Dear Heathrow:
Hi! I don't think you'll remember me, but I'm one of the many thousands of people who passed through on July 1 and again on July 31. I have brown hair, blue eyes, and was with my husband and two children. I was flying to and from Basel, Switzerland, if that helps. Well, I suppose it really doesn't matter.
I don't really know how to say this is a nice way, so I'm just going to come out with it. As an airport, you suck. I have been in a lot of different domestic and international airports during my 40+ years and you are the worst of them. Oh, I know you're clean and shiny, with lots of nice shops and restaurants, but dressing up in pretty clothes just doesn't hide your true nature. You suck. I'm sorry to be blunt, but there's just no denying it.
Here's the problem. Normal airports work this way: you pick up your boarding pass, either on line or at the counter, and it tells you the flight number, time the flight leaves and the gate where you will board the plane. It's a really simply process -- flight number, departure time, gate.
Ever since the World Trade Center bombing, I know you airports have had a lot of security. I'm not complaining about that, I think it's great and it makes me feel safe. But it has meant that instead of me arriving 30 minutes before a flight, it's become necessary for me to sometimes arrive as early as 2 hours before the flight. There's the line to check baggage, and then the security check, and then you usually want a little time to sit down and relax before the plan boards. Me, I like to relax in one of the chairs handily provided right in the gate where my flight will depart. Sometimes I even buy a cold drink and a magazine to read while I'm waiting.
Sadly, I can't really do that while waiting for my flight from you, Heathrow. Now don't give me that innocent look, you know the reason. Both times when I arrived at Heathrow, my boarding pass gave me the time of departure and the flight number, but no gate. Now, that wouldn't be a problem if your terminals were small with a central hub and a few gates around it, but you know quite well that in some terminals it can take 20 minutes to walk from the hub to the actual gate. And YET you don't actually let us know the gate number until about 20 minutes before boarding.
Do you do it for your own personal entertainment? Do you think it's funny to watch all the little travelers milling about the shopping mall in the center of the terminal like little confused ants until they suddenly have to make a made dash for their appointed departure gate? Are you just sitting back and laughing in your sleeve at us? It sure feels that way.
Other airports just don't do that, Heathrow. LAX is just as pretty as you are and probably just as busy, and definitely has gates just as far away, but it tells me my gate RIGHT AWAY. Even if I happen to get there 4 or 5 hours early for some reason, LAX tells me my gate. That means I can wander around looking at LAX's nice rotating art display, check out its stores and restaurants, and then head through security and stroll to my gate, all well before the plane is ready to board.
You should really change your ways, Heathrow. I've already decided to avoid you in the future if at all possible. I can only compare my time with you as time in some kind of nightmarish hell. I won't even go into your disappointing lack of air conditioning in some areas right now, although you know I could.
Check your attitude, Heathrow.
No longer a customer,
Wendy.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thoughts About Switzerland
I took the kids to their favorite park today -- Kannenfeldpark. While they were playing, I worked on my sweater and thought about our trip. Here are the random things was thinking:
Things I'll Miss:
1. The beautiful scenery, especially the mountains and the gorgeous old buildings.
2. The excellent public transportation system.
3. Chocolate made with real milk.
4. Coop Hazelnut yogurt.
5. Fresh croissants every morning.
6. Opportunities to practice my German.
7. The huge selection of playgrounds and family-friendly destinations.
8. Kinder Eggs.
9. Maid service.
10. The way the air smells in the mountains.
Things I Will Not Miss:
1. The outrageously high cost of living.
2. The lack of air conditioning.
3. The dearth of ice, especially when one orders ICED tea. Seriously, who serves that without ice? The Swiss, that's who.
4. The $18 per load laundry.
5. Living in one room with 2 small children.
6. Altitude sickness.
7. Being without access to a car.
8. Lack of access to American television, or even English speaking television.
9. $50 meals at Mcdonalds.
10. Hard water.
Things That Remain Inexplicable to Me:
1. What the heck IS air freshening?
2. Why don't the Swiss use screens in their windows?
3. Why don't they serve ice in their drinks, especially "iced" drinks?
4. Why is Basel so extremely clean and well maintained, and yet tons of graffiti can be seen everywhere?
5. Why don't they have a better yarn selection here? Hell, it's the world's most popular ski destination and they have places with snow 365 days a year. Don't they need sweaters, hats and mittens?
6. Do they have a much greater water supply here than most countries? Because they always have sprinklers going, but are otherwise very earth friendly and conservationist here.
7. How do they get their children to be so quiet and well behaved in public?
8. What is in the strange green plastic bales we saw in the fields near Zermatt?
9. Why do so many people stop for a glass of beer at 10 am?
10. What was the red and black haired woman screaming at me on the tram that day?
Seriously, we did have a lot of fun here, mixed in with the bad and uncomfortable. Jack's favorite thing about Switzerland is: "Having ice cream when we get back." Lily's favorite thing about Switzerland is: "I don't know, maybe everything but walking." You can tell this trip and all of the gorgeous places we traveled have REALLY left an impression.
Things I'll Miss:
1. The beautiful scenery, especially the mountains and the gorgeous old buildings.
2. The excellent public transportation system.
3. Chocolate made with real milk.
4. Coop Hazelnut yogurt.
5. Fresh croissants every morning.
6. Opportunities to practice my German.
7. The huge selection of playgrounds and family-friendly destinations.
8. Kinder Eggs.
9. Maid service.
10. The way the air smells in the mountains.
Things I Will Not Miss:
1. The outrageously high cost of living.
2. The lack of air conditioning.
3. The dearth of ice, especially when one orders ICED tea. Seriously, who serves that without ice? The Swiss, that's who.
4. The $18 per load laundry.
5. Living in one room with 2 small children.
6. Altitude sickness.
7. Being without access to a car.
8. Lack of access to American television, or even English speaking television.
9. $50 meals at Mcdonalds.
10. Hard water.
Things That Remain Inexplicable to Me:
1. What the heck IS air freshening?
2. Why don't the Swiss use screens in their windows?
3. Why don't they serve ice in their drinks, especially "iced" drinks?
4. Why is Basel so extremely clean and well maintained, and yet tons of graffiti can be seen everywhere?
5. Why don't they have a better yarn selection here? Hell, it's the world's most popular ski destination and they have places with snow 365 days a year. Don't they need sweaters, hats and mittens?
6. Do they have a much greater water supply here than most countries? Because they always have sprinklers going, but are otherwise very earth friendly and conservationist here.
7. How do they get their children to be so quiet and well behaved in public?
8. What is in the strange green plastic bales we saw in the fields near Zermatt?
9. Why do so many people stop for a glass of beer at 10 am?
10. What was the red and black haired woman screaming at me on the tram that day?
Seriously, we did have a lot of fun here, mixed in with the bad and uncomfortable. Jack's favorite thing about Switzerland is: "Having ice cream when we get back." Lily's favorite thing about Switzerland is: "I don't know, maybe everything but walking." You can tell this trip and all of the gorgeous places we traveled have REALLY left an impression.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Zermatt and the Gorngergrat
As many of you know, this weekend was our big finale -- a two day trip to Zermatt and the Matterhorn. I've been looking forward to this trip the most, especially since we went to Mt. Pilatus and saw the gorgeous view. Also, we decided to book a hotel and stay overnight, so I was looking forward to that as well.
