Compared to the month of April, May is a much livelier period with more people on the streets. Cafes have also lined the streets with their tables and chairs.Zurich Toy Museum
Located in Fortunagasse at Rennweg, it's hidden among the shops in Zurich City. A helpful passer-by saw us looking kinda lost with a map came forward to offer his help. Yup, we do meet quite a number of kind souls here who came forward to offer their help. Recently we went to a kebab restaurant to pack dinner and an old gentleman came forward to ask ZW what he wanted and asked for the counter staff. It turned out that he was just one of the patrons there. Such people just make your day and perhaps I should learn from them too by showing more initiative and offer help readily. It takes practice and well, some courage for me as well :)
The Toy Museum seems to be tended by 2 elderly lady who are warm and friendly. One tried to speak some English to us and gave a very brief introduction of the museum. There's no entrance fee to the museum and it's housed together with some other shops, located on the 4th level if I recall correctly. The museum has a collection of European toys that reflect life in the time from the 18th to the middle of the 20th century. These are real antique toys which are centuries old...and I'm amazed at how they managed to maintain them so well, especially those with delicate materials which tend to get disintegrated easily through time.
The 'Centurian Barbie' ;)
Uncle Tan is most afraid of such toys as he often thinks that they will come to live at night...
These toys are sooo delicate and look at the details. Are they made for play or for exhibition in the first place?To get to the Museum, you can can take Tram 6, 7, 11, 13 and stop at Rennweg. Opening hours: Mon-Fri, 2pm to 5pm and Sat, 1pm to 4pm.
Johann Jacobs Museum
This museum shows the cultural history of coffee. We thought it would be a bigger Museum given its exterior which looks like a mansion and given that the Swiss are coffee lovers. Coffee is part of their daily beverage and a stronger dosage as well. Fortunately we have our Zurich card which grants us free entry to the museum because firstly, the exhibits and videos are all in German and secondly, the place is pretty small, takes about 15 mins or less to finish the whole area. The only interesting part I suppose is the coffee tasting area which allows one to brew 3 different kinds of coffee for you to try and tell which coffee bean it cames from. The toilet is quite cool too which is clean and has an inviting smell, not coffee thou ;p
The museum is supposed to own an exclusive collection of porcelain, silver as well as graphic arts and paintings. It also has a library which is known to be one of the world's most extensive libraries documenting the history of coffee.
Didn't take any pictures as we forgot to take out our camera as we deposit our bags. Anyway, there's nothing much to take really. You could pop by to the beach which is opposite the museum after your visit.
To get there, you can take tram 4 and stop at Feldeggstrasse. It's located at Seefeldquai 17. Opening hours: Fri, 2pm to 7pm; Sat, 2pm to 5pm and Sun, 10am to 5pm. Admission: CHF 5, Concessions CHF 3. There are guided tours on every Sun, 2pm, but is only conducted in German. Johann Jacob Museum
We tried to visit one watch and clock museum but apparently it was located in a shop and didn't look like the usual museum we're expecting. So we gave that a miss. As for the rest of the museums, guess we can take our time to explore. The museums within the city are somewhat different from the past few museums I've visited like the Einstein Museum, the Transport Museum and the Glacier Museum. They are much smaller and most do not offer information in English. There are about 40 over museums here within Zurich, from cultural to historical to art to architecture, design and technology and nature. In SG, the last time I've visited a museum was...a couple of years back at the Asian Civilisation Museum...that was during the pak tor days hehe ;p
I guess we visit museums in other countries more than our own, perhaps partly due to the mentality that 'the moon is always rounder in another country' and partly because we don't find it worth the value to pay for something that you can see locally. Or perhaps, we have been to the museums when we were young so don't see the point in visiting the place.
Living in a fast pace society like ours has made us lose sight of what really matters and sometimes forget to appreciate the things around us. We buy and throw; thou now slightly better as we recycle more often now. To us, an item is a junk, but to them, it is a treasure with a story
to tell.
Perhaps in future we would have an LKY Museum depicting his life story, the letters he had written, the utensils he had used, the books he has read, the bed he has slept etc. I do hope we would have one for our dear SM Goh as well.
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