The City of Beautiful Gables

After spending a weekend with my cousin Brigitta, it was time to move on.  We took the train from Zurich 26 miles to the east to the small city of Aarau.

Aarau has a population of 21,000 people and is the capital of the canton of Aargau.  Most importantly it is the home of my cousin Walter and his wife Helen.  We spent several nights with them in their lovely home.

After we were settled in, Walter took us on a long walk. We began by hiking through the forest above Aarau.

Walter then gave us a tour of Aarau's picturesque Old Town.

The entrance to the Old Town is the "Oberer Turm" (Upper Tower).  The lower portion of the tower dates back to the founding of Aarau in the 13th century.

Paintings on the inner side of the Upper Tower Gate.

The city church was built in the 1470s.  After the Reformation, the altarpieces and artwork were destroyed.  Today it is a Swiss Reformed Church.

Outside the church there is a fountain with a statue of "Lady Justice".

 Aarau has been nicknamed the "City of Beautiful Gables" because the projecting undersides of many of the roofs in the Old Town are painted.

I really like Aarau. The core of the city is extremely picturesque.  It has a pleasant small town atmosphere, but it's large enough to have everything you need.  And the big city of Zurich is only a short train ride away.

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.