The weather on Saturday was sunny, cool and just all around gorgeous. We started out the trip as usual by taking the train to Visp, passing through Bern, Thun and Spieze, just as we did when we traveled to Interlaken and Grindewald. This time, we went through a long tunnel in the Alps and came out on the other side in Visp, and then headed from Visp up to Zermatt on the local train. Here are a couple of pictures of our first glimpses of the high alps.
We arrived in Zermatt at about 2pm, in time to have pizza for lunch ($52.00) and look around a bit. We stayed at the Hotel Schwiezerhof, which I can highly recommend to anyone traveling to Zermat. We were able to get a junior suite at about 1/3 of the cost through one of those discount travel sites (sorry, can't remember which one). It featured a double bed with down pillows and comforters and an adjoining sitting area with a couch, two chairs and a coffee table -- the couch turned into a double bed for the kid. The hotel has 5 (no, I'm not kidding) different restaurants, ranging from a casual cafe to fine dining. It also has an indoor pool, a tanning room, hot tubs and private saunas, as well as lots of spa treatments for guests who enjoy that kind of pampering. Our favorite part was the blacony, which gave us a gorgeous view of the garden and the mountains in the distance.
Our small sitting area:
Our bedroom:
Jim sitting out on the balcony:
A picture of the view rom my chair:
The town of Zermatt is very Swiss Mountain, with twisty side streets and lots of traditional buildings. There are no gas cars in Zermatt -- transportation in the downtown is available in horse drawn carriages or these funny, square electric taxis. The next series of pictures give you an idea of what the town is like:
The church:
One of the horses:
A view down the main drag:
We had a lot of fun checking out the area, and then we all went for a swim in the pool. Everyone enjoyed that a lot! We picked up some food from the grocery for dinner, and that's when the gastro-intestinal gurgling I'd been having all day turned bad. I ended up spending the evening, all night and part of the morning dealing with that. Fortunately, the apotheke opened around 9:30 am on Sunday, so Jim was able to pick me up a familiar medication (Immodium) and a strange Swiss medication prescribed by the pharmacist to straighten out the level of "flora" in my intestines. The combo worked -- by noon, I felt well enough to head out for our trip to the Gornergrat, a viewing summit across from the Matterhorn.
Lily wanted to wear ponytails that day, and Jack begged for one in his hair with a green rubber band. Jim told him his hair was too short and he was really upset, so I managed a small ponytail for him:
He totally thought he was the bomb! The Gornergrat Bahn was right next door to our hotel, and we were able to hop right on to the noon train. It was a twisty ride right up the side of the mountain with tons of switchbacks. At times, it was a sheer drop right from the side of the train tracks to the valley below. The views were incredible, though.
Here are the kids with their Gornergrat maps at the beginning of the ride. Because we had our Swiss Pass, we got to travel for half price -- the round trip was $76, and the kids rode free. It was well worth the extra cost.
This is a view from the side of the train down into one of the valleys:
The kids were impressed:
Eventually, we made it up to Gornergrat.
The elevation at the train station is 10,132 ft. I think I mentioned before that I've been having problems with altitude on this trip. Ever since my heart failure, I've noticed that really high plane flights cause my feet to swell and my chest to feel tight. I also noticed it here at Grindelwald and Pfingstegg, but attributed the chest issue to asthma. It was even worse at Mt. Pilatus. By that point, I had done a little internet research and learned that it was probably Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). I know, never diagnose from the internet, but I was kind of worried that I was slipping back into heart failure, so I did a little researchbefore panicking.
Where was I? Oh yeah, I was a little worried about going to Gornergrat because of how bad I felt at Mt. Pilatus. I felt a little less concerned when we decided to make it an overnight trip because I knew I would have that time to acclimatize before going up to 10,000 feet, the highest altitude by a HUGE amount that we've done here. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here is a brief chart:
Melrose: 133 ft
Basel: 843 ft
Grindelwald: 3392 ft
Pfingstegg: 4567 ft
Zermatt: 5,276 ft
Mt. Pilatus Kulm: 6995 ft
Gornergrat: 10,269 ft (at its highest point)
My feet were a little swollen when we got to Zermatt, but I got adjusted fairly quickly and the swelling was gone by the time I went to bed. They blew up like balloons on the train to Gornergrat, but weirdly, I didn't have that tightness in my chest this time. It was harder to breathe if you were walking up the steep paths, but I felt no need to use my inhaler like the last two times. I did feel kind of light headed and spacey, but that might have been the aftereffects of being so sick the night before. Who know? I really do think that staying overnight before doing the high altitude (which was recommended for people who had signs of AMS) really made it better for me, though. The kids noticed nothing, but Jim admitted he was breathing pretty hard walking up even a small incline.
There is a huge stone viewing point, restaurant, hotel and observatory at Gornergrat:
As an aside, consistent with his usual difficulties pronouncing foreign (especially German) words, Jim continually referred to Gornergrat as either "Gorgomott" or "Gorgonaut" during most of our trip! I told him Gorgonaut sounded like the name of a Transformer toy or something. The name is actually pronounced exactly as it is spelled "Gor-ner-grat."
At the viewing point, they had these gorgeous St. Bernards with casks of whiskey on their necks available for photographs -- at 15 francs a shot. I tried to get a good picture of the dogs and thought I succeeded, but realized after I downloaded them that this is the best one I took. I'm telling you, the thin air made my thinking really wonky up there...at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Because it was almost 1, we headed up to the self-serve buffet restaurant and ate at a table overlooking the Matterhorn. This is the view from our table:
It was windy and a little cool, but you warmed up quickly in the sun. We bought a plate of pommes frites and two hot dogs, some apple struedel and hot cocoa for the kids. Jack said "I love hot chocolate!"
Lily gave it a thumbs up review:
Here are a few shots of the Matterhorn with my zoom feature:
These are some snow covered peaks to the left of the Matterhorn. The view at the top was amazing because we were surrounded by snow capped Alps. I took almost 100 pictures that day!
The obligatory shot of the kids and me in front of the Matterhorn:
They have a small church next to the observatory:
It has a beautifully painted wooden ceiling, wooden pews and a lovely carved grouping behind the candles, which you can buy and light for a franc each. The kids were really impressed -- Jack especially. He pointed at all of the candles and said "Oh, look Mama, fire!"
Here is a view of another peak visible from Gornergrat:
And a view of Jm in front of the Matterhorn on a walkway over the train station.
A fourth view from the observatory:
We spent about 2 hours at the peak and then took the Gornergrat Bahn back to Zermatt. Here is a picture of the train pulling into the station with the Alps in the background:
I snapped some shots on the way down because we were on the "good" side of the train (we sat on the "bad" side on the way up). Here are some hikers. There are about 100 different hikes you can take from the Gornergrat, of all different experience levels. It seems like everyone in Switzerland hikes and carries special poles for hiking.
Another view from the train:
A closer view of the Matterhorn:
A parasail. Cute story: on the ride back down, Jack kept telling Jim he saw a "flying lamp." Jim finally figured out he was talking about the parasailers! They have several different places in the Alps where you can parasail.
Another view of the Matterhorn from a different angle.
A couple of views of the mountain towns we passed through on the way to Zermatt. Again, the Matterhorn in the background.
We left for Basel about an hour after we returned to Zermatt. We made sure to get a seat on the good side of the train so I could get some more pictures on the way home. Here's an unusual church we saw:
And a gorgeous bridge spanning a huge gorge:
The lake at Thun -- the water is an amazingly bright blue, even on gray days.
And, as a final shot, the kids playing Uno on the train. Jim bought them Uno Jr., and even Jack has been enjoying the game! He gets a little confused, but is generally able to pick the right cards to play and actually won a few times. Lily has a bandage on her hand because Jim let her try out the orange peeler on his Swiss Army Knife and she immediately cut herself on it.
