Wisteria and palm at 48

Wisteria growing up the walls and almost obscuring the windows at one of the houses on Hauptstrasse. See a wider-angle photo at the overflow site.

20070626

More tree gnomes

These gnomes hang out with the other two that you saw before (you can see the yellow pants of one of them at the right edge of the photo). To see the tree in which they live, visit my overflow site.

20070626

Net

I don't know what this thing was intended for, but now it serves as a decoration on the barn door I showed yesterday.

20070626

Orange on brown

An orange rose and lilies against a barn door near the post office.

20070626

Barefoot in Stilli

Last year, I noticed one or two young women (always women) walking around barefoot at the bus and train stations. This one here is the first I've seen this year.

20070608

Excursion: near Saas Almagell in Valais

If you just want to see the other photos and a two-minute movie clip, go to my overflow site.

Now for something completely different. In the mountains, the cattle are taken up to the highest pastures (alps) in the spring/summer, so that the lower meadows can be used to produce enough hay to last through the winter. This alpine procession can be quite a festive occasion, and these days some communities put up a show to attract tourists. Click here for an interesting BBC From Our Own Correspondent piece about the Alpaufzug (Inalpe in French) and the changes in Swiss farming societies over the last couple of decades.

The special Hérens breed of cows in Canton Valais has a strong sense of hierarchy, and when a bunch of strange cows are brought together, for instance before their procession to the higher meadows, they get into spontaneous fights to establish the pecking order. Banish thoughts of dog-fights or bull-fights from your heads. This is nothing like that. On Saturday, we went to observe some of these fights at a place called Zermeiggern in the Saastal (Saas valley, roughly on the map here). I also made a little video clip, which I've posted over at the overflow site so you can see for yourself what the affair is like. Here's a little about the fights from the Swiss tourism website:

Cow fights take place throughout the region in which the Hérens breed has its home (Central and Lower Valais, Valle d'Aosta in Italy). More than any other breed, these small black cows with short, sturdy horns have retained the instinct to organize themselves into a social hierarchy. That is the reason they fight each other when spring arrives.

In an often fierce contest, it is decided which will be the queen cow leading the herd up to the Alpine meadows. The fights do not take place in organized fashion; each cow simply chooses her opponent on the spur of the moment. She suddenly stops grazing, lowers her head, snorts, and paws the ground with her hooves. If a cow of similar strength accepts the challenge, she wastes no time in informing her opponent in the same manner. Prudently, they approach each other. The fight begins: heads clash and horns lock, each cow trying to get a good hold. Then they stand firmly and push with all their strength, the stronger one forcing the weaker to retreat. After the contest, which may continue for several minutes, the loser turns around and runs away, followed by the winner, who encourages the loser to remember "who's boss" by adding a few more blows with her horns.

To see some more photos and a two-minute movie clip from the event, go to my overflow site.

20070623

The bridge across the Aare at Stilli

This is the pedestrian and bicycle lane on the way to Stilli over the Aarebrücke (built in 1903, currently being renovated). To get to Villigen, take the second right after the bridge. That'll put you on the road that becomes Hauptstrasse. To go to Brugg, turn left instead. (Map, 47.51,8.23)

The Gde on the sign is short for Gemeinde, meaning community. The sign says that Stilli is part of Villigen.

Addendum. A couple of readers have commented on the green sculpture on the right. I've put a photo of it, from a different angle, at the overflow site. Click here. When I have more information on it, I'll update that post.

20070617

Two gnomes up in a tree

A little Saturday fun.

20070429

The church in Rein

The combination of late evening sun and storm clouds around Villigen created interesting lighting effects yesterday.

20070621

Cherries for sale

Local cherries for sale at the produce stand I showed two weeks ago. Tafelkirschen means table cherries, meant for consumption in the fresh form. The price here is much lower than what the supermarkets charge (though still more expensive than the imported ones, I think): 6 Swiss Francs (CHF or SFr) for one kilo = 3.4 Euro for one kilo = 2.2 USD for a pound.

