Swiss and Switzerland

Or in English, the Riddle of Räterschen.

First things first, this is NOT the Räterschen Rätsel. This is just a nice little spider snacking on a bug she caught:

But I took the snap in the tiny village of Räterschen, just outside of Elsau in North Central Switzerland – and that is the mystery!

For you see, in the North of Germany, the diminutive form of nouns in German is “-chen” appended to the end of the noun.  (Example: Mädchen = little Hamburg girl.) As you head south, the “-chen” is replaced with “-le.” (Example: Mädle = little Schwabian girl.)  As you head even more south, the “-le” is replaced with “-li.” (Example: Mädli = little Swiss girl.)  If you keep heading south, nobody really knows what happens, because you run into the area called Wallis – and there they speak a form of German that is so hugely different than anything else, even to this date linguists have never really figured it out; some linguists even believe that due to the majestic, magnificent Swiss Alps in this area, the locals have no words for the concept of “small.”

And so the mystery is: why does a tiny village nestled deep within North Switzerland have a North Germanic name?

There is a small river called the Sihl, and it runs parallel to a shopping center in Zürich known as Sihlcity. And on a concrete pillar is a rather nice depiction of Dirty Harry.

I’m not sure why it’s there, but it is located only about 200 m from one of the largest movie theaters in Zürich – so maybe that is somehow related?

Continuing the series, I thought this one was particularly striking, because it was missing the top tension cables you normally see on a construction crane.

I thought this ivy covered streetlight was quite unusual:

Dating back to 1027, this is Schloss Kyburg,

And in a garden just outside of the moat you’ll find a fountain filled with bees that have come to take a drink

I’m not sure they do this in a normal year. It’s been particularly dry in Switzerland, and it could be the other natural sources of water have evaporated.

OK, this one really was terrifying, intimidating, and threatening!

About three weeks ago I was on the early morning train to Zurich, just as the sun was rising. Between Winterthur and Kempthal I spotted what looked like a scrawny deer at the edge of the forest. When my eyes focused on it, I immediately realized it was no deer, but instead I thought mountain lion. But as I studied the animal as the train slowly moved by, I could see it was like no mountain lion I’ve seen: very long legs, stubby “half-tail,” relatively tiny head, and big spots.  Sadly, I could not reach my camera in time, but this is what it looked like:

To be honest, the cat I spotted had much bigger spots, and fewer of them, than this one. Later in the day I did a bit of surfing on the Internet, and I learned there is an animal called a Lynx (in German: Luchs), and I also learned they have been seen close to where I live.

WARNING: This is not even remotely like a tiny pussycat or even a large tomcat. The animal I saw was as large as a cougar or mountain lion. In my judgement, it would have no problem to kill a man.  But since there seem to be so many in Switzerland, and so few encounters with people, thankfully it is hopefully very shy.

Ok, maybe it is not so terrifying, intimidating, and threatening, but it is a hard-core work of art built out of heavy sheets of steel:

You’ll find this fellow on the far end of Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich, and more information is provided on the label at the lower right,

Ok, maybe it is not so terrifying, intimidating, and threatening, but here is a snap of the police cruisers that they use in my village in Switzerland:

It has the advantage that you can literally park them anywhere, you can drive onto the sidewalk if there is a traffic jam.

And because this is Switzerland, they don’t need shotguns or space in the back for prisoners.

Anyone who’s spent anytime in the north of Switzerland quickly learns about the huge number of bunkers and fortifications erected to protect the border.  Formally it’s known as the Swiss Redoubt, or the Réduit Suisse in French. But whereas many people believe this was motivated by World War II, in fact the efforts began somewhat earlier, in 1880.

Here is a rather ornate anti-tank fortification (Panzersperre),

I took this snap at Augusta Raurica in northern Switzerland, where it formed one side of a huge area for outdoor picnics and grill parties.

At Bärengraben

I really don’t know what it is called, architecturally – a cupula?  Anyway, this is it, the top of the Bundeshaus and I thought it make a great snap in the fresh, Swiss spring air:

A skilift taking visitors to Piz Gloria, the top of the Schilthorn peak in the Bernese Oberland:

It’s near the end of the day, so instead of visitors the car is filled with supplies for the restaurant at the top.

The Mühle Tiefenbrunnen dates back to 1889 and it is a common sight for visitors to the Tiefenbrunnen train station in Zürich,

It has its own webpage, but still I have not been able to find out what the overhead passage was for. Could have been used for filling train cars with beer – or perhaps transferring grains from train into the factory?

I thought this snap of a construction crane in Winterthur was impressive from this perspective: