After hopping off the Bernina Express in Chur, still in awe, we looked for our fourth train of the
day to Zurich. Initially we were spoilt with another scenic journey but before long tunnels
and the departure of the sun limited our view. We set to some blogging and soon
found ourselves in Zurich.
We were met at the platform
by Laurel, Rob’s friend and our amazing host. It was great to hear an
Australian accent (though our neighbours on the Bernina Express were
from Melbourne!) and a friendly face. Laurel has called Zurich home for a
decade and gave us a wealth of information on the city, what it is like living
there and on the international school scene. We were also extremely lucky to be
shown around Lucerne.
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| Rob & Laurel |
Lucerne
In Lucerne we climbed up the
battlements and the walls and went up the clock tower that was there, giving us
a nice view of the city on one side, and, strangely, an athletics track on the
other. Laurel took us to great lunch where Rob ordered the opposite of what he
said he wanted! We were entertained by an Italian lady that tried to sit
everywhere except where she was supposed to. Unfortunately the famous Chapel bridge
of Lucerne was under repair so we couldn’t see its well-known paintings that depict
Swiss life in the 12th century and tell the history of the city and the story of William Tell. It was the oldest wooden bridge of Europe but
was burned down in a 1993 fire and was then rebuilt. We loved the murals on
many of the building in Lucerne.
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| Clock tower |
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| Creepy man with a camera lurking behind a tree... |
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| Inner workings of the clock and if you look closely you can see Ghost Rob |
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| Lucerne city wall |
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| Lunch venue and an amazing family tree |
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| Public murals |
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| Public murals |
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| Chapel Bridge from afar |
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| We missed this one on the way in! |
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| You have to look UP in Lucerne |
Travelling to and from
Lucerne, Laurel took us to her favourite viewpoints, including a church with a
bright pink interior. Unfortunately access to the church was blocked by one of
the many cycling events that are following us around the world! It was lovely
to see the colourful Autumn leaves as we drove between towns.
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| Autumn is upon us! |
Zurich
I hadn’t realised that
Zurich is a relatively small city with only around 400 thousand people in the
city proper. The villages or suburbs of Zurich are spread out around the lake.
It doesn’t feel like you are in the biggest city of a country, even though you
are. The quaint little villages and the beautiful lake with views of the alps
are what I think makes Zurich special.
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| Views across Zurich lake (unfortunately alp visibility is low in this shot) |
On our walking tour of
Zurich, our guide told us that though Berne is the government headquarters of
Switzerland, it is not the capital. In fact, Switzerland is a confederation of Cantons
without an official capital. In roman times Zurich was a tolling station along
the Linmat river. One of the most historic parts of Zurich is Linderhoff, a central
hill and viewpoint over the river and city and at one time a Roman fort. Whilst
on the hill the guide told us an interesting story about Zurich in the 15th
century. There were no men left in the city as they were off fighting battles.
With an army converging on the city, some women decided to dress in men’s
battle gear and stand on the Linderhoff so approaching armies saw the town was
protected and left without a fight. This is supposedly the origin of the female national personification Helvetia, the woman in flowing robes bearing a spear. Although, when we researched it, we couldn't find anything about this myth.
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| Helvetia |
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| View from Linderhoff |
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| View of Grossmünster from Linderhoff |
A random fact that I learnt
on the tour: Helvetica font was invented in Zurich. Maybe I should change the
font of this post in honour of this discovery! (Changed!)
The walking tour took us by
a number of churches and recommended eateries. One of the churches, St Peter’s,
has the largest clock face in Europe. Another, Fraumünster, is an old gothic church with beautiful and unique window
paintings by Marc Chagal. We went up the Grossmünster ('great minister'), a Romanesque-style church, for some lovely views of the city and took the guide up on a recommended café. Despite being sick I could not
resist the urge for a hot chocolate, or trying some new Lindt chocolate
varieties. I was in Switzerland after all!
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| Autumn at Linderhoff |
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| Largest clockface in the world |
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| Grossmünster |
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| View from Grossmünster |
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| View from Grossmünster |
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| Faces in-between clock faces |
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| Traditional house around Zürich lake |
Aside from exploring Zurich and its surrounds, the best part about our time with Laurel was chatting and watching no less than the three movies! The Zurich film festival was actually on whilst we were there but we opted for the comforts of Laurel’s home. Besides, what better place for a viewing of Chocolat than the neighbourhood of the Lindt factory? (Well, except maybe a small village in France!)
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| Provision of chocolate samples: That's when good neighbours become good friends! |