We got home around 8:00 pm. I really loved this trip, and only wish I'd been able to walk around the town and explore with Jim and the kids instead of staying close to the bathroom in the hotel!
We will be returning to Massachusetts soon. I think both the kids and I are ready to be in our own house with our own beds and all of our dear friends around us. Switzerland is so beautiful, and I've loved seeing everything, but home is best!
The weather on Saturday was sunny, cool and just all around gorgeous. We started out the trip as usual by taking the train to Visp, passing through Bern, Thun and Spieze, just as we did when we traveled to Interlaken and Grindewald. This time, we went through a long tunnel in the Alps and came out on the other side in Visp, and then headed from Visp up to Zermatt on the local train. Here are a couple of pictures of our first glimpses of the high alps.
We arrived in Zermatt at about 2pm, in time to have pizza for lunch ($52.00) and look around a bit. We stayed at the Hotel Schwiezerhof, which I can highly recommend to anyone traveling to Zermat. We were able to get a junior suite at about 1/3 of the cost through one of those discount travel sites (sorry, can't remember which one). It featured a double bed with down pillows and comforters and an adjoining sitting area with a couch, two chairs and a coffee table -- the couch turned into a double bed for the kid. The hotel has 5 (no, I'm not kidding) different restaurants, ranging from a casual cafe to fine dining. It also has an indoor pool, a tanning room, hot tubs and private saunas, as well as lots of spa treatments for guests who enjoy that kind of pampering. Our favorite part was the blacony, which gave us a gorgeous view of the garden and the mountains in the distance.Our small sitting area:
Our bedroom:
Jim sitting out on the balcony:
A picture of the view rom my chair:
The town of Zermatt is very Swiss Mountain, with twisty side streets and lots of traditional buildings. There are no gas cars in Zermatt -- transportation in the downtown is available in horse drawn carriages or these funny, square electric taxis. The next series of pictures give you an idea of what the town is like:
The church:
One of the horses:
A view down the main drag:
We had a lot of fun checking out the area, and then we all went for a swim in the pool. Everyone enjoyed that a lot! We picked up some food from the grocery for dinner, and that's when the gastro-intestinal gurgling I'd been having all day turned bad. I ended up spending the evening, all night and part of the morning dealing with that. Fortunately, the apotheke opened around 9:30 am on Sunday, so Jim was able to pick me up a familiar medication (Immodium) and a strange Swiss medication prescribed by the pharmacist to straighten out the level of "flora" in my intestines. The combo worked -- by noon, I felt well enough to head out for our trip to the Gornergrat, a viewing summit across from the Matterhorn.Lily wanted to wear ponytails that day, and Jack begged for one in his hair with a green rubber band. Jim told him his hair was too short and he was really upset, so I managed a small ponytail for him:
He totally thought he was the bomb! The Gornergrat Bahn was right next door to our hotel, and we were able to hop right on to the noon train. It was a twisty ride right up the side of the mountain with tons of switchbacks. At times, it was a sheer drop right from the side of the train tracks to the valley below. The views were incredible, though.Here are the kids with their Gornergrat maps at the beginning of the ride. Because we had our Swiss Pass, we got to travel for half price -- the round trip was $76, and the kids rode free. It was well worth the extra cost.
This is a view from the side of the train down into one of the valleys:
The kids were impressed:
Eventually, we made it up to Gornergrat.
The elevation at the train station is 10,132 ft. I think I mentioned before that I've been having problems with altitude on this trip. Ever since my heart failure, I've noticed that really high plane flights cause my feet to swell and my chest to feel tight. I also noticed it here at Grindelwald and Pfingstegg, but attributed the chest issue to asthma. It was even worse at Mt. Pilatus. By that point, I had done a little internet research and learned that it was probably Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). I know, never diagnose from the internet, but I was kind of worried that I was slipping back into heart failure, so I did a little researchbefore panicking.Where was I? Oh yeah, I was a little worried about going to Gornergrat because of how bad I felt at Mt. Pilatus. I felt a little less concerned when we decided to make it an overnight trip because I knew I would have that time to acclimatize before going up to 10,000 feet, the highest altitude by a HUGE amount that we've done here. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here is a brief chart:
Melrose: 133 ft
Basel: 843 ft
Grindelwald: 3392 ft
Pfingstegg: 4567 ft
Zermatt: 5,276 ft
Mt. Pilatus Kulm: 6995 ft
Gornergrat: 10,269 ft (at its highest point)
My feet were a little swollen when we got to Zermatt, but I got adjusted fairly quickly and the swelling was gone by the time I went to bed. They blew up like balloons on the train to Gornergrat, but weirdly, I didn't have that tightness in my chest this time. It was harder to breathe if you were walking up the steep paths, but I felt no need to use my inhaler like the last two times. I did feel kind of light headed and spacey, but that might have been the aftereffects of being so sick the night before. Who know? I really do think that staying overnight before doing the high altitude (which was recommended for people who had signs of AMS) really made it better for me, though. The kids noticed nothing, but Jim admitted he was breathing pretty hard walking up even a small incline.
There is a huge stone viewing point, restaurant, hotel and observatory at Gornergrat:
As an aside, consistent with his usual difficulties pronouncing foreign (especially German) words, Jim continually referred to Gornergrat as either "Gorgomott" or "Gorgonaut" during most of our trip! I told him Gorgonaut sounded like the name of a Transformer toy or something. The name is actually pronounced exactly as it is spelled "Gor-ner-grat."At the viewing point, they had these gorgeous St. Bernards with casks of whiskey on their necks available for photographs -- at 15 francs a shot. I tried to get a good picture of the dogs and thought I succeeded, but realized after I downloaded them that this is the best one I took. I'm telling you, the thin air made my thinking really wonky up there...at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Because it was almost 1, we headed up to the self-serve buffet restaurant and ate at a table overlooking the Matterhorn. This is the view from our table:
It was windy and a little cool, but you warmed up quickly in the sun. We bought a plate of pommes frites and two hot dogs, some apple struedel and hot cocoa for the kids. Jack said "I love hot chocolate!"
Lily gave it a thumbs up review:
Here are a few shots of the Matterhorn with my zoom feature:
These are some snow covered peaks to the left of the Matterhorn. The view at the top was amazing because we were surrounded by snow capped Alps. I took almost 100 pictures that day!
The obligatory shot of the kids and me in front of the Matterhorn:
They have a small church next to the observatory:
It has a beautifully painted wooden ceiling, wooden pews and a lovely carved grouping behind the candles, which you can buy and light for a franc each. The kids were really impressed -- Jack especially. He pointed at all of the candles and said "Oh, look Mama, fire!"
Here is a view of another peak visible from Gornergrat:
And a view of Jm in front of the Matterhorn on a walkway over the train station.
A fourth view from the observatory:
We spent about 2 hours at the peak and then took the Gornergrat Bahn back to Zermatt. Here is a picture of the train pulling into the station with the Alps in the background:
I snapped some shots on the way down because we were on the "good" side of the train (we sat on the "bad" side on the way up). Here are some hikers. There are about 100 different hikes you can take from the Gornergrat, of all different experience levels. It seems like everyone in Switzerland hikes and carries special poles for hiking.
Another view from the train:
A closer view of the Matterhorn:
A parasail. Cute story: on the ride back down, Jack kept telling Jim he saw a "flying lamp." Jim finally figured out he was talking about the parasailers! They have several different places in the Alps where you can parasail.
