Hi, j_philipps

I am addressing this to you personally because we both share the same
Time Zone whereas all the real gurus are sure to be in La La Land.

My pilot has just returned from Malaysia and was astonished at the
short distance; something to do with Geomagnetic Reversal, he says.
Considering the price of aviation fuel these days, this news was very
welcome.

Anyway, yesterday, my two daughters and I set about clearing out the
attic but, as always, we got distracted by Granny’s Old Trunk. Granny
used to keep an ‘autograph album’ which was filled with poems,
drawings, jokes, sayings, etc. contributed and signed by her
acquaintances mainly during the first half of the 20th Century.

The names of most of the contributors were lost on us; but there were
a couple of neat drawings made by my Dad and also some contributions
from my Granddad. One was ‘Don’t just say something; stand there’. It
was dated 1925. He was something of a mystery man, probably of Flemish
origin. At any rate, he was reputed to be able to hit the spittoon
from incredible distances. Latterly, he used the name ‘Basil
Zaharoff’. (My grandparents married in secret for some reason.)

There was also a photograph of Granny, dressed up as a sort of exotic
dancer. It had been signed ‘To Maud (For such was her name) Thanks for
Everything, Bertie, Marienbad, September 1907'. I don’t suppose, we
shall ever discover what Granny and this Bertie fellow were doing in
Marienbad, wherever that may be.
  
There was even a contribution from Granny’s own Granddad, a certain
Adolph Sutro. Born in Prussia, he went West in the Californian Gold
Rush and was never heard of again.

Theo Durrant, Granny’s brother, had made one of the earlier entries
but someone had scribbled the word ‘Unspeakable Wretch’ across it. I
suppose every family has its black sheep but we never discovered how
Theo had brought shame on the family. Maybe he had joined the
Communist Party.

One of the later contributions was from somebody who signed herself
‘Ruth St Denis’.  Apparently, she had worked with Granny at some
aircraft factory during WW2.

The last entry was signed ‘Yvonne de Carlo’ in 1945. We wondered if
this was the same woman who had appeared in the Addams Family. (Or was
it the Munsters?) We decided not because, this lady had presented a
photo of herself in which she was dressed pretty much as Granny had
been in September 1907. She had signed it ‘Thanks for creating such a
lovely part for me’.

There’s the background, now for the question.

I am off to Zurich tomorrow to collect some cash from my Grandad’s
numbered account and the only places I know are the Lake and the
Railway Station.

I wondered if you could direct me to ‘Bahnhofstrasse’.

Please take into account the different Time Zones and the effects of
Geomagnetic Reversal.

Many thanks.

Kindest regards

Bryan

Bryan,

That was straight to the point! Short & sweet, just like the following
web page addresses, which should help answering your question:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?size=big&mapdata=YgTfWK8yHhPMM9QlaWKyLKs%2bksIEwCP8dSyKLS3n%2b%2fPrFLXRMnMyyN0TBoiwiqQS5V7QJNDizEz46pWiSbU5%2f2myAH4erZYAi3JiBDhIGIL5S09lTW49RxMsL4Zqsxzjp1IX4fkaMcivNTNcYAk3HWFt9UPM9%2bYyIvmwzNi8MWvyxht2klKglYWSqcvkJ17T9w2PCwJDkAyfq0xtBa8kb9aFZdlhqRbr3XpSnVHjUOpbHm2pNDGFylu%2f8S8%2fNOUQSk1rcHN9TrtcB3L09miL80KB%2fUb7QonsnIT0rtRu8fZ2Lvr14F%2bMK6b4cX4PYxowvayMowWw
hkjIhuNS7i5cg%3d%3d

http://www.bell.ch/home/fachgeschaefte_re/fachgeschaefte_standorte/fachgeschaefte_standorte_adressen/home/fachgeschaefte_re/fachgeschaefte_standorte/fachgeschaefte_standorte_adressen/fg_zuerichbahnhofstrasse_afp.htm

(I suggest you memorize above URLs, or print out this page for
reference.)

Also see the following image for a map with the street:

http://www.mri-roentgen.ch/anfahrt/content1a.htm

So, how to find this Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich?
You can take the tram with the numbers 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14 as
well as the bus number 31, which will stop at Bahnhofstrasse. The
coordinates of this bus stop are 683.146 / 247.872. Or you can use the
car, park it in one of the public parking lots nearby and walk a bit.
You might also want to take a taxi [1]. If you want to walk from the
central railway station it would take you about 7 minutes. Please note
this information is still valid taken into account various phenomena
like Geomagnetic Reversal, Time Zones, Daylight Saving Time, since for
my calculations I used radiometric dating and astrochronologic
techniques as well as the Special and General Theory of Relativity.

