A little background. Dan left yesterday to continue on his conference, which is now traveling around to different military bases/headquarters/landmarks/etc. I did not want to try to figure out my own transport to follow him around to these places, so instead, I left yesterday and headed to Zurich, Switzerland. I will be traveling this week with our friend Other Dan.
I met Other Dan at the Zurich train station, which was a little concerning since we hadn't picked a specific place to meet and I didn't have any cell service/internet. But it worked out. Hurray! Let this adventure begin!
We found Popeye on the construction screen across from our hotel.
Kebab!
We got pastries and hot beverages at a little cafe that shared space with a Chinese restaurant. Which was odd. Also they had this amusingly cute Batman cake.
Time to explore the city! We found this great mail tricycle thing. I kind of want one.
Other Dan in the garden!
I don't know what this building peaking over this garden is, but it's so whimsical. I love it.
Hello downtown Zurich!
These shutters are neat. The cut outs are seeds!
Apparently all the cool pigeons hang out on this triangle.
Zurich's first name was Turicum. It was named by the Romans around 15 BC.
Oh hey! It's the seeds that were on those shutters from before. Neat!
They are from the Littleleaf Linden tree. Also of note, Zurich's official city map allows you to look up any tree in the city. So that's kind of neat.
A lady flag bearer....warrior...statue thing.
Other Dan and the narrow steep alleyway.
The Dada-ist art movement started in Zurich.
I don't know what these weird little doll/sculpture things are.
Switzerland!
Also "the train of more modest Zurich women on the Lindenhof - 1292"
Very fancy pocket watches.
Cool ironwork.
This might be the coolest door I've seen in a long time.
Zurich is home to Europe's largest church clock face. And there it is!
It's the clock on St. Peter's Church. It is 8.64 meters (28.3 feet) in diameter and was first put on the church in 1366.
As far as we could tell, this was a bar and bookstore/library. Which sounds great.
More lovely ironwork.
Cats!
I love this round corner window area and its window boxes.
We wandered through narrow roads and suddenly came out on this square with this modern...art? Shade? I'm not sure which. Or both!
The square, and shade, from Fraumunster.
Hello Limmat River!
I really enjoy how these boat covers make the little marina blend into the sky reflection on the river.
There is a carousel thing over there. Also, that building is basically in the water.
It's the Rathaus, by the way.
This is the Grossmunster. It's construction started in 1100.
This is a statue of Charlemagne.
Doors with biblical scenes.
Can we take a second to talk about this panel on the doors?
Three people holding their decapitated heads seems like an odd choice.
"According to tradition, the governor plunged the three saints into boiling oil and forced them to drink molten lead. The trio still refused to renounce their faith and so were finally beheaded. The nearby Wasserkirche stands on the site of their execution. Impressively, the martyrs still had enough energy to pick up their heads and climb to the top of a hill, where they dug their own graves and buried themselves." Well that's special.
The door handles are lions.
I think these are also lions....sort of? Somehow?
The church has some lovely stained glass windows, but was most fascinating were the geode style windows by Sigmar Polke. Not photos were allowed in the church (and the photo I took from the outside isn't good). You should click on the link to see them. They are really cool and different.
You can climb up to the bell towers, so of course we did. Near the post of one of the sets of stairs were all these tiny footprints. I asked a few docents about them and they had no clue. Little elves or fairies maybe.
Going up a bell tower or grandma's weird attic?
Oh my goodness! SOOO worth the climb!
I was there!
We should have taken a photo together up here...but didn't.
A flag!
We were here during the shooting contest.
The shooting event happens over here in the hills. There's also a carnival or something set up for it.
Zurich is not the capital of Switzerland, Bern is, but Zurich is Switzerland's largest city.
This is the central courtyard for the Grossmunster cloisters.
The cloisters were created in the 12th century. Each of these cornice things have ridiculous and amusing faces and animals carved into them. Here is a selection of my favorites:
A bull.
