Basel, Switzerland - August 1, 2006

(I've switched to an easier method of blogging in order to get some of the backlog of pictures I have from Europe posted. One disadvantage is that landscape photos may be slightly offset due to their size - clicking on them will reveal the whole photo. An example of what I mean is the photo below - in its full size - contains the Swiss flag with which we can only catch a glimpse of now. Most of the other photos are not altered incredibly by the cropping. The advantage is there will no longer be distortion and graininess from viewing poorly-shrunk photos).

Welcome to Basel!

The beautiful old-town of Basel, Switzerland alongside the Rhine. Nietzsche was made the chair of philosophy in Basel at the ripe-old-age of 24. Think I've somewhat fallen behind.

Basel's streets are full of brightly-coloured oddities such as this dragon. I have no idea what function it serves - if any. It made strolling around this town much more personable than Zurich.

Another personable aspect of Basel was its collection of different doors - most with an inscription of the age of the house to which it barred entry.

Another one of Basel's figurines. Perhap's a horseless Don Quixote? Submit your best guesses.

Living and Dying. I've already proven I can't resist these old churches - I especially like this photograph. The vibrancy of the green seems to scream "life" against the rust-colour of the church. And rust is just another form of decay, isn't it?

The catholic Munster dwarfes a relaxing resident.

The exoskeleton like spires of the Munster are particularly interesting.

A boat crosses the Rhine by way of cable - which prevents the unpowered craft from slipping downstream.

Even the front of the church is adorned with odd figurines - including another Don Quixote-like character lancing some demonic doggy. Odd town - but interesting nonetheless.

In Switzerland you never have to wonder what time it is.

The lovely red of the rathaus - city hall - tower on the town square. The addition of another fable character helps gives this town a fairy-tale feel.

The setting sun cuts a decisive line across the gloriously vibrant rathaus.

A close-up - including the leaning, solid gold spire that adorns the rooftop. Only in a country of wealth can that much gold be just sitting on top of a roof and be considered safe.

Modern and Gothic Architecture compliment each-other.

Ivo ham's it up for the camera.

The gargoyles await the setting of the sun.

Another demon-spawn prepares to leap to life as dusk sets in.

The German Amigos - Michael & Ivo - both of whom I met in Mexico City and thought I'd never see again.

This is as tall as I can get!

A great memory. Three people going on wildy different paths in three different countries and yet meeting together for one evening, maybe the last time.

Speed. The autobahn at night. We return to Freiburg.

Zurich, Switzerland - August 1, 2006

Having spent the 31st of July travelling across southern Germany (through Bavaria to Baden-Wurttemberg) to visit my friend Ivo in Freiburg, I spent the day getting some R&R and eating apple strudel and drinking some Black Forest beer as Freiburg sits engulfed by the famous woods.

The next day we decided to head south to Switzerland to see the sights and visit fellow ex-a-tec alumnus Michael (part of the original gang that included Patricia and myself who met in Mexico City in the fall of 2003). As luck would have it, the first of August is the Swiss "National Day" - what they count as their 'independence' although the term is used loosely. From what I could find online this holiday has been celebrated since 1891 in recognition of the 1291 founding of the Swiss Confederation. Unbeknownst to us at the time, however, we continued our travels south to find the entire country abandoned, shops closed, streets vacant, tumbleweeds tumbling...

Despite this slight hickup on our plans, the lack of busy-ness made exploring easy and Ivo and I set off to discover what makes the Swiss tick.

The countryside of northern Switzerland - in contrast to the idyllic and alpine region of southern Switzerland that is most commonly portrayed.

One of the many Swiss banners and flags that dotted our path from un-/not-permitted-to-be-nationalist Germany to Zurich and back.

The fork in the road. We took a left to meet our fate in the Swiss nation's financial capital of Zurich.

Zurich
Beautiful Lake Zurich. Its unusual for this serene scene to border on one of Switzlerland's largest (and more serious) cities - it seems more fitting for the countryside.

