Is it drawn on or cut off?

I'm fascinated by weird mannequins after a trip to Strasbourg.

During a vacation in Copenhagen this fall, I came across this guy:

At first I thought that his facial hair was drawn on. The more I looked at it, I thought that maybe it had been actually "hair" (okay, something synthetic) but for some reason someone had cut it off.

He also seemed a bit familiar. I wonder if he has an German Aussie cousin?

Everyone was excited about the new mall opening

It's been almost a month since the new K in Lautern Mall opened in Kaiserslautern. It was surprising how busy everything was, and how busy everything has remained. I took some pictures during the grand opening night, when the mall was open late and the shopping district offered special events.

The visiting researcher I hung out with last weekend said everyone at the university was talking about the opening too. She asked if there were anything particularly special about the mall. I can't say whether there is or not, but I can say that not a ton of "exciting" things happen around here normally so it provided a lot of excitement during its opening.

One of my favorites was the world's largest shopping cart (or so they said it was). It's one of those things that makes a person say, "whyyy?"

K in Lautern Mall entrance, Fackelwoog Strasse

(Supposedly) the world's largest shopping cart.

I recognize that light fixture from the Bad Dürkheim wine hike!

This sculpture had me rolling my eyes.

The Beate Usha store, which faces the mall, cracked me up. This store sells, um, things for adults. The mannequins were curious about the new mall, too!

A covert Aussie mannequin in Rüdesheim am Rhein

While we were at the Christmas Market of the Nations in Rüdesheim am Rhein, I spotted this guy at the "Australian" themed booth (which is Australian, I assume, because there were Aussie hats). I thought it was a mighty fine mannequin head but had the awkward situation of the booth owner being right there so I couldn't just take a picture. Instead, I pretended that I was taking a picture of C...with my camera being held in a position that there was no way that I was actually taking a picture of her. The lengths that I undertake for my "art"...

I'm impressed, though, by the care in which whomever used the Sharpie to draw in his beard. Does it look natural? No, but someone certainly took his time and wasn't the typical scribbled in Sharpie deal.

There's a lot going on with this mannequin head

I saw this guy (or more aptly, his head) at Military & More in Kaiserslautern. There's so much going on with this mannequin that I can't even begin, except to say that I believe that it was painted on before the glaze was fired.

Berlin mannequins: they're laughing as I'm screaming inside

During the third weekend of November, we took a trip to Berlin. I returned to the Frankfurter Tor Humana, a huge thrift store.

We saw these creepy mannequins, one who appeared to be spray-tanned with orange rouge and the other one was in the midst of a maniacal laugh.  Oh yeah, and they were just torso-length and suspended from the ceiling. I hope that I don't have nightmares. The last mannequin just looks sickly beneath his Sharpied-in facial hair.

A Mannequin Amputee in Paris

During the September visit to Paris, I hauled my family to the Marché St Ouen/Porte de Clingancourt flea market in the north side of the city. I always enjoy visiting there, except for perhaps having to dodge pick pockets and the guys trying to sell cell phones (that might have just been pick pocketed).

I found a mannequin of interest. He's an amputee so I was wondering how to combine mannequin + amputee. I came up with "manatee" but that one was used already. Back to the drawing board.

Befuddled in Barcelona

I saw this nerdy...mannequin outside of a store in Barcelona. Okay, maybe he's just the bones of a mannequin, but I was feeling all "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Or not really. I thought he was quite cute, as he seemed to be rather befuddled.

A mullet and a head tattoo mannequin in Nuremberg

I often run across strange mannequins in my travels. From beaten-up mannequins to ones who are just too excited about the clothes they're modeling, they are a strange group.

I saw some weird mannequins in a shop in Nuremberg. One had a very un-artfully executed mullet and one had a head tattoo. Weird, weird!

Falling to pieces in Amsterdam: the mannequin edition

I'm a little bit obsessed with mannequins, especially when they look as if they've been through the wringer. It just always strikes me as odd that a store would put a beaten-up mannequin in the window. It doesn't seem to be the best way to display one's goods.

In Amsterdam, I saw a mannequin whose hand was taped on, in least artful way possible. Hmm...

Mannequins gettin' down in Weesp, North Holland

We stayed in Weesp, a suburb of Amsterdam, during our 4th of July trip. Weesp is a beautiful old town and we spent some time downtown. I saw these mannequins in one of the storefronts. It seems that they were so excited about the sale in the store that they fell to pieces!

Mannsterdam: Or, the Mannequins of Amsterdam

There were quite the mannequins in Amsterdam! Of course I had to take pictures of them, too.

Hey you on the street! I'm not wearing a shirt, but I have a crown on. Go figure.

Off with his...body?

He's dapper, yet slightly difficult to see.

My mom gets in on the mannequin thing

My mom is funny (well, I find her funny at least, probably because we have basically the same sense of humor). She knows that I like to take pictures of mannequins during my travels, so she sent me a picture of one during her travels in Grand Rapids:

I asked her what was wrong with the mannequin. Apparently there isn't anything wrong with him; he doesn't look beaten up nor has his facial hair been drawn in with a Sharpie marker. I was almost disappointed (that's my m.o. for mannequin photo taking), but then I laughed because I love that my mom's getting in on the weird photos. I also think she composed the picture rather well; don't you? It makes one wonder what the mannequin is pondering. Good work, Mom!