Another view of the Matterhorn from a different angle.
A couple of views of the mountain towns we passed through on the way to Zermatt. Again, the Matterhorn in the background.
We left for Basel about an hour after we returned to Zermatt. We made sure to get a seat on the good side of the train so I could get some more pictures on the way home. Here's an unusual church we saw:
And a gorgeous bridge spanning a huge gorge:
The lake at Thun -- the water is an amazingly bright blue, even on gray days.
And, as a final shot, the kids playing Uno on the train. Jim bought them Uno Jr., and even Jack has been enjoying the game! He gets a little confused, but is generally able to pick the right cards to play and actually won a few times. Lily has a bandage on her hand because Jim let her try out the orange peeler on his Swiss Army Knife and she immediately cut herself on it.
We got home around 8:00 pm. I really loved this trip, and only wish I'd been able to walk around the town and explore with Jim and the kids instead of staying close to the bathroom in the hotel!
We will be returning to Massachusetts soon. I think both the kids and I are ready to be in our own house with our own beds and all of our dear friends around us. Switzerland is so beautiful, and I've loved seeing everything, but home is best!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus
We decided that for our second travel day this weekend, we would do a trip with fewer train transfers and something more kid-oriented. After researching our trusty embassy brochure, we decided to go to Lucerne and take a tour of Mt. Pilatus.
Because Lucerne is a direct, relatively short train ride from Basel, we were able to take the 10am train rather than an early train as we've done for our other trips. Although I hoped we'd have time to look around Lucerne a bit, the schedule required us to take a local train directly from the Lucerne station to Alpanstad, where we would then get on the "steepest cog rail" in the world to go to the top of Mt. Pilatus.
The weather here has been trying, and our last two train trips were a bit rainy and cold. We checked the weather for our Lucerne trip and saw that it promised to be sunny and cool, so we were really excited. As we left Basel, however, the weather was still gray and rainy.
By the time we reached Mt. Pilatus station, the sun was just starting to peek out of the clouds. Our Swiss Flexi Pass got us to the cog wheel train station for free, but to do the actual mountain tour, we had to pay 50% of the ticket cost -- about $60 US (the kids were free, as they are for most things in Switzerland). Since there were quite a few people in line ahead of us and the train runs regularly, we decided to grab lunch first and then go up the mountain.
We ate at the Cafe Chalet Restaurant across the street from the Pilatus station. Since it was still a bit cool outside, we ate inside the restaurant, which had plain pine walls and rustic tables. Jim ordered weinerschnitzel, I ordered macaroni and cheese with applesauce and the kids split a weiner and pommes frites platter -- it came with two weiners and plenty of fries, so they were thrilled.
I often joke with my friends that if I was limited to eating food of one color, I would pick white -- cheese, bread, pasta, cream, apples (the inside), potatoes -- anything that was white/off white in color suits me fine. The macaroni and cheese I ordered was the ultimate in all white meals! It was Emmentaler cheese over pasta and potato chunks, with applesauce in a side dish. I told Jim the next time he makes mac and cheese at home, I want him to do it the same way. Delicious!
After the meal, I took the antsy kids outside. They both picked seats on some stones in the garden next to the restaurant.
Then we headed over to the cog wheel train. It's built like a stair case -- each car of 8 people is a "step" up from the next car, so that even though the train is practically heading straight up the mountain, you are able to sit upright.
Once we started going, Jack was thrilled. From his seat, he could look straight up the train at the track ahead!
As we first left the station, this was our view:
After a few minutes, the sun really started to shine.
The ride up the mountain was something I'll never forget. The scenery was beautiful and there were places where the mountain just dropped away right next to the train. A couple of times, there were cows grazing so close to the tracks that I could have reached out the window and touched one. And...we had to travel through several tunnels in the mountain where the rock sides of the tunnel were close enough to touch. It was really unforgettable. Unfortunately, this is where I realized my camer battery was getting low, so I didn't take a lot of pictures.
At the top of Mt. Pilatus, there are two hotels. This is a view of the Pilatus Kulm Hotel. We stopped into their panoramic cafeteria for some hot drinks and dessert shortly after we arrived at the top.
Here are Jim and the kids at the top. We were up in the clouds and it was pretty cool with the wind up there. Below is a view from near the Hotel:
There are a number of hikes and walks that you can take from the hotel area. We chose to explore the "Gallery" which was a tunnel through the side of the mountain with various "windows" that opened up to see views of the opposite side of the mountain. This is the door to the Gallery.
Unfortunately, most of the cloud cover was on that side of the mountain -- here is a picture where you can see some lines from the mountain disappearing into the clouds. As we explored the cave, the clouds started to move over the mountain top and into the little cave with us.
Here is a picture of Jim and Jack inside the cave by one of the window views, with the clouds rolling in.
After spending some time at the top, and shopping at the little souvenir store, we took a large (30 person) cable car down to the next mountain level, where they had a ropes course set up and a Rodelbahn, or summer toboggan. Jim seems to be making the tour of Switzerland's Rodelbahns, because our sole purpose for stopping there was so he could take the kids on a couple of rides. As we headed down the other side of the mountain, the weather finally started to clear on that side.
This is Lake Lucerne from the first cable car stop.
This is a view of part of the city:
And this is an overhead view of a part of the Rodelbahn, which is apparently the longest in Switzerland.
Jim and kids bought tickets to the ride and I settled down at some tables near the start of the Rodelbahn. The sun finally came out to stay. Here is Jack in his Swiss Military cap (his souvenir choice).
I snapped another picture of the lake when the sky brightened up:
The kids (including Jim) really enjoyed the Rodelbahn. After they took their rides, we got into the smaller gondolas and headed to the next level, which featured a children's playground.
Here's Lily checking out the view:
The playground was absolutely amazing. It had a castle playhouse with all sorts of nets and ladders to climb, an underground "cave" complete with gnomes, a small brook to splash in, and a ton of other play equipment. Needless to say, the kids had a blast.
After they played for about and hour, we got on the small gondola again and descended to the bottom of the mountain. Here is the last shot I got on the camera before it died.
Jim got a number of great shots on his iPhone, too, so we'll have quite a collection for the family album. Once we arrived at the foot of the mountain, we took a quick 5 minute walk to a local bus station and went back to the train. We were home by 7:30. What a great trip!
Because Lucerne is a direct, relatively short train ride from Basel, we were able to take the 10am train rather than an early train as we've done for our other trips. Although I hoped we'd have time to look around Lucerne a bit, the schedule required us to take a local train directly from the Lucerne station to Alpanstad, where we would then get on the "steepest cog rail" in the world to go to the top of Mt. Pilatus.
The weather here has been trying, and our last two train trips were a bit rainy and cold. We checked the weather for our Lucerne trip and saw that it promised to be sunny and cool, so we were really excited. As we left Basel, however, the weather was still gray and rainy.
By the time we reached Mt. Pilatus station, the sun was just starting to peek out of the clouds. Our Swiss Flexi Pass got us to the cog wheel train station for free, but to do the actual mountain tour, we had to pay 50% of the ticket cost -- about $60 US (the kids were free, as they are for most things in Switzerland). Since there were quite a few people in line ahead of us and the train runs regularly, we decided to grab lunch first and then go up the mountain.
