3 Franc Shoes

Whoa! Two posts in one night. This one is really pic heavy so its gonna be a breeze.

A couple of weeks ago, work sent me to Zurich, Switzerland to do some designy things down there. I kind of became a little smitten in my time there. The only thing keeping me from assuming a false identity and staying there forever, just hucking drinks at a local pub to support myself, is the crazy amount of money it would take to do that there. Zurich is expensive. Even though I was bringing Euros to burn. Fun Fact: Did you know that if you took all the currency held in Zurich's banks and gave it to the homeless they would be rich as hell? I heard that somewhere. It's probably true.

Okay, here are some pics:

This is the entrance to the office in Zurich:


My temporary set-up. Nothing much to complain about. You can see the grapevines in the background, some old-timer kept walking through the courtyard the whole week just looking over the grapes. It was pretty awesome. My Gramps used to have a grapevine. And yes, i grew up in Wisconsin.


The Lake. Took a walk after work with some co-workers to hang out at the lake.

Generic Lake shot with some boats:

Later that evening we came across this gazebo of people havin' a pants-off dance-off. Not true, but they were dancing the Samba I believe. Awesome either way:


On the train ride back I learned that Dave Matthews, carpentry, and homosexuality are not permitted on the train. I had to wait til i got back to the Hotel. To build the cabinet PEOPLE, to build the cabinet I got from IKEA. Sheeeesh. But afterwards I strapped on the ol' rollerblades and showed the swissies what's up.

After the work week was over I decided to stay for the weekend on my own dime. I booked the cheapest hotel possible. It happened to be The Zic-Zac Rock Hotel. Each room has a theme of a famous musician. By theme I mean it's a hotel room with some fricking pictures of a specific musician on the wall. I was pretty stoked to get Jethro Tull. Here's what my room looked like:


Here's what it looked like from the window:






This is what I imagined when I thought about Europe before I got here. Well this and other things, but this really makes me happy:



Saturday morning I walked to Langstrasse where the Flea Market takes place. Walking across Zurich is like walking to school when I was a kid. It was a super short trip but took forever because I just kept looking at things and taking wrong routes on purpose. If you wanted, you could get across Zurich in about 20-30 mins by foot. They happen to pride themselves in their amazing Pulic Transportation system though. So you wouldn't have to.

Came across a sculptors studio on the way to the Flea Market:




And this house:

Flea Market:

Crazy amounts of varying junk and treasures to be found. I personally found a pair of shoes (yes, i needed more) that happen to be my new favorite shoes. Got 'em for 3 francs. They're a pair of canvas dress shoes that I put a coat or three of wax on this last weekend.




For the Drake Street Crew:


George Michael here kept staring at me:


A parting shot of Zurich:


Bye for now!