A cat that sort of looks like a man.
A man that looks like a mouse.
A man stroking his beard, thusly.
Some sort of man animal hybrid.
A two-bodied lion?
A dog eating a rabbit....maybe?
I....I don't even know. A monkey with faces for ears and mouth?
An almost cartoon style vs a classic style.
When yoga goes too far.
A cartoony goat.
All the heads!
Someone told him to churn butter, and he and no idea what to do.
They've just caught him doing it horribly wrong.
Is that you Master Yoda?
The cloister garden was restored in 2009.
.....this is a lion, apparently.
A little spire with gold accents.
They're dolphins! I wonder if they feel out of place so high up.
The walkway around the cloister garden.
Charlemagne and lions?
A little blue widow and some construction.
A giant red dog that is not Clifford.
Cobblers = boot doctors.
It's a very congested area. I'm not sure that car is supposed to be here.
Rudolph Stussi memorial.
Stussi was the burgomaster (master of the town) of Zurich during the mid-fifteenth century.
We decided that it was time for lunch and were both amused by this tag line.
We had some really delicious burgers here and our waiter kindly let me take a photo of the restaurant and he jumped in for good measure.
A historic boat house, now a restaurant.
Hanging out in their all-together.
I like this alley. It's full of flags and cute old buildings.
This is random. It's in the window of a restaurant.
You can get any stuffed creature you want. Even Asterix and Dogmatix!
Panzernashorn by John A. Tobler (1982)
Pansernashorn means tank with horn or rhino.
It's made of various metal plates welded together.
Did you know Marco Polo went to Africa and thought he found Unicorns? He did. But he thought they were really ugly. It turns out he found Rhinos.
We're starting to get some storm clouds down at the ferry terminal.
Ganymede by Herman Hubacher (1952)
Okay, this Zurich city map might be my favorite thing. It lets you filter the map for ALL sorts of things and then give you info about those things. Including trees! Go play with it. It's really cool.
Anyway, Other Dan REALLY likes nice watches (I mean NICE watches) and the Beyer Watch store has a museum of time pieces in its basement. I felt uncomfortable being in the store as everything in it cost more than anything I own.
Anyway, here's an Egyptian Water Clock from 1425 BC.
"To measure time, the vessel is filled with water, which leaks out through a small opening at the bottom. The sinking level of the water in the vessel indicates how much time has passed."
They're hard to see, but there are little dots running from the center to the edge of the vessel. These marked the time.
"The sun strikes the burning lens exactly at midday, igniting the gunpowder in the bronze cannon. The sound of the shot allows mechanical clocks to be set."
Planetarium of Giovanni Dondi (1364 Padua, Italy)
"[This] Astario was considered to be one of the mechanical wonders of the world, and was even studied and drawn by Leonardo da Vinci."
"The clock is weight-driven with a verge escapement and balance wheel."
"The original clock has been missing since at least 1809. However, Dondi left behind detailed descriptions of the clock's purpose and how it was built and calibrated."
"It has a calendar showing the names of the saints' days. It also indicates the dates of moveable feasts such as Easter, Whitsun, and other religious feast days."
Table clock in the form of a head (1900, Germany)
"Table clock with time displayed by turning eyes."
Night clock with striking mechanism and alarm (1780 Bern, Switzerland)
"Clock whose dial turns instead of the hands; by placing a light source behind the clock, the time can be read by means of the red numerals."
Alarm clock with spring-mounted bell (1850 Paris, France)
"The white enamel dial of this alarm clock features a release pin and is rotated by the movement. The spring-mounted bell is activated at the desired time."
Large tower clock (1522 Zurich, Switzerland)
"One of the oldest preserved clocks in Switzerland, this church tower clock from Turbenthal in the Canton of Zurich was made by Hans Luter from Waldshut."
Davos Wooden Clock (1786 Davos, Switzerland)
"The first clocks in the homes of farmers and less wealthy citizens were made of wood. All its components are made of wood."
