[Graven Images] Landesmuseum, Zürich

The Landesmuseum in Zürich has a lot of great engraved images.  It has knights, shells, people, gargoyles, and lots of flourishes.

[Fountain Friday] Big square fountain in Appenzell

[Graven Images] Freieck 1894

On an apartment building near me.

[Sunday in Switzerland] Green things

I bought a plant this week.  It was one of the first times I asked a clerk "is English okay?" and had them say no.  As a result, I learned two things: Japanese Peace Lilies are not called that in German (not even a translated version), and Google's image search is very useful in these cases.

I continuously discover minor differences to life here, even though many of the big differences I have encountered now.  One of the silly but awesome ones is how they package frozen spinach: it comes in pre-sized, single serving blocks.  It is so much more convenient than one big slab of spinach when making dinner.

Finally, not really a green thing.  I always liked Dippy the Diplodocus, the statue outside the Carnegie Natural History museum in Pittsburgh.  In winter, he sometimes wears a colorful scarf.  We brought a model Dippy with us, so I made a scarf for him.

Fountain Friday and Building Engravings posts

I enjoy collecting the images of fountains and building engravings.  I like showing them off.  But scheduling separate posts for them takes a fair amount of time.

Starting in the new year, I will just add new photos to shared Google Photos albums.  You can turn on notifications on those albums to see new photos, if you want.

Fountains Album

Building Engravings Album

[Fountain Friday] Bear holding a shield in Appenzell

[Graven Images] Lady and date

This is on an apartment building near mine that was under construction for a long time.  The finished and the lady looks nicely restored.  Anno 1897.

[Sunday in Switzerland] A weekend in Basel

This weekend we went to Basel, a smaller town in northwestern Switzerland on the Rhine river. On Saturday, we visited one of the lively Christmas markets. My favorite decoration was a cherub holding a sausage aloft. The Glühwein was also very tasty.

The Rhine river at sunset

An elaborate display at the Christmas market

Sunday, many stores were closed, as usual in Switzerland, but museums were open. I went to the Paper Mill museum. I hadn't heard about it, but one of the Google travel guides listed it and I like paper. It was very interesting, including a working water mill driven rag mashing machine. The museum included the history of paper making, writing and printing, so there was a lot more than just paper. They had some cool alternate typewriters. Definitely worth a visit.

Later in the day, we took a longer tram ride up to see a Kandinsky exhibit. We got the English docent tour and I'm really glad we did. There was a lot of interesting information about Kandinsky, Marc, and Der Blaue Reiter. I didn't get any pictures, but I'm glad we made it up here for the exhibit.
So, more fun in Switzerland. :)

[Fountain Friday] Arm raised man in Appenzell

[Graven Images] Water imp

The ears imply a mythical creature, and the shell background makes me think of a water imp or god.  Taken in Luzern.

[Fountain Friday] Swirl in Appenzell