I Heart Niederdorf

Swatch asked magazines all around the world to present their favourite neighborhood in a city. Vice asked me if I wanted to do it in Zurich and I gladly said YES!! The team (people from the magazine, film crew and photographer) followed me one day downtown and you can see the result above. It is still super weird seeing myself on video. It is part of a contest called Swatch from the Streets where people can vote for their favourite city. The winning city and magazine will get to throw a big party on behalf of Swatch. People voting can win a trip to the winning city to attend the party or the Swatch New Gent Lacquered. If my city wins, I will make sure to give a private city tour to whoever gets flown in. Follow this link and vote for me, it only takes a few seconds. Once you have logged in, you can vote every day by simply clicking on vote again!

Neu-Oerlikon

I am not often in Oerlikon but when my friend suggested I should come and see Neu-Oerlikon (the newer part of that area) with him, I was totally stunned what they made out of the former industrial area of Oerlikon and how many new buildings and parks they built. Many people that live in the centre of Zurich around the old town or the popular Langstrasse (literally "long street") probably don't even know about it yet, because they rarely leave the centre – just like me. But I had to realise once again that Zurich has so many different faces and Neu-Oerlikon definitely deserves an entry on my blog for my Zurich City Guide.

There are two buildings I like in particular in Neu-Oerlikon. Above pictured is the MFO-Park, which is situated behind the railway station of Oerlikon. The park has two parts: a big steel construction shrouded in climbing plants and a square beneath. You can walk up on the sides of the construction over different stairs and passages until you reach the top where you get a view over the area. There are benches all along the way. The water supply for the climbing plants comes from the rain collected by the steel construction. Give it a few more years and the whole steel frame will probably be covered in plants.

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Pictures below show a tower situated in the Oerlikerpark and one of the buildings surrounding that park. The tower's height is 35 metres and you can climb it via the stairs. Once you made it up there you get another view over Neu-Oerlikon and the rest of the city. The tower is supposed to be an element of the park that reminds people of the chimneys that used to be in the industrial area. There is another park called Wahlenpark nearby of which I didn't take any pictures because it looks better in the night and I was only there during the early evening with my camera. You will find a long beam where you can sit or lay down. The construction of the beam contains 7000 glass elements which are illuminated from the inside at night.

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Addresses:
MFO-Park
Sophie-Täuber-Strasse/James-Joyce-Strasse
8050 Zürich

Oerlikerpark
Birchstrasse/Emil-Rüti-Weg
8050 Zürich

Wahlenpark
Ruedi-Walter-Strasse/Otto-Schütz-Weg
8050 Zürich

Don't forget to take a look at the other places in my Zurich City Guide.

Zurich Lookbook by Playlust & Ron Orp

Fellow blogger Play, who is from Zurich as well, published her second lookbook from Zurich together with Ron Orp. It's all about „Now-Looks at Wow-Events“ and it looks indeed like a visual diary of the most inreresting events that took place the last couple weeks in Zurich. There are lots of pictures of local people but also some celebrities and some micro-interviews. She also did a little interview with me, which you can find on page 32. Affa is on the cover of the lookbook and view the lookbook online here.

Café Henrici

Next up in the Zurich City Guide is my favourite café in town: Henrici. It's fairly safe to say that it's the best coffee you will get in Zurich and many other people seem to agree with me, since although they have only opened less than a year ago, there are already a lot of regular customers – like me. The coffee is so good because they put a lot of effort into picking the right mix of beans and roasting but also adjusting their machines accordingly. It goes without saying that their coffee comes in various ways and tastes.

Café Henrici is situated at a beautiful square in the old town of Zurich. To sit on the terrace and watch people pass by must be one of my favourite things to do and I often spend more time here than I should. Besides coffee, they also offer all the other drinks you would expect like tea, beer, wine and other. In case you get hungry there are tartes flambées, soups, sandwiches, bagles, brownies, cakes and lots more. Although their food and coffee is surprisingly different, the prices are low compared to other cafés in town.

There are three different kind of areas for you to sit inside: the lounge with sofas, tables and chairs and the bar. On Tuesday night, they always organize a local music act, mostly songwriters, to perform at the café – the entry is free. Did I mention that the staff is super-friendly? It all somehow sounds too good to be true, but it is. They must be practicing some kind of dark voodoo.

Address:
Kaffeehaus Henrici
Niederdorfstrasse 1
8001 Zürich
Phone: +41 251 54 54
http://cafe-henrici.ch/

Don't forget to take a look at the other places in my Zurich City Guide.

Fashionslave

Part of Zurich's newest shopping destination opened its doors this month: Im Viadukt. The viaducts exist since 1894 and are used as a pathway for trains. After renovating the viaducts the last couple years, they decided to offer the space underneath them to various kinds of stores or restaurants. The renovation work is reaching its end and the first batch of stores opened two weeks ago. I am kind of disappointed when I look at the list of stores that made it in the end, but there are still some very interesting ones – like Fashionslave.

Fashionslave is situated in viaduct number 29. It's a concept store offering exclusively menswear from labels such as Raf Simons, Henrik Vibskov and Odeur. Besides that, it's a place for artists and designers to collaborate and showcase their stuff. There's also a hair and make-up artist available if you need more than just a change in clothes.

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Address:
Menswear & Style Gallery
im Viadukt 29
Viaduktstrasse 29
8005 Zürich
Phone: +41 44 440 29 29
http://fashionslave.ch/

I created a new category called Zurich City Guide to collect all my entries so far about shops and other places in Zurich but more importantly also for the ones in the future.

Les Trouvailles De Fiona Hefti

Last weekend, Fiona Hefti (former Miss Switzerland) invited people once again to the lounges of Kaufleuten for her show Les Trouvailles de Fiona Hefti, where she presented a selection of small boutiques from Zurich. It's a little fashion show with models exclusively dressed in clothes from these boutiques. This time, the shops were Dings, On Y Va and Monsieur Dubois, who are all among my favourites in Zurich.

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Everyone of these three shops has its own area of expertise and are all offering a range of relatively young and upcoming labels. Dings sells womenswear from labels, such as Wood Wood, Stine Goya, Sessun and Family Affairs. On Y Va sells menswear from labels, such as Our Legacy, Wood Wood, Henrik Vibskov and YMC. Finally, Monsieur Dubois offers shoes exclusively for women from many labels, such as Surface To Air, Minimarket, Opening Ceremony and H by Hudson. If you ever visit Zurich and want to do some shopping, I strongly recommend these three shops – the interior design of On Y Va and Monsieur Dubois is very beautiful.

Addresses:
Dings
Zollstrasse 12
8005 Zürich
Phone: +41 44 271 20 07
http://www.dings.ch/

On Y Va
Zähringerplatz 15
8001 Zürich
Phone: +41 43 343 91 21
http://www.onyva.ch/

Monsieur Dubois
Oberdorfstrasse 15
8001 Zürich
Phone +41 43 244 90 85
http://www.monsieurdubois.ch/

Don't forget to take a look at the other places in my Zurich City Guide.

Townhouse

Meet Townhouse – a concept store in the heart of Old Town Zurich. It opened up a few months ago and has already become one of my favourite stores. Not only do they have a very fine selection of products, the owners of the store are so friendly and welcoming that I'm no longer just paying a visit because of their assortment (of which most products aren't available anywhere else in Switzerland) but also to have a little chat with them about all sorts of things. It's one of those stores that make you want to go on a shopping frenzy once you've entered it. Luckily, most products aren't too expensive and yes – they have an online shop as well.

"By building long term partnerships with local as well as international brands, established as well as upcoming brands, we want to ensure a diversified and exclusive mix of products in the areas of art, fashion and home accessories. We continuously strive what we believe are the best products from all over the world." - Owners of Townhouse

Address:
Townhouse
Weite Gasse 4
8001 Zürich
Phone +41 43 843 70 00
http://www.ilovetownhouse.com/

Don't forget to take a look at the other places in my Zurich City Guide.