Köln–January 17, 2023
Sculpture Park
I started off the day by taking the S-Bahn to the Zoo/Flora station and saw this spiral staircase on the way to the sculpture park.
And now, the sculptures (at least the ones I found to be interesting). All the sculptures have a QR code that you can scan to get an audio guide for the artwork, in either German or English. If anyone wants, I can post some of the QR codes here.
Ring-Around, Paul Wallach, 1999
This isn’t a snack bar; it’s one of the sculptures, though there is a sign saying it’s OK to sit at the tables.
Spartakus Catering, Heimo Zobernig, 1998/2001
No Access: cluster one (B, D, E, I, M), Tom Burr, 2015/2017
There’s a loudspeaker inside this one that emits what, to me, seemed like random, somewhat musical sounds.
Post hoc, Dane Mitchell, 2019/2020
Qudratschichtung (Square Stratification), Martin Willing, 1999/2000
Untitled (Sigmund Freud), James Lee Byars, 1989
Approximation (corn snakes hatching), Katja Novitskova, 2017
The stairway was closed due to increased risk of slipping. When it’s open, there’s another sign warning you to proceed at your own risk.
Schlupf, John Bock, 2336
The Chocolate Museum
Of course, I had to visit this place.
I like how they combined the stairs with the wheelchair ramp. I’ve seen this sort of thing before in the US, but it is not common.
The Kölner Dom in chocolate (or at least colored to look like chocolate).
This globe showing where chocolate is produced doesn’t spin; it is made of LEDs that are animated to give the illusion of rotation.
There’s a tropical greenhouse in the museum.
Tools used to check quality of bags of cocoa beans.
One of the machines used in a chocolate factory.
Surprisingly, I did not sample from the chocolate fountain.
This 23kg (50 lbs.) chocolate Little Red Riding Hood would go for about 600€.
Chocolate animals used to be more realistic.
Here’s the chocolate next to the mold.
The next section of the museum showed some of the history of chocolate. I really liked the Mesoamerican artifacts. (They could be replicas, I have no way to know.)
Moving closer to the preesent day, some artifacts when chocolate was new and only something indulged in by the upper class.
And finally when you could get it pretty much everywhere.
This display has information about the history of milk chocolate.
Afterwards, I walked across the street to see the Mustard Museum, but, alas, it was closed.
A couple of pictures from the walk back to the hotel:
Various Stickers/Signs/Street Art
This is a Karate school.
And Jesus makes yet another appearance on a sticker!
This book’s title is also the name of a Herzog film. The title translates to “Every man for hiimself and God against all.”
Write! Your! Book! (advert from a school for authors)
Some marketing genius must have thought: “If 3 tenors are good, 12 must be better.”
Love for all.
A Story
I saw this sign (“Fresh Fish for Sale”) and immediately thought of the following story.
Moishe Goldfarb decides to sell fish, and he opens up a store and puts a beautifully hand-lettered sign in the window: Fresh Fish for Sale. He is very proud of it, when along comes Old Man Finkelstein.
“What’s with the sign?” asks Old Man Finkelstein.
“What do you mean what’s with the sign?” asks Goldfarb.
“Fresh fish for sale. What, you’re selling rotten fish, maybe?” the old man asks.
“Ehhh,” says Goldfarb. “You’ve got a point.”
The next day he puts up a new sign: Fish for Sale. He’s happy with it, when along comes Old Man Finkelstein, who asks, “What’s with the sign?”
“What do you mean what’s with the sign?” asks Goldfarb.
“Fish for Sale. What, you’re giving fish away for free, maybe?” asks Finkelstein.
“Ehhh,” says Goldfarb. “You’ve got a point.”
The next day he puts up a yet another sign: Fish. Everything is fine, when along comes Old Man Finkelstein. “What’s with the sign?” asks Old Man Finkelstein.
“What do you mean what’s with the sign, already?” asks Goldfarb.
“Fish. People look in the window; they smell the fish. What do they think you’re selling? Bicycles?” asks Old Man Finkelstein.
“All right, all right, you’ve got a point,“ says Goldfarb—and the next day, the sign is gone.