Winterthur

1. Winterthur Our Hometown in Pictures

3. Welcome to our presentation about Winterthur We‘d like to give you an insight of our home town. Many of us live here and for the others it‘s the closest city around, so we come here not only for school, but also to shop, to go out, to do sports, ... There‘s a huge range of different possibilities to spend your free time. We‘ll show you some of the most important buildings and activities here and give you some background information. Have a look and enjoy the difference!

4. Winterthur Main Station The station is an important place in Winterthur. A lot of people have to go there, because they usually go to work by train and by bus. Public traffic is very common here and in whole Switzerland. It’s much easier this way than by car.

5. Central Park The park lies in the center of Winterthur. It’s a place to hang out for young people and families that live in the center of the city and don‘t have a backyard. But also a meeting place for drug dealers and consuments.. In summer many students go there to have lunch, because it‘s close to most of the schools here

6. The general structure of the old town center It is built like a typical middle age city. The church stands in the center. Around the church are some houses and the important streets. The surrounding houses build the city wall which was for the defense. How you can see this houses stand together without any space between them. Only some ways lead from outside to the center. The two city gates in the east and the west aren‘t visible anymore. The “Oberer Graben” (Top Ditch) was in the Middle Ages a ditch which was filled up with water to protect the city from enemies.

7. Stadttor - „City Gate“ The real middle age city gate is not existing anymore. The new city gate stands next to the railroad and the station. It was renovated a few years ago and looks now very modern and stands in contrast with the old station building. Inside there are some shops and snack bars that are open 7 days a week, which is rather unusual for Switzerland, shops usually are closed on sunday.

8. Vegetable Market Since the Middle Ages there is a vegetable market in the “Steinberggasse” in the old town center. Farmers bring a part from their crops in the town to sell it. Normally the people living in the old town center visit this market to buy fresh vegetables.

9. Turkish Snack Bar A few years ago many Turkish people immigrated in Switzerland. Some of them opened Turkish snack bars where you can eat Kebap and other Turkish specialities.

10. Musikpavillon - „Bandstand“ First the bandstand was built with it music bands were able to give there their concerts. But the bandstand was long not used and stood empty. So alcoholics and hobos chose this place to live and sleep there. And they have been staying until now. And they lived happily ever after.  Unfortunately we weren‘t able to take a picture of the bandstand because the alcoholics told us to piss off! SORRY

11. Block 37 When you visit Winterhur you have to go to the Block 37. The Block 37 is the biggest indoor skating park of europe so it is very famous. There is a miniramp, a bowl and a street area. Inline skaters and skateboarders from Winterthur, the surrounding villages but also from other Swiss cities and from other countries meet to go into their hobby: skating.

13. Marktgasse (Market Lane) The “Marktgasse” (“Märtgass” in swiss german) is the main street of the old town center. There you can find most of the shops, bars and restaurants. At Christmas time people enjoy the lighting, which became tradition in the history of Winterthur, even though it has not yet existed fifty years ago. The lighting creates a wonderful, peaceful and romantic atmosphere during Christmas time.

14. Library and Museum For Art and Science. The library is a often visited place. It contains thousands of books, music sheets, CD’s , two reading rooms for studying, CD-ROMs, Videos, DVD’s and an archive of very old books. People use the library for their studies and for information, but also just for fun. In the same building there‘s the museum of natural science and visual arts. Usually there are several exhibitions at the same time. This remarkable building is also popular with tourists.

15. Church in the city The protestant church in the middle of Winterthur is a historical building. A lot of people still find the way to divine services and the surrounding place is used for big theatre spectacles and other cultural events. (Written on the building: Sancredness is the ornament of your house, oh Lord, eternally)

16. Cityhall The cityhall is the center of the Winterthur governement. Here the city councils have their sessions, where they talk about the latest politics of Winterthur. Every two weeks they have session with the regional councils to talk about new ideas and problems. In the cityhall all the important business of Winterthur takes place, a lot of people work there and do the paperwork and services. Also concerts and other events take place in this building.

17. Politics Our governement consists of 8 members in the city council and 40-60 members in the regional council. The councils are built up with the elected politicians of the different parties. The strongest ones, at the moment, are SP (Socialists), SVP (Nationalists), FDP (Liberalists), and further on CVP (Christians), and EVP (Evangelists). They often fight against each other and every partie tries to be best at the elections. Since May last year we have a new president. The city president („Stapi“) is the highest person in the governement of Winterthur. The president (SP) At the moment the council consists of the following parties: 3 SP 2 FDP 1 CVP 1 EVP

18. Sulzer Once the Sulzer was one of the most important industries in Switzerland and the whole world. In Winterthur they built a big area of Sulzer buildings, where hundreds of people could work. It was an important place in Winterthur and had a big influence on the economy of Switzerland. Now it is nearly standing still. The buildings are partly used, the others they look very bad. Only the sky-craper (you don‘t see it here) and some liitle buildings are still used for paperwork and administration. Produced is only in America now. Since some years the Sulzer area is built up again and the buildings are used for cultural and business work. So it has kind of a „Comeback“.

19. Forests Winterthur lies between some forests. These are decidious and coniferous. The forests are used to go fo a walk. In the forests there also some cottages with fireplaces.

20. Vineyards Around Winterthur are different hills, which belong to the features of Winterthur. In early times they were used for agri-culture. On some hills they had big meadows full of vineyards, and there still are. In autumn ,volunteers help to collect the raisins, before the rainy time of autumn beginns. Out of the raisins they produce the vine of Winterthur, named after the hills or simply after the city.