We ate at the Cafe Chalet Restaurant across the street from the Pilatus station. Since it was still a bit cool outside, we ate inside the restaurant, which had plain pine walls and rustic tables. Jim ordered weinerschnitzel, I ordered macaroni and cheese with applesauce and the kids split a weiner and pommes frites platter -- it came with two weiners and plenty of fries, so they were thrilled.I often joke with my friends that if I was limited to eating food of one color, I would pick white -- cheese, bread, pasta, cream, apples (the inside), potatoes -- anything that was white/off white in color suits me fine. The macaroni and cheese I ordered was the ultimate in all white meals! It was Emmentaler cheese over pasta and potato chunks, with applesauce in a side dish. I told Jim the next time he makes mac and cheese at home, I want him to do it the same way. Delicious!
After the meal, I took the antsy kids outside. They both picked seats on some stones in the garden next to the restaurant.
Then we headed over to the cog wheel train. It's built like a stair case -- each car of 8 people is a "step" up from the next car, so that even though the train is practically heading straight up the mountain, you are able to sit upright.
Once we started going, Jack was thrilled. From his seat, he could look straight up the train at the track ahead!
As we first left the station, this was our view:
After a few minutes, the sun really started to shine. 
The ride up the mountain was something I'll never forget. The scenery was beautiful and there were places where the mountain just dropped away right next to the train. A couple of times, there were cows grazing so close to the tracks that I could have reached out the window and touched one. And...we had to travel through several tunnels in the mountain where the rock sides of the tunnel were close enough to touch. It was really unforgettable. Unfortunately, this is where I realized my camer battery was getting low, so I didn't take a lot of pictures.
At the top of Mt. Pilatus, there are two hotels. This is a view of the Pilatus Kulm Hotel. We stopped into their panoramic cafeteria for some hot drinks and dessert shortly after we arrived at the top.
Here are Jim and the kids at the top. We were up in the clouds and it was pretty cool with the wind up there. Below is a view from near the Hotel:
There are a number of hikes and walks that you can take from the hotel area. We chose to explore the "Gallery" which was a tunnel through the side of the mountain with various "windows" that opened up to see views of the opposite side of the mountain. This is the door to the Gallery.
Unfortunately, most of the cloud cover was on that side of the mountain -- here is a picture where you can see some lines from the mountain disappearing into the clouds. As we explored the cave, the clouds started to move over the mountain top and into the little cave with us.
Here is a picture of Jim and Jack inside the cave by one of the window views, with the clouds rolling in.
After spending some time at the top, and shopping at the little souvenir store, we took a large (30 person) cable car down to the next mountain level, where they had a ropes course set up and a Rodelbahn, or summer toboggan. Jim seems to be making the tour of Switzerland's Rodelbahns, because our sole purpose for stopping there was so he could take the kids on a couple of rides. As we headed down the other side of the mountain, the weather finally started to clear on that side.
This is Lake Lucerne from the first cable car stop.
This is a view of part of the city:
And this is an overhead view of a part of the Rodelbahn, which is apparently the longest in Switzerland.
Jim and kids bought tickets to the ride and I settled down at some tables near the start of the Rodelbahn. The sun finally came out to stay. Here is Jack in his Swiss Military cap (his souvenir choice).
I snapped another picture of the lake when the sky brightened up:
The kids (including Jim) really enjoyed the Rodelbahn. After they took their rides, we got into the smaller gondolas and headed to the next level, which featured a children's playground.
Here's Lily checking out the view:
The playground was absolutely amazing. It had a castle playhouse with all sorts of nets and ladders to climb, an underground "cave" complete with gnomes, a small brook to splash in, and a ton of other play equipment. Needless to say, the kids had a blast.
After they played for about and hour, we got on the small gondola again and descended to the bottom of the mountain. Here is the last shot I got on the camera before it died.
Jim got a number of great shots on his iPhone, too, so we'll have quite a collection for the family album. Once we arrived at the foot of the mountain, we took a quick 5 minute walk to a local bus station and went back to the train. We were home by 7:30. What a great trip!
Gruyeres and Broc
This week, we spent Saturday doing something that the travel brochures from the Swiss Embassy calls "the Greedy Tour." We visited the town of Gruyeres and toured a cheese factory, and then we went to nearby Broc for a tour of the Nestle factory. Needless to say, this has been the best trip so far as the kids are concerned!
We planned this trip very carefully because it takes almost 3 hours one way to get to Gruyeres, what with the various train changes from inter-regional to local. We left our apartment at 7:00am and arrived in Gruyere at just after 11:00am. Our first order of business was getting lunch at the restaurant attached to the cheese factory. The interior was very rustic with a number of carved panels showing various cheese related scenes and phrases:
The kids were just glad to eat, as breakfast was just some bread and orange juice on the train.
The kids shared a weiner and pommes frites -- the portions are so large, we've just been ordering one meal for them to share. I got the local specialty, rosti (similar to hash browns) with pears and gruyere. It was delicious.
Jim opted for the fondue of Gruyere, of course. It came with potatoes and bread.
Here are Lily and Jack posing in the sign at the entrance of La Maison du Gruyere, which is what the factory is called. It is conveniently located right opposite the tran station.
These next pictures are somewhat out of order, for reasons I will explain later. Before you go into the factory tour, you can view the cheese caves from a glass viewing area. Since the cheeses need to be turned frequently, they have a robot that goes down the aisles and flips each cheese over. This is the robot:
All of the cheese are stamped on the sides, and they also have black letters and numbers pressed into the top on one side to identify when and where they were made. They are about as large as a big pizza, and about 3-4 inches thick.
We got into the tour for free because our Swiss Flexi-Pass for train travel includes free entrance to most museums in Switzerland. Every person received a free cheese sample with their entry -- slices of cheese aged very young, medium and very old so we could taste the difference. Yum!
The tour was narrated by a sort of phone that you held to your ear, and the speaker told us she was a cow named Cherry. She had a British accent, which seemed odd, since she is supposed to be from Gruyeres, which is French speaking Switzerland! There was a lot to see -- old prints and pictures of cheese making in early times, scent stations to smell all of the plants and things that flavor the Gruyeres cows' milk, and old-fashioned cheese making paraphernilia.
Then we got to view the cheese-making process from a gallery above the factory floor. This is the milk and other ingredients mixing in a big brass vat.
That is the Cheesemaker removing the paddles so that the cheese can drain into the presses. The containers start out huge and over time, the cheese is pressed to its final size. Afterwards, they soak the cheese in brine and then age it. It was interesting to see.
Now here's the part you don't know from looking at these pictures. Our original plan was to eat at Gruyeres, take the tour, take the 12:58 local to Broc, tour the factory, and then return home. The reason for this plan was that the Nestle factory closes at 4 and the next train after the 12:58 to Broc was at 3.
What happened instead was this. After lunch, we decided to skip the Gruyere tour in favor of doing the Nestle tour earlier, and then coming back to Gruyere and taking the cheese factory tour before heading home, since our itinerary required us to return to Gruyere anyway. The kids were impatient to get to the chocolate factory, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Sadly, we got to talking with an older couple and their adult daughter, all from New York State. Then all 7 of us proceeded to get on the train in the wrong direction. By the time we realized what happened, we had to get off in the middle of nowhere, at a station called Neirivue.
The town was so small, its station wasn't even open! We were stuck waiting there for 40 minutes for the train we were originally on to come back. At that point, we were stuck with the 3pm train to Broc as our only solution.
So... we ended up going on the cheese tour first, and then waiting for the 3pm train. Foolishly, we entertained the kids by giving them ice cream:
...thus ensuring that they would be good and wired for the next leg of the journey.
Broc
There are two stations in Broc -- Broc Village and Broc Fabrique, a stop expressly for the factory. It's about a block from the station to the main bulding.
