World Records and Linguistic Incompetence

This past weekend, two of my new friends and I took a 3-hour train north to Zurich, Switzerland's largest city. We saw snow, ate rosti (more or less Swiss hash browns), and learned how to navigate the city's Old Town/downtown quarter.

Zurich, as many of you probably know, was a prominent center of the Protestant Reformation and is still very Protestant. We visited 4 colorful and architecturally impressive Reformed churches concentrated in the main tourist district, each possessing a grandeur rarely seen in American Protestant churches (or really in any American church, for that matter). We climbed the 180 (I think) stairs to the top of the Grossmunster, which gave us a phenomenal view of the city and Lake Zurich (and of course the requisite cranes that seem to be everywhere in Switzerland). We also saw stained glass windows created by Marc Chagall (at the age of 80, no less) in the Fraumunster, and I can't even begin to describe how impressive they are. There are pictures, but they can't truly convey their beauty, especially as the light was nearly perfect when we were there. The Swiss National Museum was also impressive, with 500-year-old artwork that was so well preserved that the dates were almost unbelievable. Many of the pieces also brought out my literary analysis mind, as I was trying to come up with theories to explain the significance of the various portrayals of Jesus, for example.

In contrast to the strong religious presence in Zurich, you also see lots of pictures of naked women on various buildings. And not tasteful nudity. I have no problem with tasteful nudity. It's the obviously pornographic, this doesn't really resemble sex or the female body in any respectful way nudity that was oddly juxtaposed against the reverence demanded by the city's grandiose historical landmarks. It was a little shocking to my American sensibilities, even as I consider myself to be fairly open-minded.

Also, Zurich is a German-speaking city, and I have never felt so linguistically inept in my entire life. I'm accustomed to being the one that knows what's going on, that can talk to the locals, and doesn't need the special English menu. Fortunately my new friend Marissa knows German, so she functioned as our interpreter. But it still felt strange, being that I'm usually in the interpreter position. None of my four languages could really help me that much.

And also, as my mom told me when I called her that night, she broke a world record in Zurich. We never did see the supposedly famous track there though. I think I'll have to do that one with my mom someday, bring back some fond memories for her.