accidental findings and encounters 1

I'm not a good planer when I travel. I always think that traveling is fun because of what unexpected comes into our journey as surprises. People we meet, getting lost yet finding something more exciting, or just being there when some festival or celebration just starts. Even when something awful happens, bad weather, being pickpocketed or even lost your luggage, these experiences all turn into stories for you the share when you look back. I tried to organize these accidental findings or encounters, and here are the first few:

The surfers at the English Garden. I heard about it, but expectedly saw it when we passed by the place.

Modern merry-go-around, the horses are replaced with modern cars. 

Found this perfect fruit holder, See the idea? no crush! should I buy it?

The first in-door swimming pool in Munich. Do you know that in the old days poor people didn't have bathrooms in their houses? A rich man (forgot the name, I'm terrible with names) built this public bath place for them. Now, you can still take a bath there if you don't want to swim.

The entrance to the pool.

The rich man I forgot the name.

Found this thorny plant and bees who like them on the way to Tollwood market. 

I love this orange holder. Basically, it's like those cola machines, you take the one from the bottom, and the rest rolls down.

Now they make sugar different shapes and patterns. Want a butterfly in your coffee? Or a bird?

Found this cat in Salzburg. A cat with the patten of shadow. I finally realize why people call their cats "shadow."

My very first outdoor opera: Tosca, and geese, and funny Roya

 I found out that Puccini's Tosca would be performed on the last night of July. Oh, Puccini, Puccini, who can resist his charm,So, we, me and other fellows, tried to get the tickets before the show started. The beautiful ticket lady gave us discount because they have more seats open that night.

Well, this is my first time to enjoy an opera outdoors. Unexpectedly, many funny things happened; we laughed so hard that I think Puccini would have thrown us out if he would have been here with us. Let me tell you the funny things:

1. Our funny Japanese fellow got drunk before the show. The cocktail she ordered was way too strong for her. She was dizzy but managed to use her super Japanese dictionary to tell us the story. "it is a tragedy, and everybody dies at the end," her last comment.

2. in the middle of the show, when the singers started to charm us with their powerful voices, groups of geese flew by the site. They quacked the loudest quacks, seemed to say, "we can sing better."

3. Our drunken Japanese lady grabbed 2 chairs besides her to put our salad plates. But then, the 2 people came back. and she asked, "are these their chairs? were they sitting next to me?"

4. At the end of the opera, Roya for some reason took off from her seat. we thought she was going to the lady's. She lowered herself in a sneaky way that we couldn't help but laugh, while on the stage, Tosca stabbed the police,..her lover was shot, she killed herself, and....all the climax moments of this tragedy....and we were laughing like crazy.  when Roya sneaked back, we realized that she didn't go to the lady's but to steal a poster of the opera for her friend. And we laughed even more. Ihsan laughed so much that his shoulders moved up and down like a train engine.  Later, the drunk Japanese fellow Reina told us she didn't know why we were laughing. She laughed because Ihsan laughed! ....

I had a great time, but Puccini was not the only one who brought the fun. 

if you like to know the story, here is the link for you, enjoy!

Puccini - Tosca - Royal Opera - BBC production

Angela Gheorghiu, Romanian soprano; Mario by Jonas Kaufmann; Scarpia - Bryn Terfel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xXJyfe2qxo&feature=related

Puccini - Tosca - Metropolitan - conducted by James Conlon

Shirley Verrett as Tosca; Luciano Pavarotti as Mario; Cornell Macneil as Scarpia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq0TfUivyvA&feature=related

The site at our library.

Tosca and her love. The lady (Japanese maybe,) very tiny and delicate , but her voice was powerful.

Tosca and the police.

The stage was extended to the audience.

uh...I don't really know who they are....

Design is about idea, not product: Pinakothek Der Moderne: Modern Museum

The weather was gorgeous today, not so hot like yesterday; I decided to take the day easy, and a trip to the museum was a good idea. After visiting those historical sites, buildings, somehow I need something new and modern for a change. And this museum (http://www.pinakothek.de/pinakothek-der-moderne/) didn't let me down. It refreshed my spirit to continue the journey. I particularly liked the design section, and some sparkling ideas here:

A whole wall to showcase great ideas that affect our live, including Dali's chair and coffee maker. See the man sitting on the floor? You can figure how big the wall is! 

What are these? ...something you wear on your fingers. Impossible!? better believe it. Save your eggshell next time and make it into a ring. It's trendy!

I don't know why designers are crazy about "chairs?" The majority of the showcase is chairs. I like this one. I like the idea of flexible wood.  

What a nice idea to feminize your tea pot and dress  her like this. She'll always be "hot!"

Another chair with new ideas.

How cleve! the opening by the side makes it easier to add  water in. Also, easy to press the lid when pouring water out. 

