30 May 2015 (Saturday) - Zurich. One of my favourite trips was to the largest city of Switzerland. Switzerland has always been touted to be a beautiful place, and although I couldn't go to Lucerne or Geneva, my next best option was to Zurich which has a closer geographical proximity to Munich.
Sacrificing some sleep to set off at 3.30am was totally worth it! It was a very scenic ride on the bus to Zurich! En-route, our bus even boarded a ship which sailed across Lake Constance that offered many wonderful photo opportunities.
Kanzlei Flea Market was my first stop in Zurich. The flea market is a huge year-round flea market that hosts up to nearly 400 stalls on its busiest days. According to its website, the flea market takes place in any weather, however I was thankful that it bright and sunny when I arrived. Similar to the Pasar Malams in Singapore, it sold almost everything under the sun, including rows of second hand bicycles and large beer barrels that were rolled in by their owners.
Following that, I strolled leisurely along the Limmat river, passing by several churches, the Borse ("Zurich Stock Exchange") and the old botanical garden of Zurich. It was truly a time to walk, stop and smell the roses, appreciating the wonders of nature instead of simply going through the mad rush in our lives...
Zurich's stock exchange
The Limmat River
Octagonal Greenhouse in the Old Botanical Gardens
Not long after, I reached the Paradeplatz in the central of Zurich. Surrounding the parade square were numerous old buildings that house various banking headquarters. It is no wonder that Switzerland is well known for being home to large number of financial institutions and banking giants. Paradeplatz was also the meeting point of my free walking tour.
An unforgettable landmark - Pelikan Street
UBS Headquarters
The UBS Headquarters was founded here since 1872...
That's nearly 43 years...
Credit Suisse Headquarters
Inside the Credit Suisse Headquarters
As I was still early, I decided to make a detour to visit the Google Headquarters in Zurich before the tour started. Google's worldwide second largest development centre is located in Zurich. It made me wonder how it would feel like living as an expat in these countries? The apartments nearby were prettily furnished and surrounded by lush greenery. I especially liked the "Wanted" sign which was witty but nevertheless sends the message across effectively!
Our very pretty and extremely knowledgeable tour guide, Marie showed us around for the day. One of the interesting questions that were raised was "why do the Switzerland websites always end with .ch". The answer lies in the Swiss coin. CH stands for Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name of Switzerland. Therefore there is also the CHF which is the notation used for the Swiss Francs.
Another fun fact according to Marie was that Switzerland does not have a capital. Bern is simply the place where the Federal Government, Ministries and Embassies hang out, hence it was made the "Capital" of Switzerland, even though there truly is no Capital in Switzerland.
Zurich can be characterised by its two of its most famous churches on either side of the River Limmat. The first church which we visited was the Fraumunster. Frau which means "woman", as women used to form the political power and ruler of the city of Zurich.
Did you notice the opening between the two pillars in the picture on the right? Previously in the past it used to be a Catholic church but was later transformed into a Protestant Church. Protestants are known for being more conservative in nature, hence it was dictated that if a lady could pass through the two pillars, she was dress fittingly to enter the Protestant Church. However, if her billowing skirts were too big to fit in that opening, then her dressing was simply too flamboyant and she was deemed to be not appropriately dressed for the Church.
To have a bird's eye view of the city of Zurich, we headed up to a hilltop. Along the way, Marie pointed out to us the largest clock face in the entire Europe. It is purported to be even bigger than the Big Ben! Notice that the Swiss clocks number 4 is spelt out as IIII instead of the usual IV. Apparently this is considered to be a more classy looking design! Do you agree?
Everything is expensive in Zurich, except water that is free... Haha you can spot mini water fountains everywhere for quenching your thirst.
On the left: Can you guess what that hole outside the house is for? Look carefully! *Drum roll* Its actually a shoe scrapper to scrape off all your mud and ice before you enter the house.
On the right: Those stones below your feet belong to ancient remains from the past at Therman-Gasse.
Soon, we crossed over to the other side of the Limmat River.
Kids from a kindergarten hosting their own flea market
See the cow sticking its head out of the building?
But more importantly, the picture on the building depicts Zurich in its olden days.
Over on the other river bank is the Grossmunster. It was a monastery church vying for precedence with the Fraumunster across the Limmat throughout the Middle Ages. According to legends, the Grossmunster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix and Regula, Zurich's patron saints.
The story of Felix and Regula says that were siblings who were caught, tried and executed for their faith. After decapitation, they miraculously stood to their feet, picked up their own heads and walked forty paces up hill, and prayed before lying down in death. They were buried on the hilltop where they lay down which would become the site of the Grossmunster. Yup the story kinds of make a person sick in the stomach if they imagined it, but its nevertheless very interesting.
At the end of the tour, Marie gave each of us a voucher to redeem a free vegetarian brownie from Hiltl. Hiltl is within walking distance from the Paradeplatz and the vegetarian brownie was the best brownie I have eaten so far! In a nutshell, I would highly recommend everyone to try the Downtown Zurich Tour if they want to know a little bit more about Zurich!
After my Downtown Zurich Tour, I headed over for the Zurich West Tour. Just a note of caution, as I wasn't expecting to be travelling to Switzerland, I didn't change any Swiss Francs in Singapore. I changed Euros to Swiss Francs in one of the banks at the Main Train Station. Unfortunately, the exchange rate was very unfavourable and I was also charged a service fee of 5 Euros. Hence, it would be advisable for anyone who is travelling to change money beforehand.
Due to my lack of funds (I merely changed approximately 45 CHF), I did not take a bus or train and travelled only on foot in Zurich. Everywhere is in walking distance, its just a matter of how long it takes! Thankfully, the weather was awesome and I really enjoyed my walk around the place.
Families were out in the gardens enjoying their picnics
The meeting venue of the Zurich West Tour.
EY is located in this building!
The Zurich West Tour was a slightly less popular tour. We only had about 5 people joining the tour and our tour guide was a young lady who is currently majoring in architecture in one of the universities in Zurich. Due to the small group size, she could cater to our questions better and I enjoyed the tour very much!
Most of the buildings which we visited during the tour were old industrial buildings that were refurbished with new uses, such as factories that were converted into modern dance studios and cafes or bars. As Switzerland was not involved in the World War II, most of its buildings were all well-preserved, unlike in its neighbouring countries.
Some of the buildings were add-ons to the existing structure. For example in the picture below, the black building structure is modern whereas the orange building below which supports it is a pre-war building. The structures were designed to ensure that past buildings were preserved and not destroyed in the midst of modernisation.
Above, you would see the flagship store of Freitag in Zurich. It is completely built from rusty, recycled, freight containers. I'm not a shopping fan so I haven't heard of it before, but apparently it is quite popular! Freitag gives used materials off the street a new life as unique bags.
Another flea market
Lovely captions @ Block 15: "Home wasn't built in a day"
The viaduct in Zurich (old railway track above that is redesigned with shopping outlets below)
A monster lurks above the ground...rawrrr...
Feeling thirsty, I headed to the Coop to grab a drink. Coop is the second largest retail group in Switzerland and it even co-hosted a startup event with UBS for youths, which was held at the Zurich Hauptbahnhof. Unfortunately it was all in German so I couldn't understand a word of their pitches. Nevertheless the booths of each team were decorated creatively and nicely and it was a great way to spend my time while waiting for my bus to arrive.
It was a long day, staying on my feet for nearly 7-9 hours. Finally it was time to return to Munich, leaning comfortably in my seat and enjoying the scenic ride back home. Switzerland indeed lives up to its reputation and I look forward to returning and exploring other parts of this beautiful country!
