Münster Day 2

Today was another lovely day in Münster, rented a bike again to try to get to the remaining sculptures around the city. Today's journey took me to the private gardens. Artist Jermey Deller created a piece based soley upon the social aspect of the private garden. In a German city, since the residential areas usually don't provide enough space for a garden, people are allowed to purchase a lot of land through a garden center. Each plot has about 2 sq. acres of land, with a little cottage / bungalow type structure to act as a little shed, or place to hang out when tending the plants. Deller was fascinated by the mirco-communities that the gardens have created and enlisted their help in the piece. He approached all of the garden communities and asked them to plant seeds of the Dove Tree, native to western China. He chose this plant because of it's slow growth, resulting in the plant's first bloom coming in ten years, just in time for skulptur projekte 2017. Over the next ten years, the centers are being asked to maintain a progress book for the plants, thereby also serving as a document of the community involvement that was needed to look after the Dove Trees. Visitors were allowed to purchase the seeds as a means of extending the project outside of Münster. So, coming in the spring Indiana will have a Dove Tree of it's own!

After visiting the private gardens, I took the promenade that encircles the city-proper to the Botanical Gardens. A few pieces were sparsed throughout the gardens, but I still took a lot of time going through the greenhouses. Around 4p it became cloudy and a race to get through the last few pieces that were close before the rain came. So, my day was cut a little short but luckily I still have tomorrow and early Wednesday to catch the last few pieces.

I've had another change in plans, I'm going straight to Zagreb Wendesday into Thrusday, via the train. It's going to be easier and cheaper to travel to Venice and Poland once I'm in a quasi-permanent place. To fly in Europe is really quick and inexpensive, as long as you don't have 50 lbs of luggage! So, once I get settled in Zagreb, I'll either go to the coast, as Aasta recommends, or I'll continue the art show pilgrammage and take the ferry to Venice. I'm thinking I'll go to Venice later in Oct. after which the tourist season has relaxed a bit.

More biking tomorrow, all the best.

--AM