Landmarks and Attractions in Basel, Bern, Lucerne and Zurich, Switzerland

 

Chapel Bridge, Lucerne, Switzerland.

• Basel

  • Basler Münster (Basel Minster): A  red sandstone cathedral featuring colorful roof tiles and the historic tomb of Erasmus of Rotterdam.

  • The Rhine Embankment & "Fähren": Scenic riverbanks featuring historic, cable-guided wooden ferries that cross the Rhine using only the river's current.

  • Basel Spalenentor: One of three magnificent medieval gates from the city's old fortifications.

  • Jüdisches Museum der Schweiz - Basel - Jewish Museum of Switzerland, on Vesalgasse.

• Bern

  • Altstadt (Old Town): A UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its six kilometers of medieval arcades (Lauben) and sandstone architecture.

  • Zytglogge: An iconic 15th-century astronomical clock tower where animated mechanical figures perform before the hour.

  • The Rose Garden (Rosengarten) & Bear Park (BärenPark): A terraced hillside park offering sweeping views over the loops of the Aare River.

  • Einstein's House.

  • Smaller exhibition on Einstein in the main museum.

• Lucerne

  • Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke): A historic 14th-century covered wooden footbridge spanning the Reuss River. The bridge is famous for its interior triangular painted panels. The city's main attraction. Allow a long time to cross the bridge and read captions.

  • Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal): A 'poignant and dramatic' sculpture carved directly into a rock face to honor the Swiss Guards killed during the French Revolution.' This is on tours of the city. Rather small.

• Zurich

  • Fraumünster: Zurich's landmark church, famous for its tall, stained-glass windows designed by Marc Chagall.

  • Bahnhofstrasse: Long shopping avenue, running from the central station to the shores of Lake Zurich.

  • Useful Websites

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsteinhaus

Gaudi buildings On A Tour Of Northern Spain

 Earlier this year we took a trip to Spain and checked out the locations of Gaudi museums and monuments. The famous Gaudi cathedral is in Barcelona which also has other buildings including the wave topped long benches where you can sit outdoors.

Gaudi outdoor seating.

We took a driving tour through northern Spain. Two of the towns we passed through had Gaudi attractions. You could fly drive or do what we did and take the car on a Britanny ferry to Santander in NW coast of Spain, 2 days overnight on the ship is, not cheap, and a cabin overnight is obligatory, no option of economising by sleeping upright in chairs.

We had a choice of routes, along the coast, or inland via the two cities with Gaudi attractions. 

Tours\& Extra Costs

Another option for you is to take all day tours to Gaudi attractions from other cities in Spain. Check if your tour includes admission to the museum. You could be charged a two or three figures sum in Euros for the tour, then another two figure sum for museum entry. 

When you are driving distrances in France and Spain, extra costs are the tolls. You can buy a card in Spain which allows you to wave the card. This saves the driver or passengr having to open their car door to collect the ticket going in and useing a redit card to pay on the way out. (On a British car with driver on the wrong side, the oppostie side to the ticket machine.)

Lovely Leon

The name Leon is easy to remember. Leon, like Leo the lion. Named after a king or ruler of that name.

We loved the city of Leon, but were disappointed that the Gaudi attraction was in a pedestrian area. Google maps sent us cirling around and we never got near enough to see it. I had hoped at least to photograph the outside of the building.

Parking was hard to find. We also did not want to leave our car with luggage and coats visible which might attract thieves. If you took a tour, or stayed two nights in the city and could leave your luggage in a hotel, so you could avoid this problem.

Gaudi must have inspired local architects. The whole city of Leon was an architectural gem, a paradise for photogrphers. Every buidlings was different, different styles, different colours. Contrasting colours to the next buildings, walls pianted in primary colours, with windows outlined with a different colour or white. Balconies overhanging streets and alleyes. Buidlings of different heights and shapes. No wall staight. In and out, triangles and turrets. Sphares and cirbles. Waves and wonder. Murals and amazements. 

