no men allowed

Located in the middle of town, on the left bank of the Limmat River near the Fraumünster church and the Stadthaus, the Frauenbad is a women-only swimming and sunbathing area. By night, it becomes the bar füss bar (not to be confused with the barfüsserbar!) and is open to everyone (including men). The bar is beautifully lit at night, and people can sit on the dock and soak their feet in the river while looking out at the surrounding buildings and churches in the Old Town.

glass pick-up

I was at the office trying to talk on the phone, when I heard this loud, loud, loud, shattering sound. I looked out the window and saw the glass recycling containers being emptied into the truck. We're supposed to sort our glass by color--so note that the back of the truck has three different sections corresponding to each of the different types glass containers: one for green, one for brown, and one for clear glass.

clouded mind

hmmm...interesting... Found right next to last week's pringles guy.

flea market dolls

Some more creepy looking dolls from the flea market at Bürkliplatz.

bait

I literally stumbled upon this kid on the sidewalk/bike path, hard at work, putting some bait on his fishing pole before going fishing off of the Neumühle-quai. He was so immersed in the task at hand that he had no idea I was there.

classical buskers

An impromptu classical music concert on the street behind the Grossmünster.

backlit bottles

Just some bottles all lined up at the bar area of barfüsserbar (website still under construction) a trendy sushi restaurant/bar in the Old Town, which previously unbeknownst to us, also happens to be a gay bar. Not a big deal or anything, just kind of funny because we weren't expecting it. The sushi was pretty good too!

jugendstil rainbow

As far as summer goes, we've had some pretty disappointing weather lately: chilly temperatures, plenty of rain followed by thunderstorms in the evenings. Today we had crazy weather: rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain...which inevitably resulted in ....a rainbow! I saw this one as I was walking up the street from the tram stop to my apartment this evening. It's actually the second rainbow I've seen this week! (Pictures of the first one didn't turn out so well). The house is one of the many jugendstil houses in my neighborhood that I had been planning on showcasing at some point, and today just turned out to be a perfect day for that.

barefoot

A few weeks ago, Z in Villigen posted a picture of a woman wandering around barefoot in the town of Stilli. She asked me if I had seen anyone walking around the streets of Zürich in their bare feet. I actually hadn't seen anyone. That is, until today, when I spotted this barefoot girl at the tram stop-in rainy weather, no less! I especially like the woman on the bench in the background. She seems to be giving this girl a strange look. Apologies for the blurriness--took this picture in a hurry and only had one free hand, as I was holding a bag of groceries and an umbrella in the other hand....

pringles man in disguise

This piece, found on a construction barrier on the bike path along the Limmat River made me laugh because it looks like the Pringles man in a bear suit. I particularly like the "heart letten" 'tatoo' because the letten is where I spend a good portion of my free time during the sumer, and is actually a short walk from where I took this picture.

harry potter at the flea market

Perhaps it's the glasses, or the striped sweater, or the floppy dark hair, or all the recent Harry Potter mania, but when I wandered over to weekly flea market at Bürkliplatz, these dolls reminded me of a certain boy wizard.

badi enge

Badi Enge, located on the left side of the lake, is another one of the city's many outdoor swiming areas that doubles as a cool bar at night. Usually people are sitting around on the dock, but it had just started pouring when I took this picture, and everyone was scrambling for shelter under the tent.

ferris wheel--again

Yet another picture of the humongous ferris wheel that is still parked out on Sechseläutenplatz. It can be seen from pretty much anywhere, including the opposite side of the lake. I just liked this shot because of the lighting from the setting sun and the clouds in background

oversized prize

Many of the carnival rides and funfair games from last week's Züri Fäscht will remain at Sechseläutenplatz for at least a couple of weeks for everyone's enjoyment. So here's a shot of this tiny little girl with her giant stuffed tiger-- a prize from one of the games.

mini jet d'eau

Zürich''s own version of the fountain in the lake, but it pales in comparison to the jet d'eau in Geneva...

bridge jumping

A popular summer activity among some of Zürich's more fearless youngsters.

work in progress II

After a two week break due to other activities & festivities on Sundays, Graffiti Sunday is back. This weekend a group of graffiti artists met at the Oberer Letten for a 'Meeting of Styles.' They spent three days in the scorching sun working on this mural, while bystanders watching their progress (and everyone else laying out in the sun/swimming in the river/having drinks at the adjacent bar, and generally enjoying the summer weather) inhaled a bunch of fumes...

underground garbage

Workers gettting ready to install an underground household garbage disposal container in the Old Town. Trash must be placed in a specially marked, pricey garbage bag called 'Züri-Sack' which is essentially a trash tax encouraging people to produce less waste. So that's where the trash ends up .... And all this time I thought there were underground gnomes collecting the city's garbage, making sure we used the proper Züri-Sack and separated our trash from our recyclables properly. oh, wait a minute....I guess I got it all mixed up...the gnomes are for the gold...

foosball toast

Following a rowdy game of foosball: a toast! I'm guessing this was a bachelor party, which would explain the handcuffs and the prison garb on the guy on the left. Unfortunately for all bystanders including myself, his friends didn't make him do anything embarrassing--that would have been more entertaining...

