Thursday, July 14th ~ Zürich, Switzerland

Zürich, Switzerland

In case you missed part one of our first full day in Zürich, you can click here to see how we started our day and the walking tour.

After two hours of exploring the Swiss National Museum, we walked across the street, past the main train terminal to start the route that Rich Steves had mapped out in his book on Switzerland (8th edition). 

Facade of the train station behind with triumphal arch dating back to 1871 and the statue honoring Alfred Escher in the foreground. Escher was the power behind Switzerland developing the railways, universities and banking system allowing them to not only succeed, but to flourish.

Fabulous tram system can take you anywhere – and it is free with your rail pass!

Then we proceeded to Bahnhofstrasse. This mile long shopping promenade stretches from the train depot to the lake and houses some of the top name shops. If you want to check out Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, or Tiffany’s, you have a wide range to choose from.

Bahnhofstrasse

Passing the small Pestalozzi Park, we paid attention to how rare open green space is in the city where real estate is some of the most expensive in the world. There was some Swiss Art Nouveau that we were supposed to check out at the police department, but we hit during the wrong hours and were asked to return later. We did get a tiny peak though from the doorway, and it might have been worth a quick 5 minute stop.

We did a lot of wandering along both sides of the swift flowing Limmat River.

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By this time it was early afternoon and we were once again getting hungry. Rick had recommended Schipfe for a meal which is located along the waterfront. It is the yellow building pictured below. The red umbrellas offer outdoor shade on their patio, but it was cool and drizzling on and off so we chose to sit inside. Got a nice table right next to the window through which allowed us a view of the river.

View of Schipfe Restaurant from across the river.

Food is expensive here in Switzerland. Tim and I will often split a meal at lunch or dinner as the servings are so large and we just don’t eat those huge portions any more. Our waiter kindly translated the offerings for us from their daily menu.

Meals change daily, and no menu is available in English

We ended up choosing Menu III which was two kinds of fish (a mild white and salmon). It came with a choice of appetizer and two sides. We went with the cheese and small salad for a starter and roasted potatoes and candied carrots as our vegetable. The meal itself was 25 Swiss Francs. We added one large bottle of sparkling mineral water to share. Our bill including taxes and small tip came to 40 CHF ($40 USD).

The food was fresh, flavorful and (almost) additive free. Service helpful to negotiate the menu. I would definitely recommend it if you visit Zürich. Hopefully the weather will be warm and sunny for you though so that you can enjoy the outside patio along the river as it looked very inviting.

Baked cheese and salad appetizer

Main entrée: Two kinds of fish, puffed pastry, roasted potatoes and carrots, plate before we split it.

Walking a couple blocks up the hill above the restaurant brought us to Lindenhof. At one time it was the setting for a fort with views overlooking the entire city. In the early 13th century the fort was destroyed by the townspeople after they became a free city. Today it is a people’s square, planted with linden trees, and friends gather to relax, enjoy the views or perhaps have a game of chess.

View from Lindenhof with both the University (behind the green spire) and ETH technical college (green building to the left) visible. Twenty five Nobel Prize winners have graduated from ETH including Albert Einstein and Wilhelm Rontgen (who discovered X-rays).

Linden trees

Perhaps a game of chess

St. Peter’s Church (St. Peterskirche) is Zürich’s oldest church. The clock face is one of the largest in Europe at 28 feet in diameter.

St. Peterskirche

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The have unearthed an ancient Roman Bath right around the corner from the church. Not much to see, but you can catch a glimpse by looking through iron grates as you walk over it on your way back toward the river.

Coming out along the river bank once again at Weinplatz, where a wine market once stood.

Statue of wine grape picker on one of many fountains that dot this city

View from Weinplatz

Crossing back across the bridge we came to one of my favorite areas – the Niederdorf. It is a district of colorful shops, lively restaurants, interesting buildings, and artistic flair.

Niederdorf Area

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The Big Cathedral or Grossmunster was rebuilt following a fire in 1781. No photography was allowed inside, but the large wooden entrance doors had intricate carvings that told a story.

Entrance doors to Grossmunster

We also briefly stopped at Fraumunster which houses five brilliant stained glass windows by artist Marc Chagall.

Tower of Fraumunster

Literature claims that it is free admission, but they ask for 2 CHF as a suggested donation. No photos allowed once again, but there is a gift shop counter near the exit that offers up postcards and photos of the famous windows for purchase. I found these snaps on the Internet to give you an idea of the beauty.

dwquiltart.blogspot.com

zuerich.com

Internetmonk.net

Paradeplatz is a small square where we found Sprungli, one of the top cafe’s in Zürich. They sell “Luxemburgerli” aka small macaroons that are about the size of a quarter. Remember me saying that food is expensive here in Switzerland – well this was just another example. We  choose two tiny bits a piece, (total of four macaroons) each just a small bite.

Baby macaroons – “Luxemburgerli”

I got one caramel and one mocha flavor. Tim got one chocolate and one raspberry. The minuscule box came to a total of 4.80 CHF (they are almost 1:1 now on the exchange rate with the USD). So for around $5.00 we each got almost enough to taste.

Ahhh, the Swiss. Such clever marketers of their sweets. Very tasty. Very nice.

Was it worth the money? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m glad that I got to try them.

I have no idea what the story is here, but could not resist having Tim stand there while I played paparazzi.

We were both running out of gas, and my back was griping at me, but we still had not made it to see Lake Zürich yet, so we soldiered on a few more minutes until we came to the pier where boats depart every 30 minutes for a scenic tour. If the weather had been nicer we would have gone, but the sky was once again turning black so after spending a few minutes gazing at the water and boats, watching the many swans, checking out another statue, we decided to head back to our hotel for the evening.

Statue on the shore of Lake Zürich

With our train passes, we were able to hop onto the local tram system for no charge which took us to within a very short distance of our hotel. I am so impressed with the frequent, clean, fast, easy transit system the Swiss have. How I would LOVE to see more of this at home!

GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful for the abundance of well written travel books on the market. I have purchased several Rick Steves books over the years and have found them to be invaluable. I also appreciate Fodor’s and Lonely Planet. Many of the books are available at your library. I have not tried downloading one to my Kindle yet, but I may look into that before our next trip. I have also been able to get them through our local AAA.