Before I move on to the many splendors of Basel a word about why the Beauchat's was not an ideal place. You may already be familiar with this particular old couple. They were kind enough to house Laura for a reasonable price during her stay in Delemont. I have written about them on a few occasions. They may possibly be international spies, though I have no evidence of this, it wouldn't have surprised me to catch Mrs. Beauchat snooping since things had a tendency to disappear, or be relocated to locked attic rooms (my own bike was a victim of Mrs. Beauchat's meddling). Besides the annoying way objects were provided and with-held by Mrs. Beauchat, the apartment didn't have a proper kitchen--only a 60 year old hotplate on a discarded kitchen cabinet set into the eves of the house. No kitchen sink, Laura had to do her dishes in the bathroom sink. Can you imagine? I wonder how many of the sicknesses Laura and her roommate contracted during their tenure at the Beauchat's could have been avoided with a more hygienic setup?
But that's not important, besides being the explanation for why we would chose to spend money on a hostel instead of just staying another night in Delemont.
We got up the next morning and decided that we should head over to the Tinguely Museum. Jean Tinguely was a Swiss sculptor who is famous for making kinetic sculptures. We had heard that the museum is an exciting place to go, hey even bring the kids! they'll have a great time! We weren't entirely sure where the museum was so we started at the tourist info desk--because we've gotten to be such good travelers. We got good advice (as opposed to the last time we visited this particular tourist-info-desk when the lovely woman there told us "You can walk to Geneva if you want to!") and were on our way to the museum.
We found an old castle and tried to take a boat across the river. No one came out to drive us across the river when we rang the bell, so we gave up and used a bridge.
The museum was very far away, and it was a very cold day, but we made it. It cost us 10 CHF each to get in--because we told them we were students, normal admission is 15 CHF. The Tinguely museum is full of sculptures--some as large as a house--that whir and tick and screech and clank and spin and light up. They're made of discarded pieces of tractors, carnival rides, cars...you name it. Junk. Most of them are painted black, and they all look like what they are: piles of Junk. I didn't think there were enough sculptures in the museum to hold my attention--probably only half a dozen decent sized ones and about 20 small poster sized wall installations.
We were disappointed with the museum.
In fact, if you're thinking of going to the Tinguely Museum I would recommend you do this: If you must go to the Tinguely museum--take a bus there--and walk around the outside to see the outdoor sculptures, then look in through the windows, and check out the gift shop because from there you can see most of the art pieces without having to pay the steep admission. Actually, we enjoyed the gift shop best. There was a large display of windup creatures that was more exciting than the rest of the museum.
After the Tinguely museum (it only kept us busy for about an hour). We walked back across the bridge and found some food at coop. It was pretty cold out so we gave up on sight seeing any longer and headed back to the YMCA where we watched some show in French about a group of people who live on an island somewhere and worship a man named John From and Americans. We met a Greek man who was sitting in the tv room at the YMCA because he was trying to find a job in Switzerland as a Sailor. I said "Wow, I didn't know that there was much of a market for Sailors in Switzerland." he said "Yes, it is very hard because I don't talk German". I said "Isn't it also hard because there is no ocean?" He was confused, "No, mostly because I don't talk German" I said "Why don't you go to Spain or Italy and be a Sailor" He said "I want to sell swiss shoes". Oh, he wants to be a Seller, not a Sailor. Communicating was difficult so we gave up and continued to watch TV. It was election day so se were watching endless reels of Americans standing in lines to vote on CNN. He asked what we were doing in Switzerland. We said we were working. He asked me if I spoke any other languages, I said No. He proceeded to give Laura and I a hard time about the fact that we only spoke english.
Seriously, I hate this. Ok: In Europe, if you want to move out of your own country (especially if you're Finish, or Danish or something) you've simply GOT to learn another language. In fact, it's so important that they even teach their children different languages in School. Isn't that revolutionary? Europeans get to study other languages in school, and it's a serious effort--not an afterthought in 10th grade to fill in class schedules with something Well Rounded. I won't even get into it--but I feel awful that I can't speak another language, but it certainly doesn't make me stupid, just not multi-lingual.
Ok, then we flew to London. No problems there, except we were given a mini-interrigation when we arrived. Apparently England wants to be really sure that people are VISITING and not looking for gainful employment or planning to stay for very long. I wasn't bothered, I can't really imagine anyone wanting to stay there for very long.
The YMCA in Basel is very nice. You should stay there!
3 comments:
OI!!!! thats my country you're on about!! Brits back me up here! you only saw London and that isn't all of England! I suggest you withdraw that comment and instead mention about what you did there and not assume that England is like London! its certainly not!
Back up has arrived Ruth!! Kat, ditto to Ruths comment...stop being horrible about the uk! You saw London for 2 days in November. Hardly representative of the uk!! Next time come at a better time of year than November and to more areas that London. Will be intrested to read your London blog entry...
The whole of England is not like London! The rest of the UK certainly isn't either!
The mini- interregation doesn't suprise me, given how many thousands of people try to get into our tiny little landmass to live eachday...
Post a Comment