More information about the programme for today here.
Information about the background here.
Some photos from some of the events, and some snapped along the way:
He of “Berliner Luft” lived here (check out this version with Placido Domingo).
Another very pleasant walk, despite the constantly drizzling rain. Since it is a protected kind of wetland area, rain suits it anyway :-).
We heard many different birds, and also saw a few. I managed two not very good photos.
Also a lot of photos of raindrops on various vegetation :-).
As everyone knows, I don’t like taking photos of people, and when I do, the results are always awful, showing beyond a doubt that I don’t actually like people – as a species, I mean – I just don’t think we are particularly likeable, and definitely not attractive.
But here I am, attending a photography course in which an upcoming assignment will be about people in parks. The prospect is making me lose, if not quite the will to live, then at least to take my camera out anywhere at all, so I tried to come up with a venue that was at least a little bit interesting for other reasons than just photographing random strangers, in which I have no interest whatsoever. I thought for that purpose it might be interesting to visit Thai Park. (As it turned out, it wasn’t. I honestly don’t see what all the fuss is about, and the resulting photos are worse than ever.) I might call in sick for that class.
Anyway, it was one of those rare occurrences: decent weather, so I went to Thai park, taking some, also rather bad, photos of birds on the way.
Visited Kühlhaus and the exhibition BBA Artist Prize 2023, and Willy Brandt Haus with exhibitions of works by Elias Wessel and Uwe Steinberg. Also took some awful photos with people in them in Mehringplatz.
Day one – arrived mid-afternoon after a leisurely train ride, but DB really needs to step up on their catering efforts. A five and a half hour train ride and I could not get a cappucino :-). Luckily, there is a café/beer garden just outside the station, in the large park dominating the top part of Stuttgart and goes all the way up to the river Neckar and the zoo at the other end, so that was my first stop, and the sustenance of some cafeine turned out to be more necessary than I could have imagined.
After the Siberian cold in Berlin, the temperature in Stuttgart was heavenly, but in every other way, it is worse than I thought. The construction of the central station, which seems to be never-ending, and road-works around it, is splitting the city in two and makes it difficult to navigate, especially for pedestrians. I was able to see my hotel from the station, but had the choice of either climbing A LOT of stairs with a relatively heavy suitcase, or walking about half a km to avoid those stairs :-).
Having overcome those obstacles and unpacked, I spent the rest of the day thinking about photos for my current photography course (about parks – everything about them, their surroundings, their uses, …..), and took some seriously boring photos. It was once again confirmed to me how much I dislike a) formal parks, and b) photographing people (in fact, I have absolutely no interest in the latter :-), but I’ll try).
Why do I dislike formal parks? First of all, they look ridiculous and totally artificial the way they are overly groomed and kempt, but most importantly, they are utterly unsustainable, using plants that are not native and therefore need too much water and fertilizer, and the same thing goes for those stupid lawns. On top of it all, after watering and fertilizing to make the lawns grow, they spend fossil fuels to mow them every five minutes. Insane. PLUS, as I was also reminded, some parks – still! – have those ugly fountains, completely ignoring the fact that water is fast becoming a scarce resource without which there will be no life on earth. (Not that it will be a great loss when humans become extinct, but a darn shame for all the other living beings).
Anyway, I had dinner in a very nice Vietnamese restaurant which I stumbled over completely by chance. It is upstairs so quite difficult to find from the street. The only reason I am not recommending it 100 percent is their wine list. The wines were mostly from overseas. Unlike the restaurants I visited the rest of the week, which contained wines from the region. There is no reason to import wines from the other side of the world when Germany produces good wines by now. And even though wine is not the most obvious beverage to eat with Asian food, there is something about many German wines that make them suited to accompany food from these parts of the world.
Day two – change of plans since thunderstorms and torrential rains was forecast, so not ideal for spending the day outdoors taking photos.
I went to Staatsgalerie which as one of their temporary exhibitions currently features Cindy Sherman. Although I know she is a superstar, I have never been a big fan. But this exhibition certainly confirmed her talents as a make-up artist. By the way, that museum is just as hopeless to navigate as the city itself.
The thunderstorms never materialised and the rain even took a break in the early afternoon.
Dinner in another excellent Vietnamese restaurant, Hanoi in Neckarstraße.
Day three – the large park in Stuttgart, including Wilhelma.
Believe it or not, but the large park starting in the city centre and ending with the zoo/botanical garden is as chaotic as the city and the Staatsgalerie. Construction, road blocks, reroutings, bad signposting …… including inside the zoo.
By the way, did I ever mention I love trees?
And then there were some very photogenic pelicans. If I did not know better, I would say they also enjoyed posing for the camera. So about the following complete overload of photos, bear with me – I am just experimenting:
Dinner in a very good Thai restaurant. I can’t remember the name right now, but it was in Urbanstraße, and the only Thai restaurant in that street.