The rest of the village looks like the above.
The little local train we took is old fashioned and very small. The kids loved it!
Once we got to the factory, we walked right in to the tour, which was the second to last of the day. The tour and the chocolate tasting at the end is free to everyone if you can believe it! If I lived in Broc, my kids would be sneaking off to that tour every day.
The first part of the tour was a theater that played three old movies showing the factory tours in the days when people were allowed to actually walk around next to the production lines. Today, they don't allow that, for health and safety reasons. The movies were probably from the 30s and 40s. Jack was captivated but Lily said they were boring.
The net part of the tour showed the old fashioned chocolate molds they used to use, and a lot of the old advertising posters.
Next, we went through a room where a worker described how the cacao beans are processed. Since she was talking in German, we basically just breezed through.
Next, we went through a series of rooms with video and audio displays discussing the choclate making process. Some of the rooms featured films shown on the floor and the kids really enjoyed those!
Then we came to the part of the tour that the kids were really looking forward to -- the chocolate tasting! It was set up on what looked to be about a 12 foot long counter. Trays of chocolate pieces and individual fancy chocolates were set out and replaced immediately when the trays got empty by two workers behind the counter. They had milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and hazelnut, different grades of chocolate, and all sorts of fancy chocolates.
Jack was just cramming chocolate into his mouth like he hadn't eaten a bite in 2 years. Jim finally had to pick him up to keep him from overeating!
The above is a view of just a portion of the giant chocolate buffet. The rule is that you can eat all you want, but you have to finish eating it in the buffet room and you can't take anything home.
After the tour, Jim bought more than $60 US worth of chocolate in the factory store, which sells everything about about 50% what we would pay in the US. A lot of people are getting chocolate as a souvenir when we get home, assuming that Jim doesn't consume it all before then. I had about 7 pieces of chocolate and I still feel like I won't be trying chocolate again for a while. It was just way too much. The European chocolate is made with real milk, and tastes richer than US chocolate, and eating a bunch at once was a little sick-making.
We had an epic journey home. Jack fell asleep on the little local train from Broc to Bulle. Instead of heading back to Gruyeres, we opted to stop in Bulle and take 30 minute bus ride to Fribourg. From there, we took a train to Bern, and then switched onto a train to Basel. Lily drew on the ride and Jack just enjoyed the view.
We skipped dinner that night because everyone was loaded up on chocolate and kind of feeling sick! More later on our second day of travels this weekend to Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus.
We planned this trip very carefully because it takes almost 3 hours one way to get to Gruyeres, what with the various train changes from inter-regional to local. We left our apartment at 7:00am and arrived in Gruyere at just after 11:00am. Our first order of business was getting lunch at the restaurant attached to the cheese factory. The interior was very rustic with a number of carved panels showing various cheese related scenes and phrases:
The kids were just glad to eat, as breakfast was just some bread and orange juice on the train.
The kids shared a weiner and pommes frites -- the portions are so large, we've just been ordering one meal for them to share. I got the local specialty, rosti (similar to hash browns) with pears and gruyere. It was delicious.
Jim opted for the fondue of Gruyere, of course. It came with potatoes and bread.
Here are Lily and Jack posing in the sign at the entrance of La Maison du Gruyere, which is what the factory is called. It is conveniently located right opposite the tran station.
These next pictures are somewhat out of order, for reasons I will explain later. Before you go into the factory tour, you can view the cheese caves from a glass viewing area. Since the cheeses need to be turned frequently, they have a robot that goes down the aisles and flips each cheese over. This is the robot:
All of the cheese are stamped on the sides, and they also have black letters and numbers pressed into the top on one side to identify when and where they were made. They are about as large as a big pizza, and about 3-4 inches thick.
We got into the tour for free because our Swiss Flexi-Pass for train travel includes free entrance to most museums in Switzerland. Every person received a free cheese sample with their entry -- slices of cheese aged very young, medium and very old so we could taste the difference. Yum!
The tour was narrated by a sort of phone that you held to your ear, and the speaker told us she was a cow named Cherry. She had a British accent, which seemed odd, since she is supposed to be from Gruyeres, which is French speaking Switzerland! There was a lot to see -- old prints and pictures of cheese making in early times, scent stations to smell all of the plants and things that flavor the Gruyeres cows' milk, and old-fashioned cheese making paraphernilia.
Then we got to view the cheese-making process from a gallery above the factory floor. This is the milk and other ingredients mixing in a big brass vat.
That is the Cheesemaker removing the paddles so that the cheese can drain into the presses. The containers start out huge and over time, the cheese is pressed to its final size. Afterwards, they soak the cheese in brine and then age it. It was interesting to see.
Now here's the part you don't know from looking at these pictures. Our original plan was to eat at Gruyeres, take the tour, take the 12:58 local to Broc, tour the factory, and then return home. The reason for this plan was that the Nestle factory closes at 4 and the next train after the 12:58 to Broc was at 3.What happened instead was this. After lunch, we decided to skip the Gruyere tour in favor of doing the Nestle tour earlier, and then coming back to Gruyere and taking the cheese factory tour before heading home, since our itinerary required us to return to Gruyere anyway. The kids were impatient to get to the chocolate factory, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Sadly, we got to talking with an older couple and their adult daughter, all from New York State. Then all 7 of us proceeded to get on the train in the wrong direction. By the time we realized what happened, we had to get off in the middle of nowhere, at a station called Neirivue.
The town was so small, its station wasn't even open! We were stuck waiting there for 40 minutes for the train we were originally on to come back. At that point, we were stuck with the 3pm train to Broc as our only solution.
So... we ended up going on the cheese tour first, and then waiting for the 3pm train. Foolishly, we entertained the kids by giving them ice cream:
...thus ensuring that they would be good and wired for the next leg of the journey.Broc
There are two stations in Broc -- Broc Village and Broc Fabrique, a stop expressly for the factory. It's about a block from the station to the main bulding.
The rest of the village looks like the above.
The little local train we took is old fashioned and very small. The kids loved it!
Once we got to the factory, we walked right in to the tour, which was the second to last of the day. The tour and the chocolate tasting at the end is free to everyone if you can believe it! If I lived in Broc, my kids would be sneaking off to that tour every day.The first part of the tour was a theater that played three old movies showing the factory tours in the days when people were allowed to actually walk around next to the production lines. Today, they don't allow that, for health and safety reasons. The movies were probably from the 30s and 40s. Jack was captivated but Lily said they were boring.
The net part of the tour showed the old fashioned chocolate molds they used to use, and a lot of the old advertising posters.
Next, we went through a room where a worker described how the cacao beans are processed. Since she was talking in German, we basically just breezed through.
Next, we went through a series of rooms with video and audio displays discussing the choclate making process. Some of the rooms featured films shown on the floor and the kids really enjoyed those!
Then we came to the part of the tour that the kids were really looking forward to -- the chocolate tasting! It was set up on what looked to be about a 12 foot long counter. Trays of chocolate pieces and individual fancy chocolates were set out and replaced immediately when the trays got empty by two workers behind the counter. They had milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and hazelnut, different grades of chocolate, and all sorts of fancy chocolates.
Jack was just cramming chocolate into his mouth like he hadn't eaten a bite in 2 years. Jim finally had to pick him up to keep him from overeating!
