A Mule, a Cemetery and Public Art

This is becoming repetitive, but I'm not complaining - again a gorgeous autumn day, a balmy blue sky day. I had been planning to ride to the New Israelite Cemetery again for a while now, and looked forward to visiting it in the golden light of autumn. It is a beautiful cemetery with many old graves in romantic stages of decay. However, the inscriptions on the gravestones tell stories that are tragic, not romantic. Some of Munich's Jewish population buried here died before the rise of National Socialism, but many were its victim, others had the good fortune to be able to emigrate, only returning later in life to be buried where they were born.

While I was there I was reminded that photography was only allowed with permission. Several weeks ago I had applied for a permit to take pictures, for non-commercial purposes of course. Perhaps it was wrong, but since I received no answer to my request, I decided to take some pictures anyway. I was apprehended and obediently put my camera away. I'll post a token shot here, otherwise they will stay in the privacy of my hard drive.

Born 1858, died 1940

On our way to the cemetery, which is in the north of Munich, we made a stop for some public art in Petuel Park. The park itself isn't old. It was created in 2005 on top of the tunnel which was built for the Mittlerer Ring, a noisy and poluting ring road. The park has not only green eyes in a gazebo to offer, but also a mule carrying a heavy load. Part of the artwork was the mule's whinnying like a horse - or does he hee-haw like a donkey? At any rate, recorded sounds of a mule were programmed to play once every hour while the mule, standing on a pedestal, rotated. While we were there it was silent and didn't budge and I'm not sure if the sound and motion haven't been turned off altogether. Actually, I have never seen or heard it perform. I only read about it in the Internet.

Go! by Pia Stadtbäumer

On they way back, we passed Schwabinger See, an artificially created lake, and stopped for a look at the sculpture there.

Sculpture on Schwabinger See

Schwabinger See with sculpture in the distance and bicycle

Our ride was approx. 18 km.