Leafy green vegetables

... with a line of red.

20070915

Homes

There have been a handful of new building projects in Villigen and this one is at the edge of the village, just before you get to the PSI. The buildings face-on in the photo probably consist of four separate apartments. The ones perpendicular to them are duplexes. Parking lies underground.

I've been taking photos of the construction process for the past several months, and I've made a collage of some of them from the different projects. View the collage on my overflow site:
Homes: the making of

20070909

Leafy roof with autumn colors

Not leaky, one hopes.


Green roofs (interesting Wikipedia entry here) are very popular among the environmentally conscious set these days, but I'd not seen one quite like this before. This is a view from our balcony and you might like to compare this shot with one from April to see the changes in the foliage.

A few tidbits from the Wiki article:

• Following this (refers to Chicago City Hall example - Z) and other studies, it has now been estimated that if all the roofs in a major city were "greened," urban temperatures could be reduced by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Switzerland has one of Europe's oldest green roofs, created in 1914 at the Moos lake water-treatment plant, Wallishofen, Zürich.
• Even in high-rise urban settings as tall as 19 stories, it has been found that green roofs can attract beneficial insects, birds, bees and butterflies.

20090926

Window shopping in Zürich

Yesterday's discussion reminded me of a set of photos I took of a jeweler's display window on Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse (official website for Bahnhofstrasse). Last January the design theme was antique coffeemakers. It would seem they arranged the bijoux by the value of the machines -- these were some of the least expensive pieces and they were shown with the simplest espresso maker.

20070123

Recycling

There's a section for used Nespresso coffee capsules at our recycling "dump" at the Gemeindehaus. Here's a link to Nespresso's corporate website section on their recycling program. According to the company, remelting the aluminum from the used capsules uses just 5% of the energy that would be required in primary production.

An espresso machine is a staple at almost all restaurants here, regardless of the type of cuisine. And the range of coffee machines available for purchase is truly mind boggling to me (see some store aisle photos on my overflow site) and I haven't even attempted to buy a fancy one. We have a simple, old fashioned, stove-top model that works just fine most of the time, thank you very much.

If you drink coffee, what kind of machine do you have at home?

20070919

Employment opportunity

Gute Reiterin gesucht = good equestrienne wanted.

Early autum and winter mornings around the area often feature a lot of fog which gradually burns off as the sun climbs higher in the sky.

20070924

Yesterday's house viewed from street level

I must photograph this house when the sun is shining on this side of it, but for now, I want to maintain continuity with yesterday's photo which showed the house as seen from the top of Besserstein.

20070923

Rooftops

A view from Besserstein. In my opinion, the yellow house (brighter in reality than it appears here) in the middle of the photo is the stateliest in Villigen. Just a few steps to the right of it are some of the subjects of previous posts: Number 5 with the green door, Fountain 1854 (aka Mühlebrunnen), Fountain 1878, Fountains 1878 and 1854 together.

I cropped this photo from one in a landscape format that I have on my overflow site. Please feel free to share any thoughts on which one looks better and why, and also any suggestions for improvement. Link: Rooftops uncropped.

20070909

Number 5 with the green door

20070920

Laundry

20070916

Zehn vor Zwolf

Ten to twelve.


I'll open this up to a caption contest. The entries (number to be determined by me) that make me laugh the longest will garner postcards. Deadline a week from now.

For less weird photos of the cats, see my overflow site: Aida and Papageno.

20070906

Villigen under a blue autumn sky

Another "aerial" shot from Besserstein. There's the PSI and the Aare from yesterday, and a bit of a view of the village of Villigen as well.

20070914

View from Besserstein: PSI and the Aare

A view from the top of the hill in yesterday's photo. I've mentioned the Paul Scherrer Institut, a national research facility, a few times already (click on the psi label to see those old posts). Also visible in the photo is the Aare, wending its way through the land. A bit unfortunate about the branches in the center of the photo; they were out of reach and I couldn't do anything about them.

20070914

View from the bus

A view of Besserstein from the bus that goes to Villigen from Brugg. From the location where I shot this, the bus first stops in Stilli and then in Villigen Post before heading off to the PSI and beyond.

If you're going to zum Hirschen (as has been the case for several visitors I've noticed on the bus), then get off at the Villigen Post stop. You'll be standing on Hauptstrasse. Walk in the direction in which the bus drives off. The hotel/restaurant Hirschen is a couple of minutes on foot (after Gasthof Schlossberg) on the right.

20070915

Landscape with bread

I came upon this pile of stale bread near one of the barns that's still used to house animals. Seems they incorporate it into the feed, which I find a rather good idea as the bread goes unconsumed by people in any event.

20070911

Besserstein vineyards in September

The vineyards in the photo from yesterday, as they appear now. No sheep grazing in the gaps anymore. And the leaves are starting to turn color already.

