Two More Museums (6/7)

My goal today was to make it to two more museums to make the museum card worthwhile – and, of course, to see the museums themselves – and I did it! After breakfast, I hustled to the lake short to take a bus to the Verkehrshaus Museum.  The translation is “traffic-house” museum, but it’s really a transportation museum. It’s a HUGE museum – the kind where you take the kids and they have a lot to do while you follow along, look enthusiastic, and probably have some fun yourself. The best description I can come up with is it’s the Sacramento train museum on steroids – AND it’s the same for ALL means of transportation – trains, cars planes, boats, funiculars!  I’ve probably forgotten something, but I DID see both a baby buggy and a skateboard in the exhibit, so consider those means of transportation covered.

Since transportation is not necessarily one of my big interests, I’m not sure I would have sought out the museum as such, but . . . one of the things they advertise is the Swiss Chocolate Adventure.  I tried going on a chocolate tasting tour in Zurich, but they had been booked up way ahead, and I wanted to do SOMETHING related to chocolate while here, so . . . I went to the museum for the Swiss Chocolate Adventure! I’m not sure what it has to do with transportation except the fact that the chocolate beans are transported from Ghana. (By the way, it turns out that, like corn, chocolate was taken to Africa after the shipping trade began. I’m not sure why Switzerland buys its chocolate from Ghana, rather than other countries, but that’s what the video said. I mention corn because I was curious why I was eating corn in Africa, when it was a South American staple. I contacted a colleague who studies Africa, and he explained that once trading began, corn was quickly adopted as a staple in Africa because it is cheap and feeds a lot of people. It is totally integrated into the diet in both Ghana and Tanzania, the two African countries I have visited.) Anyway, the adventure involves getting into cars, kind of like the teacup cars at Disneyland, and moving from one video screen to another. It’s really fun, and I saw some equipment, developed in Switzerland, that I didn’t know about, as well as the “whole story” put together.  And, of course, they gave us some chocolate!

Then I wandered through the museum.  There were kids everywhere!  It’s really a great kid museum, but everyone would like it. The train exhibit was good. I was particularly interested in the story of a tunnel, built in the last 20 years or so, that goes 7.3 kilometers (I think that’s right) through a mountain. It greatly assists with the transport of goods – and travelers – between Zurich and Milan.  It was quite an endeavor to build.  The museum had all kinds of airplanes and helicopters hanging from the ceiling, and two aircraft - a Swiss Air plane and a U.S. Airforce bomber – in the middle plaza between the buildings. There was another Swiss Air plane arranged in/on a building so that you could go into the plane and walk around, including up to the cockpit.  And – the highlight of my day – they had one of those slides used for rescuing people in the event of a plane crash.  I’ve always wanted to try out one of those slides = without being in a crash, of course – and today, I did!  It was really fun. The sign said, “Use at your own risk. Not recommended for children under six or for adults.” I’m not sure where I fit in there, but why let kids and teens have all the fun? There was also a media hall – again, not sure what that has to do with transportation, but it was well done. (I could have used some of the exhibits for teaching at SFSU!) There was also a really imaginative, hands-on exhibit about computers.  I played with it a little bit, but decided to leave this one for the kids. And there was a “body” of water – like a huge swimming pool – in the middle plaza, as well – and kids of all ages could ride on boats there.  I kept thinking my “boys” would like this museum, even at their current age, given the engineering-related stuff all over the place. Ben particularly would have liked the wall of real cars inside one of the buildings.

By around 3:00 PM, I decided to try to make it to the Richard Wagner Museum. Wagner lived in Lucerne for a while with his second wife and children – in a mansion on the lake shore where he composed and hosted visiting dignitaries from all over. I’m not a big Wagner fan – and one of my friends has consistently warned me about his anti-Semitism, but I figured I’d go there anyway, and maybe learn something.  At the least, I’d see a completely different part of Lucerne. So . . . I took the bus from the transportation museum, which is on the lake shore at one end of town, to the bus station, and looked for a bus that would take me to the lake shore on the complete opposite end of town.  Finding the right bus was a project in itself, but I was afraid to walk because I wasn’t sure I’d find the museum that way, nor could I tell the distance on my map.  So, I took a bus, and then walked toward the lake, and found the museum a half hour before closing time. It’s a small museum, so I had just enough time to see the two-story house and the graphic novel/cartoon story that’s been made of his life. The house was charming, he WAS anti-Semitic, and I found a beautiful area of Lucerne.  I was able to walk back to the city along the lake bank. There is a large city park at one point, that reminds me of the famous Impressionist painting called something like, “Sunday in the Park.” Lots of people sitting on the grass on a rolling hill.  The people in the painting would have to be given much more casual clothing, but otherwise the painting captures it.  I also walked through a wooded area – delightful – and so “wild” so close to Lucerne.  The lake continues to be spectacular. I made it back to where I’m staying.  After rain this morning, it’s hot and humid. Boring evening – I’m doing laundry! But it’s kind of nice to stay in!