It's all fun and games..

So one of the reasons that we picked our venue the Landhaus Sommerau is because it has a duck-pin bowling alley AND a miniature golf course. WOW! We have been brainstorming ways to use these amazing resources. Here are our ideas so far:

- Each guest gets a monogrammed minigolf ball in the OOT bag (maybe like this but in color)?

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- A family minigolf tournament

- A bridal party/groomsmen minigolf tournament

here's the minigolf course!

- Duck pin bowling tournaments (also as a bad weather alternative to minigolf)

this is the hotel's "kegelbahn"

- A rehearsal dinner/out of town event involving barbecue outside, beer on tap and minigolf

Oh wait. Did I mention that the hotel also has volleyball, tennis, a playground AND a mudbath? Yes, I know I have mentioned the mudbath. But I'll mention it again. A wild, in the forest amazingly beautiful MUDBATH! Complete with a beautiful pond to rinse off in. What could be better?

this is the "rinsing off pond"

Not to mention that any number of alpine hiking paths, bike routes, cheese tours and amazing castles are within breathing distance. Now I just need to devise a plan as to how to best take advantage of all the entertainment possibilities. I can't wait! How did you incorperate fun into your wedding?

Basking in the glow...

So what exactly am I doing when I'm NOT planning the wedding? Lots, actually! The sun is shining and the boy and I are soaking it up in every possible way: grilling on the river, going to the pool and going to biergartens. It sounds cheesy, but it's reminding me of how we fell in love! What a setting.

Today it was so hot that my colleagues and I went to the English Garten and changed into bathing suits. We then walked a bit up the river that snakes through the park and jumped in, floating all the way back to our spot. LOVELY. It made it hard to go back to work, but it's easier knowing that I'll be meeting friends later on the Isar to go grilling for the second day in a row and the third time this week.

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Just to describe the scenery a bit, the Isar is the river that runs alongside Munich. I say alongside instead of through because most major cities with a river are built around the river, which makes for some beautiful pictures, but mostly a not-so-clean river. In Munich, the Isar served as the eastern boundary of the city for centuries, so while the city has certainly expanded around it, the Isar retains that off-the-beaten-path feeling. The best part of the river near Munich is, in my opinion, near our apartment. It's called "the Flaucher", a section of the river dotted with stony islands and scruffy trees and a long wooden footbridge connecting them. The river runs through in rivlets and waterfalls, and there are several pools deep enough to swim in, or you can just let yourself be swept along with the light current. The city of Munich actually filters the river water for swimmers, so there are no worries about icky side effects!

On a short side note, this is also the second area of Munich, after the English Garten, that is famous for allowing "FKK", which is "freie körper kultur" or "free body culture". NAKED. That's right. But don't worry, we were't. Makes for interesting site seeing...

This whole area is a griller's paradise, and we lug our portable Weber, some coal, blankets and torches down any day that's warm enough. We usually get a good enough crowd of our friends together to have a great gathering. Nothing tastes better after a long day at work than a river-cooled beer (cases of beer come in plastic crates here, so all you have to do to keep it cool is stick it in the river) and a nicely grilled steak. And when the sun goes down, we light up our wax torches and turn up our portable speakers. It feels like being in some sort of Munich-born Elysian fields. To me, anyways….