When the great art galleries of the world come to Switzerland

Yesterday we went to Art Basel, a large 5-day exhibition of art in – you guessed it – Basel. Around 300 galleries from around the world come and bring work from their hottest, shiniest art stars to display and sell for insane amounts of money.

We arrived at 11 AM, just as the exhibit was opening its doors. We started in Hall 1 of the conference center, which housed several large-scale works (pictured above), pacing ourselves since we knew we had a lot to see that day. By 12 we were proudly ready to move on to Hall 2, where all of the gallery booths were set up.

We browsed through the first row of booths, soaking in the offerings. There were lacquered sculptures, c-print photos, and creative knitting projects. Gold-leafed collages and mirrored concave wall hangings. Abstract video installations and drawings of penises, lots and lots of penises. By 1:30, we were starving, and decided to grab a ridiculously-overpriced lunch out in the courtyard while resting our feet and our brains. Actually my brain wouldn’t turn off, as it danced around full of dreams of going back to art school to learn new techniques and make lots of crazy new things (that would happen to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars at events such as this one). I loved art. I was an artist, and I was here in my element, hungry to learn more. Yay, art!

A couple hours and several rows of booths later, my attitude was a wee bit different. I think it could be blamed on over stimulation. Who were these freaks and what made them think these things were art? What was wrong with me that I couldn’t appreciate all this art? And where the hell were the paintings? It was time for another break, so we had some coffee and some cheese quiche, hoping it would revive us.

Later we stumbled upon the galleries specializing in 20th-century artists (otherwise known as Artists I’ve Actually Heard Of), but by then we were too tired to really care what we were seeing. Numerous Picassos, Kandinskys, Schieles and Warhols passed before my eyes completely unappreciated. Not even eavesdropping on the discussions around me by people who were actually buying this art could keep my interest. I was fading fast. We tried taking another break and then plowing ahead, but by then it had all just become torturous. Finally around 7 PM, we made our exit, having seen about 75% of the booths (and appreciating about 10% of them).

Despite the agony in this tale, I would actually highly recommend a trip to Art Basel. But set a timer and leave after three hours or at the height of your artistic appreciation abilities, whichever comes first.

Tags: art, Basel, day-trips from Zurich, Switzerland

Roving band of expat bloggers takes over Basel

The first big Swiss expat blogger meet-up took place in Basel today. About 25 bloggers and significant others were there to mix, mingle, and learn each other’s real names.
After several hours of eating, drinking, and musical chairs, we were led on a little walking tour of downtown Basel by The Big Finn, who made up some city history to share with the group.

So much fun was had by all that we decided we must do another such meet-up. It was decided the next one will be in Zurich, possibly the weekend of March 24th to correspond with this.

It was great to meet you all! The experience was kind of like going to Disney World for the first time and seeing all your favorite characters come to life. Except at this thing, they were all wearing pants.

Tags: Basel, bloggers and the people who love them, expat life, Switzerland

Your chance to meet real live Swiss bloggers is less than a week away!

That’s right, folks, S.Ex.B.U.F.F.A.L.O. (or whatever we’re calling it these days) is just around the corner – on Sunday, January 14th to be precise. Starting at noon, we’ll be gathering at Zum Braunen Mutz in Basel for drinking, eating, and general blogger camaraderie (or whatever else it is that bloggers do when they get together).

It’s your big chance to meet all your favorite Swiss bloggers! So far we have twenty-something people coming, from all over the country. Meet the Expatters and their lovely little spawn. Find out what Ali really thinks of all those German in-laws. Ask Sara what it’s like to be both a girly girl and a physicist. Learn the secrets of finding your very own sugar mama from The Big Finn… and so much more!

All bloggers (in Switzerland or not, expats or not) and their friends and family are welcome to join us. If you’re planning on coming but haven’t told anyone about it yet, please send me an email or leave a comment. This will help us make sure we have enough room reserved in the restaurant. Also, if you are a Swiss blogger, feel free to spread the word by posting on your own blog. Bis bald!

Tags: Basel, bloggers and the people who love them, Switzerland

Hey you bloggers in and around Switzerland!