The above is a view of just a portion of the giant chocolate buffet. The rule is that you can eat all you want, but you have to finish eating it in the buffet room and you can't take anything home.After the tour, Jim bought more than $60 US worth of chocolate in the factory store, which sells everything about about 50% what we would pay in the US. A lot of people are getting chocolate as a souvenir when we get home, assuming that Jim doesn't consume it all before then. I had about 7 pieces of chocolate and I still feel like I won't be trying chocolate again for a while. It was just way too much. The European chocolate is made with real milk, and tastes richer than US chocolate, and eating a bunch at once was a little sick-making.
We had an epic journey home. Jack fell asleep on the little local train from Broc to Bulle. Instead of heading back to Gruyeres, we opted to stop in Bulle and take 30 minute bus ride to Fribourg. From there, we took a train to Bern, and then switched onto a train to Basel. Lily drew on the ride and Jack just enjoyed the view.
We skipped dinner that night because everyone was loaded up on chocolate and kind of feeling sick! More later on our second day of travels this weekend to Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
An Explanatory Map of the Tinguely Death March
I just want to make sure you understand how crazy our trip was today:
The two blue dots are where we are staying (left) and the museum (right). The red lines represent places we took a bus or tram. The grayish line represents the death march walk.
Death March to Tinguely Museum
I had a terrible day yesterday. Without going into the gory details, which would just lead into a lengthy rant about the Swiss and air conditioning, suffice it to say that there was a whole lot of pooping in pants, by BOTH children (no, I'm not joking), humidity, sweaty tram rides, damp laundry draped about, and fights where kids were touching each other. At the end of the day, I would have paid someone a million dollars to just take me home.
At the end of that terrible day, I said to Jim "Maybe tomorrow will be better." Apparently, the travel gods heard me and decided to strike me down.
The plan was beautifully simple. Everyone has raved about the Tinguely Museum. It has a lot of kinetic sculptures built by Basler Jean Tinguely, and many interactive exhibits. Although we were told it was great for a rainy day, a brilliant thought suddenly occurred to me. Air condition is banned in Basel, but cars, some trams and some buses still have it, so clearly there are exceptions. And everyone knows that museums are temperature controlled, right? Aha, I gloated to myself, let's visit the Tinguely tomorrow when we know it will be hot and we can stroll leisurely around in the cool air conditioning. Best of all, it will be FREE because the children are under 16 and I have a Swiss Pass!
I believed I had been to the Tinguely before -- at least, to the outside. There was a pool with lots of kinetic water sculptures in it next to a big building that I believed was the museum. I checked the website quickly but didn't really understand the directions -- they mentioned a bus, but I clearly recalled walking there the last time. So, the kids and I set off at about 10 am and got on the No.6 tram to Barfusserplatz, planning to hop onto a No.3 tram, which I believed would stop at the museum.
We got on the No.3 and within about 30 seconds passed the place I thought was the museum, so we hopped off at the next stop and walked about 5 blocks back to where the museum was. We stood for a while in the shade and admired the sculptures.
After about ten minutes, I started to lead the kids toward the entrance of the large building behind the pool and noticed a giant sign announcing "Theatre Basel." Yes, sadly, the scuplture pond was done by Tinguely for the theater and had nothing to do with the actual museum.
No problem, I thought. Basel is a relatively small town and almost everything is within walking distance. I vaguely remembered the the museum was near the Wettsteinbrucke (a bridge across the Rhine), so we hopped back on the No.3 and went ahead for a few more stops. Unfortunately, I could see we were heading away from the river, so we hopped off again and worked our way through alleys and back streets towards large bridge. Sure enough, as we approached the road to the bridge, there was a sign for the Tinguely Museum directing us straight ahead.
By this time, we were all getting hot from walking for about 20 minutes in the heat. The kids were already whining about when we could get a drink, and I promised we would get a cold drink at the museum as soon as we arrived. We walked about 4 blocks and saw... the bridge. No sign of a museum, nothing. I was confident the bridge was in Gross Basel and the bridge was leading us to Klein Basel (where our apartment is). I figured we would cross the bridge and see what the signage said on the other side. If there was something pointing us to the museum, we'd follow that, otherwise, we'd just head home.
It was nice and cool on the bridge, so that part of the walk was good. When we got to the other side of the river, there was a sign for the museum directing us to walk down the stairs to the path next to the river. We all rejoiced "Yay! We're at the museum!" By this time, we'd been walking for about 45 minutes -- that's a long time for two kids.
When we got to the bottom of the stairs, there was a sculptural playground. "This must be the museum playground!" said Lily. "Let's hurry up and go to the museum for our cool drink," I said (because I wanted to get in the AC as soon as possible). We wandered around the area for 10 minutes and saw nothing remotely resembling a museum. Then I glimpsed a small sign directing us toward the museum along a path by the Rhine.
"It's over here!" I said and we started down the path. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. My shirt front was soaked with sweat and even the kids were sweating. Periodically, we would pass a sign that directed us to the museum. We passed the hospital where Jack got his medical care, which I must note is about 5 blocks from our apartment. We kept going. "Is DIS the museum?" Jack asked every time we approached a new building. The answer was always no. After about 30 minutes of trudging, we came to a river boat landing that said "Tinguely Museum." "We're here!" I said. We looked around for a few minutes and found nothing but apartment buildings. "Let's walk up ahead," I said. "Is DIS the museum?" asked Jack. "Not yet," I said.
We trudged another 10 minutes and came to something called the Solitude Park. The river path ended abruptly. There was no sign suggesting where the museum might be, and the only buildings in sight were a preschool and Roche. "I'm really dizzy," said Jack. "I know," I said, "Let's see if we can find some place to get a drink." We walked across the park (the kids paused to go down a slide) and came out on the street, which turned out to be a four lane highway. There was nothing that looked like a museum or a place to get a drink. I saw a Roche security guard standing at the gate to the building and went over to him. I asked him in German where the museum was. "You go through the park," he said, pointing in the direction we came from. "Is DIS the museum?" Jack said. "No!" I said, "We have to go through the park."
We walked across the Solitude Park and came to a building -- a preschool. We walked a bit further and came to a middle school. We walked through some trees and finally Lily spotted a kinetic sculpture. "It's over here!"
When we got inside, it was mercifully air conditioned as I hoped. I showed my Swiss Pass when we approached the ticket counter and we were admitted for free. "Let's just go down to the restaurant and get something to eat." $52.30 Francs later (no, I'm not kidding), the kids having eaten a hotdog and fries and me having eaten quiche, we were ready to see the exhibit. The kids were really excited. I was just happy for the air conditioning.
We saw this:
and a few other non-moving exhibits of a similar nature. "Dis place is COOL," said Jack. Then we went up to the next floor and entered a room featuring a series of kinetic sculptures that you operated by stepping on a switch near the exhibit. The room was lit so that giant shadows of each sculpture were cast on the walls.
"Dis is a little SCARY," said Jack:
"I want to go to another museum!" said Jack when the last sculpture (shown above) began to whirl around. We headed downstairs to the next exhibit, which was a series of elaborate sets of armor and equally elaborate dresses.
"I don't like DOSE guys" said Jack, referring to the armor posed as if it were riding horses (above).
"DAT is SCARY!" said Jack when he noticed the mural of skeletons that went along the entire length of one wall.
"What DOSE guys doing, Mama?" he asked fearfully when we saw the group of armed men. "They have spears," I said. "I don't LIKE them. What is a SPEAR?" "A pointy stick," I said. "I want to go in another kind of museum," said Jack fearfully.
"I think these dresses are GORGEOUS!" said Lily and she asked me to take several pictures.
We both liked the red one.
Lily posed in front of a few.