Our second Gaudi stop was at s smaller city. Like Leon, an architectural marvel. WWe drive round and round and up and down, little streets with odd uildings. A clearly marked Gaudi museum. Alas we had a hotel far away to reach. The high price of the Gaudi museum meant it was not worthwhile for one of two of us to pop in for five minutes. Besides, there was the problem of parking.

But now that we know the situation, we can plan another trip for next year or another year and read all about Gaudi online.

Please share links to posts you find interesting and useful.

Hindu Temple in Singapore - a happy moment admiring it

 Temple in Singapore, by the Covid plus flu jab centre in Jurong East in the north west of Singapore.

It was not conveniently near an MRT railway station so we took a Grab cab.

We passed this lovely temple on the corner of the street by the traffic lights.

What did I like? The colours of the walls. The Singapore rain trees which lean and are curved with lacey leaves and show the buildings beyond. The white statues in groups of three, or more. The man on the bicycle silhouetted against the wall.I hope that eventually the repairs will be completed and I can see the building restored to its full glory to enhance the lives of the Hindus as well as the local architectural scene for the enjoyment or everybody.

I looked it up in Wikipedia and found a link to Murugan temples. The temple contains statues of Lord Murugan and other deities. I looked up Murugan. Murugu means beauty and murugan means beautiful one. Indeed, a beautiful temple with a statue of the beautiful one. The god has several other names. He is associated with Southern India.

Arulmigu Murugan Temple, 281 Jurong East Street 21, Singapore 609605.

Other temples to the same god are in Singapore, Malaysia (Batu caves), the UK, India, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and New Zealand.

An even better known and more centrally located temple is in Chinatown.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_temples_in_Singapore

http://singaporehindutemples.com/lordshiva/lordmurugan.html#kartikeya7

http://singaporehindutemples.com/templelist/SriThendayuthapani(Chettiar)/SriThendayuthapani(Chettiar).html

Lessons From the Learning Centre at Singapore's KPT Hospital

I was the test speaker at a speech contest, to be evaluated by the Evaluation Contest candidates, so exciting for me, a dream come true. Without me there would be no contest, so I had to be there in time. The Learning Centre at Khoo Teck Puat hospital was the venue for the toastmasters International Area contest for Division U on Saturday April 20th 2019.

I had visited the hospital once previously for another contest, that time as a judge. What did I like most about the venue?

This is the man whose name is given to the hospital. I used to see this bust in the entrance up the stairs to the Goodwood Park Hotel which is near the heart of Singapore, the junction of Orchard Road (with Orchard MRT) and Scotts Road. (Yes, the double letter t is correct. I just checked.) 

According to the inscription above his bust he lived from 1917 to 2004, a long-lived man, until his nineties. An apt patron for a hospital.

Likes
1 Firstly, the lifts. When I got inside the lift I was immediately struck by the luxury and creativity and originality of the design. The ceiling had a panel showing a green and white picture as if you were looking up at a canopy of leaves in a tree. On the wall, left of the door, was the explanation that the picture was based on a photo of a tree outside the building.

What else did I like? The framed pictures the length of the walls showing other innovative ideas in the hospital.

In the brief interval I had time to check out a picture or two. One was the photo of an embroidered butterfly. The story was that the hospital threw away a large number of blankets which had tears. An employee thought the smaller tears could be concealed by embroidery.

This saves about 30% of the blankets which otherwise would be thrown away. And the design is admired and liked by many patients.

Dislikes
What did I not like? The layout which made you walk a long distance to the toilets.

The basement car park was confusing. Had to find where the car was parked and hard to find the exit. All the car park is the same except for numbers. How to find your car? The solution has been found years ago. Disney in the USA had car parks with animal characters so you remembered the symbol. In Paris a car park near the Louvre had different colours on each floor. I recall wave patters. A simple system would be to have murals showing an underwater sea scene in the basement, B1. Then the waves on the sea or beach umbrellas on the ground floor, 1. The base of trees with lower branches and cats and dogs and squirrels on level two, 2. On the next level, birds' nests on the tree tops, level 3.

Birds circling against the clouds, above the trees, on the top level 4. Level 5 could have planes in the sky.