The Big Finn, Sara and I have organized a blogger meet-up in Basel for January 14th. Bloggers in and around Switzerland are welcome to join us and bring spouses, family, friends, etc. More details can be found in this post on TBF’s BB.

If you’re interested in coming, let us know (by, say, leaving a comment on this post or sending me an email). We need to get an approximate head count so that we have enough space reserved for everyone. I think we’re up to at least 20 or so people already, and we don’t even have a name yet.

Which reminds me, if you can think up a name for our big Swiss blogger meet-up, let us know that too. TBF is favoring SExBOMB (Swiss Expat Bloggers Out to Meet in Basel, which, for the record, I came up with), but we’re thinking perhaps we should come up with something more… wholesome. Because we’re nothing if not a thoroughly wholesome group of bloggers.

Tags: Basel, bloggers and the people who love them, news, Switzerland

A Day in Basel

To further my goal of getting to know every corner of Switzerland, I recently rounded up a few friends and took a day trip to Basel, which is about an hour away from Zurich by train (as I’ve said before – one of the big benefits of living in Zurich is all of the cool day trips that are around).

From the train station in Basel, we walked towards the old town. We immediately noticed that, like Bern, Basel was less meticulously clean and orderly than Zurich. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Our first stop was to admire the Tinguely Fountain, a busy arrangement of water-spewing figures that entertained us for at least a good 10 minutes. It also solidified our decision to make the Tinguely Museum part of our day.

Next we stopped for a quick coffee at the trendy café fumare non fumare (Gerbergasse 30). My double espresso was horrible, but the spinach-filled Italian rice ball was delicious.

We ploughed onward through the old town and searched the river bank for the king who was sticking out his tongue at the peasants on the other shore. All our guidebooks mentioned him, but we weren’t having any luck, so we decided to get a little tongue-sticking-out in ourselves. Damn peasants! We really showed them.

Anyway, we finally found the king, and stood mesmerized by his mechanical tongue motions and eye rolls for a couple seconds before crossing to the other side of the river in search of the Tinguely Museum. The walk along the river to get there was longer than we expected, but enjoyable given the beautiful views and charming neighborhoods (not so bad given it was the peasant side of the river).

The Tinguely Museum was tons of fun. I usually enjoy museums, but the squiggly, squeaky, twirly, interactive sculptures that filled this one made it good for visitors with even the shortest attention spans. To set each motorized sculpture in motion, the viewer has to step on a big red button on the floor. The buttons didn’t always work, however, so we always felt special when our step was the one that made things go.

The exhibit left us famished, so we had a quick lunch in the museum’s restaurant and headed out again. We took a tram back towards the center and wandered up to the Münster, which was back on the tongue king’s side of the river. This big Gothic cathedral has a beautiful countyard and a back terrace that offers more gorgeous views across the river.

We then headed down some steep stairs to the river bank for a quick ride across on this little boat attached to a wire which we had seen crisscrossing the swiftly-moving river all day. That brought us conveniently back to a group of riverside restaurants we had passed earlier in the day, so we decided to stop for a beer and to enjoy the view.

Then it was back to the old town again, to explore more little streets and to see the Spalentor, a Gothic gate that dates to 1370. It used to be part of the defensive wall that encircled the city. We were also delighted to come across this guy, who appears to be the beer super hero of Basel.

One of our guidebooks recommended a bar that was sort of nearby, so we headed there for an aperitif. Cargo Bar (St. Johanns Rheinweg 46) was a small, hip, student-hang-out-y kind of place, with a friendly bartender who apologized profusely for his inability to make a proper dry martini (my fault for expecting a dry martini to be, well, not sweet).

Finally it was time for a late dinner at a delicious tapas bar, Spalenburg (Schnabelgasse 2), that we found in the old town. Somehow we managed to eat everything we ordered (which had to have been close to one of each thing on the menu). A mad dash to the train station, and we were on our way home to Zurich. I can’t believe we managed to do all of that in one day. And, we still have to go back to see the many other interesting museums, and to sample some of the yummy-looking (but closed for the holiday) restaurants we saw.

[note: apologies for the formatting. Blogger is being a pain in the ass and not uploading pictures correctly.]

Tags: art, bars, Basel, day-trips from Zurich, restaurants, Switzerland, travel