20070914

Sheep in the Besserstein vineyards

This photo was obviously taken in the winter, in January to be precise. Just a few minutes (uphill) walk from these vineyards would get you to the woods from yesterday.

People's party becomes political black sheep
Abuses, conspiracies - and black sheep - have all featured in a controversial election campaign by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party. September 10, 2007

A couple of days ago, I mentioned the strained relationship between the rightwing SVP and the three other political parties that make up the Cabinet. While there are several issues on which the SVP has provocative or dubious ideas, the one that always makes the headlines here and abroad is that of immigration. For the past decade, they've run ads that are gratuitously racist and fear-inducing. This campaign season is no different and the poster that has shown up everywhere depicts three white sheep standing on the Swiss flag, while one of them kicks a black sheep away. The title is Sicherheit schaffen (establish security) and the law that the SVP wants to get into the books is one where a person convicted of felony (murder, rape, drug trafficking, human trafficking, burglary or fraud related to the receipt of social benefits) would be deported to his or her country of origin after they serve his/her prison term (the native-Swiss felons get to stay here). They would also be banned from re-entering Switzerland for 5 to 15 years. How this proposal differs from what's currently on the books I don't know yet.

I must admit that at first, I didn't read anything beyond the black sheep in the family allusion, but upon further reading, in the context of the basic ideals of the party and in the combination with their previous campaigns, I must conclude that the image was deliberately chosen to foster fear and suspicion of foreigners. I'm a little slow on the uptake, unlike some other local bloggers (Rashunda Tramble, This non-American Life).

A lot of statements are being made criticizing the SVP and their methods. The Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey (member of the center-right SDP) had the following to say:

I think it is important that there are people in this country who have the courage to stand up and denounce this type of campaign, which to be quite frank disgusts me. It disgusts me because it stirs up hatred. They are racist campaigns.

Source: People's Party accused of "racist" campaign
Switzerland's biggest political party, the rightwing Swiss People's Party, has come under renewed fire for its hard-hitting election campaign attacking foreigners. August 30, 2007

I had hoped to scan through many different sources for information for these posts, but the fact is that I can't manage it in the time I'm able or willing to spend on the topic, especially given how slow my German reading and comprehension are. As a result, you will notice that I almost always reference swissinfo. If you, as a reader, have other links to information that you think could be interesting, please drop a line in the comments.

Other related content at swissinfo (excerpts chosen by me):

- Urban violence and youth crime on the increase
According to the (Bern) university hospital's study, those who get caught up in the fights are not primarily outsiders, the unemployed or asylum-seekers. Sixty per cent are Swiss, and the typical person in fights is 25 and has an education and a job. February 9, 2007

- Politicians "exaggerate" youth crime problem
Young people, especially foreigners, are being misused by politicians trying to score points in election year, a child psychologist tells swissinfo. February 17, 2007

- Parties prepare to dig deep
Switzerland's four main political parties will spend more than SFr1 million ($820,000) each on October's federal elections. April 9, 2007

- Three out of four Swiss prisoners are foreign
Around 70 per cent of prisoners in Switzerland are not Swiss but not because foreigners commit more crimes according to a recent study. June 30, 2006

20070121

The Besserstein woods in September

A view of the woods overlooking Villigen to the west. To those who were eagerly awaiting the next installment of my scintillating report: I'm sorry, I didn't manage to get it done. A result of the combination of having other things to do and getting distracted by all sorts of statistics. Such as these on the rates of marriages and divorces in Switzerland over the last 3 years. About half the marriages are between a Swiss and a non-Swiss... should lead to interesting changes in demographics. According to binational.ch, in 2003 Swiss men mainly married women from Germany, Brazil, Thailand, Italy and France. Swiss women, on the other hand, most frequently married men from Italy, Germany, Turkey, Serbia and France. Note: These numbers apparently reflect marriages that are performed in Switzerland, they don't include the couples who get married outside CH.


Source: The Swiss Federal Statistics Office

20070909

Excursion: Bundeshaus in Bern

Bern is the capital of Switzerland, and lies upstream of Villigen on the river Aare. Quite far upstream. Here's one of my photos of the Bundeshaus (Parliament) I mentioned yesterday as having a lot of scaffolding, and in this case, cranes. I stood here to take this photo, the Bundeshaus is to the left. There's a lot to say about Bern, but I'll just send you to an active Bern blog by, surprise, yet another foreigner in CH! To be fair, since I look for blogs written in English, I'm trawling through a sample that must be heavily non-native-Swiss.

