Saturday, 6/08/2011. Saturday morning, time for the weekly shopping. I buy a bunch of purple dahlias. I love flowers in my home, and I love dahlias. They always remind me of one of my favourite National Trust places, Angelsey Abbey. They have a wonderful dahlia garden there.
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| Texture by Kim Klassen |
I'm going to meet up with a friend in town in the afternoon, but I go to Zürich a bit earlier, in order to take some pictures for today. It's strange weather today, hot and very humid and oppressive. It's sunny but the sky's full of clouds hanging low over the lake. It's going to be rainy later on.
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| Grossmünster |
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| Limmat |
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| Limmat |
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| Limmat, Grossmünster, Fraumünster, St. Peter |
Walking along the Limmat to the lake in the welcoming shadow of the trees. Love the bright greens!
There are many bathing places around the lake and the Limmat. This one is the Frauenbad. In 1837, a bathhouse for women only was opened here, which in 1888 was replaced with this building here. It is still a bath exclusively for women.
On clear days, with the Föhn, a warm wind from the south, the alps look like they begin right behind the lake. Not so clear today, but you can still see them in the distance.
Lake Zürich. We love our lake.
All ships and boats on the lake and on the Limmat, as most other ships and boats in Switzerland, are part of the public transport system, which means you don't need to buy an extra ticket. Go on a cruise, or take the ship instead of the train to get to one of the towns and villages long the shore.
Or just hop into the lake for a refreshing swim in this oppressively hot and humid summer weather.
I walk all the way to Bellevue for an ice cream - one of the very few places in Zürich where you can get mint ice cream. I simply love mint ice cream. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to very popular...
I walk back on the other side of the river, along the Limmatquai. This is my favourite bridge, the Münsterbrücke (minster bridge), connecting the two big churches, Fraumünster (which you can see here) and Grossmünster (see above).
Along the Limmatquai, there are numerous guildhalls. They still have their flags out because of last Monday, the 1st of August, our National Day.
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I have to go to the Zentralbibliothek, the Central Library, to pick up a book before I meet my friend. This is the canton, city, and university library, and I've been here many times during my studies.
I don't get to take any more pictures this afternoon. Some shoe shops get in my way, and I have my hands full. And over all the chatting, and catching up, and drinking coffee with my friend, I forget all about my camera.
Back home again, and time for a nice cup of tea. It's going to be a quiet evening at home. I'm not one for going out on a Saturday night, really. With all the commuting and long days during the week, I'm just glad to be able to relax and do nothing. There's no Terry & June on on the weekend, but there'll be an episode of Wallander later on BBC4 - the original Swedish version, with English subtitles.
And of course, we mustn't forget about the music. Here's one of my favourite bands, Patent Ochsner. Together with Züri West from yesterday's post, they're among the most successful rock bands here. Both of them having been around for over 20 years. Here's a version of one of my most favourite songs by them, W. Nuss vo Bümpliz from 1997, a live version with orchestra.
Unless you've composed your photos very carefully, it's nice to see that the tallest buildings are still the churches. I especially like the Grossmünster which is so distinctive and must be visible for miles (sorry, kilometres!)
ReplyDeleteI love The Alps, and even though they are in the distance, I would find it comforting to be able to see them. I am more familiar with them on the western side of Switzerland where I have visited several times - truly beautiful landscapes.
I didn't know about the boats being public transport throughout the country - you are being a terrific tourist guide for us all, but with much better quality photos!
It's a shame about the shoe shops - I can only imagine your huge frustration as they kept pulling you inside, again and again;)
Love the music! I know I can be a bit old-fashioned when it comes to the music I enjoy (it's got to have a "sing-along" tune!) and I found my foot tapping quite wildly to this, even though, of course, I have no idea what the song was about!
Is this the end of your "Week In The Life" blog? I know it must have been quite hard work but it's been thoroughly enjoyable, and at one point it even got me watching Terry & June again - a real blast from the past! Luckily, nobody saw me. I hope you see and do as many varied things this week.
(Strangely, I happen to have some mint choc chip ice cream in my freezer which I've been working my way through this last week. I think Honey is my favourite flavour which they make locally, but it's not very common.)
Not quite the end, there's still Sunday to come. I'm working on it... But yeah, I'm quite glad when it's over. It is a lot of work, and I'm very sleep deprived after this week...
ReplyDeleteThe church towers really are the tallest buidlings in the city centre. All the 'skyscrapers', well quite tall buidlings anyway, are or are being built outside the city centre.
Looks like the French speaking part of Switzerland is quite popular with the British. Everyone I've met who has been to Switzerland has been to the western parts, and hardly anyone to the German speaking parts. I wonder why that is??
I love the alps too, and I love being able to see them, even if only in the distance. Living somewhere where it's all flat and no tree or even the smallest hill around, I think I'd get really depressed. Some people find the presence of the mountains rather constricting, but to me, they're just reassuring.
I like honey ice cream as well, especially in combination with mint choc chips. You're so lucky to be able to just go to the supermarket and buy mint ice cream. Mint icea cream and T&J - what a perfect evening ;)
Ha Ha! I'd send you some ice cream but I don't think it travels very well.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered, I did go skiing as a teenager in Davos a couple of times, and then stopped for a couple of nights camping in Klosters once (with embarrassing consequences that I might share one day!) - but for several years I had a French girlfriend who had family in Paris and Lyon, so every time we had holiday it was always to France. Travelling to Lyon via Geneva made it seem more like a "normal" holiday.
Is that a good enough excuse? Well, it's the only one I have ;)
Not sure about honey WITH mint AND chocolate! Total sugar overdose!!
Ahhh, Davos. *sigh* I used to go to Davos a lot ever since my very early teens. Many years ago, I even spent a winter season up there working in one of the skiing restaurants, up on one of the mountains. It was a wonderful time. Me and a friend used to snowboard down to Davos after work, often when it was already beginning to get dark, and at breakneck speed to catch the bus. When we left after the last slope checks/controls (whatever it's called), we had to call our boss, to let them know we arrived home safely and weren't freezing to death in the snow somewhere along the way. We also spent a night up in the restaurant a couple of times, which was amazing. All dark and quiet, no noise, no lights, nothing, just the snow all around you and thousands of stars above you, which seemed to be so close that it felt like you could just reach out and touch them.
ReplyDeleteDavos often used to be a bit of a retreat, sanctuary to me, where I would find peace and energy when I needed it. Or just a great place to spend a weekend in the mountains. But unfortunately my little retreat has been sold at the end of last year, and I miss Davos terribly :(.
I've been to Klosters a few times as well. My, what have you been doing up there???
Okay, that's an acceptable excuse. And Geneva certainly is a very nice place well worth visiting. At least that's what I've heard. To be honest, I've never been there...