Walking Around Zurich

(NOTE - Yesterday we flew back to Mexico City, but I have at least another week's worth of posts describing our wonderful trip!)

After we visited two of Zurich's most famous churches (the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster), we then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Zurich, especially the "Altstadt" or Old Town which is built on the banks of the Limmat River.  Besides the towers of the previously mentioned churches, another church dominates the Old Town... St. Peter's Church.  Although a church has stood on the site since around 1000, the current building dates from 1706.  We did not go inside (it was closed at the time) but its clock tower is in many of my photos.  It has the largest church clock face in Europe.

The Old Town is a picturesque web of narrow streets with little plazas and fountains and interesting shops and restaurants.  Since it was a Sunday, almost all of the shops were closed.  However, there was a touristy souvenir shop that had special dispensation to be open.  We stopped there to buy some trinkets to take home as gifts.

Some photos of our wanderings in the "Altstadt"...

We walked up a hill known as the Lindenhof.  It was the site of a fortress when Zurich was an outpost of the Roman Empire called Turicum.  Today the park at the top of the hill provides nice views of the city.

We then walked down to the shore of Lake Zurich, a long glacial lake that extends 25 miles to the southeast from the city.

 

The Zurich Opera House on the shore of the lake

We next headed up the Bahnhofstrasse (Train Station Street).  The avenue is lined with luxury stores selling designer clothes and Swiss watches.  It is one the most expensive shopping streets in the world.

At the end of the street is Zurich's main train station.  From there we took the train back to the home of my cousin Brigitta.

Two Churches in Zurich

After our Sunday buffet breakfast, we hopped on the train to make the short journey to the center of Zurich.  Two of the city's major attractions are the historic churches... the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster.

The Grossmünster is currently undergoing renovations, and the entire exterior is covered in scaffolding.  However, you may visit the interior.

 According to legend, a church on this site was commissioned by Charlemagne.  The current structure was built as a monastery church between 1100 and 1220. However, the towers were not completed until 1787.  The church is of great significance in the history of the Reformation because it was here that the theologian Zwingli preached against the practices of the Catholic Church and began the Protestantism in Switzerland.

The Protestant Reformation resulted in Catholic statuary and decoration being destroyed or removed.  Thus, the church's interior is very austere.  The stained glass windows were designed by the modern Swiss painter Augusto Giacometti and added in 1932.

The pulpit

In the Romanesque crypt which dates back to the 11th century, there are remnants of medieval paintings.

A statue of the church's legendary founder, Charlemagne

Across the Limmat River is the Fraumünster.  The church stands on the site of a Benedictine convent founded in the 9th century by the King Louis the German, a grandson of Charlemagne.  Louis named his daughter as the abbess of the convent.  The abbess was granted privileges that made her and her successors effectively the rulers of the city.  Over the centuries, the architecture of the church evolved, and in the 15th century it underwent a renovation in the Gothic style.  The spire was a recent addition in 1732.  As with the Grossmünster, during the Reformation altars and artwork were removed.

The church today is most famous for its stained glass windows which were done by the famous artist Marc Chagell between 1967 and 1970.  They depict various scenes from the Bible, and have been called the most beautiful stained glass windows from the 20th century.

Sunday Buffet

Last Sunday, Brigitta and Peter took us to a farm restaurant for a Sunday morning breakfast buffet.  The restaurant is called Jucker Farm, and the buffet is set up in the large barn.

We sat outdoors at a picnic table under the shade of an apple tree.

The food was abundant and delicious.  The place still operates as a functioning farm, and much of the produce used in the cooking is grown there.

No, these pastries were not all for me.

What made the experience even more special was its beautiful location in the village of Seegräben on the shore of Lake Pfäffikon.

The Alps in the background

My cousin Brigitta and me

Hiking to the Lake

We spent last weekend at the beautiful home of my cousin Brigitta and her husband Peter.  They live on a hill at the edge of Uster, a city located about ten miles to the east of Zurich.

From their house on a clear day you can see the Alps in the distance.

At the bottom of the hill we could see a "wanderweg", a hiking path.  We decided to see where it would take us.

Starting along the path, we could look up and see Brigitta and Peter's house on the hill.

We followed a fork leading into the forest where it was much cooler.

When we came out of the woods, in the distance we could see the Greifensee, a large lake near Uster.  We decided to continue our hike to the lake.

The hazy outline of the Alps were on the horizon to the south.

We reached a highway at the village of Riedikon.  We looked at Google Maps, and knew that we were close to the lake, but we didn't know how to get to the shore.  I asked a young fellow who was passing by.  He said that he was going in that direction and that he would show us the way.  We had a nice conversation (in English) as we walked.  He showed us a hiking path that would take us to the water's edge.

The lake is about four miles long and was formed by glaciers during the last Ice Age.

For the most part the lakeshore is undeveloped and is a nature reserve and recreational area.  There were plenty of people out having picnics, swimming or just enjoying the out of doors.  We continued  walking along the shoreline path until we came to developed area by the road to Uster.  There is a park with a swimming pool, marina, restaurant and snack bar.  There is a also a boat which crosses the lake.

 

We stopped at the snack bar and had something cold to drink.  We decided that we had done enough hiking for one day.  We saw that there was a bus stop not far from there, so we took two buses to go into the center of town and then to Brigitta's house.