Back to the business at hand:

• 1959 was the year in which the 4 main political parties agreed to divide the Cabinet seats according to the public support for each party. This allocation is known as the Zauberformel = Magic Formula.
• 2 seats for the SP Social Democratic Party - left [had 26.3% of the votes then]
• 2 the number of seats held by FDP Free Democratic Party - center-right (radical) [23.7%]
• 2 the number of seats held by CVP Christian Democratic People's Party - center [23.3%]
• 1 the number of seats held by SVP Swiss People's Party - far right [had 11.6%]

Source: Der Bund kurz erklärt 2006

Sometime in the early 1990s, the far right SVP started to see a strong rise in voter support. See graphic from the Federal Statistics Office here. The distribution of seats in the Cabinet remained in place until the 1999 parliamentary elections when the far right SVP received 22.48% of the 2,005,449 valid votes cast. Note: the number of registered voters that year was 4,620,850 which means that 43% of the voters turned out. In 2003, 45% of the voting population cast their ballots. While keeping in mind that the Swiss have a multitude of elections or referenda thoughout the year so maybe there's some voter burn-out, it's interesting to compare that with the following countries at their last parliamentary or presidential elections:

• 85% in the first round of the 2007 presidential elections in France
• 83% in parliamentary elections 2006 in Italy
• 77% in the 2005 parliamentary elections in Germany
• 57% in the 2004 presidential elections in the US
  

Source: Silent majority always wins Swiss ballots at swissinfo.org.

In the minds of some, 2003 was the year the Magic Formula died as the continued popularity of the SVP among the voters called for a reorganization in the Cabinet:

• 23.3% of the votes for SP - 2 seats (no change)
• 17.9% of the votes for FDP - 2 (no change)
  
• 14.4% for the CVP - 1 (was 2)
  
• 26.6% for SVP - 2 seats (was 1)
  

Source: IFES Election Guide

The popularity of the SVP has caused much hand-wringing among the other parties, who have been unable to attract their voters back. Here's a swissinfo article about the shuffle after the 2003 elections. Tension between the SVP and the other groups is high and SVP is currently claiming that there's a conspiracy to drive them out of Parliament. The leader of the group, Christoph Blocher, is currently under investigation (swissinfo). More on that later.

20070715

Excursion: Swissminiatur at Melide on Lago Lugano

Swiss politics 101


The parliament building in Bern has been under renovation since I moved here, so the photos I have of it involve a lot of scaffolding. This is a photo of a model at Swissminiatur, an amusement park in Canton Ticino with 1:25 scale models of some of the most sightworthy things in Switzerland (and at least one why-is-that-here). Yes, trains as well and some dated luxury sports cars.

The reason I bring this up is that another controversial parliamentary election campaign season is upon us. Over the course of the next few days, I'll try to briefly summarize what makes it controversial, in a style appropriate for my own short attention span. This exercise is partly (maybe even mostly) for my own benefit and I'm having to inform myself about this topic. If it bores you, come back in a couple of days, I expect to be done by then.

Some basic information about the structure of the government:

• 7 members of der Bundesrat = Federal Council (elected by the members of the Parliament)
• 1 Bundesrat member is elected President each year (rotating position)
• 200 members of the National Council in the Parliament (Nationalrat)
• about 36,000 people are represented by each MP
• 46 senators: members of the Council of States (Ständerat) in the Parliament
  

The political groups and their popularity:

• 4 main political groups
• 25 percent of voters support SVP - Swiss People's Party - right/far-right
• 21 percent of voters support SP - Social Democratic Party - left
• 16 percent of voters support FDP - Free Democratic Party - center-right (liberal)
• 16 percent of voters support CVP - Christian Democratic People's Party - center
• 11 percent of voters support the Greens - green/left
• 11 percent of voters support the rest

Notice the big chunk carried by the rightwing party. It wasn't like that until 1999. Tomorrow: the Magic Formula and the increasing popularity of the right. Link to the website of the Swiss Parliament (options for Deutsch, Français, Italiano and to some extent, English).

20061103 Canon PowerShot S410

The international scourge that is junk mail

Here's a photo of a local mailbox. The first sticker says "Please, no advertisements in this mailbox, thank you!" The second reads "No junk mail (I feel compelled to add please!) except for the latest Ikea catalog. The third sticker declares "Mail from Sweden? That's for me!" Ingvar Kamprad (who makes his domicile in CH) must be so happy! We have no such stickers on our box, mainly because I never remember to write such a note and carry it over when I fetch the mail.

I got the idea for this post from a blogger in Zürich who recently wrote about a piece of mail she received from the Swiss postal system asking her to reconsider her "no" stance.

20070909

Hotel Limmathof

Hotel Limmathof, built between 1834 and 1836 overlooking the Limmat River, is still in business. This is the building with the artsy cat ladders I wrote about several days ago. Link to Google map showing the hotel. This post ends the Baden series for the time being.

