Chur Revisited – Day 14
I got to sleep in today, I don’t know when that willl ever happen again. I got up after 7:30 to get ready for us to all meet up in the lobby for a bus to Chur. I skipped breakfast but was okay to go on without bread and ham, plus cheese for a day. We arrived in Chur at a quarter to nine and walked to the Sculpture Garden.
We saw these sculpture on the lawn of the outside of an Kulturforum Wurth Museum in Chur. I thought the first one looked liked a ball on a see-saw like machine that would have the ball moving fromside to side on a track to keep it in place. It was called Dolittle by Bernhard Luginbühl. The next one was a colorful yet bejeweled bear by Niki de Saint Phalle called Der Bär. It had pieces of cut glass to adorn the edgesand around the statutes. The last one was an woman like figure for on top of a glass globe. It called Le Monde by the same artist. Prof. Garely mentioned that her sculptures are use for cover art on perfume bottles.
It was then time to walk for about ten minutes to the Ratisches Museum stated on the itinerary. It seemed more like 20 minutes to reach our reach our next destination. Once at the museum, we all took a seat on front step or benches in front of the museum garden and shrub area. Soon the museum director Dr. Jurg Simonett appeared from the museum after Adele went in side looking for him.
After introduced himself and gave us a brief history lesson about about Chur and the Swiss people’s journey through time.
The actual site ot the museum is 400 years old and was donated then opened by 1972. It was difficult because of small rooms but a couple were opened up. We took the elevator(in turns) to the top floor then climbed stairs for the basement. Mr. Simonnett said the museum was set up so that the articfacts and collection start with oldest at the top. Then continues through the centuries as you work your way to the bottom floor.
The basement had pots and pans made from blacksmith. Also pick axes and othertools use for farming. I saw a cart that probably used to transport items from one place to the next. They must had some culinary skills because on display was butter molds. They also had a brace for the cows to grow their horns the right way. The next room below focused on weaponry used during the middle ages. There was two types of knights armour as well as spears, swords, and long arms (guns). I never understood the strength needed to carry them much less use them in battle.
As we moved through the museum, there was a floor devoted to paintings and portraits Swiss figures in politicis from 1800’s to present day. Once he said politics, I wondered what type of punishment was used during their time periods. The next room held torture devices used such as the stretcher. Also chain and shackles used on criminals. We wrapped up the tour soon after so others could get some shopping done in town. So we took pictures with Mr. Simonett and split up. I walked of with Andy, Sarah, and Adrienne for some light food shopping but got distracted by Interio. It’s a Swiss version of ‘Bed, Bath, and Beyond’ and picked up some items for the family, spending only 20 CHF.
Soon it was time to go back to school, so Sarah and I rushed to Migros to complete our shopping. We reached back with group in record time. Once back at the school, we had a classroom discussions about our impending departure back to New York City. I was excited about going home, but I felt slightly ill and couldn’t concentrate. After we were dismissed, I decided to have a talk with both professors. This was meant to straighten out what they wanted of me in the class, but ended up feeling worse. I called my boyfriend to help compose myself so that I could carry on the rest of the day.
I had dinner and felt a little better, then did some blogging until I couldn’t see the computer anymore. I trotted off to bed hoping the next day would bring better results.
