Eric in Paris had a post about the dog poop left on the streets of the City of Light. In Switzerland, people are generally quite good about cleaning up after their canines and the process is made easier by the presence of these boxes meant specifically for doggie doo-doo. This one was in the woods near Vogelsang. Somewhat weirdly, at least to me, they're called Robidog, which sounds like a mutt with a rabid robot parentage.
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This photo is from last month, though we have had spells of similar weather conditions recently. Yesterday, I talked about ABB, and today I'll mention Holcim, a leading supplier of cement and aggregates in the world. It was established in 1912 in a village near us called Holderbank. We have a plant on the other side of the Aare and the quarry for the rocks it uses is in Villigen's backyard, so to speak. There's a long conveyor system across Villigen and the Aare, a small part of which is visible in this earlier post.
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Here's another photo from a different part of the Wasserschloss region. The Aare flows in from the right, while the Reuss comes down from the left. It would be better to have a panorama of this region but I didn't have a tripod with me at the time.
If you look closely in the left half of the photo you'll notice what looks like a factory. That belongs to ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), a company that is a "global leader in power and automation technologies". Brown Boveri was established in Baden in 1891 and was the first company to transmit high voltage AC power. That's a simplified statement of the complicated history, a little of which can be read at this IEEE site. Asea dates back to 1883, started in Stockholm, Sweden. The two merged in 1988.
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Three major rivers come together near us in a region that's called das Wasserschloss (the Wikipedia entry is in German): the Aare, the Reuss and the Limmat. I've already mentioned the Aare in this blog (1, 2). Today's photo is of the Limmat, as it flows past Vogelsang. Upstream lie Baden and Zürich among other places.
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Our paper (for recycling) is picked up just four times a year. I suppose it's a testament to the relatively smaller amount of junk mail that we get that this actually works. Perhaps also fewer newspapers delivered to homes?
The pickup is organized through the various groups in town. Today's collection was done by the music group. The first lot picked up on one side (our side) of the street, while the second team was responsible for the other side. The two young men in the first group jumped up on top of the stacks of paper and one of them pulled out a cell/mobile phone as they drove away.
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More whimsy from Villigen. I don't know whether this is the real thing from Britain or a mock-up, but I will say that it provides a splash of color in the otherwise dull winter surroundings. Though, in this photo taken a few days ago, there's sufficient greenery to make it look it look quite unlike what winter-time should be like around here. The noticeable difference in the summer would be that the planters and the window box would have colorful flowering plants in them.
The box looks like the 6th edition, Kiosk No. 6, which was introduced in 1936.
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I saved what I think is my most eye-catching photo from the Baden parade for the last post on the topic. In addition to the bands and groups who were scheduled in advance, it seemed as though people could register on-site as independents. I think these two were in that category and unfortunately, I don't have any information on them.
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Continuing with photos from the parade. These two women were going around with funny props and a Polaroid camera and were randomly picking people to photograph. We were standing near a couple of police officers and one of them was selected for a photo. It was somehow endearing, how game he was.
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Yesterday I mentioned seeing sleeping babies at the parade and upon looking through my photos I found a couple with examples such as this one. I imagine the child is used to the music because s/he has been hearing it at band practice since before birth.
If you look straight up from the baby, you'll notice stairs going up. That's one of the paths to the ruins of Schloss Stein I wrote about in Sunday's post.
The specialty of Swiss Fasnachts is Guggenmusik. There are now bands playing such music even in the UK! The repertoire usually draws from popular music (from the US and UK, mostly) though the renditions are deliberately off-key. This group here is the Bloser Clique Baden and their theme is Aprés Ski Club Baldegg.
I've uploaded the Villigen (Kumetbach Sürpfler) clip (26 seconds) and it can be viewed via the whatsit below. They're supposed to be dressed as the horrors from the North, Schrecken des Norden. We were positioned at a location just downstream of the judges' stand so each group ended up taking a short break near us, causing some discontinuity in their performances.
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I caught this member of the Villigen band as he was walking over to the gathering place before the Baden Fasnacht parade started yesterday afternoon. These processions feature a lot of percussion instruments and they are very loud. To my disbelief, I saw several sleeping babies, in the procession and amongst the spectators.