Day four – birdwatching event with NABU Stuttgart.
A lovely walk around a lake and a bird reservation, and afterwards, I walked a little bit along the river Neckar on the way back.
Although I did not manage to take many photos, we saw many birds, including my first Kingfisher in the wild.
Dinner in Prince of India in Urbanstraße. Kind of OK.
And now to the reason why Stuttgart, and why right now:
Day five (Labour Day, apropos of nothing at all) – a phototour with Go2Know to what for some strange reason, the Germans call a “lost place” – which none of them are. The rest of the world calls them “abandoned”, which is what they are.
In this case, a disused paper factory – “die alte Papierfabrik Scheufelen” – just across the street from Oberlenningen train station. Very quick and easy to get to from Stuttgart – S-Bahn to Kirchheim and a regional train to Oberlenningen – once actually IN the S-Bahn station, of course :-). Getting TO the S-Bahn station is a nightmare, as is navigating the entire area around the central station.
I understand I only saw a fraction of the factory, but patience is not my Spitzenkompetenz, and neither are my orientation skills, and the area is huge, nor my ability to see in the dark, so I returned to Stuttgart feeling I had seen more than enough and taken quite a few photos.
The train ride was very pretty, and I can see why Oberlenningen is a popular starting point for hikers.
Re the last photo: Spotted what must be a Hundertwasser oeuvre from the train.
Went back to restaurant Hanoi in Neckarstraße for dinner. If I ever get to go back to Stuttgart, I will definitely visit again.
Last day – walkabout in Stuttgart. Firs stop brunch at Poffers. Nice idea, and an interesting choice of food with many vegan and vegetarian options, but the food tasted strangely stale. Also, the music indoors was very loud, and the guests on the patio also, so the advantage of being situation on a quiet sqare was kind of lost. Also, smoking on the covered patio was allowed, as is common in Germany. To me, an area that is covered does not count as outdoors, smoking-wise), but that is obviously just me.
I then proceeded across the park to the relatively new central library. Very attractive, light and airy, and welcoming, with a café on the top floor and a sun terrace. The café, which I had read about, was closed without any explanation why, and in any case it did not look as if anything to eat was ever available, so don’t plan a pitstop there.
The rest of the walk, apart from some general photos, I focused on stairs (no excuse not to stay fit in Stuttgart), statues, and those stupid fountains. I was shocked at the number of relatively new fountains there. Do people not realise how water is fast becoming a scarce resource (in which case what planet have they just dropped down from?), or do they just not care?
I had decided not take any more nature photos this time around (even I get tired of those from time to time ….) but then in one of the parks, I came across a bird I had never seen, let alone photographed, before. It turns out to be a “Wacholderdrossel”, in English Fieldfare, in Danish apparently a “sjagger”.
Also a couple of photos from the never-ending nightmare that is Stuttgart21. I guess they mean 2021.
(Photo number six: He is thinking: Jesus H. Christ – not another f…… fountain. Photo number eight: I did not take it personally ;-)).
On my last evening in Stuttgart, I treated myself to a meal in Michelin-starred Hegel Eins. Not that I need an excuse to totally indulge, but if I did, it would be that I am nine months cancer free, feel great, and that I did not really get to celebrate my 70th birthday last November because I was in a Reha clinic at the time :-). I thoroughly enjoyed the meal but only wish I had walked a little bit less and taken time for a bit of a nap before going there.
A lovely walk in fantastic weather, again led by Rob Couch from VHS. Did not take very many bird photos, although we saw quite a few, including a white-tailed eagle – the largest bird that can be seen in Germany. It was too far away for my 50-140 mm lens, but I had to try. True to form, a crow was chasing it. First up, the swallows nesting in and around S-Bahn Station Buch where we met.
I took a long way around on my way to Neue Nationalgalerie to see the current Monica Bonvicini exhibition as well as the 100 works by Gerhard Richter currently on (permanent?) loan and swung by two good birdwatching spots in Tiergarten. I am doing OK as long as they sit still :-).
First up – those exotic-almost-unreal, but vicious bullies – the Mandarin Duck, are back. The scare the domestic duck, although those are twice their size. I was happy to see – from above on a bridge – that they are are as inelegant in the air as they are in their behaviour towards the native species.
…. but things did not quite go according to plan 🙂
I wanted to attend the monthly (or is it now twice a month?) birdwatching with NABU in the “Alte Gärtnerei” on Tempelhofer Feld, and on the way there, check out the tree in which I had seen three owls weeks ago.
So the owls were not there, and the NABU event turned out to have been cancelled, according to a note on the fence.
