When I saw this house, my first thought was: “I’m glad I don’t have to pay their heating bills.” Perhaps that is why the “Private Museum” in the Heidi Weber House was only open during the summer months, if at all, because it would have been too expensive to heat. Read More …
If you come to Zürich in the summer months (July-October), starting in 2025, you might be able to visit the workshop of the Swiss sculptor Hermann Haller at Höschgasse 8a, near the eastern shore of Lake Zürich. At other times of year you can take a peek through the window, Read More …
The opera house on Lake Zürich was designed and built in 1891 by the Vienna architects Fellner and Helmer, who were involved in building no fewer than forty-eight theaters and opera houses in cities all over Europe between 1873 and 1919, including for instance Augsburg, Gießen, Salzburg and Prague. The Read More …
In June 2010 in the Zürich opera house I had a super box seat with some lovely people for a performance of the opera Der ferne Klang (The distant sound) by Franz Schreker (1878-1934). This is Schreker’s second opera. It had its world premiere in Frankfurt in 1912, but had Read More …
At Bellevue Square, just a block and a half from the opera house, is the most celebrated of Zürich’s many sausage stands, the Sternen Grill (Star Grill). They serve their sausages with ultra-sharp mustard, so be careful, otherwise you’ll feel like this cartoon character: The cartoon, which is displayed proudly Read More …
The composer Richard Wagner lived in Zürich, Switzerland, from 1849 to 1858. This was not exactly voluntary, since he was facing prosecution in Germany for his part in trying to organize the short-lived revolution of 1848. But when he and his wife got to Zürich, they were taken in and Read More …
With your normal ZVV transportation ticket you can also use the Polybahn, which is a popular way of getting from city center (from the stop called “Central”) up to the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and the University of Zürich. The name Polybahn comes from the ETH’s original name Read More …
The Dolderbahn in Zürich was opened as a funicular railway in 1895, but was lengthened and converted to a cog railway (aka rack railway) in 1973. This means that the two cars are no longer joined together by a cable (as on the Polybahn, for example) but can be operated Read More …