Black Forest Clock Porter (19th century Southern Germany)
"The figure of a Black Forest Clock Porter with a clock on his stomach depicts the travelling clock salesmen who, from the beginning of the 18th century, made affordable wooden clocks."
Closed iron clock with glockenspiel (1600 France)
"Of the nine bells, eight are for the glockenspiel and one is for the hour and quart hour strike."
Table Clock with Planetarium (1770 Paris, France)
"Within the glass celestial sphere, which is cut with stars and constellations, a planetary gear train causes the Earth with its inclined axis and the moon, as well as five other planets, to rotate around the sun in the center."
Cruciform abbess' watch made from faceted rock crystal (1630 France)
So many cute pocket watches.
Two pocket watches (1820 Russia)
"Made from boxwood and ivory."
Tiny decorative watches for women. I like the one on the top left. They're cherries!
Large marine chronometer No. 16 (1775 Paris, France)
"This clock is an example of the important early marine chronometers used to determine the longitude at sea on voyages of exploration around the world in the 18th century."
"The silvered dial has separate small dials for hours, minutes, and seconds."
Pocket chronometer, "Le Petite Ronde" (1771 Paris, France)
Pocket watch with world time indication (1780 Geneva, Switzerland)
"Double-sided watch with local time indication; one side of the watch features a normal dial for the wearer's local time; on the opposite side, a disc in the center of the dial rotates anti-clockwise once every 24 hours indicating the time in each of the cities displayed."
Pendule Sympathique (1808 Paris, France)
"The Pendule Sympathique consists of a table clock and a pocket watch. To ensure that table clock and pocket watch show the same time, after being worn all day, for example, the pocket watch can be placed in the holder on the table clock. At 12 o'clock the table clock always synchronizes the pocket watch placed in the top."
Automaton table clock with winged lion and small dog (1640 Southern Germany)
"Lion and small dog move their eyes in time with the movement. When the hour strikes, the lion opens its mouth and beats its wings."
The lion seems a little...bug eyed.
Chronograph terminology.
Breitling (1955)
"Featuring a slide rule specifically designed for aviation."
These are so beautiful! One of them is a Tiffany and Patek Philippe.
Two amazing artists in one watch.
And one last clock, a robot!
I think this is an art. But I could be wrong.
Rooster dragon fountain!
We went back to the hotel for a hot minute and then headed across the tracks in search of a food truck festival I had read about.
Anne-Sophia by Alex Hanimann (2012)
She represents the youth of the area.
I am so excited for this.
Smoking on vertical planks.
Okay, going into the festival we came up with a game plan so we could try as many different foods as possible. With that in mind, we decided to only order one of each thing we wanted and share. This way maximum food sampling can happen.
Afghani veggie samosas. Super tasty.
Other Dan made a beeline for these dumplings.
I am so glad he did. They are the best dumplings I've ever had. Other Dan over estimated how much hot sauce he could take and sort of ruined his dumplings. Which is very sad.
Inside the tent some more.
This cheesecake, although blurry, was so soft and creamy, and delicious.
The cheese cake stand.
Brazilian fried cheese balls. I could eat so many more of these.
Making chimney cakes.
What do you want? Burger!
Your options are shitty, fat, or hot.
A literal cart of candy. We got some fudge and different nugats.
Food truck festival by night.
We thought we'd explore the outskirts of the main tent.
Aussie kangaroo and bacon pie. It was really delicious.
Churros! I get irrationally excited about good churros.
GELATO!!!! I had lemon and Other Dan had tiramisu.
We ate so much good food at the festival. I wish we had had bigger stomachs!
We ate so much good food at the festival. I wish we had had bigger stomachs!
You can't really tell, but all those colors/dots on the bridge are rollerbladers/skaters. Zurich has a bi-weekly skate night during the summer. Hundreds of skaters come out for it.
This concludes our adventures for today.
This concludes our adventures for today.