I want a bookshelf like this.

The whole history of Mac is laid out here.

Again, what is this? fish in the air? edgy concepts for super-jet!

Don't you just like the chairs?

Ok, the last guess, what is this? a robot hand? Something to do with hand, but ....have you heard of bracelets or cuffs? Well, this is one. 

 I love design, particular those that make our life easier and fun. I dream to design something, .....well, I need to find a problem to solve first, so I can design something to solve it....Do you have any problems to share?

Ancient books of 500 years old: Bavarian State Libray

The cover of an old book. It is peeling off.

Do you know how old these books are? most of them are more than 500 year old. when you walk in to the room, strangely I smelled caramel and chocolate. Was that the smell of time?

This is the first time I've ever seen what parchment is to cover a book.    You can even see the burned marks of the fire and chewing marks of the borers.                                             

Thanks to Junko, our leader of travel and information center, we had a guided tour to the Bavarian State Library. Like those old buildings or churches built to demonstrate power and wealth, this library was built more than 400 years ago by a duke. It's collection is almost unmatchable now, particular the rare printed books and manuscripts. Since we have 3 professional librarians in our group, the trip to the library is like a Mecca for them.  I was not very interested in the beginning, but then the charm of the library caught me.

This mark means the book was from a monastery.Just imagine the monk who put this label on this page. And now 500 years later, in a hand of the young man who introduced to people from different countries. Who would have imagined that at that time? 

The modern side of the old library: the exhibition room was designed like a modern salon. 

The Interactive device to rescale and rotate your books.

The old books bizarrely created a classy scene for modern photo shooting. Elle magazine should send their models here. 

A great design to read those old books. The soft book makers prevent your hand sweat from touching the pages.

The street light looks like a reading light for the statue, who is reading a book, and me, pretend to read one, too. Bookworms like us always find library a comforting place. Don't we?

Tollwood Summer Fesitival:

It was supposed to be a feast of cultural and musical events. But, I didn't pay attention to it until the last day of festival. See their web: http://www.tollwood.de/english/summerfestival-2012/

So, no decent cultural intake from the festival for me, but we managed to check out the Market of Idea. Yes, it's a fancy word for shopping, but I did find some interesting ideas as well. Check them out.

The site is close to the Olympia Park

The stadium

What is this? Find it out later.

A gigantic kaleidoscope! 

You can have your shoes handmade here. See, they are measuring the feet! Awesome!

a gigantic tent for goods and music from middle east. Walking in there, you don't feel you are in Germany at all.

You can have your future told here behind these exotic curtains. 

Want some freshly grilled fish? You got it here!

All these slander animals standing at the top of a stall. How elegant they are! and you don't have to worry that they'd fall down the roof.

this eye-catching sign is really eyeing on you.

a closer look at the camels.

A stall for all kinds of paper crafts.

The vey "woody" gate.

What does this stall sale? Got a clue from the  magic cube on the top? They sell toys that challenge you like the magic tube.




 Not like Taiwan, in which markets are all about food. Here, you find fashion jewels, arts, crafts, clothes, and of course international food.  I had fun!

Interesting writers from afar

More interesting interesting writers who I met at the festival.

Sylvain Rivard from Canada. He sings in his storytelling. A voice so beautiful and strong that even the session was set in the outdoors, I could still hear him from our study on the second floor with windows and doors closed. 

Do you see wet hair and umbrella? Yes, it rained during the session. I ran away but he and the kids continued. Luckily, it stopped few minutes later.

Daniel Nesquens from Spain. He looks like Dustin Hoffman and sometimes acts like him in movie long time ago, well, if you know what I mean.  Very funny to talk with. 

A mix of something forigien

Some studies say that as we grow older, we feel harder to focus (like little kids? strange!). Anyway, when I cannot focus on the things that need my attention, I tend to find something more interesting. Here are some of them. 

I'd like to have a phone like this, which perches on an accordion peg rack hand that moves and stretches in any direction you want it to be.     

A tacky restaurant in Salzburg. The erotic menu is set side by side with the picture of a saint.  Is this their sense of humor?

They are very creative with pretzel, like we do with our Tofu. 

Bikers, you are not allowed to bike on the lane for pedestrians. Or, here is your ticket.

The funny looking tower is called Chinesische Turn, located in English Garden (funny? A Chinese tower in an English Garden in Germany!). It looks like a Chinese/Japanese tower but the details are not the same. Does it represent the multicultural Germany? I don't know, yet. But at least, it is  a mix of something foreign.
Well, gotta go to a party for the White Raven Festival. We are saying farewell  to all the participants. And,...I have at least one more month to go. Ciao now (yep! The German do say Ciao like Italian. Told you, a mix of something foreign everywhere.)