Day 13 - Zurich

After our great night's sleep in one of Michaela and Toby's upstairs bedrooms (they have a winding staircase with bedrooms on levels two and three of the house), we started on our adventure touring the beautiful city.

I took this picture of sweet Emil and wanted to show you what a handsome little Swiss man he is.

Don and Lisa, Michaela and Toby's little girl, had fun playing in the garden while we got ready to go.

Michaela and Toby don't have a car and rely solely on the amazingly efficient train system in town. They live a block away from the nearest train station and only five minutes from the main train station in town, so they can get anywhere they need to go by walking just a few minutes. 

Michaela, Toby, and Lisa having a great time. They are such great, fun, and extremely generous people. We loved being with them.

Walking to the train stop...

...wouldn't be complete without stopping at the stream to throw in some sticks.

We took a train up to Uetliberg hill, which has amazing views and a nice wooded path to hike to the top.  

It had snowed recently and everything was crisp and snow-covered and lovely.

And slippery! Toby is keeping Lisa from slipping as we hike up the hill.

At the top of Uetliberg hill, there is a tower you can climb for a 360 degree view of the city and the surrounding mountains. On a clear day, you can see all of the surrounding peaks, even the ones miles away. Unfortunately, it was quite foggy so we didn't get much of a view of the Alps, but the views over the city were amazing. Here are a few for you to enjoy...

Don felt that this was a good moment to relive his favorite scene from "Titanic". 

Interesting clouds over beautifully snowy and forested hills.

Riding on the train back in to town. I managed to catch a lot of pictures of Michaela with her eyes closed. She is such a friendly, capable, and smart person and I love talking to her. It was so great that Don and I got to know Toby (I'd never met him before we came to stay with them) and that Don also got to know Michaela better. 

Happy Lisa! We were great friends on our adventures. She only speaks German now, though, so I couldn't understand anything she said but we had fun anyway!

And here is Sprungli a cafe and chocolate shop with the BEST DESSERT I'VE EVER HAD. Seriously, nothing can compare with the chocolate we had here. If Don and I had been alone, we never would have gone to this place because it is so expensive and so ritzy. We would have seriously missed out, though. 

Just look at these desserts! 

I loved this sweet picture of Lisa giving Emil a hug...

Michaela and Toby generously insisted on buying us each a cake and hot cocoa (a tiny cup of cocoa was $9.50 Swiss francs! Insane!) and we had a feast! My cake had a piece of gold leaf on top (yes, it's edible but just kind of ridiculous) and was a dark chocolate shell filled with a hazelnut chocolate mousse with a hazelnut chocolate crunchy crust on the bottom. Oh my. It was heaven. I often daydream about it. 

After our delicious time at Sprungli, we headed to Fraumunster church to look at the 5 beautiful Chagall windows. Mark Chagall created these windows in 1970 and each has a theme (i.e. Christ, Jacob, The Prophets) and color scheme. The windows are particularly striking because the rest of the church is very plain with very little in the way or art of decoration. This is the case because of a reformation, called the Zwingli reformation, that denounced idolatry (among other things - like mass and celibate priests) in 1524. As a result, all the art and relics were removed throughout Zurich churches, leaving them clean and uncluttered. Don and I sat and quietly looked at the windows for a long time and I fell in love with them. I love how different and modern they are and that both Don and I felt a real connection to the beauty and message of Chagall's art. You can't take pictures in the church so I found a couple online.

These are the three main windows

 This is the Jacob window

Pictures found here

Here is a view of Fraumunster's clock tower, the largest clock face in Europe.

After our peaceful time at Fraumunster, we walked across town to the Grossmunster, another beautiful church.

I liked this picture of Michaela and Toby walking with the Swiss flags in the background. Every picture I took in Zurich felt like a postcard because the city is so beautiful and so clean.

A view of the famous Grossmunster towers as we crossed the bridge.

A beautiful entry way. All the carved stone was amazing. 

Looking back over the bridge towards the Fraumunster.

A view along the the river Limmat

A view the opposite direction. The light was so crisp and beautiful.

The entrance to the Grossmunster. Once again, we were not allowed to take photos inside the church but   here are a few I found online to show the absolutely beautiful windows:

 This gives you a feel for the inside of the chapel and shows the beautiful window displaying the birth of Christ by Augusto Giacometti (1933). See how simple the church itself is?

Picture found here.

In 2009, Sigmar Polke, a famous German artist created seven windows in the nave from agate. He cut this semi-precious stone into very thin slices that allow light to pass through and create an amazingly brilliant colorful effect. Polke created five figurative glass windows also that display the scape-goat, Isaac, the Son of Man, Elijah, and David. 

The largest and most colorful of the agate windows

Pictures found here.

After our time at the Grossmunster, we wandered through the shopping district (a.k.a the super expensive and amazingly swanky area). We were amazed by the huge area of narrow streets that were pedestrian only. It is so peaceful to walk through the center of town and hear no honking, no rushing of traffic...just quiet people riding bikes and walking and talking. It was phenomenal!

Loved this shadowy picture of this tiny alleyway we walked through. All the cobblestones give everything such a cohesive feel.

The ingenious water system in Zurich pumps fresh potable water from the lake straight into the heart of Zurich to all of the fountains throughout town. You can drink the water from any fountain you see. With this system, if anything ever happens to the water lines in the city, there is fresh water in the fountains that is unattached to the city water system and it is pure and drinkable.

Toby and Don (in shadows) on a sunny, Swiss afternoon. Michaela went home with the kiddos for naptime and Toby showed us the town.

We walked through pretty shared green space areas...

...and saw lots of alleyways full of potted plants

We drank from the fountains...

And we made our way to the Kunthaus Art Museum to see the Picasso Exhibit. Zurich is known for it's art galleries and we waited in a very long line to get in to see the Picassos (then had to wait in a herd of people to see each painting), but it was well worth it. I learned a lot about Picasso and his art and Don and I liked the Giacometti sculptures that Toby said are his favorite. 

After our wonderful day in Zurich, we caught the train home to Michaela and the kids. 

Michaela made us a traditional (and super gourmet) dish called Geshnetzeltes. It's made with finely sliced veal and sauteed mushrooms in a light cream sauce and is served with roshti, a potato pancake. 

Oh my! The deliciousness!

Here is Michaela serving the roshti and Geshnetzeltes. It was such a delicious dinner.

We were amazed by the hospitality Michaela and Toby showed us. We didn't know them very well before we went to stay with them but left knowing they'd be lifelong friends. They are such fun, down to earth, easy going, generous, smart, and interesting people and we had such a great time with them. We loved our time with them and look forward to seeing them next time we're in Europe.

After we ate dinner, we talked 'til late and then Michaela and Toby helped us figure out our painfully early trains to the airport. I don't know what we were thinking booking a 7 am flight to London. We knew that we'd have to get up at 4:30 am and it made it tough to get to sleep so Don and I talked 'til late. It was such a great day in Zurich. It was one of the best days of the trip.