Since they seem so open to suggestion, I must write to them about revamping the car park.

Getting There
I took three buses but it was an easy journey.
The 184 was my local bus to the stop opposite Pending station.
The bus number 171 took me all the way to the bus Interchange at Yishun.

From there is it 4 stops on the 805 bus.
I was told it was about a 10 minute walk - no way, not for me. It's a good 5 minutes along the road to the Yishun MRT. Then left along the road past the shopping mall. finally you see the hospital. But the bus goes along the green in front and left along the side. I am glad I took the bus.

The hospital name is the name of the donor, years ago.

Useful Websites
wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Bust_of_Khoo_Teck_Puat%2C_Goodwood_Park_Hotel%2C_Singapore_-_20130313-02.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoo_Teck_Puat_Hospital
https://www.ktph.com.sg/main/explore_ktph_pages/233/Eateries_outlets_amenities

Travel
singaporeair.com

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Singapore's superb city architecture

What are the features?
Bay windows.
Stepped designs - a bit like art deco.
Triangles.
Diagonals.
See-through sections. What is the technical term?
Surrounded by trees and landscaped gardens.

Whether I am in a taxi, on a bus, or part of the train system which emerges overground in the suburbs, I enjoy looking at the architecture. Singapore is a city of skyscrapers. Modern. They seem to have fewer restriction.

Buildings from the post-WW2 cash-strapped nineteen-fifties with their dull cigarette box shapes are few and far between. Those dull designs either were not built, or they have been pulled down for higher buildings to make more money from the same piece of land.


Singapore Flag.

Is it entirely a different mindset in Singapore, with the surroundings of the mosques with their curves? Not entirely. Many times the architects are from the UK. Whatever the reason, even a simple bus journey turns into an enjoyable tour.

Singapore is a great stopover between Russia or Europe and Australia. 

Travel Tips

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

australia.com

visitbritain.com

visitbritain.shop.com

visitbritain.org

visittheusa.co.uk

visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines: 

singaporeair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker and trainer in the English language and communication.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Have your say on designs for the Dulwich Art Gallery Extension

Problem
The Dulwich Art Gallery has done what I think all new architecture plans should do. They have run a competition with half a dozen or more designs by various professional and amateur or student groups submitting 3D models and then let the public choose the best.

You can walk along a glass-sided gallery without going into the main exhibition, in the big old building, which was pricey, costing us the best part of £20 for two, even with concessions for age.

Most were decidedly modern. But some were unsettling.

I liked three of the designs which were colourful and curved.  They would all have been great as freestanding buildings.

However, two of them dwarfed and distracted from and hid the historic old art gallery building. So that eliminated them. I was left with one which would have got my vote.

None of them managed to echo the original building. The current modern building houssing the cafe looks decidedly odd. You sit in a a modern buidling, looking at an old building. I felt both of them detracted from the enjoyment of the other.

If you hate old buildigns, and would like a modern design to hide the historic buidling, you could choose one which does just that. You can go online and register your vote. Your chance to influence a London building of the future.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Translating handy and interesting double-barrelled German words for tourists

Here's a double-barrelled word on the stollen sold in Morrisons in a previous Christmas season.
The packet reads:

Multilingual sign. 

I don't know the first words. But the English is second. Military security zone. Entrance forbidden. (I would translate this as entry forbidden. Entry I would say is the act of entering. Entrance is a noun, a place, the point of entry, the opposite of an exit door; also a grand entrance, a grand act or happening or moment of entering.) 

French comes third: Zone de security militaries.  Interdiction d'entree. (Prohibition of entry.)

German at end. I can recognize the words Eintritt, meaning entry, and Verboten, meaning forbidden.

Before that Militärische Sicherheitszone. Eintrag verboten.

Stollen sold in Morrisons. That's the one I want. Luxury marzipan. The word at the top is Kuchenmeister. Master baker? 

It's coming up to Christmas when I shall be looking for German Stollen in the English supermarkets. Here's a picture of the Stollen we made from a cake kit from a supermarket a couple of years ago.

