missed...

...the tram...

zurich film festival

The third (yes, it's a fairly new event) annual Zurich Film Festival, which runs until October 7th, kicked off last night and will be showing over 50 feature films, documentaries, short, and animated films. It's a great opportunity to catch a number of independent and foreign films that might not make it to the regular theatres. Films will be competing in three categories: "Debut Feature" "New Fiction Feature" and "Documentary Feature." There is also a series showcasing new Russian cinema, as well as a film series tribute to Director Oliver Stone, who will be making a special appearance to collect an award in his honor. Pictured here is the Festival's info. & ticket center, which was set up on the Limmatquai, next to the Rathaus bridge.

lokal bar

Went back to El Lokal. Just observing all the activity at the bar from above.

barbie vespa

I was having lunch outside near the Grossmunster, when this long-haired manly man, with a goatee, and dressed mostly in black, zoomed by on this pink pastel colored vespa. Oh how I wish I had whipped out my camera faster and gotten a better shot! I cropped the photo to get a closer view of the guy, but can't make it any bigger.

swing...and...jump!

We got lucky and had one last blast of summery weather this past weekend, so fealressguys were out again performing some crazy stunts: swinging, jumping, back flipping, and diving into the lake from such great heights!

the thinker

Rodin's "The Thinker" wearing a business suit in a park in Zürich.

sharpie pen mural

I took this picture a long time ago, and have been sitting on it for awhile. This is a small detail of a hand drawn mural that someone put up on a plywood construction barrier along the river. The entire thing was intricately done with a permanent marker. This has been up for several months, but the construction barrier was taken down at some point within the last week or two. So it's about time I post this for posterity...

To see more details of the mural, click here.

carousel

This carousel goes up on the Rathaus bridge each year during the month of September. There are several kinderkrippes (day care centers) in the Old Town near my office. For safety, all kids from the krippes have to wear these bright orange vests and hold hands to stay together. I often see groups of toddlers and their krippe supervisors walking hand in hand on their afternoon or morning walk. Sometimes the kids get a special treat and get to ride the carousel.

china patterns

a bench at the Chinagarten

baby with baby

I used to have a toy stroller like that...

looking up

standing at the bottom of the steps of the footbridge at the Stadelhofen train station.

Look familiar? You've seen this footbridge here. I still like the way it curves.

flughafen cafe

Here's another cafe at the other end of the main terminal at the Zürich airport. This shot was taken a few minutes after I took the picture from yesterday's post--after I had a chance to pick up a "schoggi gipfeli" (chocolate croissant) for the flight.

flughafen bar

I went away for the weekend again, so here's another airport picture: one of the cafe/bars in the main shopping area at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m on Friday morning.

matchy matchy

Isn't it funny (and, well, kind of weird) when grown-up couples decide to wear matching outfits??

lunch break

at the Lindenhof--eating, chatting and enjoying the view of the Old Town and the Limmat River below.

evil red gnome #13

Seems like I've unintentionally started a photo series on the window display at a specific hair salon. Not exactly sure what it is about these dolls--they're simultaneously cute and evil looking, but they make me smile. I don't even go to this salon, I just walk by often.

lokal latin musik

Went to El Lokal, to see a friend, Juan Carlos Zeta, perform all sorts of sons, rumbas, boleros, cumbias and other Latin American standards. He'll be performing there every Monday for the rest of the month of September. El Lokal is one of Zürich's more laid back and welcoming bars (as opposed to some of the other snooty, shi-shi places around town). With pictures of Che Guevara, Frida Kahlo, Maradona with his Che tatoo, and a Mexican Day of the Dead skeleton adorning the walls and ceiling, it has some sort of "Latin American/revolutionary" theme going on, in addition to some really nice outdoor seating along the along the Sihl River.

Two more pictures here.

wingman

or square bird? sticker found on the back of a sign in my neighborhood

catching some rays

You may remember this kitty from this post a few months ago. It belongs to the owner of one of the art galleries on our street, and on a chilly but sunny day, he decided to stay inside and hang out on the sunny window sill, watching the world go by.

wedding photos

First a movie shoot, then a TV ad shoot, and now wedding photos - our street is so picturesque that you always find people taking advantage of its Old Town charm for their movie scenes and picures.

open & upside down

Um...dinner on the ceiling?

shiny happy aluminum people

You may be wondering what these space agey looking people are doing walking down the street in the Old Town. Well, apparently the street where my office is located is a really popular spot for shooting movies and commercials because today, for the second time in about three weeks, the street was partly shut down for another film crew. This time it appears that they were filming a public service announcement encouraging aluminum recycling. At one point, these shiny people were stuffed into the back of a truck marked "100% aluminum recycling" that was parked right below one of our windows. Suddenly they would jump out shouting "recycling! recycling! recycling!" They must have shot at least 20 takes of this little scene, so after hearing "recycling" at least 60 times over the course of the afternoon, I don't think we'll ever forget to recycle aluminum cans.


A few more pictures of the shoot here.

bright & empty

Outdoor seating at a popular touristy fondue restaurant in the Niederdorf is empty because it simply has been too cold to sit outside! People are already talking about snow on the mountains and skiing...

flowers & stripes

Just the front of one of the guild houses along the Limmatquai.

lovestruck street art?

Someone is crazy about Joe and has pasted these hand-drawn figures with the words "I (heart) Joe" all over town. The one pictured above is even shedding a tear...To see two more versions of this figure, click here.

it's a star! ...it's a flower!...it's an asterisk!

no... it's just...a...street lamp in Zürich on a cloudy day.

To see a slightly less cloudy shot taken a few hours later, go here.

As always, the first day of the month is Daily Photo Theme Day, and today's theme is "Street Lights & Street Signs" To see lights and signs in over 100 cities around the world, follow the links below:

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