sheep piece

Whenever the weather is nice, little kids use this this lakeside sculpture by Henry Moore called "Sheep Piece," as their own giant jungle gym/slide.

house reflected

A few weeks ago, Z in Villigen posted a series of pictures showing the contrast of the old and the new in and around her village. Here's my version: and older, fancy house seen in the window of a modern apartment building in the pricey, hilly Zuriberg neighborhood.

art-mobile

Before walking into the Kunsthaus Zürich, look straight up and you'll see this huge mobile hanging outside the musuem's entrance at Heimplatz. No idea who the arist is--will have to look into that. There is a museum cafe with outdoor seating directly below the mobile, and it is somewhat disconcerting to sit underneath it as it sways over your head casting shadows on your table!

creative sneaker storage

Found in the garden of one of the fancy houses in the hills. I wonder why the owners decided to keep their sneakers outdoors--perhaps they were smelly?

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...)

moooooo...

A very Swiss stencil. Found next to a tram stop near my house.

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.

lost models

Yesterday pink, purple today...It turned cold and rainy all of a sudden today, and I spotted this on the wet cobblestones. Looks like someone lost a page from a fashion catalog.

bleeding hearts

I found these heart-shaped flowers on my street. Because I grew up in a concrete jungle, in a different climate, I had never seen them before and was intrigued. My 10-second google research revealed that they're called 'bleeding hearts,' which to me sounds hopelessly romantic and depressing at the same time. Whoever named these must have been seriously love-struck at the time. To see more of these little pink hearts hanging in neat little rows, go here.

ups

UPS delivers to Zürich. So would anyone like to send me a care package...?

moon reflected

This evening, over the Limmat River.

wisteria balconies

Since Z in Villigen mentioned she likes wisteria, here's a picture of some impressive vines that have practically taken over all four balconies of this house on my street.

"have fun at work!"

This piece was cleverly placed next to a bus stop in the Höngg neighborhood.

sunset

View from a friend's rooftop terrace while we were grilling some food. Two words: apartment envy.

central

One of the main tram stops in Zurich, where several lines intersect. As the name indicates, it's right in the middle of the city. I spend a lot of time here, either passing through on a tram (at least twice a day), walking by, or waiting for a tram.

hb on fire?

noooooooo!....It was just the sun setting behind the Zürich Hauptbahnhof (Zürich main train station) yesterday evening, giving its windows a fiery glow.

so what time is it anyway??

So the Swiss are also known for their clocks. and watches. and precision. and punctuality. But apparently something went terribly wrong today. If you click to enlarge the picture, you'll notice that the two clock towers are showing different times. The tower on the left is part of the Fraumünster Church, which is also home to a series of stained glass windows designed by Marc Chagall. The one on the right is St. Peterskirche, and at 9 meters in diameter, its clock face is the largest one in Europe. For the record, St. Peterskirche was showing the correct time and Fraumünster was off.

(re)charging

As I was leaving work, I found this one person electric, er,... car (if you can call it a car...) parked outside a house and being recharged. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the electical cord on the right going from the um, vehicle, to the window above. Click here to see it from another angle and get a better sense of its size.

(apologies for the late post--rough day[s] at work...now it's my turn to recharge...)

zurich beach

These beach volleyball courts by the river are always packed when the weather is nice. We had another beautiful, hot, sunny, weekend, and even though it's only April, it feels like summer is already in full swing. This picture was taken yesterday.

dumb

I found this stencil along the Limmat River. Though a completely different type of graffiti from the one spotted by Dsoole in Madrid last week (Sunday April 15), it expresses a similar sentiment...Love the wordplay.

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added 04/26/2007 for your entertainment: "The Complete Bushisms"