Category: travel

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The weekend after my birthday I flew to Zurich, and spent the weekend with dear friends H and P, who both live in Switzerland. We visited the mountains and enjoyed being outside. Good to catch up, and good to be in the mountains. Seeing mountains has a calming effect on me.


At Oeschinensee near Kandersteg


Eiger north face at Kleine Scheidegg

Monday morning I had some time to myself in Zürich (as I did Friday afternoon arriving). I browsed a book store and enjoyed coffee looking out over the lake.


Coffee on Lake Zurich

We’re scouting to replace our car (a 2006 Volvo V50). The challenge is finding one that has similar luggage space. The V50 has a box shaped boot, whereas other cars have either very sloping backs or lack depth in the boot. For newer Volvo’s this holds true as well. Cars have generally become bigger on the outside, but that has been used for padding and for the passenger compartment it seems, not for luggage space which seems to have actually shrunk for compact models like the V50. This ensures our camping gear won’t fit a car, where it does fit our V50.

E booked two test drives for this morning, both Toyota (a 2019 Corolla and a 2018 Rav4). Part of the test was an attempt at loading our camping gear in front of our house. The Corolla failed due to its sloping back, the Rav4 passed the packing test as its back is more boxy. The Rav4 is however hardly compact.

Reminds me of when we were looking for a car in 2004, and one of our key criteria was whether it could comfortably fit the rabbit cage that E’s rabbit lived in. Which is how we ended up driving a Citroen Xsara Picasso, after trying a much wider range of models.

For our current car we didn’t have such rabbit based criteria when we bought it early 2013. After Y’s birth in 2016 and getting a bigger tent for camping, everything still fit through adding a rooftop box.

What currently fits our V50’s boot must however also fit the replacement car (while we assume the rooftop box will remain a necessity for summer holiday travel). And it turns out that is a difficult requirement for other cars to fulfill.

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We’re visiting Berlin this week.
Arriving yesterday, heading out for dinner we realised our hotel is one block away from Beta Haus.
Which is where we visited the last time we were here, a decade ago. In between a baby happened and a pandemic. Now Y is at an age she enjoys exploring a city as well. So here we are, back after ten years. First impression is it still feels much the same as last time, with much that attracts me and as much that pushes me away. I’m curious to hear what Y will think about the EU’s largest city.


Walking past Betahaus last night

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It was like spring this week in Switzerland, and it was very pleasant to be outside. Wednesday we went to see the Rhine falls near Schaffhausen. There weren’t many people around. We walked across the railwaybridge to the other riverside for lunch in Neuenhausen. Along the right bank is a footpath with nice views of the falls. On the left bank, where we parked, the access to the viewpoints requires buying tickets. Looking around on the map where to explore next we spotted a photo museum in nearby Winterthur but it was between expositions. Instead we decided on visiting the Beim Stadthaus location of the Winterthur Kunstmuseum which has a collection of 20th century art.

We had the museum entirely to ourselves. We were the only three visitors. To enjoy at our leisure a wide range of works. It was great. In the 1916 museum building which also houses the natural museum, the halls are a bland beige and the works are presented without context, almost without information even. Just a name and a date. Being in there alone felt like discovering a forgotten wing of an old building that happened to have all these beautiful works of art in them. Or like being in a school building after hours when everyone else is gone. Being the only one in what is normally a frequented public building. Like you’re not supposed to be there, to have some personal time with all these works of art.

Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Giacometti, Calder, Arp, Mondriaan, Picasso, Braque and many more. Just us three to enjoy them, stand up close, talk about them. Walk away, come back to compare. Watch for a long time. No one also wanting their turn to look from the best angle, or trying to get a better picture.
Normally on public display, it became a fully private visit, which made it a very different quality of experience.
Who knew Winterthur held these unexpected treasures.

works by Van Gogh, Rodin, and Monet


Van Gogh and Rodin.


Painting by Leger, sculpture by Duchamp-Villon


Works by Mondriaan, Calder, Van Doesburg, Arp and Täuber-Arp

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These index cards provide improvisation prompts. They contain words to use and suggestions for actions to use in a game of improvisation. One grouping of words and actions per index card. Seeing them laid out next to each other obviously reminded me of the use of index cards in personal learning/knowledge systems that are based on physical cards or made digitally (keeping one thing per note file), as well as of flash cards (like for spaced repetition). And it made me think of Chris Aldrich who collects examples of using index cards like these, as well as of Peter who is part of an improv group.

This set contains 108 cards with ‘nuclei’ of words and actions for improv. They were created by Jackson Mac Low in 1961 as ‘nuclei for Simone Forti‘ after seeing her perform in Yoko Ono’s loft. They were used by her as well as by Trisha Brown.

I came across this set of cards at the ‘Fondation du doute‘, the institute of doubt, in Blois, in a exhibition on the postmodern ‘Fluxus‘ movement that Jackson Mac Low participated in for some time.

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This week I visited Valletta, Malta. The old town’s facades have many so-called gallariji. A gallarija is a woodpanel-enclosed balcony. They became common it seems from the late 17th century onwards. It gives the city streets a distinct character from other places.


On the corner of the Arch Bishop Street and Old Bakery Street, photo Ton Zijlstra cc by nc sa


Looking down Arch Bishop Street, photo Ton Zijlstra cc by nc sa


On West Street facing St. Paul’s Cathedral, photo Ton Zijlstra cc by nc sa


Above the stairs of Triq-Il-Batterija, photo Ton Zijlstra cc by nc sa