ZURICH - Sechselaeuten took the city on the third Monday in April, a cold one. Guilds in historical dress moved from the centre toward the field where the Boegg, the snowman packed with fireworks, is burned to mark winter's official end. Children sat on shoulders. Trams were diverted. Office workers left early because the office had given up.
Police described a dense and good-humoured crowd. The explosion, when it came, was the city's annual argument about whether the head or the body went first, an argument that is not really about pyrotechnics.
A festival in a housing city
Between the parade and the lake, tenant flyers appeared again. They always do. The density fight that later passed in September is here.