Italy – Day 2 – Short Layover in Zurich – Wayne & Sharon's Travel Blog

Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
May 09, 2014 – We had a nice flight from NY to Zurich…I upgraded our seats for this red eye flight and we had seats with full leg room up against the bulk head. We were able to watch a movie, have a gourmet airplane dinner, stretch out and snooze a bit and we arrived in Zurich at 8 AM somewhat rested.

After we came through customs Caitlin’s future employer was there waiting for us. She seems very nice and sweet and we sat with her for a bit and had coffee. She took two carry on bags filled with some of Caitlin’s belongings. Caitlin was relieved to meet her in person and we feel good having met her as well.

The train station in Zurich is under the airport so we bought tickets to the downtown. It is approximately 10 minutes to the city center and we had a 5 hour layover. It had been raining pretty hard earlier that day and the weather was cool.

We walked down Bahnhofstrasse which is the heart of the shopping district and one of the most expensive districts in all of Europe. We bought chocolate here from an angry German woman who snapped at me when I placed my credit card in the slot wrong. She was not nice and reminded me of the “soup Nazi”. Especially near the end of the transaction when Wayne said “no chocolate for you”.

The girls are ready to go shopping. Bahnhofstrasse is Zurich’s main downtown street and one of the world’s most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues. In 2011, a study named the Bahnhofstrasse the most expensive street for retail property in Europe. It came into existence when the city fortifications were demolished in 1864 and the ditch in front of the walls was filled in. Until that time, the name of the location had been “Ditch Of The Frogs” (Fröschengraben), which then was changed to Station Street (Bahnhofstrasse).

We walked along the Limmat River and into the historical section of Zurich (Aldstat). There we saw the Fraumunster (women’s minster) circa 874, the Grossmunster (built by Charlemagne) circa 1150, the Gothic Predigerkirche (preacher’s church) circa 1300’s and the St. Peter’s church (largest clock face in Europe) circa 1538. We strolled along the Medieval alleys and were in awe of how charming the areas are with the hills, staircases and cobblestone lanes. Caitlin will be a 30 minute train ride into this amazingly beautiful city. She is one lucky girl.

Lindenhof quarter corresponds to the Mindere Stadt, the smaller but more prestigious half of the medieval town left of the Limmat River. This is the oldest core of the city, with settlement traces dating to Pre-Roman (La Tène) times, and fortified as a Roman oppidum with a surrounding vicus in the final decades of the 1st century BC.

The Grossmünster (“great minster”) is a Romanesque-style Protestant church . The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat River was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220.

*Zürich Hauptbahnhof (often shortened to Zürich HB) is the largest railway station in Switzerland & opened on 9 August 1847.*

Located next to the Lindenhof Hill, site of the former Roman castle, St. Peter was built on the site of a temple to Jupiter. An early church of 10 by 7 metres is archaeologically attested for the 8th or 9th century. This building was replaced by an early Romanesque church around AD 1000, in turn replaced in 1230 by a late Romanesque structure, parts of which survive. The steeple’s clock face has a diameter of 8.7 m, the largest church clock face in Europe. The bells date to 1880. Peculiarly, the church’s steeple is owned by the city of Zürich, while the nave is owned by the St. Peter parish of the Swiss Reformed Church.

After our walking tour we hopped back on the train to the airport to catch our flight to Naples.

Comments

Patty on May 12, 2014

Glad you made it safely! Enjoy and look forward to more later. Love you and Happy Mother’s Day Sharon.

Gramps on May 10, 2014

These blogs with pics and descriptions are fantastic. You guys all look great and appear to be having way too much fun!!!!! Love you all, Gramps

Janna on May 11, 2014

Oooohhh…Lovely! We hope to see Zurich someday! Have fun!

GIGI on May 11, 2014

loving the pics….color coordinated mom & daughter 🙂
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!

Jan on May 14, 2014

Fabulous pics! Wow to the chocolate hater, she clearly is not getting the benefits from consuming the sweet treat.