I spent a few minutes together with this gray heron, sitting on a spillway where the Schüss River pours into Lac de Bienne. I like to think we were – together – quietly contemplating the temporary stillness of the universe. But most probably he was study intensely for stunned fish that fell over the spillway.
Swiss and Switzerland
The Circle – 2
Continuing the series,
Bâtiments de Berne
The Circle – 1
Bienne Gare
Pfingstwiedstrasse in Zürich
Entreprises horlogères suisses: Omega
I am by no means a fancy watch person – but this place has a little showroom, open to the public, where you can see one example of every watch this place makes. I literally spent 30 minutes looking at the watches – an absoluting amazing, amazing experience. (Well, it was pleasant for me. Inside the showroom there was a woman and a man — working there — dressed impecabbly. I think it’s more than a showroom and you can actually buy watches there. Anyway, I was wearing a dirty old T-Shirt and shorts. They didn’t complain – probably a lot of ultra-affluent people such as myself dress the way that I do! I keep some nice clothes in my Gulfstream IV for special occasions – but nothing beats comfort.)
Anyway, continuing the series,
Why is there a lunar lander in front of the building? Well, Omega is pretty proud that astronauts wore Omega watches to the Moon. If you ask me, that was 50 years ago – there is such a thing as milking a cow a bit too much. But having said that, once you buy a lunar landar there is no point in putting into a storeroom. And, it’s really cool to get up close and imagine what the astronauts felt like. So, good job Omega!
Compagnie de chemin de fer au pied des montagnes
Pillar of Moss and Slime – 4
Entreprises horlogères suisses: Rolex
Continuing the series,
Église du Pasquart, une église au centre de Bienne
Surplombant la ville de Pieterlen
Entreprises horlogères suisses: Rado
Continuing the series,
Modes of conveyance
Bundeshaus
Chasseral
It is not the Chasseral itself, but up in the Jura mountains the little villages have banded together into some kind of branded region called the Chasseral.
If you squint you’ll a church!
Lugano soldier
Lugano trees
Bridge over the River Doubs
Côte-du-Doubs at La Chaux-de-Fonds
Un radar?
Hôtel de Ville, à Le Locle
I had a very intense bittersweet moment here, just as I was taking this snap. A big black crow came up to me – which crows very rarely do. Somehow we connected, albeit briefly, on that part of consciousness where man and crow overlap. After this spiritual bonding I tossed him a huge pecan nut from a bag I was carrying. Instead of enjoying it, he just carried it off to one of the bushes you see in this snap, and promptly buried it. Did he truly think it was his nut – maybe a nut so good it could not be eaten today but best saved for a more festive time? Was he just showing me how much he cherished the nut, only to return to eat it after I left? Or . . . was he contributing to the foodstocks of all the crows in Le Locle – and if he was, would that somehow reduce the pleasure I took from this man/crow nutgiving gesture? Or rather, should I judge a community spirit like that to be both admirable as well as somewhat lacking in mankind?
What is worth mentioning now is that the famous science fiction writer Stephen Baxter has postulated that after the evolutionary fall of man, crows will ascend and become the dominant species. Maybe this little man/crow event today is a little evolutionary kick along that inevitable journey?
Street art in Biel / Bienne – 2
Street art in Biel / Bienne
If you’ve spent anytime skimming through my blog, you’d’ve (how’s that for a contraction!) picked up that I love street art.
Well, that doesn’t mean I love all street art. Here’s a snap from what directly in front of the main train station in the city of Biel/Bienne:
When you consider the location of this piece in the direct pedestrian traffic flow then it sort of makes sense. But, somehow its very tight integration into the landscape – no “buffer” to soften the effect . . . well, I’m not sure what it’s missing, but in its entirety, for me personally it is a bit lacking.