Zurich is the Switzerland’s largest
city with 360,000 inhabitants, but this figure swells to a million when the
surrounding areas are included. Zurich is a city of many faces; educational
with the university and tech schools, and banking, industrial, and financial
with the banks and stock exchange. The Limmat River running through the city
divides it into almost two equal parts.
In
1100 the Grossmunster (large church) was started, but it took one hundred years
to complete. It is a major church in the city and is the site of the beginning
of the Reformation movement. The style is Romanesque
In
the old city one of the finest facades is the Fraumunster. This church contains
stain glass windows by the famous artist Chagall. The church’s christening font
dates to 1598 and the pulpit to 1853. In the cellar (crypt) are old paintings
from the 1500s, but they are in poor condition and in much need of restoration.
A large bronze statue of Charlemagne looks after the paintings. A huge 1950
bronze plated door depicting many bible scenes including the Ten Commandments
and the Lord ’s Prayer makes for a spectacular entrance to the church.
The city is full of towers and old
churches. Steeples can be seen everywhere. St. Peter’s church tower boasts the
largest clock face in the world. It is over 8 meters (26’) in diameter!
When the city walking tour was over we
strolled down the famous Bahnhofstrasse, a wide boulevard which runs from the
train station about 1½ kilometers to the edge of Lake Zurich. The wide
sidewalks allow for lots of window shopping in the many high price specialty
shops. Sidewalk cafes with dining tables spilling outside are nestled between
the shops.
To
be certain to be in the train station on time to catch our train we opted to
eat a late lunch there. Since I mostly see the inside of European airports I’m
not too familiar with train stations. But, this one was like one I’ve never
seen! Both the upper and lower levels are lined with shops, cafes, and kiosks.
On
the lower level is a very clean restroom (WC or water closet). After depositing
1½ francs in the turn-style one can buy any toilet article one might need
including shampoo. There are nice private showering facilities. The sink
faucets produced both cold and hot
running water. It was a restroom to be proud of. Also on the lower level were
hundreds of lockers in different sizes.(I wonder if these remain today in our
terrorist oriented world?)
In the center of the upper level stands
the equivalent of a farmer’s market with just about anything one might desire,
vegetables, sausage, cheese, tea, flowers, and the list goes on. Since the city
was hosting the first Cow Parade, cows even were suspended from the high
ceiling as well as one rather fat ugly colorful maiden with gold wings.
We chose a large restaurant for lunch
with a table outside so we could people watch. Our ham was a large oval piece
of spam-like meat and a potato salad, which was really sliced cooked potato
slathered and swimming in mayonnaise but the ice tea was great.
It was a full interesting morning on a warm
sunny day. Of course it whet my appetite to return another day, which I did a few
years later.
