early bloomers

We haven't had much of a winter this year, and flower shops everywhere are already selling spring flowers, like these tulips. And yes, the price tag for the larger bunch is 75 francs (approx. $60)!

birthday present

Today is my brother's birthday, and since he's crazy about cars, I'm posting this picture of a Porsche. There are plenty of wealthy people in Zurich, so it's quite common to see flashy Porsches and Ferraris zipping around town, but it's usually too hard to take a picture because they zoom past me before I have a chance to whip out my camera. I saw this Porsche when I was out looking for graffiti. It was parked in an alley, of all places, in one of the seedier parts of town (well, as seedy as Zurich gets).

faces

Faces like these have been popping up all over town--mostly on lamp posts and the backs of signs. Sometimes city workers will paint over them, and the graffiti artist/tagger will come back and put up a new face.

lunch in the sun

It's another unseasonably warm and sunny day in Zurich, and people are enjoying the sunshine at outdoor cafes. This particular cafe/restaurant is the Zunfthaus zur Zimmerleuten, and it sits on the Limmatquai, which runs along the Limmat river. Just on the other side of the railing in the picture is the river, and the the houses pictured here are actually on the other side of the river.

watch dog

I always see this dog on top of this high yellow wall across the street from my office. He just sits there and observes the activity on the street below.

grasshoppers

Zurich has two football (er...soccer) clubs. One of these is Fussballclub Zurich (FCZ), and the second one is Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ). I really love the fact that this club decided to call itself the Grasshoppers--such a fun name for a football team! This sign hangs outside a Grasshopper Club office in the Old Town.

For official websites (in German):

FCZ
Grasshoppers

voodoo love doll

This is Swatch's idea of a perfect Valentine's Day gift: a special edition Valentine's Day watch that comes with a voodoo doll so that you can stab or skewer your sweetheart into loving you back. How romantic...Who would have thought that Swiss watchmakers would come up with something so...sneaky?...manipulative...?

It really was not my intention to post twice in the same day, but I just saw this today and was quite pleased with the way the picture turned out, and it really wouldn't make much sense to post this picture on any other random day...

guardian angel III

This sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz stands near the entrance to the Kunsthaus Zurich. I walk past this piece almost every day and it turns out that what I always thought was an angel, is acually a cubist harp called "Le Chant des Voyelles," several versions of of which are scattered throughout the world. Oh well, I'll just keep pretending it's an angel that sings vowels and protects the museum.

guardian angel II

Every single day, this little old woman stands in the exact same spot at the Zurich HB (train station). I've heard that she goes there to pray for all travelers and to send out her blessings to passers-by. Most people don't even notice she's there. Every once in a while a well-wisher will stop by and give her a small gift, like a flower, some chocolates, or a jar of jam, as a token of appreciation.

guardian angel

This huge angel by Niki de Saint Phalle protects all travelers passing through the Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich main train station).

rocket mermaid

I found her on the underside of an overpass near Hardbrucke. Like some other DP bloggers, I'll be posting pictures of graffiti on Sundays. However, I've started with my favorite piece so far, so hopefully it won't all be downhill from here...

catching some rays

Yesterday was unusually bright and sunny for winter in Zurich (usually it's gray and dreary). So these teenagers just plopped themselves down in the middle of the street to enjoy the sunshine, and everyone had to walk around them.

TGI-Freitag*

Any Zurich hipster or wannabe hipster has to have a Freitag bag. The Freitag brothers started making these messenger bags in the 1990's by doing what the Swiss do so well: recycling and design. Made from recycled truck tarps and seatbelts, no two are alike. The bags quickly caught on, Freitag soon became synoymous with urban cool, and the line expanded to include bags of all styles, shapes and sizes, wallets, and of course, i-pod cases. Even their flagship store in Zurich is made from a stack of recycled shipping containers. Can't make it all the way to Zurich to pick up one of these trendy bags? You can design your own and have it shipped to you in no time.


*for non-native English speakers unfamiliar with the term: TGIF = Thank God It's Friday
for non-German speakers: Freitag = Friday in German

blue light bike

I saw this bike right outside the Zurich HB (train station), leaning against the stairwell to the underground shopping area, and just had to take a picture.

street pencil

The paper supply and card shop on the left has appropriated one of the street posts.

mesmerized

This little kid was so enthralled by the brightly-colored, moving, spinning toy contraption in the shop window, that he didn't even notice me taking his picture. If you enlarge the picture and zoom in to his reflection in the window, you can see his mouth hanging wide open.

swiss pride

This patriotic little scooter was parked in front of a souvenir shop. As I was about to walk away, the shop owner came running out and insisted on taking my picture with the scooter. She was clearly very proud of her scooter because she kept on repeating that it was hers and that I should sit on it. She wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. You can ask, you can plead, you can beg - but I will not post the silly picture of myself on the scooter. Plus, the woman cut off part of my head in the picture.

sunday underground shopping

All stores in Switzerland are closed on Sundays, with the only exception being small shops and grocery stores at major transportation hubs, such as train stations and airports. Pictured here is part of the ShopVille-RailCity shopping area below the Zurich Hauptbahnhof (aka Zurich HB or Zurich main station), which houses an assortment of cheap-y clothing stores, souvenir shops, shoe stores, newspaper kiosks, a small electronics store, and some other random shops. The Migros store is the main grocery store in the Zurich HB, and if you absolutely must pick up some groceries at the Zurich HB on a Sunday, be prepared to brave major crowds and long lines at the registers!

book [suit] cases

This antique luggage shop also sells used books, mostly in English. What? Antique luggage, you say? Who buys antique luggage anyway? How does this place stay in business? Who knows...perhaps it's the used books...

like clockwork

In most other cities, posted bus schedules are merely an indicator or guideline (give or take, 5, 15, or even 30 minutes) as to when a bus might come by. In some places, schedules don't even exist, and you just stand there hoping that your bus or train will show up at some point in the near future. Here, the tram and bus shedules are exact. If it says that the tram will be there at 17:47, 98% of the time the tram will pull up to your stop at precisely 17:47. I was once asked by a fellow passenger at a tram stop if I knew whether something was wrong with the trams, or whether any schedule changes had been announced, because the tram was already running one minute late! I didn't know of anything. And of course, the tram showed up a few seconds later.

lost...and found!

A few days ago, I lost my hat at some point during my lunch break. In pretty much every other place I've lived, whenever I lost a glove, a scarf, or a hat, or when I forgot something on the subway (which happened quite often), I just had to accept that it was gone for good...Here, people often pick up a found item and place it in a nearby visible spot such as a window sill, a bench, a sign, or a post, in the hopes that the rightful owner will come back and find it. Otherwise, they hand it in to the Fundburo. So yesterday on my way to work, I was thrilled to find my hat hanging on a railing on our street, especially because I had just spent almost 2 months knitting a scarf to match the hat. The scarf is not quite done yet, but I was ready to chuck the whole thing once its matching hat was seemingly lost. One nice thing about living here is that people are so....trustworthy.