Switzerland. Part II. Cities

June 5–11, 2008

Zurich

A completely uninteresting city.

But one of the pharmacies has a three-dimensional cross on it. A month ago, I came across one like this in Maaloula, Syria.

Basel

The art fair city.

The streets downtown have all been covered with long banners with different pictures and text. Looks fantastic. It’s great when a city has narrow streets.

It was impossible to forget about the football championship the entire time I was in the country (in fact, the foosball table I designed on a commission from Nike was being exhibited here at the same time).

I had been absolutely convinced that the collocation “post, telegraph, telephone” was a purely Russian invention. That’s what it always said on every post office in Soviet times. Turns out, this construct is a borrowed one.

Bern

The traffic signs have a normal diameter throughout the entire country, but here they’re miniature-sized. It’s very jarring.

However, there’s no skimping when it comes to the roof overhangs here—they’re about three meters wide. It looks excellent.

Brugg

A small backwater town. Not to be confused with Bruges in Belgium.

Walenstadt

The Swiss Alps are magnificent from all sides.

Walenstadt is a small town somewhere at their base.

It’s practically a picture from a chocolate wrapper.

The symbol of the town is a she-goat. Or rather, goats. There are she-goats everywhere here. Someone even set up an entire diorama outside their house in honor of the championship: goats playing against gnomes.

Montreux

A road that winds past vineyards along the lake brings you to this small town.

The most notable thing in the town itself is the public toilet at the main parking lot by the lake.

Losanne

The trolleybus trailers are the best thing in the city.

There’s also an Olympic Museum here. Decrepit seniors take the escalators up to see the exhibit and celebrate the youth of the world.

Overflowing with emotion, they feast their eyes on, amongst other things, this sculptural work entitled “Torso.”

Geneva

Geneva was the last city on my itinerary. And only here are there watches for sale on every corner; in all the other cities, the watch offerings were surprisingly limited.

The main city of the country hosting the football championship has to somehow demonstrate its love for the black-and-white ball. By hanging it up over Lake Geneva, for instance.

Or, say, selling fondue pots in the shape of football halves.

But of course, the most interesting thing in the city, the one that left the strongest impression, is the trolleybus with two accordion joints.