If you missed it a few days ago, cherries on the tree can be seen here.

20070620

No Posters!

Another barn door in Villigen. Forbidden to attach posters. What is it about warnings like this that seem to provoke people to violate them?

20070616

The tower and the bridge in Brugg

The Schwarze Turm (black tower) and the old bridge over the river Aare in Brugg. The tower was built in the 12th century. There has been a bridge at this location for long before then, when exactly this one was built is something I'm still trying to find out. The bus that I take to Brugg drives over this bridge.

To see where I stood to take this photo (a different, larger, newer bridge) click the coordinates (47.4857, 8.2112). Look to the left and you'll see the old bridge.

20070618

Cherries!

Cherries have been ripening around the region and they're on the market now. Our local produce stand has had some, and I bought 2 kilos of them on a whim. Cherry pie recipes, anyone?

20070617

Broken window and blue sky

A barn just a few steps down from the chapel.

20070616

Four horses

Another photo taken from Besserstein, the hill that rises up from Villigen. There have been some comments about the recent "aerial" shots. They were all taken from about halfway up the path that snakes up the hill. Close to the spot where the red 2CV was parked when I photographed it from our balcony in May (20070527). Here's a link to the area on Google maps (47.5234, 8.2132).

20070603

Block house

I think this is the largest (by quite a bit) apartment block in Villigen. You might recognize the bus stop next to the post office from an earlier post (20070604).

20070603

The Chapel, summer edition

Last seen in January (20070131).

20070603

Coffee break

On a bus waiting at the bus station in Brugg.

20070604

The rose garden from Besserstein

Yesterday's photo was too zoomed out to show the rose garden very clearly so I'm posting this closer view today. If you look just below the row of parked cars on the left side of Hauptstrasse, you might be able to make out the green tarpaulin of the strawberry stand I showed a few days ago. All these images were taken with my "ultra zoom" Panasonic FZ7 which has a 35-mm equivalent of 36-mm to 432-mm lens in a conveniently compact package.

Please note that this week is a bit busy so I'm finding it difficult to find time to visit you all, but I think next week I'll be able to make my rounds again.

20070603

View from Besserstein

Another photo from a few days ago when I went up to Besserstein. All the crop photos I showed the last few days were taken along the road that's in the cloud shadow. The rose garden is also on here, can you find it?

20070603

Putative wheat

As I promised yesterday. I've tried to make the photo clear enough to tell whether it's wheat or not. There's a less clear photo of a field of this butting up against a field of the stuff from yesterday at the overflow site.

In the background is Holcim, the cement plant in Würenlingen across the Aare from Stilli. Clicking on the cement plant label below should bring up the previous posts where I've mentioned it.

20070608

Golden fields in June

Chuckeroon in Richmond am Thames asked how the wheat was coming along. Before I show what I think is the wheat, which is still green, I thought I would show the other stuff which seems to be ripening. The general consensus is that this is either barley or rye. Probably barley, given that more barley is grown here than rye (see the Swiss crop statistics on the overflow site). In addition to this lot, there's another batch of crop similar in color, but not quite as bristly. I've uploaded a photo on the overflow site, along the Swiss crop statistics from 2000.

Other mentions of this plant here before on 20070521 and on 20070518.

20070608

There goes the view!

Some painting and maintenance work is going to be done on our facade so they put up this scaffolding all around the building yesterday. Looks really heavy duty, and kills the view from our kitchen window (one example of which I had posted yesterday).

20070607

The strawberry stand and the green car

Here we have a photo I took from our kitchen window by leaning out a little bit to the left. The produce stand appeared a couple of weeks ago with strawberries. It's self-service, and there's a box in which to deposit the money. I'm hoping for cherries soon.

Oh, the car resides in a converted garage across from us, behind the house with the rose garden I showed previously. Someone please tell me what make and model it is -- I'll update the post tomorrow. I've put up a shot of it being parked over at the overflow site.

Addendum: According to some of the readers, the car is an MG A, a sports car produced by the MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1955 to 1962.