and after they noticed me taking their picture: a toast to me! :)

sleeping swans

Looking across the river from Schipfe: Limmatquai, shops, Prediger Kirche--one of Zürich's many churches, and part of a University building on the upper left. What I like best about this shot though, are the sleeping swans, which are barely visible in the foreground. I guess it's because typically they're pretty aggressive (especially when it comes to fighting over bread crumbs), and at night when they are asleep they look so peaceful and harmless.

live at sunset

This evening several hundred (or thousand?) spectators and I braved unseasonably chilly temperatures (14C!) to see Gilberto Gil at Live at Sunset, which is supposed to be an outdoor summer concert series in the courtyard of he Landesmuseum. With a career spanning four decades, and music incorporating all sorts of Brazilian styles and rhythms, Gilberto Gil is a renowned and beloved Brazilian musician, composer, lyricist, artist, Grammy winner, and, now, politician. Political repression during the military dictatorship forced him and other politically outspoken Brazilian artists into exile in the late 60's. He returned in the 70's, continued doing his thing, and is now Brazil's Minister of Culture, but uses his month-long vacation to tour Europe each summer. At over 60, he's still going strong, and he charmed the audience by singing, dancing, playing the guitar and smiling his way through a two hour set, as well as interacting with the public in English, Portuguese, and French.


Unlike most other concerts where recording and photography are strictly prohibited, Gilberto Gil actively encourages it on his 'BroadBand' tour. He is interested in promoting digital technology and the internet as a platform for exchanging ideas, sharing concert experiences, interacting with fans, and sharing music. He tells spectators to use cell phones, cameras, etc. to record and photograph whatever they want during his performances, and under Creative Commons licensing, people are free to use these recordings for personal use and/or to create their own versions or remixes of his music. He also encourages people to upload any photos, videos, music and comments to his website, which also includes a blog of his tour. Had I known all of this before the show, I would have taken my good camera rather than my little point & shoot.



By the way, the guitar player in the background is his son, Bem Gil. A few more pictures here.

space guys

The same hair salon that had Chuckie look-alike dolls in their window display a few months ago, now has these little space dudes. Aren't they cute?

day & night

As I was staking out my spot for the fireworks on Saturday, the sunlight hit the Grossmünster just right. Once it was dark, the church was bathed in patriotic lighting:

One more shot here.

fireworks!

One of highlights of this weekend's festivities. A few more pictures here.

it wouldn't be Züri Fäscht...

...if there weren't at least 2 ferris wheels (or 3, or 4...) This is a smaller one that was set up right in front of the Fraumünster. For those of you who were wondering, the cabins on this ferris wheel came from that "stack of cities" I posted a few days ago.

And here is the same ferris wheel all lit up at night:

Züri Fäscht is here!

Enjoy!

programs!

Get your Züri Fäscht programs here!

All week, this man with flowers in his hat has been selling programs for this weekend's Züri Fäscht at the entrance to the Coop Bellevue (grocery/department store). At first he didn't seem too enthusiatic about it, but when he saw me taking his picture, he said "mich? mich?" (me? me?) then posed, flashed a smile, and thanked me for taking his picture.

stack of cities

Preparations for the upcoming Züri Fäscht continue at a rapid pace. Today workers downtown were busy assembling stages for concerts, erecting food stalls along the Limmatquai, putting finishing touches on carnival rides, or unloading random equipment from trucks. Any idea what these are are or where they will end up?

unfinished wheel

This huge ferris wheel is being assembled at Sechseläutenplatz in preparation for the upcoming Züri Fäscht this weekend, a three day city festival with carnival rides, outdoor concerts at stages set up along the river and lakeshore, food stands, and acrobatic performances. The highlight of the weekend is a huge fireworks display set off from a barge in the middle of the lake. Züri Fäscht is such a huge and expensive production that it only takes place every three years.

.

Though it may look like a black and white photo, this is actually a color picture taken on Friday evening at around 7:30. The sky was overcast, gray and gloomy (much like today, and yesterday, and the day before...) and this is just how it turned out. You'll also notice that all the cabins have not yet been attached to the ferris wheel. They may have finished putting it together over the weekend, but I haven't gone back to check because it has been raining off and on since then. Lets just hope the weather improves in time for the big festival on Friday.

salon

For a city of its size, Zürich certainly has no shortage of hair salons. It seems like there is one on every other corner (particularly in the Old Town), and they're all trying to out-cool and out-hip each other. This one, located on the Limmatquai, has funky furniture and cool ever-changing floor lighting that can only be appreciated at night when it's dark outside and the salon is closed.

Average prices in Zürich:

women's wash/cut/dry: 90-100CHF

men's wash/cut dry/: 50-60CHF

highlights/color: approx 100-140 CHF but not really sure because I'm actually quite happy with my natural hair color...

seeing red

Another modern luxury apartment building in the Zuriberg neighborhood--with a bold splash of color!

As always, the first day of the month is City Daily Photo Theme Day. To see red in over 100 cities around the world, follow the links below:

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