Paris to Swiss Alps: Zürich I (4/4/2017)

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Well, since we were so far from the action, they had motor coaches to take us into the inner city, in four groups leaving 15 minutes apart. We were in the last group to leave at 8:45. We were dropped off near the lakefront, and fortunately for us, our group went immediately to board the lake cruise!

We had to walk past Bürkliplatz, built on reclaimed land
from the lake, with its market

Rebekka-Brunnen (1880 by Heinrich Gebhardt)
depicting the Bible scene where Rebecca gives a
drink of water to the servant of Abraham (KSS)

BMW C1 covered motor scooter (KSS)

Ganymede (1952 by Hermann Hubacher),
depicting the handsome Ganymede as Swiss,
appealing to Zeus (the eagle) to take him to Mount
Olympus, rather than the usual Greek legend where
Zeus turned into an eagle to kidnap Ganymede
to be his lover in Mount Olympus (KSS)

One means of transportation in Switzerland is by a lake boat that travels from town to town along the shores. They are used for commuting and for tourism, and we took the short round trip lasting about an hour and a half. It was hazy to the southeast in the morning sun, but clear looking back at the city.

Leaving the dock at Zürich Bürkliplatz

Guess what? One of the stops was Zürichhorn, which we visited yesterday!

The thatched-roof building of the restaurant Fischstube
was built as part of the Swiss national exhibition 1939

The waterslide, beach, and rotary platform at Zürichhorn

Another nude statue, this one in Zollikon (KSS)

Toro I (1968 by Franz Fischer) in Zollikon

The Swiss flag

What?! Which one is Tina Turner's house?!
Well, I managed to get the trees in front of her house in Küsnacht!

At Ehrlenbach we crossed the lake to head up the other side. The east shore is known as the Gold Coast because a) the wealthy live there, and b) the houses turn golden when the sun sets. The west shore is known as the Silver Coast, because a) the white buildings shimmer in the morning sun, and b) anywhere is expensive in Zürich.

Lounge chairs near the dock in Thalwil

A fancy private boathouse

Stacked apartment buildings in Thalwil

The Lindt and Sprüngli Chocolate Company in Kilchberg

The Silver Coast

Wollishofen and the clock tower (1935-1936) of
the Reformierte Kirche auf der Egg/
Reformed Church "on the corner"

Graffiti

Steamships in the transport company boatyard

Back on land, we crossed over to the other side of Bürkliplatz. The guides spent a good deal of their time explaining how to purchase tram tickets, and how to use them. This would not be the case if the hotel was more conveniently located.

Riesenrad/Ferris Wheel which is here for the
Sechseläuten/Six o'Clock Chimes, the traditional
spring festival celebrated the third Monday of April,
when bells will begin ringing each day
at 6:00 pm to signal the end of the workday
(in winter work ended at sundown)

Sechseläuten is also when they burn the effigy of winter (a giant snowman-like creature), which has his head filled with firecrackers; the faster his head explodes, the nicer summer will be.
We started the walking tour of Zürich, walking down the left bank of the Limmat River.

Schweizerische Nationalbank SNB/
Banque nationale Suisse BNS/
Swiss National Bank (c. 1921)

The Frauenbad/Ladies' Bath (1881-1887) was built by the
city government to give women privacy to bathe

The Ladies' Bath is still used, as a swimming pool for women, and in the summers a few nights a week, it is the Barfussbar/Barefoot Bar open to men and women.

Looking down the Limmat River at the Münsterbrücke/
Cathedral Bridge (1836-1838), and across to the Wasserkirche/
Water Church (1486) on the site where it is said that sibling Saints Felix
and Regula, together with their servant Exuperantius, were
executed by decapitation, only to miraculously pick up their
heads and walk a bit uphill to a place where they wanted to be buried,
where Grossmünster/Great Cathedral (the two tall towers behind
the Water Church) is now located

Stadthaus/Cultural Center (1883-1884 designed by
Arnold Geiser in Neo-Renaissance style, with a
Neo-Gothic façade added in 1898-1900)

It is difficult to translate Stadthaus. A Rathaus is clearly the city hall, and while Stadthaus may literally translate as city hall, it is usually where meetings, receptions, exhibitions, and weddings take place, but may also house the offices of some city departments.

