Or so it seems sometimes. It was grey or it was foggy or it was rainy or it was sunny are the first words that pop into my mind when I start to write. Today it was cold and sunny. We got out in the late afternoon, in time for the warm light before sunset.

A short ride on our bikes took us to the Olympic Park where we walked the little hills, trying to stay in shape. Our little walk-for-health turned out to be very enjoyable, nothing sensational, just a stroll with eyes open and a camera.

The weather forecast predicted fog again today. We were happy, and especially Janos, because he missed the opportunity yesterday to be out with his camera in the lovely fog. But as luck would have it, it was what we call hochnebel, high fog. Which means a very dark sky but no haze or mist down here on earth. We took a walk anyway and walked to Munich's Kunstareal. Here are some of my pictures, a few are repeats from my visit there by bike two days ago.

We haven't had a lot of fog this fall, at the most a high fog which is nothing more than a murky grey sky. But today a soft mist transformed everyday sights into dreamy images.  I chugalugged my morning tea and hurried with my camera to the nearest place that promised some interesting fog shots - which was my stand-by, the Old North Cemetery. I have been there so often with my camera. I could hardly imagine I would find something I hadn't shot before. But every time it's different.

Good weather, that's the Good, and it seems to want to go on forever. Of course it won't, but although it is getting cooler, it doesn't feel like summer ever stopped and I just wonder why the shadows are so long and it is getting dark so early in the day. I love that riding my bike around town is still so enjoyable.

The Bad was the destination of today's ride - the dentist's. My old implant is not making me happy and I knew I had to have it looked at before we leave for our trip to Spain next week. I have to admit I waited until almost the last minute. My dentist is good, the cleaning up of the infected area was not really painful, but the news was the bad part. Due to peri-implantitis (degeneration of the bone surrounding the implant), I have to have the implant removed and replaced. Something to look forward to when we get back from our trip.

Relieved to have my dentist appointment over with, I wanted to find some outdoor art for the monthy challenge on Cycle365. That will be the Beautiful part. Possibly, as the saying goes, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and not all the public art I visited will be considered beautiful by everyone. I think the common denominator could be "interesting".

First I stopped at Promenadenplatz for a photo of the statue of Maximilian Joseph Graf von Montgelas. Count Montgelas, 1759 - 1838, is considered an important figure in the history of Bavaria. One achievement of his enlightened politics was the introduction of compulsory education.

Next to Count Montgelas is a statue of Orlando di Lasso, an important composer of the Renaissance, and at its foot is a memorial for Michael Jackson. They had little in common, but the hotel across the street, Hotel Bayrischer Hof, is where Michael Jackson stayed when he was in Munich. Even today, nine years since his death, Jackson's fans continue to place flowers, pictures and letters here and light candles in his memory.

I continued my bike ride in the direction of home and without making any detours came to Königsplatz and Munich's museum district or Kunstareal. Here are 16 museums, exhibition halls, and about 40 art galleries. The art isn't all indoors and in the "sculpture park" I had a good choice of subjects for my bicycle and public art pictures.

This sculpture in front of the Museum of Egytian Art is a 3.8 meter tall aluminum figure installed as part of the sculpture park of the Pinakothek in 2011. A red rod extends through the earth and into the subterranean exhibit rooms below. It connects present and past, "all art is contemporary".

The next two sculptures are close together, Buscando la Luz by Eduardo Chillida and Futuro House by Matti Suuronen. Buscando la Luz or Searching for the Light seemed an appropriate title for the sculpture as the last rays of the afternoon sun lit up its contours.

Now on to the Futuro House, a round, prefabricated structure designed by Matti Suuronen, of which fewer than 100 were built during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It looks like an Ufo with its airplane hatch entrance and is composed of fiberglass-reinforced polyester plastic, polyester-polyurethane, and poly(methylmethacrylate), measuring 4 metres (13 feet) high and 8 metres (26 feet) in diameter.

Pictures from our walk to the Olympia Park today

Today was more or less about photography, and it included a bike ride.

I had some ideas for my wide angle lens today. My first shots were at home.

After lunch Janos and I rode our bikes to Königsplatz. I wrote about the 3,200 poppies there in a previous post. On this visit I wanted to see if I could get some more interesting captures with the wide angle lens. When we got there it was buzzing with people and the sun was already too low - got to get used to these shorter days. There was too much glare on the white facades and the shadows were dark. It wasn't a well chosen day or time of day for my intentions.

From there we pedaled to downtown Munich - crowded with shoppers on a Saturday - but we had a goal, the photo exhibition of Blende 1, a Munich photo club. The exhibtion was on the third floor of the Hofbräuhaus. I hadn't realized that there was more to the Hofbräuhaus than the popular and touristy beer hall. But there are dining areas on the upper floors as well, and rooms that can be used for things like exhibitions. I enjoyed seeing what other amateur photog's are up to and getting a look at some original ideas.

That was all that was on the agenda for the day and we were anxious to flee the crowds. But where to ride that wouldn't be just as crowded as the pedestrian zone. I decided to stop by the Old North Cemetery, just one kilometer from home. I've been there so many times, but I always find something that captures my interest. Sometimes it's something I never noticed before, sometimes it's just one of my favorite graves that I photograph again and again, in different light, in different seasons, using different lenses.

At least it seemed to me like the loveliest day in autumn so far. It was mild, not too warm and not too cool, the sun was shining, but there were pretty photogenic clouds in the sky, and there was a light breeze to set the leaves sailing from their perch on high branches. The colors at the Botanical Garden were dazzling. There isn't much of a story to tell, but I have pictures.

Today Janos and I again left the bikes at home. We took the bus to Odeonsplatz and walked from there to Marienplatz. I wanted to do some shopping and we both had our cameras with us. It is hard to believe that this is November - the air is so mild, the sun so warm. Not yet necessary to think of hats and gloves and scarves before leaving the house, no cold fingers when taking pictures.

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.

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.

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

Our ride was approx. 18 km.