On a stroll through the city, it happens to come into view: an iron loop that is embedded at the base of an old Wilhelminian style building right next to the entrance. Rust has coated the artfully forged metal with its brown-red tone. It looks a little dented and as if no one has cared for or used it for a long time. A few houses away, an angular piece of iron, about a foot wide, protrudes onto the sidewalk at almost the same height. The bracket is easy to miss, but luckily it's far too short to be a serious tripping hazard. While the loop disguises itself as a decoration on the building, this sober piece does not hide its purpose: it is a shoe scraper or scraper, as the German-speaking Swiss say.
