Extended Field Trip, Part II - Second Five Days

Day 6 - Off to Bern

On Day 6 I went to the wrong city - Bern. If I had been there in the morning, I could have gone to the Klee museum and met up with my group in the afternoon in Basel as planned. However, I didn't realize that the two events were in two different cities. I couldn't get to Bern any earlier than 4:00, which was after the 1:00 meeting time in Basel. It wasn't until I got to the bus stop and saw that route 55 did not exist that I realized I was in the wrong place. Long story short, I laid down at my hostel in Bern at 6:00 to take a nap before seeing the city on my own. I woke up around 9 or 10, so I just ate something and went to bed.

(My makeshift water bottle, map of Switzerland, and breakfast. That is one half of a roll that costs only 70 cents and has therefore been a staple in my diet for this trip.)

Day 7 - Basel

Finally, two days later, I was back with the group on the morning of Day Seven in Basel. I might have felt upset about missing two days of activities, but everyone was grumpy and exhausted because Locarno (evening of day 5) had been full due to a huge concert, so my group had slept on trains or not at all, and none of them seemed to have recovered yet. So, I am actually glad I missed out and didn't have to be a part of sleep deprivation and frustrated grumpiness.

Day Seven was essentially a walk around Basel to a variety of sculptures and buildings. Some of them were very interesting to me, namely some mechanical fountains in a square of water, but most of the rest were (to me) rather boring.

(Each of these has mechanical moving parts and a fountain of some sort.)

After seeing a few such things, we went to an art museum which really was pretty cool. The architect used a glass ceiling, which is a basic no-no for art museums because direct light will ruin most artwork. However, he employed enough louvers and other diffusion methods so that no direct light penetrates; just a cool glow that perfectly lights the art without ruining it. Very well done.

(museum)

After the museum we saw what I found to be an ugly building, though I took lots of pictures along with everybody else. Then we were dismissed to do what we would with the rest of the day. I went back to Bern, got groceries for dinner, changed into my swimsuit, then met some of my group at the train station. The four of us went back to my hostel, where the other three changed and left their bags in my room. We went to the river, where there was a water park with a variety of pools. The river moves faster than any river I've swam before, and I would not have gotten in except that there are rails that go out into the water so you can grab on in order to get out. We walked upstream to some steps, jumped into the freezing cold water, and were immediately swept down the stream and away from the heat of the day. It was the most fun I'd had since arriving in Switzerland, only topped by something at the end of this field trip.

When the park closed, we went back to my hostel and changed. The others grabbed their bags and we walked the student whose hostel was in Basel back to the station. Then we parted ways for dinner, and I made myself a feast of stir-fried potatoes, onions, red bell pepper, and radishes. I found some Minnesotans playing cards and joined them while I ate. Then I brought two of them with me to find my other two friends, who were playing chess on a giant board paved into the walk.

Day 8 - Kunsthaus and Vals check-in

We saw the Kunsthaus, probably the only glass building I've seen that I actually like. As the sun changes, so does the gradient across the skin of overlapping panels, and it's really quite beautiful.

(The Kunsthaus is actually a museum.)

After the Kunsthaus, we went to the thermal baths at Vals and checked in to our rooms. I swam in the various pools until the baths closed, then listened to live jazz while eating dinner (zucchini pannini).

(The grass beyond the fence is on the roof of the bathhouse. This is part of the view from the lobby and cafe areas.)

Day 9 - Vals

The next day I spent about five hours in the water, four of them in the sound chamber. I sang to my boyfriend as it was a special day for us, and the echoes made my voice beautiful, covering any flaws. Three separate people asked me if I was a professional singer. I left when I got hungry, ate, and took a nap. When I got up, it was almost time for jazz to start again, so I went and got another sandwich. When I was about to leave to get changed for the midnight swim, some of my peers came in and one of them wanted to dance with me, so of course I did. We were having so much fun that two more of my group came up and asked me to teach them. I did so. I danced with each of them, but most memorable is the dance with the one who has dancing experience, even if it wasn't this sort of dancing. We were both grinning and laughing for the whole dance. It was so much fun!

After dancing, I went to the midnight swim, something that only happens on certain days. Silence is mandatory, which gives it a peacefulness lacking during the day. It was very romantic, which was perfect for my special day with my boyfriend despite being away, and I briefly waded into the ice room (the bath with VERY cold water) in honor of him being at the beach.

Day 10 - Home Again

(by path to chapel)

Yesterday (Day 10) we had a second wonderful breakfast at Vals before heading out. We went to see a chapel that I never got to see. I have lost enough weight here that my strength has begun to wane with it, and I fell behind while climbing the mountain. When my pulse began to pound in my ears and my breath became ragged, I chose to sit until my rhythms were back to normal instead of pushing through something that could be dangerous. When I stood back up, of course, everyone was out of sight. I climbed up to the last place I'd seen someone, and everyone was out of sight. There was no trail. There were fences all around. The path they had taken dead-ended in a three-sided square of fencing. I had no idea which fence they had jumped or where they had gone, so I climbed back down to the train station about half a mile away. I was tired of being abandoned, and decided to take the next train back instead of waiting for two hours for their return. I took a train, a bus, another train, and another bus and ended in Muggio, five kilometers away from Scudellate, and began the hourlong walk uphill, feeling guilty that I liked the idea of having the ostello to myself for an hour before the others walked up from the last bus to Muggio. They, however, paid someone to drive them up and arrived only two minutes after I did.

Today

Today has been a work day. I did laundry, finished a floor plan for part of my project (I am now working by myself instead of with a group), and found out that we are supposed to be taking a bus to Muggio in a few hours. Odd to make 23 people spend almost 2 hours going there and back rather than our teacher coming to our classroom. We'll see what happens when I get there.