Out & About

Perhaps because of needing to walk Iona, Rich and I often take an after-dinner stroll. Tuesday we walked along the river toward the Maschsee, but got distracted by some green light discs floating on the water on the Maschteich (pond) behind the Neues Rathaus, so we made a detour to go see them. I had read about this art installation that is supposed to start on Saturday night, which was introduced in the tourist brochure with a quote from Picasso: "Kunst wäscht den Staub des Alltags von der Seele" (translated: Art washes the dust of the everyday from the soul.) It shows a picture of floating wands, orbs, and green discs on a pond. Anyway, we walked over and saw these glowing, green circles and a man in a rowboat putting more out. Yesterday I went by again, and he was still installing them, and the music was playing. It's supposed to start Saturday night at dusk, but I'm not sure I'll be able to stay up that late.

Green Discs Floating on Maschteich behind the New Townhall

Setting up light installation: Seele Waschen = Soul Washing

The Germans have a custom of lovers writing their names on locks and locking them to bridges and fountains. They are all along the railings by the Maschsee and Maschteich.

Lover's Locks



Walking along the Machsee, we saw these giant 2 1/2-foot long carp swimming close to the surface. It was a lovely evening, and people were sitting on the wall eating ice cream and chatting, enjoying the long summer evening.

Huge Carp

I think I already said that at the moment it's hard to sing or talk while bike riding without swallowing gnats or fluff drifting through the air from the poplars. Here's a picture of the summer snow, cotton from the cottonwood trees, piled up along the edge of the bike path.

Summer Snow (Poplar Cotton Seeds)