In Aarau

After Werner's birthday party, I went with my cousin Walter (he is a first cousin of Werner's) and his wife Helen, and spent three nights with them at their home in Aarau.  Aarau is a pleasant town of around 20,000 people and is the capital of the canton of Aargau.

When we got to their house, I gave them a number of gifts which I had brought for them.  I bought Helen a hand-woven "rebozo" (Mexican shawl) and a "guayabera" shirt for Walter.

 

Helen and Walter have traveled to Mexico in the past.  Before I took this trip, I had asked Helen for some ideas of what to buy for them as gifts.  She sent me some photos of Mexican handicrafts that they had purchased previously, and I could see that they liked the traditional Day of the Dead figures.  While I was at a handicraft fair in Mexico City I found this delightful papier mache skeleton figure playing the guitar, and I decided that I had to buy it for Walter.

Since Walter is a doctor, I had the last minute idea of buying him a "Dr. Simi" doll.  I explained to them that the dolls were based on the logo of the "Farmacias Similares" chain of drug stores, and how the dolls have become very popular.

They seemed to be very pleased with their gifts from Mexico.

The next day, Walter took me on a tour of Aarau's small but picturesque "Altstadt" or Old Town.  The neighborhood is usually very lively with lots of shops and restaurants.  But in Switzerland the shops are all closed on Sunday, and the streets were very quiet.  (If you need to buy something from the supermarket, the only one that is open is the one in the train station.)

 

One of the city gates survives from when Aarau was a walled city.  Local buses are barely able to fit through the gate.

Next to the gate is a clock tower.

As in most Swiss towns, there is a fountain which served as a source of water for the population.  It is perfectly safe to drink from any of the public fountains in Switzerland.  Such fountains are usually topped with beautiful statues.  This one has a figure of "Lady Justice".

The church in the "Altstadt" dates from the 1400s.

A unique feature of Aarau's Old Town is that the undersides of the gables of many houses are decoratively painted.  This has given the town the nickname of "The City of Beautiful Gables".