Yesterday

Written on the train to Dresden
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Graffiti on the Kunsthalle.
Appropriate.

Yesterday was a fairly full day. I went back to Museumsmeile and saw both the Kunstmuseum and the Kunst- and Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Both house modern art and the latter also hosts traveling exhibitions (no permanent collection). They are conveniently located next to each other and have the option for a reduced ticket price if one buys admission to both as a package. That is exactly what I did. Toll.

The special exhibit in the Kunstmuseum was not that interesting to me, but they have some amazing sculpture and there were other neat pieces upstairs. I think I had heard about one of their pieces, which consists of five red taffeta dresses rotating at various times. Pretty neat to watch/hear/feel. The museum was a fairly small place, though, so it was time to move on.

The Kunsthalle is currently hosting the traveling exhibition of artifacts from Afghanistan's National Museum. There were some amazing pieces and it was definitely worth the extra Euro to see. Some of the pieces, I believe, were recovered from the looting that occurred in the region after the US (and friends) went in. It appeared, though, that some also came from digs that were occurring at that time. (I missed that part of the informational movie.) The setup of the exhibit and the pieces were quite lovely.

They also had an exhibit of exploratory work by an architect, which was pretty nifty. Finally, I went to the basement (to visit the WC) and found more art, this time work by young artists from around the world. I also found an adorable old museum attendant man, who was more than happy to show me the artwork and explain it to me...in German, even when it was obvious that I only understood part of what he was saying. We made it work, though, which was pretty cool all on its own.

I did appear to be having an old man day, as another caught my attention at the gift shop to show me a funny postcard. I smiled and nodded to that one, since it was the only postcard from the bunch (quotes about art and by artists) of which I could make neither heads nor tails. So yeah, old German men love me!

UN

Back there somewhere...

After finishing with the exhibits, I did a bit of wandering. I found the UN Campus, the Rhein (again!), the Palais Schaumburg, the Bonn residence of the Federal Chancellor, and the Villa Hammerschmidt, the Bonn residence of the Federal President. The latter two were just gates with greenery behind them. Also, a ton of video cameras. The UN building, at least, is visible (though not nearly so pretty).

I think I walked through DHL headquarters at one point, too, though I'm not completely sure on that one.

After I came back, it was laundry time -- everyone's favorite birthday activity! I popped my clothes into the washing machine in U.'s basement and we went out for a fancy cocktail. I was sure surprised to see Caipirinhas on the menu! I got one of those, since it'd been nearly two years since my last one. Stark, aber gut.

I took the laundry across the street to the laundromat for drying and came back half an hour later, then it was time for dinner. It was announced that we would only speak German at dinner. It went...okay. My cadence has definitely improved, though I have certain pronunciation issues that will eventually be sorted. The next time I see U. and D., I'll be able to carry on an entire conversation with them, which will be pretty neat.

(In other news, I now have German toothpaste, German water, and a German travel tissue pack. Danke, Apotheke!)