I was thinking of the Stollen when I read an old CD from Sachsen and found the word Silberstollen and several other double-barrelled words.

Problem
What do all those long words mean in German?

Answer
Often they are double barrelled words and you can recognise them and learn them by breaking the words into their component parts.

GERMAN - ENGLISH

(Notice some of these German words form plurals by adding the letter n.)

Double barrel words:

Baukunst - architecture

Dorfkirchen - village churches

Höhepunkte - highlight

kostbarer - precious

Musikfriunde - music lover 

Silberstollen - silver tunnel (think of the German stollen cake with the marzipan centre which looks like a roll or tunnel which you can buy in supermarkets at Christmas time)

zahlreiche - numerous

ENGLISH - GERMAN

Double barrel words 

architecture - Baukunst

art - Kunst  (used in the words art museum or art gallery and architecture - what a lovely phrase in English in literal translation - 'building art'!) 

Churches - Kirchen
highlight - Ho

music - Musik

silver - S i l b e r

stollen - tunnels 

village - Dorf (Think of door to a villa or dormitory town)

So, now you know a stollen is a Xmas cake from Germany sold in England at Christmas time, the word for tunnels, and you have a handy list of double-barrelled German words.

More information:

Learn languages through Duolingo.com

Trips
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and languages.

Modern Architecture in Singapore

One of the delights of travel is seeing the skyline and landmarks in a city, architecture which is a delight to the eye, a delight to passers-by. Tourists, more than those scurrying to and fro, can see the city afresh, pause and take photographs.

Landmark Buildings Worldwide
Wherever you go, you can admire the big landmark buildings of the city, also the bridges. Famous symbols you know and recognise before you even see them include Tower Bridge in London, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, and Sydney Opera House in Australia.

London also has The Shard, where you can visit the inside for a fee, if you have both time and money, or just admire it from nearby or afar. Tower Bridge can be visited from inside, with its glass walkway recently added to offer views of the river and boats below. London has other bridges such as the bouncing bridge.

But a journey around every city also reveals innovative housing development designs, unusual local buildings, and even windows, doorknobs and curtains, in unexpected colours and shapes.

Driving From Changi Airport
When I take the taxi from Singapore's Changi airport, the journey is always a delight. First, the airport itself, modern, yet filled with statues, flowers, trees, waterfalls, exhibitions, and the butterfly garden.

Sheraton Towers Hotel - oasis
Sheraton Towers Hotel is an oasis of calm. You can run up a bill of about £20 just having coffee for two after work. However, the first three Mondays of most months, often including public holidays, you can attend a Toastmasters International speakers club meeting as a guest.

Arrive by 6 pm in order to sign in as a guest. For a guest fee of $20 you can enjoy four or more speeches from Singaporeans and members from around the world. Before the meeting starts you have a small buffet light supper. When I was last there in 2016 I enjoyed rice, noodles, Indian Bread, sandwiches and fruit. I could have helped myself to coffee and milk, hot and cold water and slices of lemon. This is the biggest and oldest speakers group, attracting perhaps a hundred people. Smaller meetings of about thirty people take place all over Singapore most days of the week, regularly Monday to Friday, often on Saturday, occasionally on Sunday.

Community Centres
Every area of Singapore has community centres. From the outside you can see the basketball court in the open air, usually another inside. You can usually eat and meet and have coffee or a snack in a fast food outlet such as McDonalds or Starbucks. Each community centre is different, adapted to age and food preferences of the local clientele.

Water, Fish, Tortoises
A water feature is an Asian favourite. Hotels have fountains and waterfalls.

If you visit a friend, relative or work colleague at their home, or inspect property with a view to buying or renting, you will see the fountains or water features in the lobby, near the lifts, or in the gardens at the back. A pond usually contains large fish and often tortoises.

Community centres have mini gardens with curved or S shape paths. Water is thought to attract wealth, which is why there is a huge fountain in the financial district.
(More photos being added to this article and previous posts.)

See my previous posts such as the one on the Butterfly Garden in Changi Airport.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker.