"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General."

Greetings Holly Blog Readers,

Let me begin by stating that I have 23 days left of being here in Munich, Germany... at least for this time around.

Next I would like to state very sadly there is only one thing on my list that I cannot do because I can't afford it. That thing is visiting the Neuschwanstein Palace. It's just too expensive. I'm okay with it though because I heard that part of the building is under scaffolding anyway.

That being said I officially have only THREE things left on my list to see. One of which will definitely be done this Saturday. Stay tuned for surprises!

I was able to complete two of my goals yesterday and today. The weather had cleared up yesterday so I was able to go to the Tollwood Summer Festival 2012. I would just like to say that that was amazing! It was all fair trade, organic, eco-friendly, homemade... just fabulous. I had so much fun I plan to go back AT LEAST one more time. So many different varieties of ethnic foods! So many different works of art! I loved it! (Worth the whole trip to Munich!) Pictures below to enjoy. (Note: The pictures are in the order I took them.)

The Tollwood Festival sign.

A recycled palm tree!

A stand that serves fresh coconuts with a straw! I contemplated buying one...

But I went walking for a bit instead. There were so many stands of so many nice things.

I was a little hungry so I stopped to get my very first authentic Turkish meal: dönner! It's a traditional fast-food type fare. It was 100% organic and since I hardly eat meat I figured a bit of extra protein would do me well. It is shaved rotisserie meat on a bun with lettuce, cooked onions, with a tiny bit of a mayo-like dressing topped with what I think was paprika. Yum! A bit salty, but yum overall.

More fabulous stands.

They had an entire tent dedicated to Indian teas, food, items, and more. Here we see a small band playing traditional music and the man with the hat is dancing to it.

I loved this. This is showing the heating power of the sun's reflection. It's bouncing off of the dish and hitting the wood causing it to burn.

The Tollwood guarantee: certified organic, fair traded, and free from genetically modified stuff.

This was AWESOME also! A giant kaleidoscope!

So I caved and spent almost five Euros on a freshly chopped open coconut. But THEN I realized when you finish the water you can bring it back to the stand...

... and they'll finish cracking it open so you can eat the meat! I loved it!

One other thing I got to do was go to the Neues Pinakothek today, which I realized is also known as Pinakothek Der Moderne. As soon as I got close to the building, I had the strange feeling I had been there before. When I walked in, I realized I HAD been there before... back in January when I went on that field trip with the children. I'm glad I went again because I was pretty limited the last time and unable to get any pictures. So this time I not only got pictures but I have shared some below! (All pictures in order of capture, yet again.)

Main building.

I didn't catch the painter's name for these but I thought it was neat seeing older posters for Berlin.

This is a Marie Adrianus Van Nieukerken architectural painting. I thought it was very nice.

This painting and the three below are in the collection labeled "Le Crebusier." This is exactly the type of abstract art I love.

You can see the name in the upper left hand corner.

This section of the gallery was wonderful. More like a museum than a gallery, it showed pieces of technology and furniture anywhere from the 1900's to present day. The description of the picture above is below.

This chair was imported from Buffalo, NY and was part of the Larkin family' collection and was produced in 1903.

Various items from the late 1950's to early 1960's.

I would totally ride that bike.

Wassily Kandinsky painting. More abstract that I love.

This is a neat idea: a man named Roman Ondak is credited for this work. From the description it looks like there was a movement in Japan to use foil candy wrappers as a medium for sculpting, which is exactly what he did, at least 100 times.

More of my favorite type of art. These are Willem de Kooning paintings.

One last thing I got to do today was walk past my church to see what was down the street. I kept noticing something every time I went to church but I couldn't figure out what it was and I didn't have time to look. I was really early going to church today so I went for a short walk to discover what it was...

... and found out the statue is called the "Head of Bavaria," which you can actually walk up stairs into the head, and the building has a number of busts and is called "Ruhmeshalle." For about 3,50 Euros, you can go see all of these things. I am contemplating doing this next time. Happy I got to see it finally!

That's it for now! I will type up another blog post as soon as something exciting happens.

Until next time!