Zurich - September 2020

I took the early morning train from Milan to Zurich.  It was around a 3 hour journey and while the carriage was quite empty to start with it got quite full (by coronavirus social distancing standards) as we got close to Zurich.  As you would expect we arrived on time in the very clean and tidy Hauptbahnhof.  I stored my bag in the luggage lockers and off I went to explore the city. I picked up a City Map from the Tourist Info office on the station and it had a walking tour on it so I thought that would be a good start.  

Zurich Hauptbahnoff

Outside the station there was an impressive statue to a Mr. Escher.  I thought perhaps M.C. Escher the artist but no, some other Escher who was a Swiss Railway pioneer.  I walked down the main shopping street leading away from the station, Bahnhofstraße, before turning off into the older part of town and going down to the River Limmat.  As I expected everything was quite perfect - no littering, no graffiti, no evidence of homelessness, everything orderly.  Sometimes that is not so interesting. I wandered around the old part of town for a while before finding a nice restaurant for lunch.

River Limmat from Old Town

After lunch I again went out to Bahnhofstraße and walked towards the financial district and the main square, Paradeplatz.  There were some very impressive buildings - old buildings. They obviously also have a great public transport system in Zurich - there were trams everywhere. 

Paradeplatz

Fraumunster Church

I next paid a visit to a church, the Fraumunster Church.  This was a plain and simple church (we were no longer in a Catholic Country) with a nice, though quite unpretentious, interior.  The most remarkable thing about it was the stained glass windows.  These were works of art in themselves being designed by Marc Chagall and by Alberto Giacometti.  What beautiful things for such a simple church.

Chagall Windows in Fraumunster Church

I walked down the side of the Limmat towards Lake Zurich.  There was a nice park alongside the lake and lots of bicyclists and runners were enjoying the early afternoon sunshine.  I had read on the internet about a more edgy and artsy neighborhood called Rote Fabrik and thought I might pay it a visit.  It didn’t look too far but after a while I realized I still had a long way to go, and then to get back and my time was limited.  Fortunately, at that very moment, there appeared before me an electric scooter.  That was the perfect solution so I downloaded the app, created an account and away I went as fast as it would go.  What fun.  

Rote Fabrik

The Rote Fabrik area was not that interesting to be honest.  A few graffiti clad warehouses and that was about it.  Not to worry though as I now had a means of speedy transport and I set off back for the city center again to pick up on my walking tour (now a scooter tour) where I left off before.   

Le Corbusier House

Next stop was the Le Corbusier House.  A wonderfully colored modern building by Le Corbusier that sits in a nice neighborhood adjacent to the lake.  The house doesn’t actually fit in with the beautiful older homes around it but I liked it.

Zurich Opera House

Turning back towards the city again I passed by the rather splendid Opera House and then on up into the more older sections and the Grossmunster Church.  The scooter was quite aware of where I was going and in this older section of town its speed became limited.  You don’t want scooters careening through town in old narrow streets.  At this point I decided to abandon the scooter and to continue on foot.  I went inside the Grossmunster Church which again was quite plain.  It did have wonderful doors however - large bronze doors depicting biblical scenes.  Again there were beautiful stained glass windows by Giacometti.

Grossmunster Church

Door at Grossmunster Church

Giacometti's Windows in Grossmunster Church

I wandered on around the old town on the east side of the Limmat.  There was the Cabaret Votaire where in 1916, in World War I, the Dada art movement was born. It was not open but there was a commemorative plaque on the wall to recognize the event.

Further along there was a plaque recognizing where Lenin lived during World War I.  It is from here that he left by train for St Petersburg to take a leadership role in the Russian Revolution.

My final venture was to visit one of the major art galleries in Zurich - the Kunsthaus.  I walked over to it, only to find that on Mondays it was closed.  So much for that.

Steamer on Lake Zurich

I walked back down to the mouth of the Limmat on Lake Zurich and enquired about boat tours across the lake. There was a boat coming along shortly that would take me a little ways down the lake and then return and go up the Limmat as far as the station. That was perfect so I bought a ticket and boarded the boat for a little jaunt down the lake and then up the river. A nice way to see the city.

The River Limmat through Old Town Zurich

It was now late enough to get a quick dinner before going to catch my train to Berlin.  As I had really enjoyed lunch and hadn’t seen anywhere better I returned to the same restaurant.  Again I was out of luck as the restaurant was closing in 10 minutes at 5:00.  It took a while to find another restaurant and when I did it wasn’t really that good - too much meat, and the place had a cheesy smell - but nevertheless it did sustain me for the rest of the day.

I went back to the station and bought a few supplies for the overnight train and by then it was time to board.  It wasn’t quite the clean and luxurious sleeper that I was expecting but it wasn’t too bad.  I had a compartment to myself for the 12 hour ride to Berlin and I slept very well.

Overnight Train to Berlin

There are more photos here.