Swiss Air
Today is a photo post. This was one of the many airplanes at the Swiss Transportation Museum in Luzern.
Posts Tagged ‘museum’
Swiss Transportation Museum
24
Feb
Swiss Transportation Museum
This weekend we took a trip to Luzern to visit the Swiss Transportation Museum. It is a trip I had wanted to take for some time, but for whatever reason I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Part of it was probably the fact that I thought it would be more of a ‘Man’s Museum’ and I wasn’t sure my wife would enjoy it. After all what do you expect when you are going to see a collection of old trains and cars.
What I found was something much more than just a collection of trains and cars. There were also boats, planes, a submarine under restoration and the only collection of ski lift chairs I have ever seen. All of the exhibits were really fantastic and interactive. Everything looked to be brand new. I don’t know if that was just Swiss cleanliness or the fact that the place was in fact using a lot of the latest technology for its exhibits.
I was amazed at the size of the place as well. The museum is built on a large campus with several buildings and we spent a good 5 hours walking around. More amazing than that was the fact that my wife actually enjoyed it.
In the courtyard between the buildings there were also plenty of interactive things for kids. There were scooters and bicycles as well as a huge sand pit with a bunch of construction related toys to play with. I would imagine that the place is hugely crowded in the summer with all sorts of rug rats.
It was definitely worth the trip and the 28 CHF admission fee. Keep in mind if you are going to take public transportation you can get a 10% discount on the entrance fee by buying you ticket together with you train ticket. Just ask at the ticket window.
One of the highlights for me was the automated parking robot that displayed the museum’s car collection. It is a bit hard to explain, but think of all the cars as if they were sitting in an enormous shelving system. About 5 levels high and maybe 10 vehicles wide. For the demonstration show a huge robotic carriage would pull the full sized cars off the shelves and bring them down to display them in front of the visitors. It was really an awesome sight to see. I took a few pictures so maybe I’ll post them in a future post.
Tinguely Museum – Basel
28
May
Jean Tinguely Museum
A few weeks back we took a weekend trip to Basel and we stopped at the Jean Tinguely museum for the afternoon. The museum was built to house the works of Jean Tinguely, a Swiss decorator turned sculptor.
His works are crazy collections of motors, metal, wood, instruments, and in some cases animal bones. laying next to each sculpture is a ominous looking big red foot switch. Visitors are invited to step on the switches and set the kinetic sculptures into a rattling, shrieking, grinding motion.
The bobbing and weaving monstrosities are the most amuzing things I have ever seen. I was totally engrossed in the movement of these odd works.
One of the biggest pieces shown in the picture above even includes staircases and ramps and visitors are invited to climb over the sculpture as it is in motion.
The kids at the museum were having so much fun running from piece to piece stomping on the foot switches and setting things in motion. I even felt like a little kid watching in amazement as each twisted nest of welded metal came to life.
This is definately something to see if you are in Basel. I can assure you that you won’t forget the experience.
Day Trip To Basel
16
May
Basel City Hall Courtyard
Sunday we took a day trip to Basel. My wife wanted to attend a children’s Choir concert that was part of a European festival in Basel and I wanted to grab a few photos of the downtown area. We also planned to visit the Tinguely museum.
Every time I visit Basel the city grows on me. It feels like a city where real people live. It seems to be a little more worn, a bit dirtier than Zurich. The stores seem to be a bit more in my price range as well. It just feels more like a place a real, regular person would live, whatever that means.
I was combing the web looking a a few panoramic images and saw a good one of the rathaus courtyard. I took four panoramic images when I was there. After getting home it looks like one has turned out pretty well, one will require a bit more work because of the complex lighting, and 2 were throw-aways. But that is why I always take more than one shot. Here is a link to the 360 panorama of the Basel Rathaus courtyard.
I was also really impressed with the Tinguely museum. It has quickly turned into my favorite art museum. The core of the collection is works from Jean Tinguely. If you have been by the fountain in Barfussplatz and seen the mechanical artisitc monsters in the fountain you’ll have a good idea of what you’ll encounter at the Tinguely museum. I’d like to share more about the Tinguely museum after I go through my photos because I think it deserves a post of its own.