BMCC 2008 Switzerland Blog

Thursday, June 12, 2008

(Day 14: Tour Guide – Adele Ou Yang)

Würth Scultpture Garden and Rätisches Museum – Itinerary

6:00am: Wake-up call for people who want breakfast

7:20am: Wake-up call for everyone else

7:00-7:20am: Breakfast (optional)

8:20am: Group assembly in lobby of SSTH

8:22am: Group depart for bus station

8:29am: Bus departs for Chur (arrive 8:42am)

8:42am: Group continues to Kulturforum Würth Sculpture Garden
(3 minute walk)

8:45-9:15am: See sculpture garden (outside Kulturforum Würth Chur Museum)

9:15am: Depart for Stadtgarten (10 minute walk)

9:25-9:40am: Explore Stadtgarten

9:40am: Depart for Rätisches Museum (10 minute walk)

10am: Guided tour with Museum Director: Dr. Jürg Simonett
(Tel. +41 81 254 16 20)

10:45am: Tour ends

10:45-11:45am: Group may explore rest of museum

12:00pm: Depart for bus station (20 minute walk)

12:10pm: Bus departs for SSTH (arrive 12:20pm)

12:20pm: Lunch at SSTH

1:30pm: Class (RM 104)

6:00pm: Dinner at SSTH

Lessons Learned

1. Always be prepared.

2. Have a contingency plan in place

3. Be organized and ready for unforeseen issues

4. Tour management assistance is always necessary

Ausflug der Chur Museen (Tour of the Chur Museums)….

Written by: Shevarma Pemberton

There was a change of plans today from what was originally scheduled. Instead of venturing out, we found something interesting that we could do in Chur. This was actually thanks to Adrienne, who seems to have a knack for doing up itineraries.

The tour guide of the day was Adele, and unlike the norm there was no need for an early morning wake up call because breakfast was optional. Thank God. I really did not need another morning of bread and cheese and ham. After this trip is over I honestly do not think that I would ever want to eat cheese and pork ever again. But we’ll see.

We all assembled in the lobby downstairs in time to head down for the 8:29 AM bus to Chur. On the agenda for the day were three stops: Kulturforum, Stadtgarten, and Ratisches Museum. From the map the distance between stops appeared to be much less on a smaller scale. When we got off the bus and began walking however, it was evident that we would actually be doing much more walking than was anticipated. Adele did an amazing job maneuvering through the streets working with the time that was going against us.

Kulturforum Wurth Museum

The Kulturforum Wurth Museum presents an exhibit of art history over the course of 150 years. Since it is possible to view some of the exhibit on the outside, that is exactly what we did in passing. We admired the splendid art work and took pictures. Of the displays my favorites were those of Niki de Saint Phalle: ‘Der Bar’ and ‘Le Monde’. Both were typical of her style and use of color. I really liked them a lot.

“Dolitte” by Bernhard Luginbuhl 1970 – 2002

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“Le Monde” by Niki de Saint Phalle 1989

From the Kulturforum we had to go directly to the Ratische Museum in the interest of time and skip the Stadtgarten. The museum was priority because unlike the garden, we actually had a scheduled tour for 10 AM. Unfortunately we could not visit the garden and risk being late.

“Der Bar” by Niki de Saint Phalle 1997/98

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“Fontaine pour Joseph Siffert” by Jean Tinguely 1969

Ratische Museum

Sitting outside, we read the material provided by Adele on the museum. As is customary of the Swiss nature, Dr. Jurg Simonette, the Museum Director, was there on time to take us on our guided tour. The tour began while we were still outside. We were informed that Chur is the oldest town in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Graubunden. The Ratische Museum is a recording of all this history.

Walking through the museum felt like a journey through time. We began on the top floor and came down through the years. It was good to actually see some of these things in person like the armors and swords and guns of earlier years that you generally only see in the movies. The most intriguing part of the tour for me however, was the Medieval Room. It was somewhat disturbing but at the same time intriguing to me. The Swiss seemed to have been really big on torture as a means of punishment. But aside from all that, the model of the Belle Fort in the room was just splendid.

We thanked Dr. Simonette for the delightful tour and then congregated outside for further instruction. We had quite a while before the bus departure for Chur. We agreed to all meet up at the station at 11:50 and then went our own way. Of course we were not allowed to travel alone, so Sasha and I traveled together. We made two stops, the first at Claire’s to look at rings and then we moved on to Migros. It was as if Migros was the designated meeting point because everyone else was there. After doing our little grocery shopping we moved on to the station to await the 12:10 bus.

We made it back up to the school just in time for lunch and then that was over just in time for us to head downstairs for a classroom session in room 104. This time the classroom time was spent on flight preparation. We covered every basis: the maximum weight of the suitcase, what not to carry, what not to wear, everything. After we were all clarified on the intricate details of the day of departure, we went off to some blogging.

The day proceeded with dinner at 6 PM as is the custom and then went our respective ways into the night. We had another early day coming up so I was off to get ready for bed and make necessary preparations for the day ahead.