2018 week 31: Flumserberg

The first of August is the Swiss national day. I didn't take any photos this year, and because of the general drought conditions, I didn't find myself in a celebratory mood anyway. 

We did go for a hike in Flumserberg this week and this is one of the photos I took there. The backdrop is the Churfirsten.

2018 week 26: Enjoying the new sun shades

After the fiasco with the previous sun umbrellas that were destroyed by a storm, there are now new ones at the Sechseläuten Platz in Zürich (the opera house is visible in the background). These ones can handle upto 90 km/h winds (roughly 56 mph).

We enjoyed them ourselves recently.

2018 week 24: Worker safety

If you look at the larger version of the photo, I hope you'll be able to make out the two men doing maintenance work on the roof near the green-roofed red cupola. 

This photo is actually from a few weeks ago, taken in Zürich. When I was taking the photo I was thinking about worker safety. 

Just recently, the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA -- Wiki entry) ruled that from 2019, construction workers and others who work outdoors in the sun will be required to wear sun protection. Actually, if I undersand it correctly, they've decreed that the employers have to enforce that their workers use sun protection (which the employers must also provide). I'm curious to see how that will work out.

Some numbers, according to SUVA: Every day in Switzerland, three people are diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma directly attributable to their occupational activity. As such, the treatments for these cases are paid for by SUVA.

2018 week 23: Slated to be torn down

Many older buildings in a state of disrepair around this region are torn down and new buildings are put up in their place. Renovation is just too expensive in many cases. This building is/was in Baden.

2018 week 18: Pro Specie Rara seedling market at Schloss Wildegg

Every spring, usually the first weekend in May, there's the Pro Specie Rara seedling market at Schloss Wildegg near by. I was a little surprised to see so many people there at 09:00 am on a Sunday. I guess gardeners wake up early! 

I picked up a few tomato plants and a couple of herbs. Are you growing anything this summer?

2018 week 17: Finsterarhorn and Eiger

I think the Finsterarhorn and Eiger (the north face) are visible here. Please let me know if I'm wrong, so that I can make the necessary corrections!

Shot this from the (economy seat) of a plane as I was returning from a work trip. The window glass was pretty scratched up.

2018 week 16: Peek-a-boo Urania Observatory

Urania Observatory in Zurich. I really must get around to going on a tour.

Website: Urania Sternwarte

I took this photo in week 16 but didn't manage to upload it then because I was busy with work related activities so I'm back-dating this post.

2018 week 14: Mud flats of Lake Gruyere

The Lake of Gruyere, a manmade reservoir in the canton of Fribourg, is drained every spring to accommodate rising water levels from the melting snow as the temperature rises. This photo I took on Saturday shows the lake bed as it is currently. I'm guessing this is mud that is deposited as sediment by the water washing down the mountains.

This year the snowpack is thicker than usual, and there are concerns about flooding.

Rossens Dam
Year: 1947
Type: Arch

Height: 83 m
Reservoir
Length: 13.5 km
Watershed: 954 km2
Volume: 220 mil. m3

Links:
For some excellent drone shots, search for the following terms: greyerzersee flauraud

Spring in Mandach

Many of the fruit trees are in bloom at the moment. I find the village of Mandach particularly pretty this time of year.

79. Simply wisteria

This plant does very well in these parts. This specimen is in Brugg.

78. Window display at Musik Hug

The display this time alludes to their repair and restoration workshop.

77. Ganymede on Lake Zurich

This has been done many, many times, but it still captures me.

73. Electric, 2 ways

A No. 8 tram and a Tesla Model S in Zürich. Vroom!

72. Water wheel

The area Zürich West was an industrial quarter, with a history of metalworking and ship-building. All that remains of that now are a few items, displayed as lonely museum pieces.

71. Plumbing in green

View across the way from the restaurant Angkor in Zürich West, which is a former industrial area that is being gradually developed into a office-living-working-shopping-eating quarter. The green piece caught my eye. Overall, a bit of a strange view to have from a nice  restaurant.

70. Resistance (is futile)

A photo from the Zürich West area, where construction has been booming. If you look closely at the old house (sorry, not really easy to make out) in the lower left of the photo, you might be able to pick out part of the word "Resistance", in opposition to the "Renaissance" of the tower to the right.

69. Rebstock

Restaurant Rebstock in Baden. Waiting for good weather, and cordoned off for the Limmatlauf race.
<http://www.rebstockbaden.ch/>

68. Steeple

Another one from Baden. The steeple in the background belongs to the same church seen in my post 7. Light in Baden. 

I love the wee asymmetric window on the lowest row, between the two with the shutters.

67. Haus zue dem Schwambet 1658

On Kronengasse in Baden.
Schwambet or Schmambet, I can't quite make out what the name really is.

Thanks to a reader who might be a member of the Heim family, I now know that it is Schwambet.

66. Limmatlauf 2014

This past Saturday a 13 km race took place in Baden.