Europe String

Flaming shrimp at the Brazilian music festival Caliente, which takes place every summer in Zurich, Switzerland. Coming up July 4-8, 2008.
More Photo Friday: Fire
Photo source: personal collection

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Visitors to the German-speaking world this time of year might wonder about all the signs advertising Spargel that they will inevitably see. White asparagus is revered and celebrated here like you wouldn’t believe. Some market stands (such as this one) are exclusively dedicated to selling the spears, and many restaurants have special asparagus menus in the spring. There are even asparagus festivals. If you’re a fan of asparagus, you won’t want to miss springtime in Germany.
Photo credit: personal collection.

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The Swiss mountain town and ski resort of Mürren, nestled in the Alps of the Bernese Oberland. One of my favorite spots in the world!
More Photo Friday: Cold here.
Photo credit: personal collection.

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This past weekend Zurich celebrated Sechseläuten, a couple days of parades and other festivities cumulating in the burning of the Böögg (a giant snowman-like creature) at 6pm on Monday evening. The time it takes for his head to explode is said to determine what kind of summer Zurich can expect. This year it took a long time, so a cold, wet summer has been predicted.
For more on Sechseläuten, see these posts on my personal blog from when I attended two years ago:

The Sechseläuten parade
The burning of the Böögg

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Onion alarm clocks at the Onion Festival in Bern, Switzerland.
See more ‘fragile’ Photo Friday entries here.
Photo credit: personal collection.

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Even though I’ve lived relatively close to the Alps for many years now, when visiting them I’m often overcome with the feeling of being very, very far away from everything. This photo is of a glacier at the Jungfrau, once of Switzerland’s most famous Alps. I highly recommend visiting the Jungfrau region if you ever get the chance.
See more ‘far from home’ Photo Friday photos here.
Photo source: personal collection

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Just one of the beautifully surreal costumes you’ll see in Zurich at the annual Street Parade. This year’s will take place on August 9th.
See more surreal Photo Friday.

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Bellinzona is one of the most beautiful cities in southern Switzerland, nestled between the mountains with a castle-studded skyline. This Italian-speaking city would be worth a visit almost any time of year, but it’s especially fun during carnival season. Rabadan got started yesterday, and will be in full swing until February 5th. There’s a daily parade of creatively-themed floats as well as parties all around the city each evening.
The one downside? Bellinzona is the only city I’ve ever been to that actually closed off the city center and demanded an entrance fee (I believe it was around CHF10) during their …read more

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A Tinguely kinetic sculpture at Zurichhorn, on the shore of Lake Zurich. It runs daily at 6:00 PM for 15 minutes. It’s very loud.
See more of today’s Photo Friday posts.

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It doesn’t get much better than the Matterhorn.
Check out other Photo Friday mountains here.

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