31,000 Steps To See A Pig

 So, as often as I can, I walk. Because:

1. I enjoy the fresh air and moving. 
2. Train tickets, even if only a couple dollars each, do add up over time. 

I met Min at church a few weeks ago, and she's only been in Germany a week. She said she was wanting to get out and do things before college, and that she loved hiking. I looked around for some decent hiking places, but then last minute she wasn't feeling too well so we decided to do something a little easier. 

That's when I stumbled over a link for the Schweine Museum (pig museum). Now, I'm not a huge visual person when it comes to art and stuff ... I'd rather read about it. But this museum was just way too unique. So I asked Min if she wanted to go, and she did, and so we met up there one Saturday morning. 

Oh. I walked a little over two hours to get the museum ;)  

 I really love this train parked outside! Wouldn't it be a fun thing to live inside?

Min and I touring twenty-seven rooms of pigs. 

• History
• Theories
• Art
• Religion 
• Television/ Books
• Humor
• And more

 I just love Mickey Mouse, so this was one of my favorite things there.

I took around a hundred pictures. But don't worry, I won't post them all ;)

Pigs on the walls 

Pigs hanging from the ceiling 

 More pigs on the walls

 I was so tickled to see G. K. Chesterton's name on the wall (there were quotes all over the place). And quite a few by Chesterton, Winston Churchhill, and other prominent people of the past.

I can't find the English version of this quote, but it basically says that pigs are very pretty animals and that whoever doesn't see so is looking at them through the wrong glasses. I don't really understand the rest of the quote ;p

There were so many amazing Chinese proverbs, too! One of my favorite (not pictured) said: "When a pig sleeps his flesh grows; when a man sleeps his debts grow".

 Piglet made me soooo happy! 

 A room full of money and pigs, for wishes, I assume, and reflective walls.  (Couldn't actually go in it, as I'm sure they feared people might end up taking more money than leaving ;)

An elf pulled by a pig.  

 Pig chair

Definitely my favorite pig. 

 Pigs being butchered 

 I guess the Chinese have this twelve-year cycle, where an animal represents each year, and this year happens to be the year of the pig, which means this:

 My friend was born in the year of the Ox, and I'm of the year of the Rat.
Here's what they have to say about us:

 I thought it funny to see something on Pig Latin ;) 

 Always love seeing fun coins

 Jewelry is fun, too ;) 

 In this room, they had a box for every day of the year.

The day's date we went:

 And then, my birthday, because why not ;p

 I really loved this next room (all the darker pictures). It had so many fun displays, from Egypt and Bible times. This one looks like a bunch of little pigs bowing down to a pig made of money. Not sure if it's supposed to be that, but that's what I saw.

 Hebrew! (I think).

The story of Yeshua casting all of the demons out of the man into the pigs, and the pigs falling off the edge of the cliff and dying. (Matthew 8: 28-34).

 I also really loved the game room ... don't you just want to play that chess board and those cards?

 There were also pigs in the bathroom!!!

We spent about three hours in the museum. Once we were done, I felt as if I'd seen enough pigs to last me my entire life.

(Funny note for those of you that don't know, I'm kosher.)

I enjoyed the museum thoroughly. Of course, like any museum, there were spots that weren't as good. Plenty of evolution, and then there was a whole room dedicated to the sexuality of pig-human art that was quite vulgar and inappropriate.

There was also another room comparing pigs to humans, and how the babies look almost exactly the same as they are growing in the womb, and how pigs and humans have many of the same body parts and functions. It reminded me of a story I read in a history book long ago about King Richard the Lionhearted. He loved pork, but of course, as he went on many crusades, meat wasn't always readily available. But one day he decided he had to have it and would kill his cook if he didn't have it. So, the cook desperate to save his own life killed some of their prisoners of war and served those to King Richard. King Richard laughed and congratulated the man on his ingeniousness, and continued to eat human flesh when there was no pork to be had, as it tasted the same anyways.

 After we were done with the museum, we walked to a festival that had just started called the Wasen—basically, Stuttgart's October Fest.

To be honest, I did not like that place at all. Too much drinking and vomit for me, and nothing to do but waste money.

We had some food and I practiced my German quite often ... I had a hotdog ohne schweine (without pork) and a slice of Pizza mit pilze (with mushrooms). Then we went on the Ferris wheel since Min really wanted to go on a ride.

The neatest thing for me was all the costumes. There were guys wearing lederhosen (leather shorts and suspenders) and the girls wore dirndl (a knee-length dress with an intricate, latticed bodice).

Once that was over, I walked two hours home and slept. 

I walked a total of 31,693 steps that day. And I really felt those last few steps walking home. But I think it was a good day, and I'm going to continue walking and building up my endurance so I can go on a long hike.

That's my current goal.

Do you like pigs? Would you go to see a museum? How tight are you with your money? Does the Wasen sound like something you'd like, or do you too view fairgrounds as awful, boring, horrible places? ;p