20070831

The covered bridge, another view

Yesterday's bridge, from the other bank. Behind the bridge is an old castle from the 1400s, the Landvogteischloss. Since 1913, it has housed the Historical Museum (there's a new addition to the museum, located to the left of the castle in this photo). Sadly, there isn't a lot of information about it on the web as far as I've found.

A final photo of the bridge from the side, showing the river Limmat, can be seen at my overflow blog. Covered bridge and the Limmat.

20070828

Gedeckte Holzbrücke

A covered wooden bridge over the river Limmat in Baden, built in 1810. There were at least five forerunners to this version, before which there was a ferry. To me, there's something Far Eastern about the design, particularly the windows and their shutters. Another thing to note are the little balcony or window "gardens" on the green building. Especially the middle window on the second row from the top.

The Baden Historical Museum that I've mentioned in a couple of posts is to the right of the bridge. Here's a link to a Google map showing the bridge and surroundings. I was on the right bank looking over to the left when I took this photo. Keep in mind that there's quite a change in elevation over the region around the river and some features I would have expected to be able to see are hidden.

20070828

Verenahof in decay

Hotel Verenahof (open from 1845 to 2002, a flash presentation from their website here) in Baden is where Hermann Hesse spent a couple of weeks every year for 30 years, visiting the thermal baths for therapy. Seems there was one particular set of rooms he rented each time and one could take a look in them up until the time the hotel closed down (link to a German article by a visitor in 2001).

Hesse spent the greater part of his life in Montagnola in Canton Ticino, where a museum has been created out of his house. Fondazione Hermann Hesse Montagnola (English and German versions available). Did you know that he painted watercolors? Go to the Gallery>Watercolors section on the website to browse through some of them.

It is wonderful to paint; it makes one happier and more patient. And when finished, fingers are not black like after writing, but red and blue.

20070831

The oldest train station in Switzerland

Back to the Baden story. This is the oldest train station in Switzerland, built in 1847. The building hasn't changed all that much; take a look at a drawing from the year it was built. Unfortunately, the vantage point of the drawing, to the right of the station, isn't accessible to laypeople. One thing that has changed about the station is that the heart of the ticket sales operation has moved underground where there is now a shopping area.

20070902

The remnants of the corn plants

Another farm post before I resume the Baden series. At first, I thought the corn cobs were plucked before the plants were cut down and shredded. But, now I'm not sure this batch was intended for human consumption. Maybe food for the dairy cows?

20070901

Pitching in

Sundays are busy days if you have farm work to do. These two young'uns were helping out with the mowing chores yesterday morning. The strip of land they're working on has several fruit trees on it and so can't be mown with the usual machines. I have another, larger photo up at my overflow site. There you can see the tractor and trailer for the cut grass. Sunday in Villigen. And for a photo of a family on a group bike ride on the same morning, don't miss sunday morning bike ride.

20070902

Achtung überall Kinder

Caution children everywhere. This sign has always amused me as I have a mental image of kids popping up like prairie dogs all over the place.

20070812

Daily Photo theme day: Street signs

It's the first of the month and time again for the Daily City Photo Theme Day! Street signs and/or street lights are on offer this month. Photographed here is a Wegweiser in Villigen, a signpost showing directions and distances to places for hikers. The distances are actually given in time, as they're supposed to account for changes in terrain (50 km uphill vs 50 km on level ground, that sort of thing). Let's just say it usually takes me a little longer than advertised, and let's blame it on the obsessive photo taking.

Note the lowest marker which says Schweizer Familie Feuerstelle. That's a designated public place for picnics, stocked with firewood and an area to build a fire for grilling. Some of them are even kitted out with picnic tables and benches. For a searchable list by Canton, click here (might be useful for readers in Switzerland). Schweizer Familie is a Swiss magazine and they appear to sponsor these sites.

Back in February, I had posted a photo of the largest example of these that I've come across.

More than 100 daily city bloggers are participating in today's theme day:
Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Moscow, Russia - Paris, France - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Lyon, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Hyde, UK - Hong Kong, China - Joplin (MO), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Chandler (AZ), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - San Diego (CA), USA - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Nelson, New Zealand - Quincy (MA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Bend (OR), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - New Orleans (LA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Detroit (MI), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Selma (AL), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Arradon, France - Sheki, Azerbaijan - New York City (NY), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Tenerife, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Forks (WA), USA - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Chateaubriant, France - Madison (WI), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ajaccio, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Budapest, Hungary - Lyon, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Le Guilvinec, France - River Falls (WI), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Naples (FL), USA - London, UK - La Antigua, Guatemala - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Trujillo, Peru - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Oslo, Norway - Grenoble, France - Shanghai, China - Toronto (ON), Canada - Durban, South Africa - Zurich, Switzerland - Cape Town, South Africa - Singapore, Singapore

20070805