But since it had gotten me out of the house, and the weather was decent (no rain, even some sun occasionally ……), and my camera was locked and loaded, I walked back across that end of Tempelhofer Feld, and swung by the cemetery on Columbiadamm, taking a bunch of photos of the spring atmosphere, such as it is when it is still freezing cold even in the middle of April, on the way.
First, some photos for the “Epic Fails” folder, but I quite like them.
Some signs of spring, although it sure does not feel that way:
An excellent result in terms of more photos for my “Off-the-ground garbage” series:
A “shoe tree” I had not noticed before:
Some birds and a squirrel:
Did I ever mention I love trees?
Impressions from Tempelhofer Feld:
And finally, further impressions from the cemetery (Friedhof Columbiadamm and the Islamic cemetery):
IN PROGRESS
I have previously attended, and very much enjoyed, a couple of art trips organised by Knoll Galerie (one to Krakow and at least one other location in Poland, and one to Brno, as far as I recall), and am happy to see they are again organising trips post Covid. I am signing up for this trip, and this is what is known so far:
“Arrival 30.6. in the afternoon until Sunday 2.7.2023
For the second time we invite you to an art trip to Ljubljana! The capital of Slovenia has also developed rapidly in its art scene since the 1990s and, in addition to museums, has recently added an impressive exhibition hall. In the old town you will come across many works by the architect Jože Plečnik, inevitably the three-part bridge in the centre over the Ljubljanica.
In the field of contemporary art, Ljubljana has surprised us since the 1980s with critical artist collectives that (did) deal with the social issues of Yugoslavia and Slovenia, such as the groups IRWIN and Laibach. The share of video, photo, performance and digital art in the artistic production is also special.
The newest and most impressive place for contemporary art is the Cukrarna Gallery in the building of a former sugar refinery, whose interior surprises with its generous architecture. We will see works by nearly 60 Slovenian women artists since the 1990s and have a talk with the director and curator. Other program points include the Museum of Modern Art, numerous galleries and other exhibition venues. Meetings with artists, curators and a collector are part of the program.
We suggest arriving on Friday, late afternoon, to start our program, which will last until Sunday afternoon (around 2 or 3 pm).
You book your accommodation yourself, we suggest in the area of Kersnikova Street in the center and also close to the train station, for example B&B Slamič Hotel, City Hotel Ljubljana, Hotel Lev – we will send you a list of hotels after your reply. choose one of the hotels as a meeting point in the morning.
You also book the journey by yourself, we suggest by train (several connections daily for example from Vienna or Budapest), there are cheap tickets if you book early.
The detailed program available before the trip contains the exact addresses – so you can join the program at any time. Our guides are curators Lara Mejac and Ajda Ana Kocutar, excellent connoisseurs of the contemporary art scene in Ljubljana (in English). In the period before the trip we offer preparatory information on Slovenian art and architecture, books, links, etc. The price for participation in our program is € 120 / reduced € 90.”
Of the hotels suggested, I will most likely go for Hotel Lev, since it has a fitness room, and I need to do weight-bearing exercises, preferably daily.
I will go by train and spend a day or two at either end of the “official” programme.
I will definitely make a day trip to Maribor and, a.o., the newish museum of contemporary art there.
Start from Bhf Dallgow-Döberitz to Falkesee, originally planned to total about 13 km. Organised by a member of the Facebook group Wandern in Berlin und Umgebung.
My route on MapMyWalk here. (When it started to drizzle and I was feeling really cold, I left the group when an opportunity arose).
It was a pleasant walk, although too much incessant schnickschnack – as in NON-STOP yacking – for my taste. Why ruin a walk in nature when you can cater to those needs anywhere else – a café, for example?
With Berliner Wanderclub, a guided tour of Wasserturm Finow and Messingwerksgelände. Later, walk along Finowkanal back to Eberswalde. Just one comment: given the (what I perceived as) freezing cold, the guided tour was much too long (nearly 2,5 hours). Without all the stopping for no apparent reason, and a lot of schnickschnack, it could have been done in one hour). But that is just me.
“Die Krumme Lanke in Rangsdorf”, with Wandersportverein Rotation Berlin from Bhf Rangsdorf via Krumme Lanke and Jühnsdorfer Heide to S Blankenfelde – found in the Berlin-Brandenburg Wanderplan.
A large group – I counted between 25 and 30, so at times, the speed-talking, which can be bad enough in groups of five to ten people, was infernal. What is it about nature that is like pushing a button, whereby most people start spouting words-words-words as if there is no tomorrow? And in many cases so loudly that the rest of us can’t hear the birds?
However, it was a lovely part of the world, the weather was finally great, and whenever I distanced myself from the noise machines, or people exceptionally kept their mouths shut, it was truly blissful, although not as long as we had been “promised”. All in all, I shall have to somehow make up for three relatively short walks in the last few days :-).
