People Watching

One of the things I love to do is to sit and watch people and the best place to do it in Europe is from a streetside cafe. (Although a streetside bench also serves the same purpose and it is free). In a cafe though is where I found myself the day I arrived in Munich. Thomas met me at the station. My train arrived a few minutes late and so did he which was just as well. He was a bit upset because he said he got stuck in a traffic jam for fifteen minutes right in front of the station, which was most unexpected. But that`s big city life for you. We passed various large, stately buildings on the way, one of which was the university. Another building, Thomas said, was where Hitler had moved in following the suicide of his favourite cousin who happened to live there. (When we later talked about it Ariela said, "If I had been Hitler`s cousin I would have committed suicide!"

We drove to the cafe where Ariela was sitting with a fellow script writer - Harald ("call me Harry) Gronkrimsatz or something that sounded like it though even Ariela was not sure when I checked with her. They were busy exchanging notes about movies and plots and books about scripts and movies. He`s supposed to be quite a well known writer and has won prizes for his scripts. He must be in his fifties I guess, grey haired, with glasses and pleasant looking. He told me he had been to Sri Lanka and liked it very much but hadn`t been to India. He has seen some Bollywood films though, and just thinking about the two or three he had seen in Sri Lanka made him laugh.

Anyway, Ariela and Harry`s intense discussion gave me a chance to look around the cafe which was quite full and to indulge in my favourite past time - just watching people. Everyone seemed to be drinking chilled white wine though Thomas and I ordered beer and Ariela and Harry downed several glasses of cranberry juice.

Sitting a couple of tables away was this couple, the man had a very Japanese looking face though I dont think he was, with soft brown hair and wire rimmed glasses and seemed to be very much in love with the girl he was with, at whom he couldn`t stop smiling. On my way out I sneaked a look at the girl friend who seemed friendly enough but not quite as much enamoured of him as he was of her.

Yesterday evening I strolled down to the town centre. I almost decided to stay home because it was drizzling, then changed my mind, put on my multi coloured raincoat and set off. There is a little church not far off, with a long verandah with benches around it where one can sit and observe life. Which is where I sat, sheltered from the rain. Next to me was a fat woman scribbling something in a notebook and who continued to sit there and scribble as I walked away.

Prien is actually quite a sedate town, a holiday resort, beautifully located, on a lake - the Chiem See (or Chiem Lake, pronounced Kiem). Along the lake front there are the usual cafes, restaurants, ice cream and hamburger stalls and a green park facing the lake, with benches all around. Generally good for "people and children watching."

One of my favurite people at the moment is two and a half year old Felix whom it is quite easy to entertain. He goes around with a long stick of wood which is supposed to be a pistol, goes bang bang bang - at which you`re supposed to drop dead with a loud scream. And when you do he laughs and chuckles madly for quite some time. Ariela says this is a fall out of some dreadful TV programme he`s been watching about a gun wielding robot although from experience I know he does more or less the same thing when he watches Tom and Jerry cartoons.

When Ariela said she was going into town Feli and I decided to tag along and on the way down, as Feli saw me manouvre the steps, he very generously offered me his hand saying, "Come let me help you!"


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Just returned from our jaunt into town. After the chores were over Thomas dropped me and Ariela at a nearby cafe where we spent an hour or so - one of those places which is also a souvenir and photo shop. I had a hot chocolate which was a shade too sweet and Ariela stuck to coffee. On one of the shelves I saw a bottle which was packaged exactly like a wine bottle except it said "Chai". On closer examination it turned out to be a kind of chai concentrate made with ginger and various spices, like cloves and cardamom, to which you add hot milk. I would normally have liked to try it out but this one cost more than a normal bottle of wine. 17 Euros! Close to a thousand rupees, so I promptly put it back on the shelf.

Brrrr. It`s cold and rainy - not a good day at all for going out and am glad to be back.