I have many photos and some mini-movies and this week I might share some of them if there's interest from readers (well, maybe even if there's not!).
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I'm learning about local Fasnacht traditions as I prepare posts for this blog. As with a lot of Swiss matters, the way the celebrations for Fasnacht are organized is determined locally, in each community. There are Fasnacht clubs that prepare for this annual event long in advance. In some (maybe all, but I don't know) localities, there's a symbolic take-over of power from the local government by the Fasnacht organizers during Fasnacht. What you see in this photo is a sign of that, as the Swiss flag that usually flies over Baden has been replaced by the banner of the Spanischbrödlizunft (The Spanish Bread Guild -- one of these clubs).
It was apparently at the Treaty of Baden (the treaty that ended the hostilities between France and the Holy Roman Empire) in 1714 that spanish bread was first brought to Switzerland. In 1847, Switzerland’s first train, called the Spanish Brötlibahn, ran between Baden and Zürich. Why was it called that? I'm a little foggy on the details.
The ruins are those of castle Stein (Schloss Stein), once a stronghold of the Habsburgs. It's a short hike to the top through parts of the old town and it's well worth the effort.
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Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (b. 1746 Zürich, d. 1827 Brugg) was an educational reformer and humanitarian, and is considered to be one of the founders of pedagogy. The main points of his methodology , from ncsu.edu via PestalozziWorld (a charity based in the UK) are as follows:a. Child centered.
The PestalozziWorld website describes him as having been "200 years ahead of his time." He died in this house in Brugg, pictured here, 180 years ago today.
b. Direct experience. The teacher must never teach by words when a child can see, hear or touch an object for himself. Nature can teach the child better than man can.
c. Activity. The child is expected to be continually active in seeing for himself, making and correcting mistakes, describing his observations, analyzing objects and satisfying his natural curiosity.
d. Induction. The child must observe, learn to express his impressions of concrete objects perceived by the senses and must learn to formulate new generalizations for himself.
e. No books. Early elementary education needs direct and concrete experience rather than books. In this way the child proceeds from the concrete to the abstract.
f. Simplify all subjects. All subjects are reduced to their simple elements. The child proceeds, through experiencing the simple parts, to formulate more abstract generalizations.
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I went up a street I don't usually visit and found this fellow. Love the socks with the toes -- I've actually seen similar socks once, on a tourist in Zermatt.
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Are you jealous? No, it isn't really our private bunker, we have to share it with the other people in our apartment building. It's currently being used as storage space and I'm not sure we'd all even fit in with all the junk that's there (shh, don't tell the authorities.)
The nuclear shelter building craze started during the Cold War, in 1971 specifically, when a law was passed requiring every house to have a shelter with enough spaces for all the residents. Now, there are some communities with more shelter spaces than residents.
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting (amusing, even) story on this subject.
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Baden is gearing up for their Fasnacht celebration which kicks off tomorrow night. Yesterday I saw them putting up the stages and stands around the Altstadt (old town). Here's a photo of a poster of the schedule of events, with the Stadtturm (with the clock) in the background.
The Badener Stadtturm was originally built between 1441 and 1448, and has been renovated many times. Here's the crazy thing: from 1846 until 1983 it was used as a prison.
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Camping is a popular summertime activity and I've noticed many RVs with foreign license plates on Swiss highways. I don't know if they actually camp at one of the many camping grounds in CH, or whether they just pass through the Alps here. I also don't know much about the popular Swiss camping destinations -- maybe I should start by asking one of our neighbors across the street. They seem to be preparing their camper, eager to see an end to the leaden sky.
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Advertisements here can be very direct, such as this recent campaign by the Health Promotion Switzerland organization to encourage people to shed excess weight. This sign is on a shopping cart/trolley. The caption states that Switzerland is becoming fatter (dicker), but that it takes just a little to make a big change. For the other versions or to see the TV spot in Swiss-German (I can manage a rough translation if necessary), French or Italian, check out this page.
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Our local Coop (pronounced more like "cope", it is not a cooperative market in the US sense, at least at the present time) supermarket megaplex has public spaces for small exhibitions and performances. Yesterday I noticed a sign announcing a Venetian-themed display (the not-any-particular-theme display is on the main level) up on the second level. This figure is one of about eight in the diorama, and I chose to post this photo because the grocery area downstairs is visible in the background.
