avrelia

Well, it depends of course both on your physical fitness, time at had and whether you define "around Munich" as "within the city itself and its immediate surrounding era" , or whether an hour away from the city in the direction of the Alps also counts. I shall therefore start with the easy ones and go f or a grand climax of a mountain tour. ;)

Within the city of Munich, nice to walk even if your knee or foot should still trouble you:

1) Nymphenburger Park. The park surrounding Nymphenburg Palace. In addition to being a nice park, it has four tiny little mini cottage-palaces within, all Rokoko, and they're open in later spring, summer and early autumn. (The central palace itself isn't half bad, either, but that wasn't asked.) There's both a reasonably good coffee shop and an actual restaurant for the hungry and exhausted. One can reach the park via streetcar.


2) Der Englische Garten / The English Garden . Largest park in Munich, and I do mean large. Offers something both for easy strollers and people wanting to exhaust themselves. One of the modern attractions, the surfing wave of one of the rivers, is currently gone and the cause of much acrimony between the city administration and the surfers. Another attraction reliably shocking or enticing a certain brand of tourist is the fact that in summer time, a lot of Bavarians come here topless to sun themselves on the lawn. Architecture-wise, there is a nice "Chinese Tower" around one of the most popular beer gardens exists, and a Japanese Tea House, but mostly, like a park should be, it's trees, trees, trees, and large lawns. One can take both short and loooooong walks, depending on the time. Because of the size of the park, there are several entrance points close to subway stations available.

3) Olympiapark : what it says on the label. Originally created for the 1972 Olympic Games. Still very very popular to walk or jog through. The arena within it is very popular for concerts (I saw both Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen there.) Offers, among other things, a nice view over the city and to the Alps from one point. One of the starting points for hiking can be reached via subway.


Still within Munich, but incorporating the suburbs:

4) Isarauen/ Isar shore. From where I live in Munich, cutting through the Englischer Garten to the Isar shore means you can then turn left or right and in either case can do some really nice and lengthy hiking. If you go left, you eventually end up in Freimann near the arena where our football (soccer to Americans) club Bayern München plays, i.e. a place of much ire and admiration, depending how you feel about that club; due to the arena, there is of course a subway connection, so what I do is walk along the Isar to the arena and then go home by tube. Conversely, if you go right, you first walk in the general direction of the city centre and can see our Bavarian parliament building on the other side of the river, then in the middle of the river the Deutsches Museum (one of Germany's foremost science museums), then if you walk on you're leaving the centre behind and head towards the belt area. Most of the way is an appealing mixture of (mostly) trees and architecture. Though if Itake a really long hike, I take the Isar shore road from the opposite direction, i.e. I take the subway to Thalkirchen, where the Munich zoo is, and walk back from there in the direction of the centre. Hardcore hikers and bikers can go even further by S-Bahn and walk or drive back from Wolfratshausen.

Both Isar walks are something for when you have half a day or longer to spare.


Far Over The Misty Mountains:

5) One of my absolute favouriite hiking spots from all time is reached via train from Munich. One takes the train to Schliersee (that's about an hour), then hikes from Schliersee to the Gindelalm, from the Gindelalm to the Neureuth Alm, and from there it's possible to go down to either Tegernsee (town) or Gmund (also located at the Tegernsee lake). They both have a train station and you can take the train back to Munich, which again takes an hour. Now you don't need to be a hardcore Alpine sportswoman or -man to do this - it's not that difficult a way, upwards and downwards - but it does take at least two hours, usually more, to reach the first Alm. So this is only an option if you have the entire day to spare.

The other days

Eleven / Kathryn Janeway: Why? She's his type. Unlike many another version of the Doctor, he's good at endearing himself to competent authoritative women. Depending on when in their respective timelines this meeting occurs, he might also impress her by bringing his very own nurse (Rory) along, which given that Voyager is desperate enough for nurses to let their own Doctor draft Tom Paris will definitely be a plus.


Five / Benjamin Sisko: Why? Mutual bonding over argumentative companions and cricket vs baseball. Five would be charmed by the Ben and Jake father/son relationship (and depending on whether this is before or after Adric dies also melancholic), and wouldn't ruffle Sisko's feathers the way some other Doctors might.


Nine / Jean-Luc Picard: Why? Picard would respect Nine's chip on the shoulder and not wanting to talk about any personal issues (and vice versa). (Though Deanna Troi, sensing Nine's emotional state, wilil try to corner him, but that's another issue.) Depending on the situation they're in when they meet, there might be some prickliness at first, but I think generally they'd find it easy to ally against the menace of the day and maybe share clipped yet meaningful conversation over some tea and/or bond over Dickens once that's done before Nine takes off again.


Fifteen/ Michael Burnham : Why? Much of her personal arc is going from repressing it all stoicism to openly emotional behavior, accepting your past grief and guilt and continuing to do better (and helping others) in the present - that's what he's practically the embodiment of for the Doctor! They would work well as allies, and there would definitely be dancing at some point. Also, she'd make him promise to visit Zora now and then as he travels through time.


Three / Saru (who was a Starfleet Captain, too): Why? Three can come across as incredibly high handed on first impressions, but Saru is a masterful diplomat, would spot Three is actually knowledgable and competent beneath the bluster and would lintrigue him as a Kelpian so any initial problems would be quickly moved aside in favour of teaming up. 'They would also bond over Buddhism.


