I wasn’t sure what I was going to do in Zurich, so I kind of played it by ear. I wandered around, meandering from my hotel to Lake Zurich. It’s a pretty lake, bordered by many parks and areas to just sit and enjoy life. Then I realized that the FIFA museum is in Zurich, so I walked over there to take some pictures for my football-fan friends. I didn’t go in though, because I’m really not a fan. Also, I had to visit a different museum.
What museum did I need to visit? Haus Konstruktiv. This is a modern art museum, but even more important to me right now, is that it is a museum that really focuses on Constructivism and art that relates to Constructivism. Yes, I know that this is a rather obscure art movement that many people have never heard of, but I’m taking on online class on the history of graphic design and am doing a research project in which Constructivism features prominently. I really geeked out over this place and spent quite a while in there, especially once I realized there was a library on the top floor. I might’ve had an impromptu research session up there. And by that, I mean that I totally had an impromptu research session. Sadly, I couldn’t spend all the time there that I wanted, because I did have evening plans.
See, I had been wanting to go to the opera, so I when I got to Zurich, I looked to see if anything was playing. There was – Le Grand Macabre. I am still not entirely sure what was going on in this opera. It felt much that one of my favorite quotes from The Muppet Show – “Have you seen the scene? Even you know what it is, you don’t know what it is!” I mean, there was a cartoonishly gigantic penis costume on stage at one point, with the actors inside it singing beautifully, and in the end, the devil is prevented from activating the apocalypse by two other characters getting him so drunk that he passes out and misses his time frame for chaos and destruction. It was strange and also hysterical and awesome. 10 out of 10, would see again.
Final note: holy hell, this is the first place I’ve been to where the minibar is more affordable than everything else. I couldn’t afford more than 2 nights in Zurich, so I went off to Chur, where I spent 2 nights before taking the Bernina Express to Italy.