20070603

Schloss Schartenfels

Schloss Schartenfels near Baden (technically in an area called Wettingen) is a restaurant with a view. All winter I took photos of it, but didn't like any of them because of the lack of contrast given the absence of leaves on the trees. I took this yesterday and I think I'll keep it. If you want to see the location from which I took the photo, see this old post (20070623). On the roof of the building is the Manora restaurant and they have a terrace which offers nice photo opportunities. (Map of Schartenfels' location)

20070604

Waiting

The chess set that I mentioned yesterday, all lined up ready for a game.

20070604

The post office as seen from the hill

On Sunday I went up to Besserstein, the hill you've seen many times on this blog (click on the Besserstein label below to see some of the other posts), to take some photos. There's not a lot that's new here: the post office, the bus station and the kartoffel.ch sign were all visible in the post from 20070420. What are new are the chess board and the bench (in the lower right hand corner, look up from "kart"). Some of you might recall my "men at work" theme day post where I showed you this area and told you that I didn't know what they were working on. Well, this was part of it. There's also a new house further to the right.

20070603

An exuberance of flowers

Lovingly tended by a resident on Hauptstrasse, this predominantly rose garden is visible from our kitchen window. For a look at what it looks like from the window (this is a ground level view), please visit my overflow site. I didn't mention it yesterday, but yesterday's photo was taken from our guestroom, which also serves as my work room. I've posted many photos that were taken from that window.

20070602

Street cleaning days

Every other Friday or maybe one Friday a month, our streets are cleaned. This vehicle pokes along, up and down Hauptstrasse (main street) a few times, and along the side streets.

I think most people are familiar with the stereotype of Swiss cleanliness. Before I moved here, I read all sorts of things about how obsessed the Swiss supposedly are with cleaning and was a little worried. Perhaps because this is a village rather than a town or city, I find that things are rather relaxed here. It's true that there's almost no litter around (which suits me perfectly), but not all the windows are sparkly all the time (which suits me perfectly as well) and not all the gardens are just-so.

20070601

Theme day: Views from my room

It's theme day, and the theme for June is "the view from my room". Instead of just one view, I wanted to give you an idea of what you would see if you were to stand at the window and spend some time looking around. Clicking on the image will bring up a 1500 pixel x 1125 pixel version. You will see the garden with water features that the downstairs neighbors set up, a cat ladder (neighbors'), two cats (ours), the balcony and window belonging to another neighbor and herb plants on our balcony. There are also a couple of shots of the window from the bed. All photos were taken over the past two days.

Addendum: I changed the layout of the collage just a tiny bit as there was something that was bothering me. Also, for those of you who were interested in the post from yesterday: all the individuals who were up for approval for citizenship were accepted.

Surely, you want to take a look at the view from the rooms of the DPers all over the world:
Seattle (WA), USA - Manila, Philippines - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Toruń, Poland - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Seoul, Korea - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Vantaa, Finland - Madison (WI), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Cleveland (OH), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Omaha (NE), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Stockholm, Sweden - Grenoble, France - Lubbock (TX), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Arradon, France - Hyde, UK - Joplin (MO), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Kansas City (MO), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Manila, Philippines - Sydney, Australia - Stavanger, Norway - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - London, UK - Chandler (AZ), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Singapore, Singapore - Hamburg, Germany - Sydney, Australia - Tenerife, Spain - Moscow, Russia - Lyon, France - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Anderson (SC), USA - Oslo, Norway - Evry, France - Hayle, UK - Mumbai, India - Kitakami, Japan - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Los Angeles (CA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - La Antigua, Guatemala - Paderborn, Germany - San Diego (CA), USA - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Madrid, Spain - Lyon, France - Selma (AL), USA - Shanghai, China - Baziège, France - Cologne (NRW), Germany - North Bay (ON), Canada - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Stayton (OR), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Hong Kong, China - Trier, Germany - Joensuu, Finland - Paris, France - Greenville (SC), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Cork, Ireland - Bastia, France - Vancouver, Canada - Brookville (OH), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia