ZURICH

Our first reaction to seeing Zurich [and the little bit of its hinterland] was: this is a pretty place. The second reaction: it looks a lot like South Island NZ. The strings of glacial lakes, the snow-capped (even in early Autumn) Alps, the mountains, the cattle …. all add up to familiar landscapes.

Finding our hotel in Rossligasse was relatively easy – the water feature Zurichzee and the Limmat River as fixed and identifiable features made the short[ish] walk to the hotel over cobbled streets rather clunky but easy. Keep them to the left!! As in Vienna it was suggested we buy a Zurich Pass for three days to give ourselves ‘free’ access to transport and some entries over the next three days. And we made good use of it. From the first trip from Zurich Flughafen into Stadelhof to our last No. 4 Tram ride 12 minutes prior to expiry we crammed in as much as we could. The streets in the old town are easy to cross – vehicular traffic is limited – you just have to be alert for the clanging bells and screeching wheels of approaching trams; tourists wander around like in a dream and so many languages out on the street. Occasionally you’d hear English as she is spoke in the US. We met a New York couple [originally from Hong Kong] on our first afternoon tour of West Zurich through the reformed town where old makes way to new inside the facades [generally] of the old. Like us, they commented on how expensive it is to eat here. We didn’t try, but apparently a McD Big Mac costs about 15 CHF. [In NZ $ that’s about $20]. Eating out has been hugely expensive in Zurich and without careful management of funds we would not keep anywhere near our self-imposed budget. Having an included breakfast in our hotel payment before we left home has made all the difference.

It still has not rained; there has been a long warm summer in Switzerland and we have been luck to ride on its coat-tails; clouds have gathered today but it is still mild – showers predicted for tomorrow but hopefully they won’t affect us as we head north again to Germany and Baden Baden.

Our included train rides have taken us to the heights of Uetliberg and to the top of the Telecom Tower (900m asl) for views over the Lake; they took us to Atiswill from where we caught a Cable Car to Felsenegg and an [almost] alpine restaurant at 840m asl  - on a brilliantly fine day; warm and sunny and it required a beer each while we sat admiring the snow-capped Alps in one direction and the city and canton of Zurich in the other. Idyllic!!

Our Zurich card included a 1 ½ hour tour of [half] Lake Zurich and again we basked in the sunshine of Zurich’s Autumn. The trees are just starting to turn and lose their leaves; people are just beginning to dress more warmly – the colder weather is approaching but we’ll be gone! 

Unlike in Muslim countries where the call to prayer happens five times a day, the church bells here seem to ring all the time; wherever there is a Mass the bells are ringing – but a Mass at 4.00am? Unlikely but still the bells sound out their chime.

Today we strolled down Bahnhofstrasse – 1.25km of up-market shopping. We would not have been allowed into some of the shops [security guards at the doors would have stopped us purely on the basis of our attire – sandals and shorts won’t cut the mustard in the rich lister shops. Window shopping was as far as we dared go – and quickly at that. The realigned chassis of some of the older women in the street did nothing to help their desired youthful looks; but there was money in the clothing.