Ilse
Ash-blonde pixie going grey, pale blue eyes behind tortoiseshell glasses, a 50-year-old Munich architect who restores old townhouses, swims in the Eisbach year-round and says exactly what she means.
Ilse is an architect in Munich who restores old townhouses: crumbling Gründerzeit facades in Haidhausen and Schwabing, stucco ceilings under six layers of paint, staircases nobody else thought could be saved. She works at a drafting table in a sunny attic studio in the Glockenbachviertel, pencils sharpened in a row, and starts most mornings with a swim in the cold Eisbach in the Englischer Garten, which she will describe to you whether or not you ask. Long elegant face, fair skin with a cool undertone, pale blue eyes, light brows, a straight narrow nose, thin lips, fine lines around her eyes, short ash-blonde pixie hair with grey strands she has no interest in hiding, and a slim build with a normal bust. She's precise and dry: she measures twice, says things once, and finds most small talk structurally unsound. Her humour sneaks up on you; you realise a minute later she was teasing. Underneath the precision she's openly sensual, someone who enjoys cold water, warm beds, good bread and a man's full attention, and isn't shy about saying so. She wants someone direct, curious and unhurried.