The Vitra Design Museum is an interesting place for anyone interested in - well - design. It's not in Zurich, or even Switzerland, but in Germany, just over the border from Basel where it is a big tourist attraction. Both for the contents and activities, and the Frank Gehry architecture (which I personally am getting a bit bored with).

The inception of the Vitra Design Museum dates back to the early 1980s. With the aim of documenting the history of the Vitra company, Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum began collecting the furniture of designers who had influenced the company's development, such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alvar Aalto, and Jean Prouvé. As the collection grew, so did the desire for an architectural venue in which the objects could be displayed."

However in Zurich they do have a shop where you can buy replicas and miniatures of famous interior design classics. The photos here are of the miniature variety in a showcase outside the shop in Pelikanstrasse. These are not cheap, around 200 euros and you can't even sit on them - they are 6cm tall - but they are exceedingly cute.

Click the image for an enlargement

Bahnhofstrasse, although discreet, is one of the top shopping streets in the world. However, no farther away than you could throw your gold Rolex, you will find this...

And here is what you can buy - or at least a modest selection of what you can find inside.

Actually I'm rather terrified of what you might find inside, so I've never ventured over the doorstep. Lot's of army surplus, that kind of thing. I also just noticed that this photo makes it look as though they have a London bus in there as well.

Herr Ernst has run this shop since the late 1940's, taking it over from his father. As you can see, it is no ordinary camera store. (Click the image for an enlargement)

At least it's not an ordinary 21st century camera shop. It seems that it got frozen in a timewarp sometime in the 1970's or 80's.

I still use him though because it's about the only place in Zurich I can go in and buy strange rubber wipey thngs, film clips, measuring jugs and chemicals. Inside it is like an Alladins cave, a jumble of organised chaos where Herr Ernst when asked for something will pause and moment, and remember where he put it in 1964 and go and fetch it.