5 - Zürich

Summary

The city of Zürich is divided by the River Limmat into the newer Grosse Stadt on the left bank, and the Kleine Stadt on the right bank, where the E.T.H. and University are located on heights overlooking the city, the river, and its source in the Zürcher See. The schrödingers rented a spacious flat consisting of an entire floor of a modern stucco house called Zu Vier Wachten [At The Four Guards] at 9 Huttenstrasse, a broad avenue just a few blocks behind the university.

Liegekur

Even before his lectures for the winter term began, Erwin was physically and psychologically exhausted. As he wrote about a year later to Pauli, ‘I was actually so kaput that I could no longer get any sensible ideas. Not the least to blame for it were the many complications, the constant decisions about one's own fate, negotiations with ministries, etc., which I was not at all cut out for. Now that's all finished for a long time.’ Also he had lost his father, his mother, and a grandfather within the past two years. He had scarcely started his lectures when he was forced by a severe attack of bronchitis to interrupt them in the middle of November. He suffered intermittent respiratory illnesses during the winter, from which he never managed to recover completely; finally a mild case of pulmonary tuberculosis was suspected, probably a recurrence of the infection of the apical lung area that was noted two years previously in Vienna. He was ordered to undertake a complete rest cure [Liegekur] at high altitude. The only bright aspect of this miserable winter was that his financial worries were over. Anny was able to engage a wonderful cook from Vienna, who expertly provided all their favorite dishes. This cuisine was a happy change from the near starvation of the postwar years in Germany and Austria.

The place chosen for Erwin's Liegekur was Arosa, an Alpine Kurort at about 1700 m altitude, not far from the ski-resort of Davos, and overlooked by the great peak of the Weisshorn. Anny worried about Erwin like a mother with a sick child; she could not do enough to take care of him. The Viennese cook was there to provide culinary comforts.