triangles & elipses

looking towards thes sky inside the Sihlcity shopping center

pop quiz - solution

Why, they're interactive, movable benches in Sihlcity, of course! So Dsole in Madrid and Elsa were both correct. But I think Lynn in Cheltenham takes the prize (perhaps a Frigor chocolate bar or two?) for the most creative response, especially because all of her suggestions could probably be applied. When people stand up, the benches pop right back up. So, if a really small person were to sit on the skinny end of the bench next to a larger person, and the larger one suddeny stood up, the small person could potentially be catapulted through the air, as Lynn suggested. You're also free to move the benches around the plaza at the mall entrance, and arrange them however you like--so you could turn it into a puzzle or team-building exercise if you really wanted to, which was another one of Lynn's guesses. Little kids can't get enough of these things--they keep knocking them down and then jumping out of the way when the benches bounce back up, simultaneously offering both exercise opportunities and self-defense training. The possiblities are endless...Apart from providing countless hours of people watching fun, can you think of any other uses for these 'benches'? There are also orange versions of these inside the mall.

pop quiz!

Can you guess what these lime green things are? (in the interest of fairness, Zürich residents can't play...)

sihlcity

It rained non-stop pretty much all day, so it was a good excuse to wander over to Sihlcity, Zürich's brand new shoppping/movie/dining/hotel complex that opened to great fanfare about one month ago. It is Zürich's only real 'mall' within the city proper (there are a few other malls in the outskirts). It also has a nightclub, as well as a non-denominational chapel (not quite sure what to think about that). As far as the shopping goes--nothing special. Most of the shops are major chain retailers such as H&M (which is everywhere) Zara, Esprit, etc..that can already be found downtown, a huge electronics store, and a Coop (one of Switzerland's two main grocery chains). Personally, I prefer shopping in the smaller, independent boutiques in the side streets of the Old Town, and some local designer shops in the Kreis 5. For me, the main advantage of Sihlcity is that it's open until 8 pm on Saturdays, when the rest of the city shuts down at 5. But I think I'll mostly be going back to Sihlcity to catch a movie in one of its 9 theatres, and perhaps a quick meal or drink afterwards.