I went out last night, to Switzerland.
Alors, last night I left the country for the evening. I went to a small town near the French border, in Switzerland called Martingy with my rotary club and the other two exchnage students, Iliana and Kotaro.
We went to a museum first off, where I found myself face-to-face for the first time with an original Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet, as well as many other well-know artists. Its was funny, as I was looking at a photography exposition, I stumbled apon (or is it "upon"?) a different room, and stopped in front a random painting, and then eventually, looked at the tittle and artist. It said Van Gogh. That has never happened to me before. I had to take a little exchange student moment and appreciate the amazing fortune and blessings I have had to be able to enjoy an original work of art done by one of the most celebrated artists ever.
My favorite thing about Europe is the age of it, and the food, but mostly the age. It impresses me to no end to think that in 1889 Vincent himself sat down and put the same oil to the same canvas that I stood there and looked at today in 2005. Its the same feeling with all the old buildings as well. For example at the museum there was an archiological dig and they found walls and houses that were built by the romans when that area was part of the empire. Its amazing that someone so long ago built that with their own hands and now I can touch it and walk on it just as they did. It makes me wonder what people will think in a few hundred years about the things that we have built, painted or made this century.
After the museum we went see an old building, that was built on a river and was used to grind wheat to make flours with the force of the water. It was actually really cool. We got to tour around the great wheels and stones and assorted contraptions used to complete this process and then we got to eat in the restaurant area, the most delicious cheese yet, Raclette. Its cheese served just at the melting/boiling point with patatoes, dried meat and pickles, and lots of Swiss white wine.
The evening was devine, I learned a lot about classic, impressionistic, modern art, grinding wheat and as always, cheese. As my friend Erica, once noted, there is something about traveling that makes learning about art, food, history, litturature and everything nerdy like that, incredibly interesting. On the other hand we returned at 2 am to Chambery, so I missed all the learning that happened at school this morning! Tant-pis.
We went to a museum first off, where I found myself face-to-face for the first time with an original Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet, as well as many other well-know artists. Its was funny, as I was looking at a photography exposition, I stumbled apon (or is it "upon"?) a different room, and stopped in front a random painting, and then eventually, looked at the tittle and artist. It said Van Gogh. That has never happened to me before. I had to take a little exchange student moment and appreciate the amazing fortune and blessings I have had to be able to enjoy an original work of art done by one of the most celebrated artists ever.
My favorite thing about Europe is the age of it, and the food, but mostly the age. It impresses me to no end to think that in 1889 Vincent himself sat down and put the same oil to the same canvas that I stood there and looked at today in 2005. Its the same feeling with all the old buildings as well. For example at the museum there was an archiological dig and they found walls and houses that were built by the romans when that area was part of the empire. Its amazing that someone so long ago built that with their own hands and now I can touch it and walk on it just as they did. It makes me wonder what people will think in a few hundred years about the things that we have built, painted or made this century.
After the museum we went see an old building, that was built on a river and was used to grind wheat to make flours with the force of the water. It was actually really cool. We got to tour around the great wheels and stones and assorted contraptions used to complete this process and then we got to eat in the restaurant area, the most delicious cheese yet, Raclette. Its cheese served just at the melting/boiling point with patatoes, dried meat and pickles, and lots of Swiss white wine.
The evening was devine, I learned a lot about classic, impressionistic, modern art, grinding wheat and as always, cheese. As my friend Erica, once noted, there is something about traveling that makes learning about art, food, history, litturature and everything nerdy like that, incredibly interesting. On the other hand we returned at 2 am to Chambery, so I missed all the learning that happened at school this morning! Tant-pis.
posted by Bonnie at 7:08 PM
2 Comments:
What a lovely post Bonnine!
I am so glad to here that you are enjoying yourself so much. I love the photos you are posting, they make me miss not quite so much, I feel like I am there with you.
but the question is, did you ask the swiss to deposit money in your candian overseas bank acount? or ask if they knew mr schweizer?
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