A Little Tour of My Brain, Part 3 - Ballenburg Merry-go-Round

We are in the midst of a heat wave. British Columbia is setting records evidently and it certainly feels like it. All of the of the candy container ornaments are finished and have been photographed. I am in the midst of choosing the best images and cropping them. I will have them up in the next few days. In the mean time, on with the tour of my brain.

This merry-go-round is at the Swiss outdoor Museum - Ballenburg. I couldn't resist taken pictures of the hand-carved animals. Enjoy yourself today. I hope it isn't too hot where you are or at least that you are used to it.

Let's start at this lovely rooster and then on to the next animal in front all the way around until we get back to the beginning. I think that the animal in behind is a goat. The hand-painted panels in the centre that hide the engine show events in the life of William Tell.

Two deer.

A bench flanked by two horses.

The backside of the bench.

Two of a set of four beautiful white chargers with colourful detailing.

The other two horses with a glimpse of the chariot.

This beautiful sky blue chariot seats four people.

Two brown horses with the same colourful detailing as the white horses pull the chariot off to conquer the invading brigands.

I love the zebra.

I have a feeling that the merry-go round operator is very used to people taking pictures of the ride and not him! The elephant is charming. I'm not sure what the images depict that are painted on the sides of the elephant.

The camel family is next in line.

A wonderful roaring lion and a snarling tiger chase after the occupants of the next set of seats.

These seats are, I think, a sort of hot air balloon or some sort of... I honestly don't have any idea as to what this is supposed to be.

Two black chargers with the same beautiful painted detailing as the white and brown horses. It is interesting how the background colours affect the overall look of the brightly painted detailing.

A green chariot this time being pulled by a set of white chargers. This is the rear end and the front half is shown in the rooster picture, sorry about that.

Here are the two white chargers that pull the green chariot.

All of the designs on the overhead draperies and the draperies above the central panels are done in beadwork. The fringe is also done in beads. They are amazing to look at. The beadwork uses large beads and the execution is not perfect, but who does bead embroidery for a merry-go-round! I was impressed to say the least.

I am not certain if the pictures that are on the rounding boards depict episodes in the life of William Tell or just scenes of Switzerland. Most likely it has to do with William Tell. The top of the merry-go-round has the apple with the arrow through it.

And so to sleep. On the way back to the car we passed the merry-go-round with its canvas cover pulled down. The canvas is truly a beautiful piece of textile. They would make great curtains.

Here is a little teaser, a close-up of a candy container ornament. When I am finished getting the photographs ready I will post them.

Chocolate And Taxes

I have just about finished my tax return. Over the last few days I have taken a moment here and there to work on this blog. Math is not my favourite subject, although it sure helps to get the brain working and for that I am grateful.

When my wife and I were in Switzerland we visited a chocolate shop at the "Swiss open-air museum - Ballenburg". We had wandered over the site looking at historical buildings from all over Switzerland for 7 1/2 hours. We were exhausted. We went through a few gift shops at the end that were by the parking lot and then went into "La Chocolaterie du Ballenberg". Chocolate and Switzerland go hand in hand. Chocolate has a long history in Switzerland and the chocolate of today was developed in Switzerland. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. My wife bought a bar of milk chocolate and it was the best chocolate that I had ever tasted.

Along one wall in the chocolate shop is a display of antique chocolate moulds. Here are close-up images of the wall of chocolate moulds and pewter ice-cream moulds.

Shown with the moulds for chocolate bunnies are cocoa pods and the cocoa nibs where all of that glorious chocolate comes from.

Two shelves of Easter bunnies and at the bottom two chickens and some bells.

Here is a better look at the chickens and bells. Mixed in with the chocolate moulds were pewter ice cream moulds. These roses are for moulding soft ice cream. They are then placed in the freezer to harden. Once hard they would be unmoulded and then air brushed with edible dyes and then placed back into the freezer until needed. Wouldn't that be a treat to have presented to you on a beautiful plate.

These moulds are for producing small decorative shapes in chocolate.

This horse would be a stunning gift to receive or even as the centrepiece for a dinner party.

The antique moulds are art pieces. The detailing that went into the designs is remarkable.

A chocolate mould in the shape of a horse. I was so enthusiastic about the chocolate moulds that the owners brought out some moulds from the back for me to look at. I was in heaven. In the box was an ice cream mould in the shape of a bunch of asparagus. Around the asparagus was modeled a ribbon that delicately entwined the bunch of asparagus. The mould was over 12" tall, making the finished dessert about 12" high and approximately 5" in diameter. The unmoulded ice cream would have been air brushed and then placed back in the freezer. This would have been brought out at the end of a meal and served to the guests after everyone had oohed and aahed over this delightful frivolity. No dessert until you eat your veggies!

The two round shapes are pewter ice cream moulds in the shape of a pumpkin.

On the top shelf in front of the snowman moulds are moulds of seashells. On the shelves below are mandolins and saxophones.

This roosting hen was on top of the display case. It was about 8" or 9" tall.

A sailor in his boat sailing over a chocolate sea.

Easter egg moulds and four leaf clover moulds. The four-leaf clover is a good luck symbol used at New Years and any other time I suppose. The bottles contain samples of the various ingredients that go into the making of chocolate.