Janne K. Flisrand
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jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Janne K. Flisrand
@jannefrommpls.bsky.social
3.5K followers 730 following 1.5K posts
Abundant housing. Justice. Dismantling oppression. Mpls politics. Observations from Zürich. She/her.
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jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Found my first observed #Zürich pedestrian design fail, where signs attempt to tell people how to walk between a tram stop and a crosswalk.

To be continued...
View from tram stop towards crosswalk. The walking direction sign is too the left of the line of sight, easily overlooked. There are mtoto sidewalk paths that appear direct. The trees in the background are a brilliant fall yellow, distracting from the pedestrian design details the photo is intended to illustrate. Photo showing a new fence blocking a green area with trees. On the left, behind the fence, where one expects a sidewalk, the fall leaves are especially thick because they collected in the desire path where there are fewer plants Photo from crosswalk showing sign, a new fence blocking the obvious direct desire route, and tram stop on the other side of the fence
November 18, 2025 at 7:48 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
When the built a new central library in #Zürich, they made sure to include this tunnel into the courtyard to maintain access to the 2-block-long Chorgasse.
a large institutional stone building, labeled ZB (Zentral Bibliothek Zurich) is to the left of a paver walking lane. To the right of the lane is a matching stone building. A glass causeway connects the two, with a pedestrian tunnel at ground level. In front of the Bibliothek is an outdoor patio with seating. A narrow old city street, with pavers, many low doors, pale blue and grey and peach and pink buildings. Bikes, potted plants, and strollers line the walkway.
November 17, 2025 at 7:22 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
#Zurich has put the temporary trees and seating in the old city into hibernation for winter.
A tree with a 6 foot diameter root bal wrapped in burlap sits in a mostly empty outdoor plaza. Several huge bright yellow disks are stacked behind the tree. A tractor is lifting another huge dree off the ground. Workers are wearing safety yellow.
November 16, 2025 at 7:11 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
The circus has come to #Zürich, I hear this one has live music, no animals, acrobatics, and a story. It set up 4 blocks from the main train station, in the heart of the city.
Yellow circus tent with red accents on a green field. Two bare pollarded trees frame the upper corners of the photo.
November 15, 2025 at 8:02 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Fall sidewalks
A close-up photo of a flat-pruned leafy green hedge with clusters of bright red-orange berries.
November 14, 2025 at 9:28 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
The trees have arrived. Imagine what this seating, right by the #Zürich main train station, will be like in 10 years.
Photo of a place next to a river. Crossing the river is a long, flat building. New trees are planted along the plaza edge where there is a sharp corner, implying stairs descending to the water.
November 13, 2025 at 8:39 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Wandering Chur, Switzerland, no matter which direction you face, almost every street you look down, there is a mountain view at the end.
Mountain under a grey sky between two older, small beige apartment buildings. Mountain view under a grey sky, a few sunny spots peeking through the clouds, at the end of a street lined with older three-story apartment buildings. A mountain rises at the end of the street, behind two large downtown five-story buildings. The building on the left has a modern design and is wedge shaped, the photographer is looking at the point.
November 12, 2025 at 7:48 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Cool things about this fountain:
1. it exists
2. the metal strip tells you where the water comes from
3. the grate to the right lets you hear the burbling stream while using it

Chur, Switzerland
A large granite plaza with a solid stone drinking fountain. The fountain is on top of a metal strip laid flush with the plaza stones. To the left of the fountain it reads, "Mühlenbach," the name of a stream. The the right of the fountain there is a texture cut through the metal plate. 10 meters behind the fountain is a splash pad.
November 10, 2025 at 9:05 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Stairwell to a train station parking garage (Chur, Switzerland).
The view is all-concrete, a narrow stairway that stays open-to-skylight space as the stairs descend. There are grey concrete beams that slope diagonally down from the upper right corner of the space to the righthand wall, and then back to the lefthand wall, and then back to the right hand wall. More diagonal beams as the stairs descend. They repeat four times back into the hallway, creating an interesting visual effect.
November 8, 2025 at 6:15 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Continuing my photo series from Chur, Switzerland, taken while heading from "Energy Park" to the Rhine, with tall apartment buildings totally not ruining the view in any way.
A dramatic photo, with cloudy grey backlit skies. The focus is a narrow street heading into the distance, and some backlit trees that create a stark relief above. There are mountains also angling down towards where the road disappears, some closer and some in the distance. The grass is very green.
November 7, 2025 at 7:20 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
I found this container mini-museum in Chur, Switzerland. With one big swinging wall/door, and a small door on the other end, it was welcoming and people flowed through easily. The artifacts illustrated travel during Roman times through that area of 🇨🇭
Exterior shot of a bright red container on a pedestrianized street, with white lettering "Römer Zeit Reisen" or Travel in Roman Times. Half the container wall is swung open to show a glass wall with artifacts displayed, plus a small sandwich board inviting people in. Photo of the inside of a container taken from one end, with the right side a wall displaying many artifacts in boxes that are hard to see in the photo. One appears to be a roman helmet, others are metal tools. On the left, there's a red exterior bit intruding into the container, as it's swung open to provide visitor access. A man is standing in the far end, looking at exhibits.
November 6, 2025 at 9:38 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Walking here felt very Minneapolis. Lovely path, woodsy, river/water (let's pretend there's no mountain), but the real source of memories was deafening highway noise, unusual in my experience of Switzerland.

