Eleven

Welcome back to another episode of A'lil Hoohaa's monthly photo blogging challenge. 

Our prompt for the month of March was "Eleven", since for PJ, our host, it has eleven years that he's been doing this. In celebration of this anniversary, our pictures today will represent this number.

I've been on board since 2017, so I have contributed to Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine and Ten,

In the early years it was somewhat easier to come up with photo subjects that represent two or three, but now?

I try not to be the person who does things at the eleventh hour, and I work hard at being prepared and organized so I don't have to gather five random pictures for these blog challenges. 

For reasons I will reveal next month, I found myself in Zurich quite a few times these past weeks, and I took it as an opportunity to explore district eleven for this post's sake. Zurich has twelve municipalities, so I'm covered for another year ;-)

District 11 comprises Oerlikon, Affoltern and Seebach, and they are located on the northern edge of the city. If you go any further north, you are practically at the airport. 

Oerlikon is most famous for the Hallenstadion, one of the largest multi-purpose arenas in Europe with up to 15,000 seats. It is known as the venue for various major sporting events (ice hockey world championships and indoor bicycle races), but above all for the concerts of well-known musicians and bands. The Beatles, ABBA, Elvis, Queen, A/C D/C, Michael Jackson, you name it, they played there. 

With so many cultural events between September and April, there were always scheduling conflicts with the local hockey franchise, and after almost 72 years, the ice hockey era in the Hallenstadion came to an end on April 29, 2022 with ZSC's last home game during the playoff final against EV Zug. The ZSC Lions lost this game 0:2 against EV Zug, who won the 2021/22 championship two days later in the decisive game seven.

Excuse me for mentioning this hockey trivia. I root for EV Zug, and it was a special triumph for us to deny the ZSC Lions - our arch rival -  the Swiss championship title in the last game in their stadium. 

There's two other main buildings in this area, one is the international trade and exhibition building "Messe Zürich AG" and the HQ for the Swiss Radio and TV company. I'm not taking you there, though. We want to see the cool stuff!

On my way to this cool stuff I walked past a senior citizens' residence. Take a look at the beautiful cherry blossoms I found in their courtyard!

Founded in 1876, Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO) settled north of the railroad line and had a significant impact on the community. They have been long gone, and a new residential and living space is being created in this very former industrial quarter. The very urban-looking architecture is broken up by spacious parks, one of them being called - guess - MFO Park. 

The park essentially consists of a large, planted metal structure that is artistically illuminated at night. The steel scaffolding, which was designed by the engineering firm Basler & Hofmann AG, is 100 m long, 35 m wide and 17 m high, thus taking on the dimensions of the former halls of the Oerlikon machine factory. Climbing ropes, planters, stairs, galleries and balconies are suspended in the scaffolding. The sun deck on the roof offers a panoramic view over Zurich North. The interior of the "green hall" is used for cultural events.

Just a few minutes' walk away you will arrive at Oerlikon Park with its observation tower 

Around a blue-colored, 35-meter-high (116 feet) concrete core, some 200 circumferentially arranged steps lead to the first platform. From there, a final spiral staircase leads to the viewing platform. 

The tower offers a view over the whole of Oerlikon and parts of the surrounding communities, so they say. Sadly, the entire tower is encased in a fine-mesh steel net. making it hard to take pictures. 

See for yourself though. 

And as always at spots like these, people feel the need to leave love locks, and as always I ask myself, do they return to remove the locks after a breakup?

Moving on. Have you ever heard of Freitag (German for Friday), as in the name for a messenger bag?

30 years ago - I can't believe it has been that long - two brothers, Markus and Daniel Freitag, Freitag being their last name, both trained as designers, developed a messenger bag made from old truck tarpaulins, used bicycle inner tubes and car seat belts The two passionate cyclists were inspired by New York bicycle messenger bags on the one hand and the long-distance traffic on Zurich's Hardbrücke bridge - the panorama of their shared kitchen - on the other. 

This is their flagship store in Zurich. They sell their products in 19 rust-colored freight containers that are stacked on top of each other to form a unique skyscraper.

Over 1,800 recycled and individual products such as bags, smartphone cases, wallets and more can be found on four sales levels. A further five floors lead up to the viewing terrace (open during the store's opening hours), which offers a spectacular view of the ever-changing Zurich West.

That's not in the district I'm talking about in this post though, so consider this your bonus picture.

I will talk more about this quirky area next week. However, part of their production is taking place in Oerlikon, and the campus is being watched by this guy here, I haven't found out much about him, except that he was part of a garden themed exhibition in 2023. 

That was it from me. Hope you had fun with my five six. Don't forget to visit my fellow blogger's posts.

As always in April I will be participating in the A - Z Blogging Challenge. I will be talking about all things spring. Meet me there?