Munich vs. Cambridge

It's not really fair to compare the two cities since Munich (1.25 million) is much larger than Cambridge (100,000) but I will anyway since they are my points of reference for living in Europe.  And practices may have changed dramatically in Germany since it was 15 years ago that we were there.

Shopping--When we were in Germany there were only a few stores that were open on Sunday; here the stores were packed and doing a lively business.  There is a mall in the city proper as well as lots of individual stores.

Bakeries--It seemed that we could not travel many feet (meters?) in Munich before smelling the rich aroma of freshly baked bread. And there were sooo many different rolls, beads, and sweets to try.  Even now my mouth waters just thinking about it.  No such temptation here--at least so far.  We have stopped at some bakeries but they tend to be pastry shops and did not have a huge variety.  Maybe it's just as well for our waistlines.

Grocery Stores--Again, in Munich there were little (2 aisles all together) grocery stores everywhere.  Everytime we saw a new one we had hopes of finding a cereal we recognized.  Here the stores are bigger (but not huge), farther apart and only 3 different ones; Aldi, Marks& Spencer, and Sainsbury's.  We're still hunting for Cheerios.

In Germany we saw lots of people pulling hand carts to ease the burden of carrying groceries.  I've seen only one person using this sensible approach here; Tom has never seen it.

Buskers--Part of the fun of going to the Marienplatz was watching street performers, especially the mimes.  We've come across a couple musicians here in the downtown area--a fife (or piccolo) player and a singer who was advertising his CD.  No sign of the Peruvian Pipe Players, however.

Language--It is nice understanding each other, for sure!  The bus driver from Heathrow had an accent that was a bit difficult and I'm sure we'll encounter more differences as we venture outside of Cambridge.  A favorite word seems to be "lovely."  When people agree to do something it's "lovely" and people refer to each other as "Love"--even men to men.  That certainly sounded strange to my American ears but maybe it really is "lovely."