodied and perfect.

Not quite over yet. Finally, with citrus fruits, sherbert and a Pina Colada Foam, came a Mandelsheimer Schwarz-reisling Trestor Edalbrang (a grappa at 43% alcohol), and, because I asked what might be the best counterpart from Italy, I was served a Berta Roccenilno (trust me, the spelling might be off), a much lighter (and lot more expensive) grappa.

Switching to a friend from the past, Carl-Jochen Winter was the German sparkplug for the advance of hydrogen.  We shared many similarities.

• I wrote the initial legislation for hydrogen in the USA, which became the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act.

• 
  We were both professors who wrote books.  One of his publications is On Energies-of-change:  The Hydrogen Solution.  I cover hydrogen in SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth.
• I chaired the World Hydrogen Energy Conference when it was held in Hawaii in 1990.  He was chairman when WHEC went to Stuttgart, Germany in 1996.
• The 24th WHEC will be hosted by Cancun, Mexico from June 23-27 this summer.

• 
  He, and his wife Eva, spent some time as a visiting scholar at the University of Hawaii.  Eva and I--plus you need to add Iris Ovshinsky--had a fascination for blue flowers, so we formed a trio to share these memories.
• My wife and I stayed at their home in one of our visits to Munich.
• Alas, he passed away a year ago at the age of 88.

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