GERMANY 2007
Day 14
MONDAY, June 4
ZURICH
We had a good breakfast in our hotel and then drove our car to the
Avis garage for a 10 o'clock check-in. We had put 992 miles on our nice
little Mercedes.
We then walked to the old town and took an hour and a half
boat trip around the lake. The sun was hot but there was a good breeze
and some clouds in the mountains. The couple who sat next to us was from
Mississippi and were beginning an Elderhostel tour – walking.
After this
enjoyable sightseeing adventure, we walked up the main street of Zürich,
Bahnhofstrasse, which had a lot of fancy stores.
We
stopped at Cantinetta Antinori, a well-known
restaurant. We knew this restaurant from Florence, and knew
our meal would be good. We decided to sit outside. My
wife had Filettino Marinati (steak) and I had scaloppine lemone. Both
were very good but a little pricey. We continued our walking past a
Swiss watch store. My wife insisted that I needed to buy a Swiss watch
while we were in Switzerland. The store was two stories and must of had
10,000 different watches. I chose a self winding Tissot, which I'm sorry
to say never kept good time.
We passed a huge English bookstore, Orell Fussli, which had a
placard outside
featuring Donna Leon's newest book and a notice that she would be in
town signing books the next Monday. Unfortunately we will be home. We did,
however, in 2009 attend a book signing by Donna Leon in
Washington DC. We told her about our experience in Zürich. While
we were photographing the sign a well dressed, attractive lady began
attacking Donna Leon and her books. She was from Venice but spoke
English. She did not like the way Donna portrayed her city. She walked
with us over a block with her negative remarks. We have all of Donna
Leon's books, and Inspector Brunetti is one of our favorite detectives.
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After walking around several blocks, we came to the Fraumunster or
the Church of our Lady whose very tall blue steeple can be seen all
over Zürich. It was founded in 853 as a Benedictine convent by King
Ludwig with his two daughters, Hildegard and Bertha as the first
abbesses. The convent played an important role politically and
culturally in the early history of Zürich. With the
Reformation of
Zwingli in 1524 the convent and its possessions were turned over to the
town Council of Zürich The original structure was replaced by a much
grander one in 1250. The choir was never finished. The nave has six
bays. The Fraumunster is also noted for having stained-glass windows by
the famous artist Marc Chagall which were added in 1967.
Next we went across a small bridge to the Grossmunster. This is
Zürich's principal church and the seat of the Reformation in German –
speaking Switzerland under Zwingli and Bullinger. According to
legend,
it was built over the tombs of the patron saints of the city, Felix and
Regula who were associated with an early monastery. In 1523, a school
connected to the chapter was absorbed by the Reformation church and
transformed by Zwingli into a theological seminary. The construction
extended over a long period. Towards 1100, a new choir and crypt were
added to the original nave.
During the 12th and 13th
centuries, the nave
was gradually expanded around the old construction. The building was
completed in 1260 with the raising of all of the vaults. In the interior
is a three aisled Basilica without a transept. There are galleries above
the aisles. From a distance it would appear that there was an altar at
the East end over which were three very colorful stained-glass windows;
however, as we approach that area there was no altar, only a large
square area – like a stage.
We went down
into the crypt which consisted
of four sections with some interesting paintings and statuary. The most
interesting was a seated statue of Charlemagne which was covered with a
number of iron plugs which served to hold together the old repairs.
On the way back to our hotel, my wife found an interesting
old-fashioned linen store. The owner spoke excellent English, and we
carried on an interesting conversation. My wife ended up buying a
beautiful linen tablecloth and some handkerchiefs.
We walked back to our hotel along the lake. After a brief time in
our room, we went to the hotel dining room. We had lamb and fried
risotto.
This was our last night on a wonderful German/Swiss vacation. We
drove 992 miles, visited 13 cities as well as 23 churches of which
7 were cathedrals. We found that it was easy driving in Germany.
The next morning we took a taxi to the airport for our flight home.
It was a wonderful vacation. We would love to go back someday and spend
more time in a few of the cities that we visited.
