R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2

R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rüdesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis

Prior to our trip we'd signed up for a half-day city tour of Zürich.  The tour left from a large parking lot just beside the train station.  Knowing our dining options in the hotel were going to be expensive (and since we're not Diamond members, breakfast was not included) we set out on foot, hoping to find a breakfast spot between our hotel and the train station.

Maybe we just didn't take the correct streets but we really didn't see any place to eat before reaching the train station.  We wandered inside, hoping to find a place there and there were plenty of coffee shops but we didn't see a place that really served (what we think of as) breakfast.

We headed toward the parking lot where we'd meet our bus and there was a Starbucks.  Neither of us are coffee drinkers but we went inside anyway and came away with enough fruits, pastries, granola/yogurts and hot chocolates to satisfy our hunger.

We met up with our tour group and it turned out there were only 8-10 of us on this giant motor coach.  At least that gave us plenty of room to spread out!  Our first stop was the Parkanlage Zuerihorn, the lovely large park we'd spent time in yesterday.  C and I, having already seen the park, did a little more wandering but were the first ones back at the bus.  But again, just being out in the warm sunshine was a treat!

We visited the Fraumünster Church which is known for its lovely stained glass windows. Five of these windows were designed by artist Marc Chagall and were installed in 1970.  Unfortunately, no photos were allowed. The church is built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women that was founded in 853.  Today this is one of the four main churches of Zürich.



Fraumünster Church

We took the Dolderbahn up one of the hills that provided us with a lovely view of the city and lake.  This is a rack railway, similar to the Incline Railway in Chattanooga, TN, though not nearly as steep.  It's part of the public transportation system and there were regular people using it to get to and from their houses on our ride.

After enjoying the views, we re-boarded our motor coach for the ride back down.  How our driver managed those very narrow streets with our huge bus I'll never know, but he did a great job!  We did stop to look at the former house of fellow Tennessean Tina Turner, who is now a Swiss citizen.  Ah, homes of the stars - almost reminded me of Nashville for a moment!

A glockenspiel we saw sitting outside one of the churches

Our tour guide told us about a festival that would be held a few days after we left.  The event is called Sechseläuten and it celebrates the end of winter.  It's usually held on the 3rd Monday of April and the highlight is the burning of winter in effigy.  This is done by building a giant pyre, on top of which sits Böögg, a giant snowman filled with explosives.  But in the days before he's burned, there's a scaffolding around the pyre and people pay money to climb up and take their picture with Böögg.  We decided to remain below but it was interesting to see!


Böögg the snowman

We spent the rest of the afternoon, our last day of vacation, wandering through town and just soaking up the atmosphere.  It's a lovely, very walkable city and we really enjoyed our time here but obligations called and it was time to go home.

Canals through town and the art installation Hafenkran (harbor crane)