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abouthalfthreeSo, Eis Cafes.
This evening I was almost completely beaten by my ice cream. It came with a lot of nuts heaped over it, and they were more filling than expected. Also, as well as the cream on top of the generous scoops of ice cream, the stem of the glass dish was also filled with cream! I managed to eat all the ice cream around the last handful of nuts.
I forgot to order milk to go with my tea, but that was okay.
I am in Weimar. Last time I was in Weimar was close to midwinter, like second week of December, I think. It was dark and cold and closed. Weimar seems to be doing well for itself, better than last time. There are some buildings near the station that need fixing up, but someone of them are being used for funky art things. I'm not sure how much of teh change is a change in the economy from seven years ago and how much is just that it's summer, the sunsets at quarter past nine and everything is open.
No updates since Munich. So.
First, to follow the ice cream theme, today's tartufo had amaretto liquor instead of cherry liquor. I prefer the cherry based tartufi to the amaretto based ones.
There is good art in Munich. I went to the Neue (New) Pinakothek, which I've never visited before. The last two times I've been Munich I've gone the Pinakothek der Moderne (Modern). But it's like any modern art museum anywhere, including the one in Hamburg: Claes Oldenburg (elephant dung), Dan Flavin (fluorescent light), piles of things and paintings that are all one colour. I do not mind this stuff! But having seen Munich's collection before, I didn't need to see it again. (As much as I love their Joseph Beuys). I was going to go to the Haus der Kunst, but it was all photography, and none of it particularly grabbed me. Also I was in a bit of a mood, so I went shopping. And then I saw the Avengers in German.
I think that's the order things happened in. At least it is now the order things happened in in the account of things.
Friday I caught the train to Landshut, which I kept trying to pronounce as Land-shut, but which is, of course, Lands-hut. There's a mountain and a castle and a castle park/forest and a sculpture museum.
I got there late Friday afternoon and just wandered around the old city (one street, really, but nice) and the forest, very pleasant. Lots of people walking through. Had another tartufo and a glass of tea (tea usually comes in a glass), this time with milk. Then I went back to the hostel and found the TV room. I was actually paying attention to the screen when Germany got their goal. It was a nice bit of play.
Saturday morning I had to drop my backpack off at the lockers at the station, because the hostel's closed between 12 and 5. I wanted to catch the 3pm train, so I had to do something with my pack for the day. Then I saw an interesting exhibition in one of the churches of their various treasures and sculptures. They had a whole parade of saints, several hundred years old, made out of Linden trees. They looked like they had been brightly painted, but only the eyes and lips were left with colour.
They'd repainted the inside of the church as well, except for where there were original frescos left, so those now have an odd boarder/framing effect.
The exhibition also had a contemporary religious sculpture, including works by Fritz Koenig, which stood out to me. Turns out he's the guy the sculpture museum's massive retrospective exhibition was on. Because he was from Landshut.
Very interesting stuff.
His plan for the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was starkly affecting. I'm glad that that is not what's there. The Memorial as it is more contemplative and allows one to reflect on the loss of the Holocaust rather than on the actions of the Holocaust, which I think is likely better for many people going there as survivors or relatives of those who did not survive.
Much of it was disquieting and effective. Some was quite sweet, too.
Then I walked up to the Berg, the castle above the town. There was a wedding there. So I didn't go in and I wanted to eat lunch. For more on not visiting castles see below.
Then I caught the train to Bayreuth, where Ute and Alfred met me at the station.
It was Johannisfeuer, the start of summer, Saturday night, so we went with friends up to a small hill outside of a near by town to a bonfire. Amazing view, from our spot slightly above the landscape and pastoral Upper Franconia. And then was a giant pile of burning things, which was warm and exciting. We could see other fires as well. And lots of wind turbine in the distance. For about ten minutes I knew the German word for wind turbine, but I've forgotten it again. This word is, however, not as important as the word for slice, as in "I would like four slices of that cheese please," which is another word I cannot remember.
Sunday, Alfred had kayaking trip, so Ute and I met up with the group for lunch at a little beer garden on the river. There's a lot of river activity in that part of Germany, because there are rivers. There's a walking path beside the river and there were a lot of cyclists as well as other walkers on the bit Ute and I got to look at before the paddlers came in.
Ute and I then went on a little tour of a town called Turnau, where they were having an open weekend of artist studios. One interesting print maker/painter, and then a couple of pottery studios. There's a lot of pottery in the area. And we also stopped at the Blue House, which is where I went dancing with Ute and Alfred last time I was in Germany. They are also weavers of lovely stuff.
I spent Monday in Nürnberg.
(I can write Munich, fine, for talking about that city in English, but writing Nuremberg is too weird, perhaps too much like the German. Likewise, I much prefer to say/write Köln than Cologne.)