Hamburg's Mannequin Scene

Continuing on my Tour d'Mannequin, I came across another interesting mannequin in knock-off Harley clothes. He was on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg.

I'm impressed because:
-he does not appear to be beaten up then subsequently patched up, as the French and Macedonian mannequins appear to have been;
-his facial hair appears to be factory-installed and not after market (à la Sharpie markers);
-and he seems to be genuinely thrilled with his (knock-off) clothing.

I'm concerned because:
-he has crazy long glue-on eyelashes;
-but if he didn't have eyelashes or if they were painted on that would be weird too;
-and I spend too much time pondering this.

  

 "Whoa, man! These knock-off Harley clothes are the bomb! I'm also glad that no one drew in my facial hair!"

Skopje: more weird mannequins!

On vacations, some people collect things. Maybe the vacationer picks up a magnet from the location or even worse, a t-shirt with the name of the location. In the past, I would buy a Christmas ornament from the places I visited. Then I was honest with myself and realized that as long as I had Moo (or any cat, for that matter), I would probably never have a Christmas tree because cats can be jerkfaces.

Instead, I find myself collecting memories and pictures of oddities on my trips. First it started with taking pictures of roadside candy machines, in all of their desolate, sugary solitary life. Then I started taking pictures of depictions of Church figures holding buildings. Now I'm also taking pictures of weird mannequins after a Strasbourg trip with my cousins.

During the Skopje (Macedonia) trip, I saw more weird mannequins. What's up with beaten-up mannequins with creepy facial "hair"? Do they get in fights at night when no one is looking, then try to fix it up by drawing on themselves with permanent markers?

Super alarming dude with Magic Markered facial hair!

Justin Bieber, in mannequin form, beaten up then with fake eyelashes added.

More creepy facial hair.

December's Adventure: Day 3, Part 2, Strasbourg

Here's part one of our trip to Strasbourg.

After visiting the Cathedral, I took my cousins to see Petite-France, a lovely district in Strasbourg full of medieval half-timbered and Baroque architecture. It is truly worth a visit, even though the name of the area does not have such a charming provenance. According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know, not always the most authoritative of sources):

"The name Petite-France ("Little France") was not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. It comes from the "hospice of the syphilitic" (Hospice des Vérolés, in French), which was built in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called the "French disease" in German, Franzosenkrankheit."

Preeeety.

 Well, even with that bit of not so pretty history, it's still possible to enjoy the very scenic neighborhoods. I wanted to visit the Square Louise Weiss, which is on a quay that forms a pleasant little island. There was some sort of official person and an open (removable) gate at the entrance to the island. I watched several other people walk in so we did too. Farther in the park we saw a crowd of people and some sort of elaborate set-up. Of course I was incredibly curious (nosy) so we drew closer and realized that some sort of tv show was being filmed! We joined the crowd (and thus probably ended up on French tv. Hi, mom!) and watched the hosts cooking something.

There was another segment being filmed in a different area and a guy was holding some sort of chicken. I could see the writing on the wall for the chicken! I just hoped he wasn't going to off the poor bird where we could see it. 

We left to walk around the neighborhood some more, then have dinner. My cousins chose a restaurant in the tourist area and they had cheese, wine, and snails (!). My cousin had finished the snails and left the butter sauce. With hand signals, the French waiter showed him the importance of eating the leftover butter with bread since I'm assuming that one who would like the taste of snails would also like the remaining butter on bread. Oh goodness. 

I let go of the thought of snails when we left to find my dinner: I wanted to have a burrito at La Cocina, a Mexican restaurant near Petite-France. I ate here last time I came to Strasbourg. The burritos aren't bad but they're a little bit bland. However, the ingredients still taste good and it's adequate for someone needing a Mexican food fix (which I pretty much need all the time. sigh). Plus, I wanted to show my cousins the crazy steep stairs to the bathroom. Seriously, I feel as if I should crawl up them instead of walking up them. The tread is also narrow so I kind of walked sideways since my boots make my feet seem even bigger. 

This picture doesn't do the steepness justice!

As we left the restaurant we saw yet another Santa Claus attempting to break into someone's house. Naughty Santa!

Even better yet was a store's display farther down the road. There were the weirdest mannequins inside and we spent five minutes examining them and giggling furiously (while being a little weirded out by them, too!). The clothes were odd as well.

Bald mannequin, poorly painted on facial hair.

Uh...dude's face is broken, and why on earth does he have super long girly eyelashes?

This sweater is ridiculous.

Leather shirt, anyone?

The jeans were really the worse: ruched, distressed, and weird. So is his facial hair: it's shaped like an anchor!

That wasn't the last of weird mannequins, either. Another nearby store had mannequins who were taped back together. How weird! Maybe the mannequins from the two stores got into a fight with each other when the humans had gone to bed?

Her arm is held on with tape. Why??

This wasn't the last store with a strange display. Tomorrow I'll write about the gnomes who had met misfortune.