Thirteen/ James T. Kirk: Why? No, not because he'd hit on her. (TOS Kirk, not AOS Kirk, i.e. he's not his pop cultural stereotype.) She'd consider him fun to have an adventure with, he'd be curious and charmed and very amused once she inadvertendly outs Scotty's inflated time estimations, whereas with male versions of the Doctor he might feel initially one-upped.


Twelve/ Christopher Pike: Why? Even if it's early Twelve at his prickliest, Pike's general relaxedness and experienced diplomacy would help smoothing things over. Conversely, Twelve could empathize with the whole "knowing your eventual awful fate" part without insisting on talking about it the way some other Doctors might. I predict at least one meal cooked by Pike while Twelve plays guitar before the Doctor leaves again.


Unfortunately, I can't think of any version of the Doctor who'd get along really well with Captain Archer because Archer would, depending on the point of his timeline, suspect the Doctor of being a tool of the Vulcan High Command, the Admiralty or the Xindi, while the Doctor, any of them, might like Porthos but would find Archer incredibly annoying, and that's before they find out about certain episodes involving slavery or torture.


Therefore, you get a bonus pairing:

Seven/ Gabriel Lorca (no, not the one we never met, I do mean the season 1 of Discovery guy) : Why? Mutual mindgames! Who manipulates whom best? Who sets a trap for whom while pretending to be their harmless facade? Who figures out the truth about the the other guy first? Might there be conversations with increasingly disturbing subtext about mentoring young women with a chip on their shoulder and tremendous guilt and anger issues? One thing is sure: it would be incredibly entertaining.


The other days

This year, both my assignment and the treat I wrote were based on historical novels but, I hope, manage to work outside of them (while doing their canon justice). Though last year I discovered with Stella Duffy*s Theodora duology two more novels about the Byzantine Empress I liked, Gillian Bradshaw's The Bearkeeper's Daughter is still my uncontested favourite. Aside from Theodora herself, the most intriguing character in it is for me is probably Narses, so I was delighted to get an assignment where one of the recipient's prompts asked more about him, which resulted in this story:


Of What is Past (3255 words) by Selena
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Bearkeeper's Daughter - Gillian Bradshaw, 6th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Narses & Theodora, Justinian I Emperor of Byzantium/Theodora I Augusta of Byzantium, Narses & Anastasios, Narses & Belisarius, Narses & Justinian
Characters: Narses (The Bearkeeper's Daughter), Theodora I Augusta of Byzantium, Justinian I Emperor of Byzantium, Anastasios (The Bearkeeper's Daughter)
Additional Tags: Character Study, Backstory, Canon Backstory, Yuletide
Summary:

As he rises from castrated slave boy to one of the most powerful men in the Empire, Narses knows about prices - and worth.

As for my treat: It's a tough contest, but Stealing Fire (set in the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death; our hero fictional Lydias goes from suicidal traumatized soldier to starting a new life and new relationships healed survivor while teaming up with Ptolemy Soter and leading the most audacious bodynapping heist ever as he steals AtG's corpse for his boss) might be my favourite of the Numinous World novels Jo Graham wrote, though last year I via the audio version which I hadn't known before did a rehear/retread of Black Ships (based on the Aeneid, from the pov of the Sybil) and it's certainly up there. Anyway, one of the most interesting characters in the novel is Thais, a historical character, a hetaira from Athens who joined Alexander's campaign and was the long term mistress of Ptolemy with whom she had several children. Settiai had asked for more about Thais, what life with with Alexander had been like, how she reacted when Ptolemy eventually fell in love with another woman (as opoposed to political marriages), etc, and I swear I originally had more of a romantic mellow character piece in mnd. But then I actually read the ancient sources on Alexander. And thought: he must have been absolutely hell to live with at times, especially in his final years. I can't imagine a more dangerous combination than all powerful, depressed, hard drinking and already having killed friends in a rage before. Thinking this, I got an idea, and the tone of my planned story changed completely. With this result:


Her Last Confession (6796 words) by Selena
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Numinous World Series - Jo Graham, Stealing Fire - Jo Graham, Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF, Ancient History RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Ptolemy I/Thais, Alexandros III of Macedon | Alexander the Great & Thais, Thais & Berenike I. of Egypt, Thais & Chloe (Stealing Fire), Alexander III of Macedon | Alexander the Great & Ptolemaios Soter | Ptolemy I of Egypt, Alexandros III of Macedon | Alexander the Great/Hephaistion of Macedon
Characters: Thaïs the Hetaira (c. 4th Century BCE), Alexandros III of Macedon | Alexander the Great, Ptolemaios Soter | Ptolemy I of Egypt, Berenike I of Egypt | Berenice, Chloe (Stealing Fire), Demosthenes (c. 384-322 BCE), Kleitos ho Melas | Cleitus the Black, Callisthenes of Olynthus
Additional Tags: Character Study, POV Female Character, Talking To Dead People, Complicated Relationships, War, Angst, Reveal, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

Thais has always guarded her secrets well. It kept her alive in the years that saw her go from Athenian Hetaira to joining Alexander's campaign to conquer the world to settling down in Egypt where her lover Ptolemy became Pharaoh. But it also cost her. And now she is about to confront her past one more time...