6.27
After my arrival to Basel. I met my host family, a couple and two cats. They took me on a tour of the city. Walking passed the cathedral and taking a ferry system in use since the 19th century, I saw various parts of the city. After the walk/tour, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Everything was lovely.
| On my first day of the program I went to Bern, as recommended with Salome. First we went to the city center, where the House of Parliament, the Swiss National Bank, and a fountain are. Just through the arches there was a nice sitting area with a view of the city and river. We then saw the Zytglogge tower, used until 1256, as a guard tower but is now a decorative tourist attraction and clock. Walking through the city we passed the Bärenpark, an open, deep circle that had a family of bears living in it for tourists to admire. On our way back to the train station, we saw the "chindlifrässerbrunne" which is a fountain with a man eating children. We took the train to Gruyère next to see the chocolate factory and cheese. We accidently took the tram to the castle and ended up going through the tour. Most parts were renovated and there were many galleries with recent art. The best part of this tour was the view of the mountains and stunning garden. The sunny weather changed somewhat abbruptly and it started pouring. We waited for the tram and went to "Maison du Gruyère" next. The museum was arranged in a walk through tour with audio. The audio was a humourous cow named Cherri who explained the process of making Gruyère. She first explained her part of the process-milk, the factory's-cheese and the maturing. I was given a sample of the 6, 8, and 10 months matured chesse. Unfortunatley, the Callier chocolate factory next door was no longer open and it was late, so we made my way back to Basel. |
Today I took the train to Zurich and went to The National Museum. I found the tour long and confusing. The information wasnt in English and there wasn't always translations available. I did find out that during World War 1 divided the Swiss population and many soldiers and their families became poor. This lead to a strike in November 1918. After the tour, I went to see a chain of the store I work at in LA. I met some nice people there and appreaciated the similarity to home. From there I walked into many charming, little galleries and stores and lost track of time. The galleries I went to varried. One was mainly composed of scuptures created by Salvador Dalí and many students of his and another was all new photographers. I went back to Basel to have dinner with my host family.
6.30
I had lunch with my host family and their friends. Then we walked to Novartis, where Phillip works, and saw the architectually stunning campus. Many buildings were recently constructed and were designed by various international architects. I also saw some original documents from the 1800s. After the tour Salome and I took the tram to the Gerhard Richter exhibit at the Beyeler Museum. There I experienced some of Richter's unique pieces. Some of his paintings are remarkably realistic and resemble photographs. I enjoyed how refreshing the collection was.
6.31
Thursday I decided to go to Winterthur. There I went to the Kunstmuseum. The art was mainly from the late 1700's- 1800's and was incredible. I then had lunch, wandered the cobblestone streets and explored many stores. I later walked to the Fotomuseum(with the direction and greatly apreciated help of a kind elderly woman who saw the lost look on my face). The Roberts Adams- The place we live was a sincere and heart touching exhibit. What caught my eye most was a piece named Collectif_Fact from the museum's main exhibit. I will link a video of it in my next post.
7.1
For the first of August I went with my host family to Salome's brother's house in the Wallis. The house had an impressive view of the alps and living there was an adorable family and there animals, including a sweet donkey, 2 large ponies, a dog, and a cat. We went swimming in the lake overlooking the alps and celebrated one of the kids' birthday. (The water was a little cold for me to swim but I went in.) I also saw a little black and white sheep while walking. Wonderful day in the countryside.
-Michelle
(I will post a second page with my pictures from these days.)
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