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It's a gorgeous day today after many foggy (typical for this area), rainy (should probably be snow but it has been too warm) ones and I'm celebrating that fact in this post. Here is a view from our balcony where you can see Besserstein and Geissberg (which, to the best that I can determine at this time, is the name for the chain of hills) and the vineyards on the slope. Where the trees end at the top left half of the photo, you might be able to make out a small squarish object. That's a bunker, a remnant from WW II.
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Remember the Wanderweg sign? I had mentioned the signposts, and this is the largest example that I've come across so far. It's in Baden. The progression from Villigen (by car) is Brugg (10 mins) - Baden (20 mins) - Zürich (50 mins). The sign lists walking times from Baden: two and a half hours to Stilli, 5 hours 50 minutes to Zürich. The time estimates take into account the changes in terrain and while I haven't tested these in particular, the ones I have have been quite reasonable.
Request to readers: if anyone has come across a bigger Wegweiser in CH, please let me know where it is.
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Perhaps not what you expected to see in Villigen? I don't know the why, when or who of this tribute to the 66th anniversary of US Route 66, but there it is, right on Hauptstrasse.
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Die Fasnacht (Fastnacht in Germany) is the start of the Lenten fast, better known as Carnival. In Switzerland, Basel and Lucerne are considered to have some of the best festivities. Zürich, home to Zwingli (1484 to 1531) and the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland probably viewed the whole thing with suspicion. This year, the Basel celebration runs from the 26th to the 28th of February. The Rough Guide to Switzerland has a nice description of the annual event, and it is reproduced here
Coming back to Villigen, this is the window display at Küng, a leather-goods shop in Brugg. If your eyesight is better than mine, you might notice that the poster at the right advertises the Basel parade and shows the prices for the 2007 "Blaggadde", which I guess are pins/badges (my Swiss-German is nigh non-existent, but it doesn't stop me from making wild guesses). The motto for 2007 is "D Strooss gheert uns!" which, I think -- please correct me if I'm wrong -- means the streets belong to us (die Strasse gehört uns, in high German). There will probably be a small parade in Villigen itself and this year (unlike last year), I'll be ready with my camera.
FYI: A DPer in Saarbrücken had a recent entry on the preparations for the Carnival in her area.
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Liegende Figur (1998) by Roman Signer (Swiss, b. 1938): The Reclining Figure (my translation) greets people on their way to the PSI cafeteria or the Forum. Rather boring in the winter, these boots are animated in the summer when the pulsing water jets under them are turned on.
From the Carnegie Museum of Art:
Signer’s "action sculptures" involve setting up, carrying out, and recording "experiments" or events that bear aesthetic results. Following carefully planned and strictly executed and documented procedures, the artist enacts and records such acts as explosions, collisions, and the projection of objects through space.20070127 modified
The PSI straddles the Aare and this is the view looking to the south from the bridge. The river originates in the Aare glacier in the Bernese alps and it runs 291 km (180 miles) before joining the Rhine in Koblenz, making it the longest river that lies entirely inside Switzerland. Some trivia: the Romans called it Obringa.
In the distance on the right, there's a glimpse of Stilli. The thing spanning the river is a conveyor system that transports rocks from a local quarry to a cement plant on the other side.
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Garden gnomes (die Gartenzwerge) are very popular in local gardens. They're usually rotund and jovial creatures, with long white beards and a pointed red Santa hat. I was quite amused to find this hunter ... um, I mean forest ranger ... gnome, along with his prey: the hapless bunny. The garden is otherwise cloyingly cute so this scene really stands out. Are there popular garden ornaments where you live?
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This installation by Mario Merz hangs in the west end of the main train station in Zürich. It's a depiction of the Fibonacci sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, .. . In this photo, I can make out only 1, 2, 3 and 5 (in the silhouettes of the birds and the window frames). I think some of the numbers might be burnt out.
Im Zürichhauptbahnhof hängt diese Lichtskulptur von Mario Merz. Sie ist eine Darstellung von der Fibonacci-Folge: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, .. .
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