Zurich for a return visit

Friday 9 August

Zurich for a return visit

We planned to go Zurich today for a return visit.  The day dawned misty and had been raining quite heavily, but at least it would be nice and cool for travelling.

We had an early start and the motorways were clear so we had a good run.  It was a shame we didn't get to see the scenery because of the drizzle, I am sure it would have been lovely, but what we did see gave us a pretty good idea of what it would be like.  We drove alongside Lake Walensee for some time and the drizzle had cleared so we did see how beautiful it was and busy too with boats buzzing up and down.

The traffic got thicker as we got closer to Zurich and thanks to Ken, and James' good driving, we found a park in the Promenade car park, which was down by the river and close to everything.  This car park was pristine, painted cream and green, well lit, good directions, clean well functioning lifts, it could have been a hotel for cars!  

So we walked out over a bridge to the train station and down to the riverside and found a coffee shop - Starbucks!  Well, it was on the floor above a bookshop so we could have a bit of a browse, and have a good cup of coffee.  Out again onto the busy riverside where obviously they were set up for tourists, advertising day trips and shows, etc.,  the traffic is pretty dense and fast, in fact they have 'tripple' trams, not just two lengths long, but three, I guess they have the population to move.

We headed up through the old part of town where the streets are cobbled and narrow and the buildings are several storeys high, the shops are mostly 'Designer' shops with pretty impressive window displays.  

Our two main points of interest that had been keyed in to our 'map app' were the information centre to get our usual maps of the city and any other useful information, and the Zeughauskeller beer hall which is  promoted as having 20 different types of sausages to choose from, plus their famous potato salad, and of course beer by the stein, which sounded just the place for lunch (built in 1487 the historic ancient arsenal of Zurich, now a typically Swiss restaurant).  

So we set off for the information centre stopping to take photos of all these impressive buildings, we followed the map app and ended up at Zeughauskeller instead after a very interesting walk!  Flexible to the last, and it was 12 o'clock we squeezed in the door and were faced with a huge and packed restaurant, all buzzing and loud with waiters carrying a wide assortment of food and the appetising smell of spicy meaty sausages.  The maître d, suggested we book a table for 1.00pm as they couldn't seat all 7 of us together at the moment.  So we did that and went exploring for an hour.  

There were a couple of churches across the river which we wanted to see.  The river is really wide and has some beautiful bridges built across it, so we wandered over one, visited the churches and came back via the other bridge.  

The first church we went to was the Fraumunster Church, which had the most beautiful stained glass windows, they were very modern, narrow, tall and looked like they had been painted after the style of Picasso or Matisse, in fact the artist was Marc Chagall, and he completed them when he was 83!  We sat and stared at them for some time.  

Then we wandered over to St Peter's Church which has the largest clock face in Europe, and it had a wonderful entrance door, beautifully carved.  

And so back over the bridge to Zeughauskeller and our corner table was waiting, I was so impressed as there was a queue (of course) to get in and they could easily have been too busy to have got it organised.  Our waitress spoke a little English and was very helpful and attentive.  The children had sausage and chips, and the adults chose quite a wide selection of sausages so we could do the 'taste test', accompanied by delicious potato salad, and a side plate of sauerkraut, washed down with a stein of local beer.  Mmmmmm wonderful sausages, why can't we make them like that in NZ?

After lunch we planned to drive to Brunnen where the Swiss Army Knives are made, James had booked for the three guys to make their own Swiss Army knife, Jasper had been really looking forward to this for some time. 

 We walked down to get the car through a maze of small streets and delightful shops, one shop full of interesting china animals caught my eye.  It was a cow covered in flowers, with gum boots on its hind legs, a hat on its head and a pail of milk in its mouth.  Well, irresistible, and by the time I had made up my mind to go into the shop to check it out the others were way ahead, so practical David ushered me along because we did have a deadline to meet in Brunnen which was about an hours drive away.  

We caught up with the others, and this cow was burning a hole in my brain.  Too many times I have seen something I would love to have and have regretted not buying it.  It was after all my only souvenir from Switzerland, so good old James, and Penelope came too, literally raced walked back up the hilly street and we bought it.  I am so happy!!

Brunnen was quite a big place, again on the river and we found a park not far from the museum/shop where they explain how the knives are made, and of course have a wonderful display for you to browse and purchase. Apparently they make 60,000 knives a day, but the machine the guys used was an old manual one.  The demonstrator was so good, he showed Jasper first, there was a sheet of instructions for him to look at and he was guided through every piece and did it all himself.  So proud!  

Then the girls left the boys to it and wandered down to the river, it was raining again, and we just happened to spot a coffee shop, so popped on there to wait for the boys to finish their knives and come and join us.

We had a nice trip home, even though it had been raining most of the day, we had had another interesting day, and I would love to go back to Zurich and spend a lot more time there.

We were still so full from lunch that we just bought some soup and a baguette for supper.