full moon?

nah...it's just the lighting at an outdoor bar. But it is a full moon tonight...so beware of werewolves! ...or, if you're a werewolf, behave!

bauschänzli grill

The other day I had lunch at the Bauschänzli, a popular beer garden/restaurant that sits on a peninsula on the left bank of the Limmat, where the lake meets the river. As I waited for my bratwurst (sausage), I snapped a picture of the guy manning the grill.

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The Bauschänzli used to be part of the city's seventeenth century fortifications protecting Zürich against attack from the lake. After most of the city walls were torn down, it was converted into a public park, and then a beer garden. During Christmas season, the Bauschänzli is also home to an acrobatic circus.

chinagarten

Located at the Zürichhorn (by the lake), the Chinese Garden was a gift to the people of Zürich from Kunming, Zürich's sister city in China, in appreciation for the technical and scientific aid provided to develop Kunming's drinking water supply and municipal sewage system. The Chinese Garden was laid out in 1993 by gardeners and artisans from Kunming and Zürich. (paraphrased from the pamphlet I picked up at the entrance). It's not very big, but it's quiet and peaceful and a nice refuge from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Not that living in Zürich is all that stressful or anything, but spending some quiet time in the Chinagarten is still nice.

stacks of blue

It has been rainy and miserable and cold for the last three days, so the outdoor seats and tables at all the sidewalk cafes are neatly stacked, locked, and unused. This was taken at around 7 :30 this evening, during a break in the rain, but then it started drizzling again soon afterwards...

cafe/bar/kiosk

This is the new cafe/bar/kiosk (guess they couldn't decide what to put there, so they went for a 3 -in-1 approach) at the recently renovated tram stop at Limmatplatz, at approximately 10 p.m., and closed for the evening (like most businesses in Zürich). You'd think they'd want to stay open at least until the trams stop running at around midnight, since there's a steady flow of people coming and going at least until then. Actually, this 'platz' is bustling until the wee hours, as there are plenty of bars and clubs in the area.

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Just because I couldn't make up my mind over which picture to post today, here's another shot. I'm still not sure which one I prefer...

three in a row

They were so bright and cheerful, and perfectly lined up as if they had been waiting to have their picture taken. Found in the Zuriberg gardens.

money is boring

Found in the Niederdorf area. The sentiment expressed here reminded me of a stencil I saw in Ljubljana about a year ago.

orange

Just playing with macro.

pigtails

Seeing this dad in a business suit at lunchtime with his kid on his shoulders compelled me to take their picture. It was cuter in person because she was singing and clapping and wearing oversized sunglasses. Judging from the girl's messy part on the back of her head, I'm guessing the dad did her hair.

jack & suzanne

These two LED panels/sculptures by British artist Julian Opie went up in Paradeplatz a few weeks ago. The male figure is "Jack walking" and the female is "Suzanne walking in leather skirt" Both are double sided and in constant movement, and both are fun to look at, epecially at night when the LED lights are brighter.

white fluffiness

Since some people mentioned they really liked the fluffy cat on the roof, here's a closer look. I always see this kitty hanging out in same section of the Zuriberg gardens whenever I go there for a walk.

pop quiz: solution

Elsa, Lavenderlady and Don got it right away: it was a close-up of the seats at the airport. I guess my second pop quiz wasn't as challenging as I had thought. Z's guess was creative though!

how now blue cow

The idea of the Cow Parade originated in Zurich in 1998. Hundreds of life size cows were decorated by local artists and then put on display in public spaces for several months. At the end of the exhibit, the cows were auctioned off to raise money for charity. Most of the cows were purchased by local businesses, and some of them can still be found at entrances to restaurants or stores. I found this blue cow resting in the front yard of an expensive looking house in the hilly Zuriberg neighborhood, so it seems this one was purchased by a wealthy art collector, rather than a business.

The Cow Parade caught on and soon brightly painted fiberglass cows were seen parading around other cities throughout the world: Chicago, New York, London, Sao Paulo, Mexico…Since then, Zurich has applied the same public art concept to other themes such as benches, and two summers ago the city was invaded by giant teddy bears. I’ve also seen codfish in Boston, and lions in Munich.

