Switzerland | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts from the ‘Switzerland’ category

Rathauspark, Rathaus, WienLiebe, Stadt Wien, Vienna, Wien, Österreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

24 for 24: Foto(ein)s in 2024

Above/featured: “Hashtag Wienliebe” (Vienna love), Rathauspark. Photo, 15 Jul 2024 (P15).

2024 has been an interesting year of personal challenge and discovery. A conclusion for the family house provided fresh impetus to inhabit (in the short term) new spaces and places to improve overall health and happiness. In Vienna, I spent a full month for the third consecutive summer. Yes, it was continent hot, but time in the Austrian capital was both glorious and productive as expected. In Calgary is a city I hadn’t visited in many decades, and I witnessed a very happy aunt surrounded by many family members on her centenary year. In California’s Bay Area is a place where I hadn’t set foot in over ten years, but whose daily temperatures and chances of consistent sun offer a higher level of content.

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24T81 Basel observations, part 2

(E80)

The sun stayed out for the most part on my third and final day in Basel. I had followed some of the traces of the Bernoulli family in the city, but that’ll be the makings for another post at another time.

*720am, in front of Basel SBB central station.*

*Dreiländereck (3-nations corner), from the Basel side. 18-metre high pylon by Wilhelm Münger, 1957.*

*From the pylon about 150 metres to the northwest (left-centre) in the river waters of the Rhine is the geographical triple-point: France* 🇫🇷 *to the left, Germany* 🇩🇪 *to the right, and Switzerland* 🇨🇭 *where I’m standing.*

*“Soli Deo Gloria: zur St. Ursula.” Plus morning coffee, and a curious figure on the balcony.*

*Morning sun on the west bank of the Rhine.*

*“Sitzende Helvetia” (Helvetia sitting), by Bettina Eichen, 1942. Visible are her cloak, spear, suitcase, and shield with the Swiss cross.*

*So long, Basel. That’s also the band’s name: “So Long”; they’re good.*

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 27 Jul 2024. I received no support from an external organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T80 Basel observations

E79

It’s easy to forget how it’s at least 20% more expensive in Basel compared to other locations I’ve stayed and visited so far in Germany and Austria. However, Basel SBB is sizeable, and Migros’ own eatery has many many choices; also, fresh flowers! But to buy, not to eat. A big positive is that the coffee is very good. Here are some other things I saw in Basel, earlier today on travel day 80.

And by the way, yesterday I passed the 1-million number in walking steps for this entire trip.

*Zum Spalenbrunnen, towards Spalentor in the distance at right.*

*Door-knocker at Gailingen Synagogue, 1836; saved from destruction during the 1938 Pogrom. (Jewish Museum of Switzerland.*)

1901 image, Theodor Herzl on the balcony of Basel’s Three Kings hotel, overlooking the Mittlerebrücke (Middle Bridge) and the Rhine river. Reproduction in Berlin, 1927. (Jewish Museum of Switzerland.)

*A modest memorial plaque, on a building in Riehen, north from Basel.*

“Leonard Euler (1707-1783): mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and philosopher, spent his youth here in Riehen. He was a great teacher and a kind person.” The building isn’t an original, but his family home was in the vicinity.

*Les Trois Rois / The Three Kings hotel.*

*Promenade below various room-balconies at The Three Kings hotel, next to the Rhine river and the Mittlerebrücke (middle bridge).*

*A very red Rathaus (City Hall) in late-afternoon light.*

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 26 Jul 2024. I received no support from an external organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T79 Basel Birsfelden: Otto Frank at rest

E78

I travelled thousands of kilometres to reach the city of Basel in northwest Switzerland. Upon arrival, I went a little further to Birsfelden for a specific stop to say “hello” and “thank you”.

Otto Frank survived Auschwitz and learned soon after liberation that his wife and two daughters hadn’t survived. Otto made his way to Basel, remarried, and spent the remainder of his life telling his family’s story.

*Birsfelden Friedhof (Birsfelden cemetery).*

*The names Otto and his 2nd wife, Elfriede appear at the front of the headstone, including a quote from Anne: “Dad is my everything.”*

*Additional names appear on the side of the headstone.*

*Otto’s 1st wife, Edith, and their 2 daughters, Margot and Anne, perished in the concentration camps.*

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 25 Jul 2024. I received no support from an external organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Zugspitze: spotting the Alps across 5 nations

“If I’m at the highest point in Germany, can I see Italy?”

Over the years, I’ve seen at various times the claim made about seeing Italy from the tallest mountain in Germany.

I’m startled by the winter morning sun, streaming through the window into my hotel room in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I rise slowly from the bed, barely able to keep my eyes open. I shuffle across the room, and pull the small linen drapes aside. It’s blue everywhere, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. My eyes are now wide open, heart pumping with excitement, because I know skies are gonna be clear up top. Later I learn forecast conditions for the Zugspitze summit are excellent: mostly sunny, visibility out to 160 kilometres (100 miles) with a high temperature of -8C/+18F. Cold, but very doable. It’s also why I have with me 70-300 glass for the long zooms.

Below I show photographs with sightlines and their corresponding average azimuths^*: east-southeast (107 degrees), southeast (138 degrees), south (175 degrees), southwest (210 degrees), west-southwest (250 degrees). I label specific mountain peaks of interest in addition to the flag of the country where the mountain is located. In a few cases, mountains lie along the border between two nations in which case I provide two country flags. For the labeled peaks, I’ve also provided further information about mountain heights and sightline distances in the map below.

Spoiler alert: not only am I able to spot mountains in Italy, but also other peaks in Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

^* Azimuths are measured with north at 0 degrees, east at 90, south at 180, and west at 270 degrees.

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