To get you into the right mood, here is some background information:
The Bahnhofstrasse ("Bahnhof" literally translates to "train court",
which would be the English "railway station") is one of the most
important shopping streets in the world, with its unique atmosphere,
exclusive shops, and mix of Zürich tradition and international flair.
Memorize the following building which you should be able to spot:

http://www.bell.ch/home/fachgeschaefte_re/fachgeschaefte_standorte/fachgeschaefte_standorte_adressen/fachgeschaeft_bahnhofstrasse_zuerich_aussen.jpg


Now, not to forget the pronounciation in Switzerland differs from
English. Use this table as reference:

Spelling        Pronounciation      Translation
------------------------------------------
Tram            trum                tram
Bus             booss               bus
Bahnhofstrasse  bun hoff struss a   railway station street
Taxi            tuck sea            taxi


Last not least, if you find yourself surrounded by any of the
following scenarios, chances are you took the wrong flight:

http://www.gluckman.com/camwed1.jpg
http://www.thailandtourism.gr/images/River-rafting-(nth).jpg


I hope I covered everything and would now like to wish you good luck
on your trip. As to what Granny and the Bertie fellow did in
Marienbad, I truly don't know, but maybe you want to post this part as
a new question.
By the way, quite interesting to hear the "Ustinov" quote actually
roots in your family tree!


------ Further resources:

For more general information on Zürich, see this English page:

Zürich Tourismus
http://www.zurichtourism.ch/index.php?&displayLanguage=en

And:

Zurich
http://www.conferencezurich.com/info.htm


------ Footnotes:

[1] If you are incredibly rich, nothing less than a personalized,
service-oriented limousine transportation directly from the airport
will do the job sufficiently. Take a look at the following selection
of cars to get a first impression, and call 079 / 648 44 44 for more
information:

Regular Taxi
http://www.taxijung.ch/Verso/verso8.jpg

Luxurious Taxi
http://www.airporttaxi.ch/auto.asp


------ Search terms:

bahnhofstrasse zürich wegbeschreibung
zurich tourism

---

Request for Answer Clarification by probonopublico-ga on 07 Apr 2003 03:10 PDT

Hi, J,

I memorised your links, as suggested, and then tried to connect with
the first one:

QUOTE: 

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?size=big&mapdata=YgTfWK8yHhPMM9QlaWKyLKs%2bksIEwCP8dSyKLS3n%2b%2fPrFLXRMnMyyN0TBoiwiqQS5V7QJNDizEz46pWiSbU5%2f2myAH4erZYAi3JiBDhIGIL5S09lTW49RxMsL4Zqsxzjp1IX4fkaMcivNTNcYAk3HWFt9UPM9%2bYyIvmwzNi8MWvyxht2klKglYWSqcvkJ17T9w2PCwJDkAyfq0xtBa8kb9aFZdlhqRbr3XpSnVHjUOpbHm2pNDGFylu%2f8S8%2fNOUQSk1rcHN9TrtcB3L09miL80KB%2fUb7QonsnIT0rtRu8fZ2Lvr14F%2bMK6b4cX4PYxowvayMowWw
hkjIhuNS7i5cg%3d%3d

END QUOTE
 
This took me to 'Mapquest' but it gave me Error Code 100 and the
message 'Could Not Decode Map'.

I am sure that this is entirely due to my having failed to memorise
the link correctly.

Could you please identify my mistake?

KR
Bryan

---

Clarification of Answer by j_philipp-ga on 07 Apr 2003 03:40 PDT

Hmm, that link works for me (even when Google Answers cut it in half
after posting). But try the following link:

Mapquest.com - Bahnhofstrasse
http://mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=CH&address=Bahnhofstrasse&city=zurich

Now you choose a map from the thumbnails of that page, like the upper
left one. On the next page click the "Big Map" icon in the upper right
for a sharper image. You can also zoom into the map. The red star is
on the Bahnhofstrasse.

Hope it helps!

You have exceeded even my highest expectations.

However, I've had to cancel my trip to Zurich because I've been
summonsed to Baghdad.

Apparently, there's some trouble brewing.

Please Keep Setting the Standards that your fellow (and ? what's the
feminine equivalent?) researchers try to emulate!

KR
Bryan

Bryan, If you wish I could go to Zurich for you. Ihave had a lot of
experiance in removing large sums of money from other peoples bank
accounts.
Please contact me via my Nigerian e-Mail address 
Regards  Kemlo