Rain today.Took the bus to the center of town to get some tourist passes at the tourist info office. The purchaser of said pass is entitled to free entry to all of the museums and can ride gratis on all of the public transportation around Bonn. Sounds like a good deal and I bought three on the suggestion of the tourist people in the office. I didn't do the math before purchase, but it turns out that the pass is just barely a deal and more of a hassle if you consider that the tourist office is out of the way from the place where most of the museums are.
Anyway, armed with the pass we went to the Konig Museum which is the natural history spot around here. It was nice, but nobody was jumping up and down. Saw some cool video of Inuits doing their thing and the requisite number of stuffed birds and animals.
From there we walked down to the river and passes a piece of the Berlin wall. That may have been the coolest thing all day. An artist funkified the thing and I will take the time at some point to translate what is on there.Our last stop was the art museum. There were some nice pieces there and we had a nice time talking about the works and making up titles for them. There was hardly anyone else in the museum which might have made it a slow day for the gallery guards, but did they ever dog us there. They weren't just present but followed you around, stared you down and were completely stone-faced when you met their eyes. I felt like I was either in some strange performance art piece or in some Kafka book. A couple of them seriously watched us by turning their heads around corners. In an another room two guards watched us. I waved at one. Scowl. I said hello in German. Nod. I finally asked if there was something wrong. "Is everything ok?" They said yes. Strange.
In general, I would have to say that this country is one of the most oppressive feeling of any I have been. It may not actually be true, but it feels dark and unhappy. Indeed, the only smiles one sees are on billboards and advertisements on the subway. So much for truth in advertising.
We have just thrown our cucumber away given the e. coli scare here. Thank goodness our tomatoes are from the Netherlands.
More tomorrow.
Hey Steve,
ReplyDeleteCatching up on your news tonight. I love the summer-like photos. I had to share with you our completely opposite experience in the Bellas Artes museum in Santiago. I was there with my mom one afternoon during her visit. We were in the great photography exhibit hall when a couple women and a couple of kids (2 preschoolers and one toddler) came into the gallery. The kids started to run back and forth. Every time they came to the end of their run - they planted their hands on the photo exhibit! I was stunned. No guard in sight. Lots more running, screaming, and touching of photos - until finally two of the girls wiped out and then there was screaming in earnest. Only then did a guard come and peek in! I just had to laugh at your getting tailed in the museum. If this group of Chilean museum goers had been at your museum, your guards would have lost it! Maybe a happy medium in the guard-spectrum would do. By the way - nice use of the word sublime.
Ciao, Lojo