Has your city hosted a cow parade? Or did you have lions, tigers, or bears (oh my!) instead?

mechanical arms

This stencil reminded me of those 'Transformers' toy cars that turn into robots...Found on a random building in Kreis 5.

pop quiz II

Can anyone identify the object above? Common, take a wild guess!

taking care of business and breaking the rules

Apparently this guy had some pressing business that he needed to attend to before boarding the plane, so he used part of the sculpture as his own makeshift office. Clearly, he didn't read (or simply chose to ignore) the sign below:

At least he wasn't climbing up the sculpture...

airport art

Apologies for missing a few days, but I was traveling and away from a computer for a while. But this gives me an excuse to show some pictures of the Zürich airport again. Pictured here is a boxy abstract sculpture that's fun to look at from many different angles. Terminal E, gate 53.

look familiar?

You may remember this car from a previous post. Apparently it is on loan from the antique shop where it usually resides, and is being used as part of a display for a jewelry store on ritzy Banhofstrasse (Zürich's own version of 5th Avenue). The price tag on the car: 12,500 francs (approx $10,100). The jewelry in the display is comparably priced: 11,200 francs (approx. $9,000) for the orange necklace in the foreground. So, would you rather spend your money on a) an antique pedal car, b) jewelry, or c) none of the above? If you had 12,500 francs to spend on whatever you want, what would you buy?

chimp

Stencil found on back of a sign in front of the Museum für Gestaltung.

rimini

Rimini is another one of the popular outdoor summer bars in Zürich. Located on the Schanzengraben canal, by day it is a men's only badi (swimming area or lido). By night the cool lights come on, and the other half of the city's population is also welcome. You can order tasty pizzas or grillables (mostly sausage or shish-kebabs) and then grill them yourself on one of the several grills on the deck.

kanu polo

So I was already familiar with inner tube water polo, which was really popular in college. But here's a new take on water polo that I had never heard of before: kayak water polo, or 'kanu polo' as it is apparently called in Swiss German. Seen on the Schanzengraben, a beautiful tree-lined canal that runs along the Sihl River.

art student

As I walked past the Fraumünster yesterday, I spotted this girl, who had set up her easel right next to one of the entrances of the church. For a closer look, go here.

jugendstil turret

Although the building outside my bedroom window looks like your typical Swiss modern minimalist luxury apartment, most other buildings in my neighborhood represent a far more elaborate type of luxury from an entirely different era. Most buildings around me are built in the jugendstil style, and are about 100 years old. This turreted building is one street over from mine, and according a plaque on the wall, it was built in 1904. I have several more pictures of jugendstil architecture in my neightborhood that I'll save for another day. Sadly, my own apartment building looks nothing like either of these two buildings. It's a boring, non-descript, boxy, 70's-type buliding that does not fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. But I can't complain--on the inside the apartments are quite nice, and everything was renovated shortly before I moved in. At least I get to look out at the pretty buildings around mine, instead of the other way around.

teleportation device?

...or phone booth? The phone booths here are all space-agey and modern looking, like they came straight out of "The Jetsons" or something. Except that nobody ever uses them because everyone has a cell phone, or 'handy' as the Swiss like to call them.

cat on a hot tin roof

ok, I think it was actually fiberglass...found in the Zuriberg gardens.

1/2 face

Back to Rote Fabrik for another graffiti piece. This one is a few months old, and I don't think it's there anymore--someone else painted their own work over this one.

where there's a garden...

...there's a gnome...

...or two...

...or three...

view from my bedroom

The first day of each month is 'Daily Photo Theme Day,' and today's theme is "view from your bedroom." Every day I look out my bedroom window and see a small but modern apartment building with 5 luxury apartment units--those people sure are lucky to live there! You may have seen a snowy version of this same view back in March.

To see what over 80 other Daily Photobloggers from around the world see from their bedroom windows, follow the links below.

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