Zurich: So Many Clocks, So Little Time

Hello from Switzerland! Since I promised to keep a bunch of people updated on my various adventures, this seems to be the easiest way to do it. For those of you who don't know, I'm in Switzerland right now working on my AMS project on religious freedom as defined in relation to the minaret ban. That's the academic, official side that I'll probably be writing/thinking about for months, so rather than bore you with those details, I'll tell you a little about my other exploits...

The first thing I did upon arriving in Zurich (well, other than sleep for 12 hours) was naturally to find the tallest church tower around and climb it for a bird's eye view of the city. Shocking, right? It's not like I did that in every city possible last spring when I was abroad. In Zurich, this happens to be the Grossmünster. You may hear me refer to it as the "Gross Monster," not only because I enjoy butchering German, but also because it's just kind of a mess. Very Reformation-chic, ie boring. And Romanesque arches? Boring. Give me Gothic any day. Add in the hideous modern art stained glass and ridiculously rotund towers and you have a pretty dreadful church. Oh well. It did at least provide some nice views of Zurich (after I survived the crazy wooden staircase in the tower--if you think the stairs in Notre Dame de Paris or the Florence Duomo were bad, try these...), but it didn't exactly thrill me about Swiss architecture.

After that I did some more site visits to a two churches and a mosque with a minaret. The last visit was kind of hilarious, because one one side of the street is this itty bitty minaret, not something you would really notice (I missed it on the bus past it), and on the other side is a brand new, four story church tower that was clearly built in response (I looked it up. Hopefully I get to meet someone from the church, because I want the full story! Drama drama drama). That was the work part.

When I'd finished my site visits, I headed to the Bahnhoffstrasse, which is great for window-shopping (I repeat: WINDOW shopping) and people watching, and had hot chocolate at Sprungli, my new favorite cafe, not necessarily for their delicious chocolate, but more for the fact that they keep their sidewalk cafe open in the winter and just put little fur covers over the chairs so you can lounge outside in 35 degree weather and be just fine. Seriously, I want them.

On Tuesday my morning interview had to be pushed back, so since I had time to kill, I naturally headed for the art museum, the Kunsthaus. They happened to have a Picasso exhibition on, which was kind of amazing. I've never been a huge Picasso fan, but I found a period of his that I really liked, and just seeing that sort of range of his work was incredible. Very different from just seeing an isolated piece or two in a museum. What I was really there for, though, was the Impressionist collection (duh). Nothing like sitting by yourself in the middle of a room with three wall-sized Monet paintings of the lily pond for company.

I did the interview for the day, realized it was 2pm and I was bored, and reevaluated my schedule. I was close to the train station, so I thought, why not, I'll go ahead and take care of the site visit to Wangen bei Olten so I don't have to do it next week. Ten minutes later I was on a train out there, and it arrived just in time for me to catch the bus to the mosque. I love trains. They make life so much easier, and they're so frequent around here that I don't actually have to plan ahead. Which is good, because I've kind of been failing at that...

Wednesday morning I was off to Geneva and very grateful to escape German-speaking Switzerland for awhile. Sadly, the situations in which I've needed to use my German skills have involved far more than bier and wurst, so I was a little lost. Thank heavens for everyone speaking English. Coming back to French was a nice change though, particularly where food is concerned...the pastries are just better here.

The highlight of Geneva (and potentially the trip) has been fondue (I blame Eugene for suggesting it...thanks a lot!). Last night I turned in my BU application (finally!) and celebrated with fondue. I liked it so much I had it again tonight...yay Switzerland.

Oh, one other thing I did Wednesday after checking into the hotel. The International Museum of the Reformation is here, so naturally I had to visit. Two things: 1) I've never been to a more biased/proselytizing museum, and 2) Martin Luther's disembodied head should never appear in a mirror during a dramatization (seriously, it looked like the evil queen's head when she looks in the mirror in Snow White). Don't worry, my friends from HIST 333, Cooper and Mark will be getting charming postcards with some of the better Protestant propaganda on them. It was a hilarious follow up to that class, definitely worth a field trip.

Last geeky religion thing: the archeological site under the cathedral I visited is also kind of amazing. They've excavated various chapels and cathedrals on the site going back to the fourth century, as well as a pre-historic burial site of a local chieftain (which, ironically, is still right under the main altar). Never thought I would be that excited to see a 1700 year old floor, but hey, it was cool. Did I mention I'm a geek?

Anyway, today was a marathon (four interviews and visit to the World Council of Churches--very interesting place, more later), so I'm off to bed. I'll try to post the more entertaining parts of my trip as I go, as well as pictures, of course!

A bientot,

~L

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=315769&id=579896063&l=f96932a989