A lot was closed, which was disappointing. But, we do have some excellent Dürer prints in Melbourne and I still got to see the old prison in the basement of the Town Hall. That was fascinating. Nürnberg's interesting, too, because it so very old. It doesn't have a lot of late 19th Century stuff like Weimar does, and Weimar is very pretty. Most of the old city of Nürnberg (where I stayed so I knew I could get back to the station to get back to the Semmelmanns' in time for tea), is from the 1500/1600s, or newly build after being destroyed in the war.
I walked around the Berg, the castle tower above the town, but did not go in. Like in Landshut, I didn't quite have time. Also, entry was only with a tour, which makes sense, but I also get frustrated at being able to just wanted around, to see how all the pieces fit together. I wandered around the outside instead, and down the garden that runs between the castle wall and the edge of the hill it's built on, where there's a low wall and then the moat. You can walk in the moat now, that is also pleasant.
I got to help make spätzle for dinner. I got to use the späzle device to push the dough into its little stringy noodle shapes. Also I learnt how to cook it. I will be making myself späzle as soon as I can. I reckon a colander would work pretty well in place of a proper späzle device.
Which brings us to today! and the journey to Weimar.
We changes at one of the train statins in Jena, a very unprepossessing place. It looked kind of dodgy, and while it's definitely a big place, and industrial the station did not look like any sort of exchange, despite having six platforms. The Jena Göscshwitz-Weimar train is a local train, not even a 30 minute trip and lots of people getting off at Weimar picked up bikes at the station. But I'm in Thuringia now, the old east. There is not the same history of infrastructure maintenance here.
I have been to the Bauhaus Museum and wandered along the Park on the Ilm (which is the river). There were two families with a toddler each at a spot on the river. One family was feeding bread to the ducks. Then the other family (whose kid, about 18 months old was watching), their dog, a big lab, decided to go for the ducks, which was hilarious. He didn't have a chance of catching them, and the ducks were all over themselves to get away. They came for the bread though.
Then the dog's ball rolled into the river and he went in after it. The ducks were not so nervous this time, but the dog did drop it ball to try to fish bits of bread out of the water.
There are a lot of museums I have to visit tomorrow before I catch the train to Dresden. I'm tired from walking and from the alcohol in my ice cream and also because I keep sunburnt without realising it. (I spend sometime in the early evening wondering while I feel flushed.)
Oh wait! on my way back to the hostel from the Eis Cafe, I got stopped by Mormons. Sadly, I did not quite have my wits with me to cause trouble, and I think it would have been mean. But I have plans for the next time religious fundamentalists want to talk to me about their religion.
This evening I was almost completely beaten by my ice cream. It came with a lot of nuts heaped over it, and they were more filling than expected. Also, as well as the cream on top of the generous scoops of ice cream, the stem of the glass dish was also filled with cream! I managed to eat all the ice cream around the last handful of nuts.
I forgot to order milk to go with my tea, but that was okay.
I am in Weimar. Last time I was in Weimar was close to midwinter, like second week of December, I think. It was dark and cold and closed. Weimar seems to be doing well for itself, better than last time. There are some buildings near the station that need fixing up, but someone of them are being used for funky art things. I'm not sure how much of teh change is a change in the economy from seven years ago and how much is just that it's summer, the sunsets at quarter past nine and everything is open.
No updates since Munich. So.
First, to follow the ice cream theme, today's tartufo had amaretto liquor instead of cherry liquor. I prefer the cherry based tartufi to the amaretto based ones.
There is good art in Munich. I went to the Neue (New) Pinakothek, which I've never visited before. The last two times I've been Munich I've gone the Pinakothek der Moderne (Modern). But it's like any modern art museum anywhere, including the one in Hamburg: Claes Oldenburg (elephant dung), Dan Flavin (fluorescent light), piles of things and paintings that are all one colour. I do not mind this stuff! But having seen Munich's collection before, I didn't need to see it again. (As much as I love their Joseph Beuys). I was going to go to the Haus der Kunst, but it was all photography, and none of it particularly grabbed me. Also I was in a bit of a mood, so I went shopping. And then I saw the Avengers in German.
I think that's the order things happened in. At least it is now the order things happened in in the account of things.
Friday I caught the train to Landshut, which I kept trying to pronounce as Land-shut, but which is, of course, Lands-hut. There's a mountain and a castle and a castle park/forest and a sculpture museum.
I got there late Friday afternoon and just wandered around the old city (one street, really, but nice) and the forest, very pleasant. Lots of people walking through. Had another tartufo and a glass of tea (tea usually comes in a glass), this time with milk. Then I went back to the hostel and found the TV room. I was actually paying attention to the screen when Germany got their goal. It was a nice bit of play.
Saturday morning I had to drop my backpack off at the lockers at the station, because the hostel's closed between 12 and 5. I wanted to catch the 3pm train, so I had to do something with my pack for the day. Then I saw an interesting exhibition in one of the churches of their various treasures and sculptures. They had a whole parade of saints, several hundred years old, made out of Linden trees. They looked like they had been brightly painted, but only the eyes and lips were left with colour.
