Fairy Tales, Magic and Trudi Gerster

So, I had a freaky moment yesterday, telling my 15-year-old I was thinking of visiting the Fairy Tales, Magic and Trudi Gerster exhibition at the Landesmuseum Zurich on Saturday. I googled her name to find out a little more about Swiss's 'fairy queen' only to find out that she had died exactly a year before, on 27^th April 2013, aged 93!

Fairy tales have always enchanted me, and my daughters are just as entranced with them now. I've always loved that dark, sordid side that fairy tales have. Children need that. Switzerland understands this much more than the UK. They have sinister Shmutzli in December and pretty scary characters causing mischief during Fasnacht.

And so I hope to find out more about Trudi Gerster, this Swiss fairy tale hero, before the exhibition closes on 11^th May. The exhibition includes shows about fairy tale's heritage, history and topicality, with not only precious manuscripts, paintings and objects on exhibit, but even flying carpets and a magical forest! One room is dedicated entirely to Trudi, pictured below.