Holy Cheese, Batman! Zurich is in-spired...
This is a lovely city. I did not attempt to do too much - my map had a walking tour around the old town, so I just followed that.
Oh but my first evening - I wanted a bank to take out some Swiss Francs. Yes, that's right, a bank in Zurich, I mean there are hundreds of them here, but do any have ATMs? I walked for ages down the main deserted city shopping boulevard before I finally found a series of ATMs inside a well-lit lobby. Walking back along the next street more directly to the hotel, I think I then passed several, of course! It's just as well the walk was rather prettily lit for Christmas (check out my photo in the Travel Blog Gallery).
The lights twinkle from top to bottom, so they look like rain. I rather like the cascading effect - they are here in Lugano also, so perhaps they are a Swiss thing, generally? Switzerland is very neat and orderly and expensive! Eating here, even in a regular pizzeria costs a bomb... maybe I shouldn't have made that avoidance of fast food chains promise after all? Although I haven't looked at whether their prices are equally high.
So it's just as well that my darling hotel owners, rang me to say that breakfast would end in 30 minutes, and would I like to have breakfast brought up to my room for me if I wasn't yet ready?! (one meal less to purchase!) Yeah. Been either getting up in the dark early to travel (often on 4-5 hour's sleep) or sleeping in to catch up. And there isn't any light until after 8am anyway... So, this was a sleep in day. But even when I left the hotel (around noon) it was still rather misty and grey (when I took this photo), although the cloud burnt off and we had lovely blue skies in the afternoon.
I crossed the river back towards the railway station and the main shopping street I had wandered down the previous day. My walking tour took me around the old town, which is so picturesque (do check out the Travel Blog Gallery)... and where many people were photographing a lovely fountain which a nearby florist had filled with roses.
The road went ever upwards towards a lovely little park - Lindenhof - on the original Roman fort which provided magnificent views of more of the old town, including Zurich's iconic double domed Great Minster church, looking all misty in the winter light.
The streets were all narrow and winding with uneven cobbles and delightful little squares that would suddenly appear. Even with a map, it was impossible to know if you were on the street the tour recommended... at least the cathedral spires were easy to spot to ensure I was walking in the right general direction.
I continued along the riverbank through the old fisherman's area (Schipfe) which had fantastic stone houses with marble columns creating a verandah/cover that felt quite medieval to wander along. Next stop: St Peter's - the church with the largest clock face in Europe. I've included a better photo of it from the other side of the river - even I can see it's 10-to-2 from this distance!
In the cloisters at its side was a rather large mural. I had to photograph one panel that caught my attention - no idea which sacred story it was referring to, but I couldn't help but think of the patronus in Harry Potter! ;-)
Near St Peter's is another amazing gothic church - FrauMünster - which has the most fantastic stained glass windows designed by Chagall in five amazing colours. No photos are allowed... oops, I was only checking my phone for messages... (could only sneak in the top half of the windows from where I was, back in the pews). So, I bought a postcard of them, as they really were quite beautiful. I then crossed the river back over to the Great Minster.
I took lots of photos from this great vantage point - loving the distant silhouettes of trams crossing the farther bridge near a small pier and a circus tent, looking towards Lake Zurich. They really have it all, here! ;-)
A little further on, almost back near my hotel, was a funicular (there are lots of those in Switzerland!) - a cable car that went up to a lookout above the city. Now closer to 4.30pm, I caught the sun setting over the city's spires that I had earlier visited. Yes, another sunset photo! While the crowds are not so bad travelling this time of year, the short days are annoying for sightseeing, especially if, like me, you are prone to sleep in during the cold, dark, mornings.
But then, it is probably just as well I had a reasonably quiet day, as the following one had an early train ride crossing Switzerland from north to south as I headed to Lugano, down in the lake district that borders Italy - a gorgeous area and a photographer's dream... expect a fair few photos attached to the next post.
Until then... Aveline. xxx
