Englischer Garten

The words ‘Englischer Garten’ were brought up again and again during and after classes by my classmates such that I was yearning to visit this garden myself. Why of all garden must I be so curious and interested about this garden? Yes, the frequency that it was mentioned did play a part, but most importantly was the fact that it’s rumored that one can see nude people sunbathing in the garden! Had the word ‘nude’ not been mentioned, I wouldn't have been sooooo curious as to make it a must to visit the garden. (Call me a pervert, I don’t care. Haha…when can one get a chance to see a nude person lying on the grass in the garden in Singapore?)

Well…so did I really see nude people lying around during my visit to the garden? Regretfully…NO! I was disappointed. However had I seen any nude people lying on the grass that day, I would have deemed that person insane. That fateful day that I chose to make my visit to the garden wasn’t ideal at all. It was cloudy and cold, with a bone piercing breeze blowing constantly. There was no sight of the sun at all! It would be absolutely ‘wahnsinn’ for a person to sunbathe in such weather!

It was such cold weather that my visit to the garden was made very short. As such, I didn't visit any of the attractions in the garden, such as the Chinese tower and the Japanese teahouse, and to get to know it better. The chilliness of the weather was just so distracting that I couldn't take in the beauties of the garden. Few photos were taken.

The turning back point...''^_^

A group of people kicking soccer...

Munich Zoo

Went to visit the Munich Zoo on 12th September afternoon with the Summer University. The visit to the zoo was definitely a great way to unwind oneself after a whole morning's laborious German grammer lesson.

Used my handphone as my camera, so effect of photos may not be as desired. I would love to take more photos to upload, but unfortunately my handphone ran out of battery (as usual). Missing in here are photos of snakes, marine life forms, and many more...didn't manage to cover the whole zoo too since it started raining 3 hours into our visit.

2 goats to welcome all guests at the entrance.

Back to childhood days...

sleeping penguins...

sleeping 'beauty' and the beast...

examples of what it means to camouflage with the surroundings...

what a big butt...

2 headed camel?!?!!?!?!

see me pose for the camera! 'cheese'!

what a lovely sight!

Most Memorable Deutsch Lesson

After breaks, one would expect lessons to commence as usual.

Now imagine 3 guys missing from your class. 1 comes in and starts narrating the Red Riding Hood story. Then the next moment, the other 2 make their grand entrance dressed up as females, not just females, but supposedly, sexy Red Riding Hood, and her mother. What will your reaction be? Just surprised? If your sense of humor isn't failing you, bet you'll burst out laughing as the rest of my classmates and I did.

What was supposed to be a strenuous grammar lesson turned out to be very enjoyable and memorable thanks to our tutor, and the 3 sporting guys from our class.

Without me having to state specifically, I think it's obvious from the photo below who is the narrator, the Red Riding Hood, and her Mother.

Neuschwanstein

I visited the Neuschwansten Castle with the Summer University on 7th September. The weather was ‘schlect’, as we put it in the German way, as it was drizzling continuously throughout the whole trip. What a weather to go visit the infamous palace commissioned by King Luwig II as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner, the King’s inspiring muse. The palace was built on a hill, hence we had to climb for around 30mins, while battling the chilling wind and rain.

Fun? In that weather? Absolutely! (See my nose grow long like Pinocchio.)

Unpleasant was the ascending climb towards the palace, but when the palace came into view, looming magnificently in front of us, all tiredness and coldness were forgotten (at least for seconds). It was a beauty! It’s a pity that King Luwig II could only lived in the palace for a few times, before being found drowned on June 13, 1886, in shallow water in Lake Starnberg, with von Gudden, the psychiatrist who declared the King insane. The few times he lived in the palace, he was only accompanied by his servants. It must have been very lonely visits...

Since King Luwig II died before the completion of the palace, not all the rooms were furnished, hence our guided tour didn’t cover the whole palace, but only the completed 14 furnished rooms, which consisted of the throne room, the King’s master suite, dressing room, servants quarters, a study, a dining room, kitchen, and the Singer’s hall which was built for performances by musicians and playwrights. Of course, the primary purpose of building the Singer’s hall was to serve as a venue for Wagner to write and perform plays. However, King Luwig II died without seeing a performance in the Singer’s hall. What a pity…

The interior design of the rooms were centered around swans, hence giving the palace its name ‘Neuschwanstein’, where ‘schwan’ means swan. Many rooms also bear a border depicting the various operas written by Wagner. Photos aren’t allowed to be taken inside the palace, hence I’m sorry I can’t contribute anything for your visual enjoyment.

Photos of the exterior view of the palace will be uploaded soon...

Goodbye Procrastination!

~Procrastination: The art of keeping up with yesterday~

Yesterdays are memorable, but the present and future are more important. One shouldn't live in yesterdays.

I’ve been leaving my blog hanging in the air for a long time. Before procrastination reign forever and proclaim victory over me, I shall take over the reign now, and start salvaging my blog.

The following entries will be summaries of places I visited, and interesting things that happened over the past few months. Stay tuned!

