Streets of Solothurn

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Clean.

I thought I'd post some memorable photos of the clean streets of Switzerland.

A side street in Solothurn during the rain

Vitznau in summer. A very clean street.

A New Sudoku Fan

I think I'm becoming addicted to Sudoku. It also helps me to get away from the stress of not finding a job and my taxes... Oh maybe that's called procrastination...

But an interesting discovery about my strengths compared to P's with Sudoku puzzle solving. He's great at spotting missing numbers for solving the puzzle. While for me, I'm great at telling you which number is missing in a row without even blinking. It actually shows some of our own personal strengths, one of which for me is an eye for details.

Time to swim...

More later...

I'm wondering if anyone else is having a lot of trouble with allergies? Mine just started getting severe this week and it's not so pleasant. I've got sinus swelling which unfortunately means I have to medicate to cure this type of symptom.

Famous Vancouver Otters

It appears that Vancouver Aquarium has some new famous movie stars. Check out these cute otters!



This actually happened way back in 2002 but the person with the video just posted it. As well, this is something they do naturally in the wild to stay together during rough tides.

A Vandusen Tour

On Saturday P and I planned an outting to Vandusen Botanical gardens to enjoy the sunny weather, photograph the new spring flowers and do a bit of bird watching. Really it is so amazing what you see when you really stop to notice the little things.

Here's a short photo tour of some of the Vandusen Gardens.

I was surprised to see not too many flowers blooming yet. I'm willing to guess we are a bit behind on the blooming schedule since we had so much rain all winter and well into most of March.

My favorite flower from the visit.

Large pencils? or...


And finally parting shots. ;-)

P was very happy to se some new ducks which we didn't see too often around here. These are two that were doing some very funny spinny with their feet and then would duck down and moon us. It was very entertaining!

Helvetica Celebrates 50 Years

When you think of something that's Swiss, you probably think of the Cuckoo clock, Swiss chocolates and Swiss watches. But another popular and wide spread invention of the Swiss is the Helvetica font, which you are reading right now. It's certainly not something I think of when I think of a popular Swiss invention.

Over the years the font has evolved from the original Swiss Helvetica, to Helvetica New, and Helvetica new light as well as bold versions of these fonts. If you'd like to see a few examples, just check out the street signs in Zurich or on a Microsoft Word document.

Switzerland created the Helvetica font 50 years ago. To mark the anniversary, American filmmaker Gary Hustwit has produced a documentary devoted to the iconic font. The documentary, also entitled Helvetica, includes interviews with designers and the son of the man who created the font.

Helvetica, considered an icon in the 1960s and 1970s, has shaped the urban landscape like no other typeset before. The popular font can be found all over cities from Zurich to Milan, London, Berlin to Tokyo and New York. It can be seen wherever you look, on advertising boards, menus, and street or train signs. I bet it's not something you notice every day!

(my first visit to Switzerland in Jan 2002)

In the 1970s, even such companies as Migros and the Swiss Federal Railways adopted the Helvetica font to boost their corporate identity. When the Helvetica design was first created, it was a font used solely by printers and designers. Today, millions around the world use it.

Helvetica is so popular in Switzerland, especially in Zurich, where you can see it everywhere including train stations to trams and buses, road and shop signs.

Now my challenge to you is to go out there and snap a photo of the Helvetica font!

Yes that is the Helvetica Font!