Today was our Zurich day and also the last day with the family. We tried not to think about the sad part and enjoy our time together visiting the great city. We decided to hit the highlights of the Old Town on foot and take the trolley tour to see the rest.
We started at Grossmünster (Great Minster). Its twin towers are Zurich's landmark. The present cathedral was built between 1100 and 1230 but the original was according to the legend founded in the ninth century by Charlemagne.
We strolled along the Limmat River to enjoy the views and take photos of beautiful buildings. The riverside boulevard (Limmatquai) is lined with guild houses that were converted into shops and restaurants.
The west bank is the oldest part of the city. It is a home to the Rathaus (Town Hall) and Fraumünster, a medieval church decorated with beautiful stained glass by Marc Chagall. The St. Peter's church nearby has the largest clock face in Europe (28 feet in diameter!).
Paraderplatz is one of the most famous squares in Switzerland. It used to be a cattle market and parade ground. Now it is Zurich's financial center. Most major Swiss banks have their headquarters around here. But even more importantly, Paradeplatz is also known for its chocolate shop and cafe, Confiserie Sprüngli. We couldn't possibly pass it up.
After lunch we took a trolley tour of the city. It covered a lot of ground and the commentary was fairly informative. Tour started at the Hauptbahnhof, main train station. We've been coming and going thru it for a few days; now we've learned few facts about it. 1600 trains daily pass through the main terminal. The main hall is the size of a football field. And underground there is huge shopping center (RailCity or ShopVille), the fourth-largest in the country.
From there we traveled thru the financial and business areas of town, parts of the Old Town and the lake front.
We made a stop at Lake Zurich for the views of the Alps from Zurich's vantage point on the lake. Zürichsee as it is known to locals is a glacial lake. It is very clean just like the other lakes we've seen so far. The sewage undergoes complex four-stage treatment process before it is allowed to get back into the lake and the river and there is even a separate system designed to catch rainwater and groundwater and divert it away from the sewage system. There are 1200 fountains in Zurich and it's probably safe to drink from all of them; although at least one of those fountains was in the lake so drinking from it would present a different kind of problem.
The second stop was in the Old Town where we visited earlier in the day. It was nice to learn more about the area and the driver pointed us to something that we could have missed otherwise - Teuscher chocolate store. Some sources consider Teuscher to be "the" best chocolate in Switzerland or even in the world. It was absolutely delicious!
The trolley also went by the residential areas and beautiful hillside villas on the Zürichberg, the hill overlooking the city, and the University district. We've learned about Swiss education system and saw two premier universities - University of Zurich and ETH. The ETH alone has 21 Nobel Prize winners associated with it and the University of Zurich has quite a few as well.
Zurich is a beautiful city and offers the best quality of living of any city in the world.
In the afternoon we said goodbye to parents and went to Mürren where we would spend our next week. Getting to Mürren is an adventure in itself. We had hotel shuttle drop us at the airport where we took the train to Interlaken Ost. From there we took the train to Lautebrunnen, the bus to Stechelberg, and finally the cable car to Mürren via Gimmelwald. It was quite warm as we left Zurich but by the time we reached our destination we definitely needed our coats. From the bus window we had a real nice view of the valley and a couple of spectacular waterfalls. And our cable car ascent was just as spectacular even if it was a bit cloudy.
When we arrived at the hotel the restaurant was wrapping up for the night (and it was only 7:30!) but the receptionist told us that if we'd like to eat there they'll keep it open for us. She told us it was Swiss buffet night and we could sample all kinds of Swiss cuisine. Richard was quite hungry so we took them up on their offer.