Beware the vengence of the Swiss. Actually, I'm not sure what the significance of this statue/monument is, but the message is clear "Don't Mess With Switzerland or We'll Clean Your Clocks". Hehe... two timely jokes thus far - make that three.

Looking up-river from Lake Zurich along the Limmet which divides the city in half. Ongoing construction and renovation - ever-present in Europe - is visible from the crane in the top-left.

The Swiss celebrate National Day with a Western-style Hoedown - I have no idea what the link is but the girls were mixing it up to Cotton Eye Joe and the likes. The small festivities also provided the few meagre foods that were available to Ivo and I in the otherwise dead city.

The anonymous and serious face of Swiss banking is projected from the Swiss National Bank - the centre of European financial capitalism.

A famous Zurich church - closed due to the National holiday - which is the site of some major works. Stained glass windows being their specialty I think.

The city Munster with its two towers and red spire stand out against the skyline.

Zurich is full of buildings from many different historical epochs - one of the benefits of not being bombed to smithereens during WWI and II.

Zurich's Limmet river adds a "canal' feel to this otherwise straight-laced town.

The bay-window type design is common in the Germanic areas of Europe, including here in Switzerland.

Proud and true - the ubiquitous Swiss flag.

Which country are we in? Perhaps there's a sign that will reveal our location...


More abandoned space.

Ivo and I pose for the camera - set to auto - in this peculiar shot. As someone mentioned on an earlier post, it looks like we're having a staring contest over our cups of coffee. Here we're below ground in the haupbahnhof - the central train station - one of the only places that is perpetually open in Europe.

Ivo poses with a Swiss bill. Swiss francs are worth approximately the equivalent of the Canadian dollar - which in this case is much less than the euro. Not to mention Switzerland has one of the highest costs of living in Europe making one day there long-enough for my pocketbook.

One of my favourite Swiss photos is this one of a fountain in the underground portion of the haupbahnhof. The water frozen in droplets - reflecting the light in different ways - makes for a neat looking effect like something out of Star Trek - Beam me up!

Back above ground for more displays of red & white.

Bond, James Bond. I can't resist a shot in front of the famous Omega watch shop on Zurich's main shopping street. A poster for the new movie Casino Royale is visible in the background.

Hey finally - something traditionally Swiss. Behind the still-prancing country lineup were some old men and their horns. These two were happy to show off their goods.

A close-up of the decoration.

The old-men take the stage to play a tune or two - and they say bagpipe-players have to have big lungs.

Since nothing was open I managed to find myself some "lunch" at the festivities where there were carts selling hotdogs and one selling cheese. So Ivo with his hotdog and I with my cheese enjoyed our last moments in Zurich before heading to Basel.

The Lindt Chocolate factory - how could I have missed it on the way in. Sob!

I manage to capture this cool looking house from the window of our speeding car as Zurich stretches behind us.

Zurich, Switzerland - August 1, 2006

After taking the train to the city of Freiburg in the southwestern corner of Germany, I met up with Ivo, a friend I met in Mexico while on a student exchange in 2003. Together we went for a day trip south of the border to see what we could see.

The large, serious and anonymous face of Swiss banking in Zurich, Switzerland´s biggest city. Somehow fitting.

Keeping precise time, the clocktower over the canal that runs into Lake Zurich.

Sipping espressos underground in the haupbahnhof, Zurich´s transportation hub.

Ivo displays the Swiss franc - an annoying outcome of Switzerland´s decision to reject the Euro after joining the EU in 2004. It takes a lot of these to buy things down there, my advice is don´t visit Switzerland if you´re not among the jetset crowd.

The local Ricola band. Actually, August 1st was a Swiss national holiday although I didn´t know what they were celebrating. The weird part is on Swiss holidays everything shuts down. The entire city was more or less deserted like a ghost town. The few Swiss out and about were part of a small celebration on the lakeshore featuring a Western-style hoe-down and then finally something a bit more ´local´.

More later. All these crappy computers I´m using over here are incredibly slow and hard to type on so its hard and time consuming even to browse photos to find which I should put up. Wish I could show you all more. Having fun now in Prague, Czech Republic.

Adios,

Jason