..... turns out, it is a perfect idea!!
Confucius says
"when shooting in manual focus mode, always remember to return it to auto focus"
Yes, sage advice, that I clearly forgot. You may remember that I only used my Coolpix yesterday. On Wednesday, Riehen had fireworks. I live on the top floor of my building and have a large balcony. So, since it faces where they were being shot, I decided to take a few snaps, and put my camera in manual focus mode while doing so.
Not convinced? Take a look at this picture... there is no need to show more!!
Here is a map of the inner city and the spots marked with the blue drops were key markers for destination points.
Please Note: There are a lot of pictures from today's adventure in Zug. Please be patient!!!
Part I: Walking around the old part of Zug
Have you ever been a place where each turn you make presents you with a surprise? Something that almost leaves you without words to explain? Zug is like this for sure!!! I realize there are some of you from Switzerland reading this blog and saying, "yeah, we get it, and see it all the time" but I can tell you, I don't ever get tired of the beauty, history, and architecture in these cities, and I doubt you do either.
Specific things I visited
St. Oswald's Church & St. Oswald's Fountain
The church is very old, as construction began in 1478. As I walked around it, I found it holding up perfectly and found the years have not been hard to the church.
The Fountain was constructed in 1664.
The Powder Tower
This was built over a ten year period from 1522 to 1532. According to the information I reviewed, the wall is 2.7 meters thick at the bottom. I say, that is thick!!!
The Huwiler Tower
This tower was built around the same time as the Powder Tower. I found it funny that for a long time, the tower was referred to as the "Hof" and at one point, was sold to private owners for a period of time... you know what I say, "don't hassel the hof[f]!!!"
Gret Schell Fountain
This is not that old, as it was built at the late 18th and early 19th century, in, as described, a simple classical style.
Clock tower
This is an interesting clock tower, and beautiful to look at from the front and the back. St. Oswald's Church added the tower between 1478 and 1480, built by Hans Felder Sr.
Finally, here are various street photos of the town. Really a beautiful place to visit, and the waterfront adds to it's charm.
I would like to say thank you to the Zug Tourism website for helping me piece together the information above
Part II: About Zug
Zug is a very famous canton. As an American, I remember first learning about Zug (the municipality) on a 60 Minutes segment. At the time I saw this interview, they said there were something like 26k residents and 30k registered businesses, as the link states. That is interesting in and of itself.
Zug joined the Federation in 1352 making it the 7th canton in Switzerland. The canton has a population of 113,597 in the 11 municipalities (Zug, Oberägeri, Unterägeri, Menzingen, Baar, Cham, Hünenberg, Steinhausen, Risch, Walchwil, Neuheim)
22% of the population is made up of foreigners. Seems higher than the other cantons if I recall, and I would be willing to guess it has a strong correlation to how many foreign businesses are registered there.
Part III: On to hiking
Today's hike was in Cham. It is a nice area just outside of Zug. I should point out, I did not go into the center of town, so the photography is of a small village area called Hagendorn. It is clearly a farming region with an emphasis on corn and cows.
Total hiking time was 2 hours 15 minutes in Cham, and another 45 minutes in Zug.
Total distance: 10.4 k
Elevation Gain: I think it was about 100 feet in total, but I could be wrong.
and the route I hiked....
The area of the hike, for the most part is much more modern than most other places I have visited to date. There were still some nuggets of the old style.
Not more than five minutes into the hike, I passed through a school area and came upon an open field. It made me miss my parents farm.
I know I have mentioned this before in other posts, but I love the fields in Switzerland. I prefer them to be a little more rolling, but for certain, I love them. In the movie "Rudy", Ned Beatty says, "This is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen" (link). Now, he is talking about a football stadium, but for me, it is the same exact feeling when I see fields of green, blue skys, and nature all around.
I must admit, this hike today was the easiest to follow since I started this adventure. I made sure I printed every turn so I didn't make any mistakes. At the end I was confused, but I am certain it was the heat that got the best of me. Thank you wanderweg signs!!
Heading out of town I found this old building, surrounded by newer ones, and the wanderweg went right next to it. I could not pass up a photo of it since I found it perfect. For me, a home doesn't need that new look, it just needs to look like it belongs
There were multiple farms I passed along the hike, the next two are just a couple of examples, with cows... what is a hike without cows? Like pasta without semolina.
I found another new friend today, Mr. Snaily Snail. He was quite content with my photography, and even posed for me. But, once I decided to leave, he curled up a bit. I think he was sad to see me go and enjoyed the chat I had with him.
I presume most of you already know that snails make their own shells. The shell also expands as the snail grows to accommodate its size. These shells are actually external skeleton's for the snails which is used for muscle attachment and for protection. Most shells, btw, are coiled to the right, in some cases they are coiled to the left, and in rare cases, they can be coiled both ways. The next time you look at a snail, check out their shell coil
I walked through a horse farm, which was beautifully kept. One the barn towards the end there were all these badges hanging up, from what appeared to be awards of sorts. I could not really make them out well as a woman who was coming out of an area there was watching me, and was kind enough (after I asked) to let me have a photo, but I felt time pressured.
All roads lead to Zug. In the background, you can see the tallest of mountains in Zug. There are not many, but they are about 5200 feet.
There isn't much to say here, but I really liked the little shed in the middle of the field. I could not help but to wonder, do the farmers curse it every time they have to go around it, or, is it a pleasing break from the row after row of repetition?!?!?!
As I was starting back into town, I came across this house, which I think is multiple apartments as I say a few mailboxes in the corner of the driveway. It seems to me that after a long day of work, it must be a good feeling to come home there. Do you agree?
And finally, we depart the hiking conversation with more cows. But, let me tell you this. I have been through many fields in my hikes. I have seen corn, apples, pears, and more. Today, not far past the house above, there was a single tree with plums on it. I happen to love plums very much. Once I tried a baby piece of corn, but other than that, I never bothered taking the apples, etc. But, I did pluck a plum. Seemingly the only ripe one on the tree and it was really good. The first I have had since moving to Switzerland, thank you very much. And no, not a picture of it :)
Part IV: Lunch Checks
I know it seemed I was going full steam ahead the first few days, but I mist admit, most of the hikes I have been doing go right through the lunch time, and when I am done, I just go home. I honestly do not like to eat alone, so I just hop int he car and head home.
But, if you are in Zug, here is the list of available places to take them if you are interested. Did you click the link? Are you scratching your head? That is right, there are no places in Zug that take them. What, I ask, is this world coming to????
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