16th September Zurich & Bern & back

** Good morning all. When I was on my way to Zurich I was reviewing traveller comments, some thing I generally to not do as there is so much personal bias oozing out of the screen. I was reading that in Zurich the people are unfriendly, non approachable, do not smile at them, do not talk to them etc. I have been here for 48 hours now and have been all over the city. I must say that I have found the exact opposite. They respond to my smiles, my calls of 'hi', or 'GDay', and they all smile at my bush hat, and gladly respond to requests for local knowledge help. I have really enjoyed the atmosphere.

That is until this morning. I was crossing the road trying to get to the #3 tram, limping with my stick as fast as my slow legs can carry me. I raised my stick to catch the attention of the driver who must have seen me and understood I wanted to take his tram but he just stared straight on and as he started to move the tram foreward, just looked me in the face, and gave me a really uncomfortable smile. Let me put this into context. One person screwed me over, the rest have been wonderful. Let's go with the rest!

** Today I am off to Bern, a place that has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. It is one of those towns I have always had a romantic draw to, and as it is only one hour from Zurich I have taken the opportunity to visit it. I would not say I am travelling in the footsteps of one of the few people I place within the category of 'great', but to be able to visit where Einstein spent his time working in the Patent Officr & staring out of the window. Yesterday I passed his alma mater in Zurich (the ETH) and today I am visiting the town where he formulated his time/space ideas that became his 1905 Special Theory of Relativity, I suppose I am in my own way, paying hommage to a mind that really has yet to be surpassed over 107 years later. The following is from this BBC show

Legend has it that Eienstein heard the toll of Chronos striking the bell one evening in May 1905. He had been confounded by a scientific paradox (?) for a decade, and when he gazed up at the tower he suddenly imagined an unimaginable scene. What, he wondered, would happen if a streetcar raced away from the tower at the speed of light?

If he was sitting in the streetcar, he realised, his watch would still be ticking. But looking back at the tower, the clock – and time – would seem to have stopped. It was a break-through moment. Six weeks later, he finished a paper outlining a “special theory of relativity”. Later he would show (in his General Theory of Relativity) how space-time, as he called it, affected mass, energy and gravity, foreshadowing the nuclear age, space travel, and our understanding of how stars and celestial bodies interact.

** Let's see what images I took today

An interesting castle or monastery on my way to Bern

Water fountains in Bern

The eater of little children fountain

It was created in 1545–1546 by Hans Gieng to replace a wooden fountain from the 15th century. The new fountain's original name was Platzbrunnen (Plaza Fountain); the current name was used first in 1666. Kindli is a Swiss German diminutive for the German word Kind, meaning child. A literal translation of the name Kindlifresserbrunnen therefore would be "Fountain of the Eater of Little Children".

The fountain sculpture depicts a seated ogre devouring a naked child. Placed at his side is a bag containing more children. Because the ogre is wearing a pointed hat resembling a Jewish one, it has been speculated about the possibility of the ogre being the depiction of a Jew as an expression of blood libel against Jews. Another theory is that the statue is the likeness of Krampus, the beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish children during the Christmas season who had misbehaved. According to other theories it is a depiction of the Greek god Cronus eating his children or the Roman Saturn eating the months, though Cronus should have six and Saturn twelve rather than the sculpture's eight. Another theory is that it represented Cardinal Schiner who led the Swiss Confederation into several bloody defeats in northern Italy. An alternative theory is that it is a depiction of the older brother of Duke Berchtold (founder of Bern) who it is claimed, was so incensed by his younger brother's overshadowing of him that he collected and ate the town's children but such an incident is not recorded in Bern's history books. A final theory is that it is just a carnival character intended to frighten disobedient children. Another theory is the eight children depict the eight cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy and the Ogre is an enemy (possibly Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy) trying to gobble the cantons up. This would match with the fountain's base which shows a frieze of armed bears going to war, including a piper and a drummer.

A statue of Moses with the Decalogue in the cathedral square

Went looking for 'the clock', but these were not the clock

Finally I found the Zytglogge

The Clock Tower (Zeitglockenturm) was Bern’s first western city gate (1191 – 1256) and formed the boundary of the first city extension. Today it is one of Bern’s most important sights. The ornate astronomical calendar clock was created in 1530.

Other images from Bern

A very powerful image of what looks like a worrior chief possibly from the Indian sub continent or adjacent areas.

Between every set of columns running down the main street of the old city, there are trap doors and stairs leading down to shops. Never seen anything quite like this.