Grossmünster/Great Cathedral (1100-1220
as a monastery church), where legend states it was
founded by Charlemagne when his horse fell
over the tombs of Saints Felix and Regula

Also across the Limmat River are, left to right,
the Rathaus/City Hall, and a row of guild houses

a

Statue of Hans Waldmann (1937, by Hermann Haller);
Waldmann was a military leader and later was a
powerful and wealthy mayor of Zürich, known
for his aristocratic excesses so that when he tried
to impose higher taxes on the peasants, they
revolted and had him beheaded

So why a statue of Hans Waldmann? The Zunft zum Kämbel/Kämbel Guild, the guild of wine merchants and later other food dealers, wanted to rehabilitate the former mayor, who was also once a guild master of this guild!

Zunfthaus zur Meisen (1752-1757), the guild house of innkeepers and vintners

Fraumünster/Ladies Cathedral (dating to 853 CE)
was built as part of a Benedictine abbey

Since we had been to Zürich in 2013, we parted from the tour group and went off on our own. The main reason was that we wanted to see the Marc Chagall stained glass windows in Fraumünster. There was a 5 Swiss franc fee for each of us. No photos allowed.

Three Chagall windows (from The Lady Travels)

Marc Chagall created five windows (completed in 1970) in the choir, and a rose window (1978), when he was in his eighties! Augusto Giacometti created a large colorful stained glass window (1920s, installed in 1945) in the transept.
The founding legend of Fraumünster relates that the princesses Hildegard and Bertha followed a stag sent by God. The stag had burning lights in its antlers, and he led the sisters from their father's castle to the place where they had the Fraumünster built. They were the first abbesses of the convent, and lie in a niche in the church, under a mural depicting the legend.

Münsterhof/Cathedral Court, with more guild houses (KSS)

Old? New? Both? (on a 1647 building,
now the flagship shop of Confiserie Teuscher) (KSS)

Confiserie/Confectionery Teuscher window

Confiserie Teuscher interior, a wonderland
for chocolate afficionados (KSS)

Interestingly, Teuscher makes the Basel Läckerli/spice biscuits!
Time for lunch!

Zeughauskeller/Arsenal Cellar (1487 as the armory) where now the
weapons serve only as decorations

Everyone sat at communal tables. we sat
with two Swiss ladies and the teenage
daughter of our waiter

We had the local specialty of Kalbsgeschnetzeltes nach Zürcher Art/Zürich-style sliced veal in a mushroom cream sauce with Rösti, and a seasonal specialty of Hausgemachte Kartoffel Gnocchi mit grünen Spargeln/Homemade potato gnocchi with green asparagus, in a tomato and white wine sauce with Parmesan. Oh, so good!
We resumed our walk.

Juno-Brunnen/Juno Fountain (1872, with a replica
statue of Juno, the original is in a museum)

Peterhof (c. 1914 by the Pfister Brothers in
Neo-Gothic style for a department store)

Peterhof portal

A Toblerone bicycle! (KSS)

Augustinerkirche/Augustinian Church (1959
reconstructed to 1270 plans), a rare Catholic church

Florist girls on a break at the Münzplatzbrunnen/Coin
Square Fountain (1761) with a Statue of Temperance

Swiss flags on Augustinergasse/Augustinian Lane

Easter egg tree (KSS)

Amazonenbrunnen/Amazon Fountain/ (1430,
one of the first public fountains)

Stepped alley

A carved owl in the building corner
in Glockengasse/Bells Lane (KSS)

The former Conditorei zur Glocke/Confectionary of
the Bell  with 1925 Art Deco façade
on 1881 Neo-Renaissance building

Baker on the confectionery wall (KSS)

Painted façade of Zur Grossen Reblaube/The Big Grape Arbor (1260)

Another painted façade on Renn Weg,
which was the main street of the medieval town

Renn Weg with canton flags

Franz Carl Weber toy store façade on Renn Weg

Okay, there were so many, we had to take one photo of a Starbucks

Another one of 1,200 fountains in Zürich;
Herkulesbrunnen/Hercules Fountain (1732)

Wallace-Brunnen/Wallace Fountain, one of the
public fountains financed by Englishman
Richard Wallace, initially in Paris

This Wallace Fountain was used to open the 1982 World Convention of Water Experts in Zürich.

Pestalozzianlage/Pestalozzi Park with a statue
(1899 by Hugo Siegwart) of Johann Heinrich
Pestalozzi, a Swiss education specialist concerned
with a holistic child-centered approach to education

Now to the train station.

Next: Zurich II.