The New Pinokothek

~Art---fruit for the soul~

Visited the New Pinokothek this morning. Short was the trip but yet very educational and satisfying, especially with a good guide to show us around and narrate the stories behind various famous art pieces.

Here’s a brief introduction to the New Pinokothek. The New Pinokothek is an art museum which is founded by King Luwig 1of Baveria in 1853. The original building constructed by Friedrich con Gaertner and August von Voit was destroyed during World War II and it's ruin was demolished in 1949. The new buiding for the New Pinokothek was designed by Alexander Freiherr von Blanca and opened in 1981.

The primary art pieces displayed in the New Pinokothek are European art pieces from the 18th to the 19th century, and there’re about 400 hundred art pieces and 50 sculptures to satisfy one thirst for art!

Below are some paintings and sculptures for you to appreciate and enjoy!

Front and side view of a sculpture. Can one guess who is he? By looking at the apple held in his hand, he could be Adam from the Bible. Well...what's your take?

'Woman ironing' by Edgar Degas (19th July 1834 – 27th September 1917), who is a French painter, and who was famous for hs work in painting, sculptures, printmaking and drawing. He is regraded as one of the founders of impressionism.

'Breakfast in the Studio' (the Black Jacket), by Édouard Manet who is a French painter and a pivotal figure in the transition of realism painting to impressionist painting.

'Thusnelda im Triumphzug des Germanicus' by Karl Theodor von Piloty (1st October 1826 - 21 July 1886), who is a German painter.

'Destruction of Jerusalem' by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (15th October 1805 - 7th April 1874), a German painter.

Sketches for frescos in the New Pinokothek, which is also by Wilhelm von Kaulbach.

'The Bridge at Argenteuil' by Claude Monat (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926), a French painter who is one of the pioneers for impressionist painting. From afar, it's easy for one to decipher his paintings, however upon close-up viewing, his paintings become merely strokes of paints.

'Italia und Germania' by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (4th July 1789-1869), a German painter, who is a supporter of Nazarene, which aim is to revive honesty and spirituality in Christian Art. Painters who are supporters of Nazarene are basically against Neoclassicism.

Portrait of Anne-Marie-Louise Thélusson, Comtesse de Sorcy by Jacques-Louis David (20th August 1748-29th December 1825) , a highly influencial French painter in the Neoclassical style, where the paintings are devoid of pastel colours and haziness.

Besides the New Pinokothek, there're 2 other art museums in Munich. They are the Alte Pinokothek, and the Pinokothek der Moderne. The Alte Pinokothek exhibits one of the most famous paintings of the old masters, while the Pinokothek der Moderne exhibits modern art. Together the 3 Pinokothek form the 'Kunstareal' of Munich.

If you're an art lover, the Pinokotheks in Munich are a must visit! I'm not exactly an art enthusiast, but the art pieces I saw in the New Pinokothek have left me so fascinated and hungery for the art that visiting both the Alte Pinokothek and Pinokothek der Moderne in the near future on my own is without question!

Dritte Tag ins Muenchen

~Deutsches Museum, the love for all Science and Tecnology aficionados~

After the morning lessons today we went to visit the infamous Deutsches Museum.

Judging by the name, it wouldn’t be surprising that many may mistake it as a museum for the history of Germany. Deutsches Museum is in fact the world’s largest museum for science and technology, founded by Oskar von Miller (7 May 1855-9 April 1934) , a German engineer. The full name of the Deutsches Museum is ‘The German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology’ (Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik). The museum has 50 exhibit sections (ranging from Aeronautics, Argriculture/Food technology to Tunnel construction, and Weights and measures) spreading over 47,000sqm, showing the development of science and technology from early origins through to the present day.

There was so much to see in the museum that I couldn’t complete walking through all the exhibit sections within the 3hours I was there. The sections I briefly covered were marine navigation, machine components, power machinery, electrical power, aeronautics, Petroleum and natural gas, physics, musical instruments, scientific chemistry, pharmacology, energy technology. That’s like only 1/5 of the whole museum!

Took photos only at the marine navigation section as the battery in my camera was only half-charged. Below are photos of some of the boats or ships displayed at the museum. I didn't manage to take note of the details for each boat, hence can't describe them here as I would love too. Sorry about that. Well...hope that if you like the boats and would like to know more about them and their history, you can consider visiting the Deutsches Museum if you ever come to Munich.

Just some extra information for those science and technology lovers out there.

Deutsches Museum has 3 other branches, and they are:

1. Deutsches Museum Verkebrszentrum, located at Theresienhöhe in Munich, presents an unique collection transport technology.

2. Flugwerft Schleissbeim, located some 13 Kilometers north of Munich city near the Scheissheim Palace, displays aircraft, helicopters, engines, simulators and exhibitions on selected aspects of the history of aviation and space travel.

3. Deutsches Museum Bonn, located in Bonn, presents 100 highlights from research and development in Germany since 1945.

I'll revisit the Main Deutsches Museum, and its 2 branches in Munich some day(s) after the Pre-study course. Will be sure to take more interesting photos and share them here, and probably add in some details for each photo too. Stay tune!!!