This Chur path is tucked between the Rhine and a highway.
Bucolic image of a green-blue river through thin tree branches with a few remaining yellow leaves. On the left side across the river a mountain rises, and in the distance behind that mountain another mountain hints at dramatic view. On the right is a walking path covered in fall leaves.
November 4, 2025 at 6:14 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Chur, Switzerland is full, full, full of benches. Brightly colored, plain weathered wood, they are plentiful.

(Chur is no outlier in 🇨🇭.)
A freshly painted spring green bench on a city street. Two bikes are parked behind the bench, and a few parole are walking. 2 more benches of the same color are further down the road, visible if you zoom in.
November 3, 2025 at 9:08 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
At Critical Mass and after, I rode this #Zürich Bucheggplatz roundabout on a bike 4 or 5 times.

With 350 other cyclists, I looked around and thought, "What a terrible design for cyclists!"

Riding home alone, I thought, "What a terrifying design! Aaahhh! How do I do this???"
Photo of an three-driving-lane plus two-bike-lane roundabout taken from above. From the right to the left (outside to inside) there's a bike lane, wide driving lane, red-painted bike lane, and two more driving lanes. There are trees and grass in a very large center island.
November 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Check out the most beautiful bus station ever. Also conveniently located above the train station.

Chur, Switzerland
A row of 9 busses some distance away on an open concrete lot, sheltered by a massive glass arch. Through the end of the arch are mountains. A large pen space under a glass arch roof. The sunlight is warm, and the space glows. There are benches near the photographer's position and yellow busses in the distance.
November 1, 2025 at 7:13 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
The bike pitch in #Zürich is that biking is faster - if you know the city well I'm sure it is. I have yet to find it so.

Usually I'm stumped by wayfinding, today I was blocked by construction. I'm sure the alternative was near, but it wasn't visible to me.

It took me 50% longer than the tram.
Close-up photo of under construction tram tracks. They are resting on top of poured concrete, held in place by supports. Lots of blue and black cables are snaking across the scene.
October 31, 2025 at 3:19 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
My historian SprachTandem partner gave me a tour of his #Zürich neighborhood, Binz, which is build in an old clay pit. Check out the terraces that were the edge of the pit before it was mined out, subtly visible history.
A grassy hill with fall-color trees in late afternoon sun with long shadows. The ground has four visible levels, a flat bottom, and three uneventy stepped terraces.
October 30, 2025 at 8:21 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
A natural, grown gateway in a Mulhouse park.
A grassy park, with a curved path leading away from the viewer. Two shaped trees flank the trail in the foreground. The trunks are shaped as upside down wisdom marks that look like they are hugging the path.
October 29, 2025 at 10:27 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Time for a beautiful door. Found in Basel, Switzerland.
A pair of stained wooden doors set into a grey stone building. The doors have swoopy decorations, with recessed carvings below and above the handles, and a simpler curved bit extruding below the handles. There is complicated filigree metal work above the doors below a slightly arched lintel. There are plaster garlands above the lintel.
October 28, 2025 at 9:34 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
A magnificent tree, with chairs and tables for scale. #Strasbourg
A Plane tree with a trunk larger in diameter than a table. The branches are pruned in a bowl shape. The break has light and dark splotches. It is surrounded by the outdoor tables and chairs of a restaurant patio, next to a river.
October 26, 2025 at 8:52 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
The city's old moat hosts a wonderful pedestrian walkway, and shows off the city's fall colors. #Zürich
The lower 2/3 of the photo is reflections on the canal, half clear to the bottom and half reflected fall leaves. A wooden boardwalk divides the water from the yellow and green trees in the top 1/3 of the photo.
October 25, 2025 at 7:58 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Multifamily buildings along the Rhine-Rhone Canal, just outside central Strasbourg.
2 9-story apartment buildings in the other side of a wide smooth waterway. The buildings are squarish and mostly white, each with 4-6 popped our candy-red balconies, the top two floors are black. The surrounding grass is bright green, with docks and walkways on the far side of the water,and one large tree between the two buildings.
October 22, 2025 at 8:53 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Skinny or odd-shaped buildings like this one from Mulhouse, France always leave me wanting a storyteller who knows local history.
An extremely skinny, three-story peach building. It's double-wide on the ground level, but looks about two meters wide on the second and third stories. It has a door and two small windows on the ground floor, but four pairs of windows on both the second and third floors.
October 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
My favorite two-block-long sidewalk in Mulhouse, France.
A paver sidewalk that has a tiled strip down the center. The strip has two white exterior marble tiles, defining a center pattern that is three twists, a longer oval, repeat beyond the frame. In each twist a double-row of white tiles highlights the pattern, with darker brown making the pattern three dimensional (so that the white line coming down from the top crosses over toward the left then swoops back to the bottom where the next white line crosses over to the left, etc.). The remainder of the space is filled with small black stones.
October 20, 2025 at 7:36 PM
jannefrommpls.bsky.social
Ever wonder how people move full-sized furniture in and out of stair-only buildings, and old European buildings? Seen in Strasbourg.
A full moving truck is parked in front of a tall old building. Attached to the back is a diagonal metal device that looks like a ladder. It has a platform that is at the top, at the base of a tall set of double-swing-in windows. There's a motor to move the platform up and down.
October 19, 2025 at 7:06 PM