They'd repainted the inside of the church as well, except for where there were original frescos left, so those now have an odd boarder/framing effect.
The exhibition also had a contemporary religious sculpture, including works by Fritz Koenig, which stood out to me. Turns out he's the guy the sculpture museum's massive retrospective exhibition was on. Because he was from Landshut.
Very interesting stuff.
His plan for the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was starkly affecting. I'm glad that that is not what's there. The Memorial as it is more contemplative and allows one to reflect on the loss of the Holocaust rather than on the actions of the Holocaust, which I think is likely better for many people going there as survivors or relatives of those who did not survive.
Much of it was disquieting and effective. Some was quite sweet, too.
Then I walked up to the Berg, the castle above the town. There was a wedding there. So I didn't go in and I wanted to eat lunch. For more on not visiting castles see below.
Then I caught the train to Bayreuth, where Ute and Alfred met me at the station.
It was Johannisfeuer, the start of summer, Saturday night, so we went with friends up to a small hill outside of a near by town to a bonfire. Amazing view, from our spot slightly above the landscape and pastoral Upper Franconia. And then was a giant pile of burning things, which was warm and exciting. We could see other fires as well. And lots of wind turbine in the distance. For about ten minutes I knew the German word for wind turbine, but I've forgotten it again. This word is, however, not as important as the word for slice, as in "I would like four slices of that cheese please," which is another word I cannot remember.
Sunday, Alfred had kayaking trip, so Ute and I met up with the group for lunch at a little beer garden on the river. There's a lot of river activity in that part of Germany, because there are rivers. There's a walking path beside the river and there were a lot of cyclists as well as other walkers on the bit Ute and I got to look at before the paddlers came in.
Ute and I then went on a little tour of a town called Turnau, where they were having an open weekend of artist studios. One interesting print maker/painter, and then a couple of pottery studios. There's a lot of pottery in the area. And we also stopped at the Blue House, which is where I went dancing with Ute and Alfred last time I was in Germany. They are also weavers of lovely stuff.
I spent Monday in Nürnberg.
(I can write Munich, fine, for talking about that city in English, but writing Nuremberg is too weird, perhaps too much like the German. Likewise, I much prefer to say/write Köln than Cologne.)
A lot was closed, which was disappointing. But, we do have some excellent Dürer prints in Melbourne and I still got to see the old prison in the basement of the Town Hall. That was fascinating. Nürnberg's interesting, too, because it so very old. It doesn't have a lot of late 19th Century stuff like Weimar does, and Weimar is very pretty. Most of the old city of Nürnberg (where I stayed so I knew I could get back to the station to get back to the Semmelmanns' in time for tea), is from the 1500/1600s, or newly build after being destroyed in the war.
I walked around the Berg, the castle tower above the town, but did not go in. Like in Landshut, I didn't quite have time. Also, entry was only with a tour, which makes sense, but I also get frustrated at being able to just wanted around, to see how all the pieces fit together. I wandered around the outside instead, and down the garden that runs between the castle wall and the edge of the hill it's built on, where there's a low wall and then the moat. You can walk in the moat now, that is also pleasant.
I got to help make spätzle for dinner. I got to use the späzle device to push the dough into its little stringy noodle shapes. Also I learnt how to cook it. I will be making myself späzle as soon as I can. I reckon a colander would work pretty well in place of a proper späzle device.
Which brings us to today! and the journey to Weimar.
We changes at one of the train statins in Jena, a very unprepossessing place. It looked kind of dodgy, and while it's definitely a big place, and industrial the station did not look like any sort of exchange, despite having six platforms. The Jena Göscshwitz-Weimar train is a local train, not even a 30 minute trip and lots of people getting off at Weimar picked up bikes at the station. But I'm in Thuringia now, the old east. There is not the same history of infrastructure maintenance here.
I have been to the Bauhaus Museum and wandered along the Park on the Ilm (which is the river). There were two families with a toddler each at a spot on the river. One family was feeding bread to the ducks. Then the other family (whose kid, about 18 months old was watching), their dog, a big lab, decided to go for the ducks, which was hilarious. He didn't have a chance of catching them, and the ducks were all over themselves to get away. They came for the bread though.
Then the dog's ball rolled into the river and he went in after it. The ducks were not so nervous this time, but the dog did drop it ball to try to fish bits of bread out of the water.
There are a lot of museums I have to visit tomorrow before I catch the train to Dresden. I'm tired from walking and from the alcohol in my ice cream and also because I keep sunburnt without realising it. (I spend sometime in the early evening wondering while I feel flushed.)
Oh wait! on my way back to the hostel from the Eis Cafe, I got stopped by Mormons. Sadly, I did not quite have my wits with me to cause trouble, and I think it would have been mean. But I have plans for the next time religious fundamentalists want to talk to me about their religion.