David Kotz

Fabrikation

A curious (and historic) old building on the edge of campus.

I’ve walked by this curious old building a few times, and always paused to ponder its origin, its purpose, and its sad condition (never seen in this prim part of town). It sits snugly between a posh residential neighborhood and the focal point of three campuses: ETH, the University of Zürich (UZH), and the UZH hospital. Clearly, it once had a walk-up counter where one could arrange for the fabrication of chemical/technical apparatus.

Puzzled, a little Googling lead me to a brochure a local historical society wrote about this building. From what I can glean from that brochure (in German), this workshop was built in 1863 next to a small house, home to several generations of plumbers. The later generations apparently specialized in scientific apparatus as well as home plumbing solutions (Wasch & Badeeinrichtungen – wash and bathroom furnishings). After decades of disrepair, the property was protected under a local archaeological ordinance, purchased by the city, then restored into beautiful shape. It was left unused, however, and sadly became the target of graffiti vandals. It now appears likely to be demolished when the hospital next needs to expand. The adjacent house is now used by ETH as a daycare facility.

Zürich wildlife

An albino rat explores Bahnhofstrasse.

When your hiking habit shifts its attention to city streets, because of the pandemic, you need to take wildlife sightings when and where you can. On Saturday morning I enjoyed a chorus of frogs in Zürich’s Irchel park. On Sunday morning I roamed the old streets of central Zürich looking for photographic opportunities. On a deserted Bahnhofstrasse — the largest and swankiest street in the shopping district — one little opportunity scurried toward me on the sidewalk. This rat, an albino, popped into a tree well to sniff through the debris left by humans who’d strolled by the day before.

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dr Gränzdänker – Röthlisberger

A unusually abstract and futuristic statue from Röthlisberger.

This statue from Röthlisberger is, as the sign indicates, totally different than the bronzes on display at Zürichberg. Despite being a techie myself, I can relate to his desire to connect to the “real world”, indeed, the natural world – as I do every morning on these walks.

Frogs of Irchel

A busy corner of the pond at Irchel Park in Zürich.

On an extended version of my morning walk today I took a new route, one that took me through the Irchel campus of the University of Zürich, including the lovely Irchel Park. A few joggers and strollers were out, with most people pausing at the duck pond to enjoy the lovely morning and a view of the new ducklings.

The dominant feature, however, was the incredible din of the frogs. From every corner of the pond, dozens could be heard croaking away among the reeds. I’m familiar with this phenomenon – I love to hear “peeper season” arrive in Lyme, usually in late May and early June. But these croakers were different – croaking Deutsch, I suppose. (Listen to the video.)

I spent a good ten minutes searching a small patch of reeds before I actually saw any of them, despite their noisy business. I then spent a motionless ten minutes staring down one fellow – who motionlessly started right back at me – before he decided I was not interested in taking him to lunch, and he finally demonstrated his technique, in the sequence below, and in this video! See the gallery for full-res images.

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Crooked

One of my morning routes passes by this crooked old house, which always makes me smile when it comes into view as I round the street corner. It has a lot of character!

Campfire lunch

A lunchtime outing to Zurichberg for sausages grilled over a campfire.

I’ve long been impressed by the number of picnic spots and benches scattered along the trails on Zürichberg – the hill above our home – and on Uetliberg, the hill on the opposite side of the lake. Many include a fanciful water fountain, running constantly, with fresh, high-quality drinking water. Each comes with a little campfire ring; campfires seem to be deep in the Swiss culture, and common even on the edge of the city.

Today, finally, we took advantage of the sunny weather to walk up to my favorite viewpoint on Zürichberg, scrounge some sticks from the forest, build a small fire, cook some sausages, slip them inside some rolls fresh from the bakery, and soak in the view of the Alps beyond Zürich. It’s definitely an antidote for cabin fever!

dr Fäudmuser – Röthlisberger

Another interesting Röthlisberger statue.

Another interesting Röthlisberger statue about an important village role in 19th- and early 20th-century Switzerland.

Zwinglistadt 2019

A curious statue of Zwingli.

2020-04-12-82414 The streets were nearly deserted during my early-morning walk about the old district of Zürich. Churches, normally busy on a beautiful Easter morning like this one, were all closed due to coronavirus. At one point I stepped into a tiny courtyard on the backside of St. Peter Church and encountered this rather unusual statue of a local notable.

Ulrich Zwingli founded the Reformation in Switzerland in Zürich; it and many other Swiss cantons rejected Catholicism and “reformed” their churches into Protestant churches. The year was 1519, exactly 500 years ago. Zürich celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation throughout 2019 [website], including (it appears) the commission, display, and later auction of a set of statues of Zwingli. In this one, according to the sign, Zwingli is puzzled by climate change and bemoans the amount of waste. He is holding, by a chain, a ball of waste plastics and electronics.

St. Peter itself has a very interesting history. Among other things, St. Peter has the largest tower clock face in Europe. [Wikipedia]

Zwänzgerle

I was sad to miss the opportunity to witness one of Zürich’s most curious traditions, as it was cancelled this year.

I’ve read that Switzerland has many unusual Easter traditions, but I was particularly looking forward to Zwänzgerle, a Zürich tradition that dates back to the 18th century.

Held every year on “Easter Monday” (the day after Easter), people gather in the old-town vicinity of Rüdenplatz to play this game. As noted by the city’s tourism web site, “adults throw 20-cent coins at hard-boiled eggs held out by children with the aim of making them lodge in the shell. If they succeed, the thrower keeps the egg and the coin. An almost impossible task – much to the delight of the children, as every coin that falls to the ground instead of sticking in the egg belongs to them.”

I have no photos (of my own) to share – but that tourism page (now gone) has a few brief video clips, and an Aargau newspaper posted a cute video a couple years ago (now removed). Wikipedia has a few more details [in German] about this fun tradition related to “egg tapping” practiced elsewhere.

Happy Zwänzgerle!

Zwänzgerle1.jpg — by Adrian Michael – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67304932

Easter morning in Zürich

A beautiful – though quiet – Easter morning on the streets of Zürich.

Easter is a major four-day holiday weekend in Switzerland, and in Zürich. With dozens of churches and cathedrals dotting the old city, one might normally expect to encounter hundreds of churchgoers during a stroll around altstadt on Easter morning… but this year is anything but typical. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful morning to wander the streets and take photographs – low morning light, blue skies, and virtually no pedestrians or traffic.

St. Peter’s church was closed, as with all the others, but one lone woman sat quietly in the square, facing the church, enjoying her own silent Easter mass.

Our flat is neighbor to the Liebfrauen church, whose bells rang for 15 minutes this morning [15sec video]. Come to think of it, they do that every morning and every evening.

Meanwhile, the tulips are in peak bloom throughout the city gardens.

May peace be with you, and the world.