On Sunday, it was time to see the museum that I really wanted to see, namely the Staatsgalerie, i.e. Stuttgart’s principle art museum with a collection spanning the 14th through 21st centuries. I made sure to wrap up my morning coffee and studying by about 10 am to head over to the museum fairly early in the day. I was also hoping, if the weather turned out fair, to spend some time lounging on the grass either at the Schlossplatz or Schlossgartens with the beers and other picnic-y food I had prepared.
I wasn’t particularly thrilled about paying so much for an entrance ticket (Munich spoiled me, I guess), but the museum was first class. I was surprised to discover that it also housed the Banksy work which created quite a stir in the art world last year, namely, after auctioning a framed painting (spray paint, obviously) a hidden shredder in the frame triggered, half destroying the work. The stunt immediately doubled or tripled the value of the work. Well, the owner is an anonymous European who has graciously lent it to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. In a bold move, it is placed next to a particular Monet work that the museum “overpaid” for in the late 19th century. That purchase created quite the controversy with critics saying the painting was a piece of shit. Today, it is the most valuable painting in the collection. Today’s avant garde is tomorrow’s canon.
I was pretty hungry by the time I finished the museum and the weather report predicted a decent chance of rain throughout the day. So, I simply returned the the hostel, grilled up the remaining bratwurst, made a big salad, helped myself to a pretzel and brotchen from the basket and gorged myself on the midday meal.
The rest of the afternoon, after a short nap to sleep off the lunch beer, was a lackadaisical circuit of going up to the room to pick up or drop off my computer as I kept going back and forth between reading or working on German. I know a lot of people are staying in the hostel, but it seems to be hard to meet people for possible hanging out. When the perception of the passing of time became unbearable, I went out for a walk, covered all the pedestrian zones, took another brief look at the wine festival, and circled back to the hostel. The wine festival was hopping and people were well clustered around the Schlossplatz, but otherwise the commercial stretches seemed lifeless with all the shops shut for Sunday. Stuttgart lacks the tight cobblestone square with a Rathaus that occupies the central axis of life in the town… or maybe it does, but it’s just buried by the festival.
I was finally resolved to go sit outside for some time. I read a good chunk of the novel I’ve been working on, while sipping on the last beer and munching on a bit of cheese cubes. There were alternating moments where I thought it might rain and the sun broke through the clouds.
I was feeling pretty good and decided to shell out the big bucks for a drink at the beer garden, which was still quite empty. I should have gone earlier when they have live music form 1-3 on Sunday afternoons. I kept reading as the sun began to set and finding it nearly 8pm, could tolerate heading back to a fairly lifeless hostel.
| Staatsgalerie | 7 |
| Beer garden | 4 |
| Total: | 11 EUR (85.8 RMB) (USD 11.96) |
Running Total: 31986.5 RMB (USD 4459.91)
Daily Average: 363.5 RMB (USD 50.68)