Jack just kept asking when we were going to go to another kind of museum, so pretty soon we went to the bottom floor. The first two rooms had several sculptures that made noise. One of them was made out of a lot of drums. Jack screamed and ran when Lily started it up, so there was no time for me to take any pictures. We raced through the two rooms and ended up at the last room, where they had a series of sculptures set up that featured what looked like carnival lights.
Jack jumped about 3 feet and grabbed my hand when Lily made this giant hand move.
He kept a wide margin between himself and this horse sculpture. Lily wanted to climb up it and watch from inside while it moved. I knew Jack wasn't going to touch it with a 10 foot pole so I said no.
Jack's final comment: "I don't even KNOW what kind of fing DAT is," pointing to the scultpure above, that was hanging from the ceiling. "Can we go to a different kind of museum now?"
At the end of that terrible day, I said to Jim "Maybe tomorrow will be better." Apparently, the travel gods heard me and decided to strike me down.
The plan was beautifully simple. Everyone has raved about the Tinguely Museum. It has a lot of kinetic sculptures built by Basler Jean Tinguely, and many interactive exhibits. Although we were told it was great for a rainy day, a brilliant thought suddenly occurred to me. Air condition is banned in Basel, but cars, some trams and some buses still have it, so clearly there are exceptions. And everyone knows that museums are temperature controlled, right? Aha, I gloated to myself, let's visit the Tinguely tomorrow when we know it will be hot and we can stroll leisurely around in the cool air conditioning. Best of all, it will be FREE because the children are under 16 and I have a Swiss Pass!
I believed I had been to the Tinguely before -- at least, to the outside. There was a pool with lots of kinetic water sculptures in it next to a big building that I believed was the museum. I checked the website quickly but didn't really understand the directions -- they mentioned a bus, but I clearly recalled walking there the last time. So, the kids and I set off at about 10 am and got on the No.6 tram to Barfusserplatz, planning to hop onto a No.3 tram, which I believed would stop at the museum.
We got on the No.3 and within about 30 seconds passed the place I thought was the museum, so we hopped off at the next stop and walked about 5 blocks back to where the museum was. We stood for a while in the shade and admired the sculptures.
After about ten minutes, I started to lead the kids toward the entrance of the large building behind the pool and noticed a giant sign announcing "Theatre Basel." Yes, sadly, the scuplture pond was done by Tinguely for the theater and had nothing to do with the actual museum.
No problem, I thought. Basel is a relatively small town and almost everything is within walking distance. I vaguely remembered the the museum was near the Wettsteinbrucke (a bridge across the Rhine), so we hopped back on the No.3 and went ahead for a few more stops. Unfortunately, I could see we were heading away from the river, so we hopped off again and worked our way through alleys and back streets towards large bridge. Sure enough, as we approached the road to the bridge, there was a sign for the Tinguely Museum directing us straight ahead.
By this time, we were all getting hot from walking for about 20 minutes in the heat. The kids were already whining about when we could get a drink, and I promised we would get a cold drink at the museum as soon as we arrived. We walked about 4 blocks and saw... the bridge. No sign of a museum, nothing. I was confident the bridge was in Gross Basel and the bridge was leading us to Klein Basel (where our apartment is). I figured we would cross the bridge and see what the signage said on the other side. If there was something pointing us to the museum, we'd follow that, otherwise, we'd just head home.
It was nice and cool on the bridge, so that part of the walk was good. When we got to the other side of the river, there was a sign for the museum directing us to walk down the stairs to the path next to the river. We all rejoiced "Yay! We're at the museum!" By this time, we'd been walking for about 45 minutes -- that's a long time for two kids.
When we got to the bottom of the stairs, there was a sculptural playground. "This must be the museum playground!" said Lily. "Let's hurry up and go to the museum for our cool drink," I said (because I wanted to get in the AC as soon as possible). We wandered around the area for 10 minutes and saw nothing remotely resembling a museum. Then I glimpsed a small sign directing us toward the museum along a path by the Rhine.
"It's over here!" I said and we started down the path. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. My shirt front was soaked with sweat and even the kids were sweating. Periodically, we would pass a sign that directed us to the museum. We passed the hospital where Jack got his medical care, which I must note is about 5 blocks from our apartment. We kept going. "Is DIS the museum?" Jack asked every time we approached a new building. The answer was always no. After about 30 minutes of trudging, we came to a river boat landing that said "Tinguely Museum." "We're here!" I said. We looked around for a few minutes and found nothing but apartment buildings. "Let's walk up ahead," I said. "Is DIS the museum?" asked Jack. "Not yet," I said.
We trudged another 10 minutes and came to something called the Solitude Park. The river path ended abruptly. There was no sign suggesting where the museum might be, and the only buildings in sight were a preschool and Roche. "I'm really dizzy," said Jack. "I know," I said, "Let's see if we can find some place to get a drink." We walked across the park (the kids paused to go down a slide) and came out on the street, which turned out to be a four lane highway. There was nothing that looked like a museum or a place to get a drink. I saw a Roche security guard standing at the gate to the building and went over to him. I asked him in German where the museum was. "You go through the park," he said, pointing in the direction we came from. "Is DIS the museum?" Jack said. "No!" I said, "We have to go through the park."
We walked across the Solitude Park and came to a building -- a preschool. We walked a bit further and came to a middle school. We walked through some trees and finally Lily spotted a kinetic sculpture. "It's over here!"
When we got inside, it was mercifully air conditioned as I hoped. I showed my Swiss Pass when we approached the ticket counter and we were admitted for free. "Let's just go down to the restaurant and get something to eat." $52.30 Francs later (no, I'm not kidding), the kids having eaten a hotdog and fries and me having eaten quiche, we were ready to see the exhibit. The kids were really excited. I was just happy for the air conditioning.
We saw this:
and a few other non-moving exhibits of a similar nature. "Dis place is COOL," said Jack. Then we went up to the next floor and entered a room featuring a series of kinetic sculptures that you operated by stepping on a switch near the exhibit. The room was lit so that giant shadows of each sculpture were cast on the walls.
"Dis is a little SCARY," said Jack:
"I want to go to another museum!" said Jack when the last sculpture (shown above) began to whirl around. We headed downstairs to the next exhibit, which was a series of elaborate sets of armor and equally elaborate dresses.
"I don't like DOSE guys" said Jack, referring to the armor posed as if it were riding horses (above).
"DAT is SCARY!" said Jack when he noticed the mural of skeletons that went along the entire length of one wall.
"What DOSE guys doing, Mama?" he asked fearfully when we saw the group of armed men. "They have spears," I said. "I don't LIKE them. What is a SPEAR?" "A pointy stick," I said. "I want to go in another kind of museum," said Jack fearfully.
"I think these dresses are GORGEOUS!" said Lily and she asked me to take several pictures.
We both liked the red one.
Lily posed in front of a few.
Jack just kept asking when we were going to go to another kind of museum, so pretty soon we went to the bottom floor. The first two rooms had several sculptures that made noise. One of them was made out of a lot of drums. Jack screamed and ran when Lily started it up, so there was no time for me to take any pictures. We raced through the two rooms and ended up at the last room, where they had a series of sculptures set up that featured what looked like carnival lights.
Jack jumped about 3 feet and grabbed my hand when Lily made this giant hand move.
He kept a wide margin between himself and this horse sculpture. Lily wanted to climb up it and watch from inside while it moved. I knew Jack wasn't going to touch it with a 10 foot pole so I said no.
Jack's final comment: "I don't even KNOW what kind of fing DAT is," pointing to the scultpure above, that was hanging from the ceiling. "Can we go to a different kind of museum now?"
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