The main train station in Zurich it the largest public hall in Europe. On Saturday July 5th, they will have installed 400m2 of quality wooden flooring so the estimated 6’000 people attending this free event can dance is style. Plus as they say on their website, the Midsummer Night's Ball is the only ball with it’s own train station.
Six music groups, Big Band and orchestral, will provide the music from 20:00 to 02:00, and if you can’t dance, you can have free lessons at the Dance Academy Klubschule Zürich in the afternoon. What’s more, if you show up alone there will be “well dressed and charming” ladies, also compliments of the Dance Academy, waiting for you to whirl them around the bahnhof.
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This one almost slipped by me: the Zürich Festival. All kinds of events to get you all “cultured up”. There will be opera, concerts, plays, dance and fringe theater, both indoor and out. Some of the productions will be free, and others will be shown on a big screen in the Münsterhof. And don’t forget the 24 hour traditional Midsummer's Night Ball in Zürich's Main Train Station.
In the 3rd century, Felix and Regula, siblings and members of a Roman legion stationed in Valais, fled to Zurich: not a stupid thing seeing as the legion had been defeated and was to be executed en masse. Unfortunately they were Christians, and in Zurich they were tried for refusing to pray to the Roman gods. This time they didn’t get away and were decapitated on the site of today’s Wasserkirche in the Neiderdorf.
But there’s more. According to the legend, they then walked forty steps up the hill and - presumably to take advantage of better view - picked up their heads and took them along. They were buried were they fell, which is now the site of the Grossmünster. Like many Christian martyrs, Felix and Regula, along with their servant Exuperantius, were canonized and today are the patron saints of Zürich. Still, the story is not over.
Read more: Martyrdom of Felix and Regula
Zurich, number one city in the world in the 2007 Quality of Living survey by Mercer Consulting. Top five are, Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, Vancouver, and Auckland. For the full list check out the Mercer website: Mercer Link
Every year the guilds and the townspeople of Zurich celebrate the coming of spring with good old Pagan zest. Sechseläuten starts on Sunday with a parade of adorable children in colorful outfits bringing Böögg into the city. I give this a miss and show up on Monday for the more dramatic bonfire where they sacrifice Böögg to the weather gods.
