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Published: December 6th 2014
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Zurich Hauptbahnhof lights
The twinkling of cascading lights above the street with lit up buildings and shop windows. Since it was a very cold day we layered up with all our warm clothes and in the early afternoon, headed for Zurich for a look at the Christmas decorations. We wandered the streets and up into the park overlooking the river waiting for the light to fade from the day. Once it got dark enough for the lights to be turned on we saw the spectacle that we came to Europe for. Zurich really turns it on! It was definitely a WOW experience. Trees were lit up. The building frontages seemed to want to outdo each other for the most decorative lighting. Decorated Christmas trees lined the Hauptbahnhofstrasse. Shop windows were ornate and filled with tasteful Christmas fare and above the main street hung a kilometre approximately of little sparkling lights hanging down like falling icicles or snow or stars. It was simply beautiful. It was worth giving up the NZ summer to see this and the contrast to Christmas at home. It seems that every town and city in Switzerland has Christmas Markets and lighting displays but it varies on the size of the town. Surely they cannot be outdone by the German ones. Time will tell.
At
Credit Suisse building frontage
Just one of the many building frontages lighting up Zurich along Haupbahnstrasse 5pm we took a train to Lucern with the objective of getting to Kussnacht am Rigi to see the Klausjagen. The train was filled with commuters and was standing room only all the way to Lucern. People travel by the 1000's on trains for long distances to go to work and don't seem to mind 2 hour train journeys if needs be.
After a shorter train journey from Lucern we reached Kussnacht am Rigi where the Klausjagen festival was being celebrated. We had been recommended this festival as it is something unusual and special. That is an understatement. It was truly amazing and WEIRD. It will be rather difficult to describe so better to look at a YouTube clip
(flick through it to get the general idea) or visit http://www.klausjagen.ch/.
The objective is the removal of Klaus. It starts with a clap of thunder and all the lights go out. Firstly there are the whip crackers with what sounds like gun shots continuously being fired. I'm not sure how the crowd did not get hit as these are not short whips. Then comes St Nicholas with some chaps in black tight suits with hoods and black faces
Huge colourful head dresses
It is difficult to capture the number and spectacle of these head dresses. They are amazing in the variety of colourful designs. All like stained glass windows. They were so large they needed to be held up with both hands. Lit inside by candles. with white sacks on their backs (like black pixies). Then dozens of men in white and gold robes with huge head dresses lit up with candles inside. They are spectacular and colourful with designs you would see in church stained glass windows. They sway and move around the street as if to ward off evil spirits. Weird. Then comes a band of trombones and euphoniums playing about 3 notes - dah, dah, daaaah, da, da, da, da, daaah. Over and over. Then hundreds (supposed to be 1000) of men in white traditional shirts walking in unison with huge cow bells so they all clang together. What a racket! It was so loud it vibrated through our bodies. Finally, there was maybe a 100 men blowing single note cow horns, also noisy.
When the noisy procession had passed after an hour or more I couldn't help but wonder 'What the hell was that all about?!' It was one of the weirdest things I've ever see. Well worth the visit though . So, if you are ever in Switzerland on Dec 5th, this is a must see.
Getting a train back to Frick proved not to be straight forward but
The Bell Ringers
There are around 1000 bell ringers walking with huge cow bells all ringing in unison. The noise is deafening and the sound vibrates right through your body. we duly arrived shortly after midnight. What a day!
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