Museum Treasures

Friday is the free day for the local museums. The only one I hadn't been to was the August Kestner Museum right beside the new townhall. It has been advertising a special exhibit on food design, which didn't sound too interesting, but there was also a special exhibit on antiquities from Cypress, so I decided to go check it out. Perhaps my favorite was this glass vase, part of a 20th century design collection.

Airy Vase

I must confess I get tired of madonnas and religious art, but I never get tired of depictions of animals. Here are a few I liked. This dog statue with ears cocked. Sigh. I miss Iona.



Egyptian Dog Statue

My aunt Mary collected owls, so I always think of her when I see paintings or statues of owls. (Likewise, my mother used to collect chickens and my mother-in-law, ducks. My cousin Read collected pigs. It's not so nice to say that whenever I see a pig, I think of you. I've never started such a collection, for fear it would soon get out-of-hand.)

Owl Mug

Egyptian Blue Frog

Cabinet Drawer with Inlaid Ivory Pelicans

The food design exhibit was moderately interesting. Do you know who invented milk powder or meat extract or frankfurters? Did you know that people like the red gummy bears best, so they put more in each package?

Food Colors

Changing the subject, Rich and I have trouble remembering whether to use der, die, or das, the German words for the to match the gender of the noun, depending on whether it's masculine, feminine, or neuter. I think my instinct is right about 30% of the time, but I may be kidding myself. When we lived in Marburg, we got them right most of the time, but our German has rusted with age. The sign on the window of this bicycle shop makes it clear.

Das, Die, Der

My daughter saw the new movie "Hannah Arendt" the other day. I walk along Hannah-Arendt-Way every other day, since it's the path that runs along the river to the Maschsee, the man-made rectangular lake. I love that the Germans name streets after scientists and people  who lived here and that the signs explain who they are. Sunday we rode along Bunsen Street, named after Robert Bunsen, a German chemist who invented the Bunsen burner, and crossed Röntgenstraße. Tuesday I rode along Nibelungenweg, which intersected Brunhildenweg. Shades of Wagner.

Hannah-Arendt-Way

 Isn't Politologin a great word?