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Sunday 31 August 2014

Unlikely Neighbors

If you ever came to Zürich on a business trip you surely were taken to Kronenhalle - the best traditional restaurant in town at Bellevue square. Bought and restored by Gottleib and Hulda Zumsteg in 1925, this place has become a refuge for many European artists fleeing from spreading nazism in neighboring European countries. 

Later, Zumsteg's son Gustave started to built the art collection in the restaurant. The famous silk trader, he came to know couturiers like Channel, Dior, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Givenchy and through them the doors where open to became friend with artists like Chagall, Miró, Giacomettis and many others. Since it was a meeting place for the local bourgeoisie,  Kronenhalle has become a perfect showroom for international artists. 

Each art work was acquired, inexpensively, Gustav managed to persuade Chagall to design the stained glass window on the outside wall, Picasso to donate several of his sketches, Giacometti to design the tables and lamps.
photo: The Yam List

A couple of weeks ago I had a pleasure of contemplating this Chagal's sunset, sitting at the nearby table under the Miro's painting. But it is not only the art collection which attracts globe trotters from all over the world - Krone's finest menu will sweep you off the feet: traditional Swiss recipes are served from a trolley where they are kept warm, you'll be advised on the most suitable wine to go with your Zürich style veal  and rösti, and I heard that their Robespierre filet makes quite a spectacle.  

And just two steps away from Bellevue you'll find another restaurant\wine bar which will steal your attention and tell you a completely different story about the town's gastronomical institution. The story that I heard on Friday night from the owner of Weisse Rose goes that Hulda (supposedly the founder of Kronenhlle) was working at this very restaurant  and Gottlieb Zumsteg came to Weisse Rose for his favorite soup and the two got married later. 
While listening to intriguing stories that go back one century, I was observed by these two gentlemen, Peter and Ernst Weingartner, the regular guests at the Weisse Rose. They whispered to me later that I shouldn't  listen to the owner's tales, as Jan Aerts is a "big lier".

photo: NZZ\Tanner

This Dutchman who came to Switzerland in the sixties is a big art collector too. With his partner Juan Cardozo (a painter himself) they built up a serious collection of naïve and outsider art, a fraction of which is on display at their little yet legendary establishment, consisting of six wooden tables. 

Aerts's collection includes several paintings of Hans Krusi, for example (at the photo below), who came by the Schweizerhof Hotel at Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse (where Aerts has landed a job as a trainee)  to sell flowers for a cup of hot chocolate in return. After his death in 1995, Krusi is considered one of the biggest Swiss outsider artists, leaving behind near 4000 sketches, drawings, paintings and photographs. 


photo: Eveline Meeuwse
So here is my weekend story. If you are in Zürich go to Bellevue square, to Weisse Rose restaurant and then after a good wine experience go to Kronenhalle for their heavenly chocolate mousse… Maybe these two neighbors are not that unlikely after all.

Have a cosy Sunday evening.

Love,
AB

Saturday 16 August 2014

The Great Escape

In the train from Lausanne to Zurich, my head is turning between the computer screen and beautiful vineyards, ornamenting the Leman lakeside, modest sunshine is reaching down through fluffy white clouds… In spite of terrible torrents and mid-October temperatures, this week spent in Lausanne was very special and saturated with small surprises and discoveries. And in spite the hours of work, I had time to enjoy the lake - observing swans, fishermen, and tourists. It was a kind of escape. 
A great escape, maybe?.. if I can borrow the name of a nice resto I discovered these days. 
Rue de la Madeleine 18

CH-1003 Lausanne

They serve tastiest burgers, the atmosphere is informal, the crowd is colorful and the location is perfect. 


The great escape is located two steps away from the Rumine palace, where the biggest surprise was awaiting. Stepping in with some visitors to marvel at the palace's  finest renaissance decor,  we saw this poster: 
For the first time in Switzerland, the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne is showing an outstanding collection of major works from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Around seventy paintings document the finest achievements of the Russian landscape school in the 19th century.

The sea, mountains, forests and skies of the vast Empire, the passage of the seasons from dawn to nightfall, peasant customs, and rural and urban buildings convey that new sensibility and that aspiration for renewal. The artists exhibited include Ivan Aivazovsky, Ivan Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Mikhail Nesterov, Ilya Repin, Alexei Savrasov, and Vasily Vereshchagin.

Slightly changing our day's program we went in, and it was a true escape into the magic of Russian landscape. Beautifully painted showrooms varied from dark grey to bright pink, enhancing and accentuating each painting. You have time till 5th October to go and see the exposition, and I need to change trains soon. 

Have a surprising weekend,

Love,

AB

Friday 8 August 2014

High Season

Summer goes on…or at least they say so: it is pretty grey outside of my window :-), Swiss summer is rather capricious this year. However it is only a six-hour drive from Zürich to what seems an eternal sunshine… Italian and French riviera. What a temptation!.. and as we know it: the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it :-)

So here is a few impressions from a short recent trip from Sanremo to Nice. 




As it happens, it was a last trip for my little old camera, which had been my best non-human friend in the past five years. R.I.P my little Canon and thank you for wonderful memories :-)


Love,
AB

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Lost & Found

"Your internal dialogue has got to be different from what you say. 
And, you know, in film, hopefully that registers and speaks volumes. 
It's always the unspoken word and what's happening behind 
someone's eyes that makes it so rich".
Viola Davis
Does it happen to you, that you have too much too say and you end up saying nothing at all eventually?.. So many things happened in the past two months… Corfu was unspeakably beautiful and rich, I have met wonderful and precious people, I have also lost someone special this summer. 

Yes, yes, this unforgettable summer, a mixture of bitter and sweet, like the Aperol spritz at the seaside café in Sanremo some days ago…    

Arillas beach, Corfu
What happens to all those unspoken words?.. Some become songs, thats for sure. Looking for a song on Youtube, I came across this beautiful piece by Skunk Anansie. My unspoken words turned into a Replay button tonight 

Good night.
Love,
AB
…I hope you get to meet your hero
I hope she never lets you down
I hope she never tears you heart out
Or runs away without a sound
I hope you get to choose your weapons
And fire first without a cause
I hope you get meet your hero
I hope she's what you're waiting for

Don't let her down