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ZÜRICH
Forty years is a long time
By Bob Enzel
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When I was a tourist in Zűrich over forty years ago it didn't strike me as a
place I wanted to re-visit. I felt it to be a cold-business-like city
compared to Geneva which seemed to be more visitor friendly. Many times
during this time frame I was in Zűrich to change planes or to drive from the
Arlberg region directly to the airport without paying much attention to
anything except my airport destination. Interestingly though, as travelers
we always found the airport in Zűrich to be a user-friendly sanctuary. It
has lots of good stuff to entice the traveler.
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This past winter some ski friends and I were
headed to Zermatt to ski and once again the Zűrich Airport was our
transfer city and once again I went downstairs to board the very
convenient train for Visp, which was our changeover point to
Zermatt. And once again, I viewed the cityscape from a moving
vehicle. On our return from Zermatt we all agreed to stay
overnight at the Hotel Montana located a half block from the train
station, known in much of Europe as the Bahnhof. The Montana was
comfortable and conveniently located for a mad dash to the airport
should time be a factor the following day.
Our hostess, Aurelia from the Swiss Tourist Office kindly provided
us with Annamaria Pál-Műller as our tour guide for a walk-around
the old city after a lunch at the very friendly Adler Swiss Chuchi
Restaurant. After a lunch that lasted longer than anticipated our
walking tour had to be shortened a bit and we had to move a little
faster and look a little quicker. I'm now a
Zűrich city believer. It is a wonderful city to walk, look and
marvel at. This was January and the weather was a mite chilly, but
we enjoyed our walk and we all agreed that seeing Zűrich when it
was warm would be even more exciting. With Annamaria as our guide
we did not have to use our brain to |
navigate, merely played follow the leader as we
looked into the wonderful shop windows lagging behind quite often. The
button shop, the oldest chocolate emporium, the smallest retail shop,
St. Peter's church, the many, many fountains (over fourteen hundred we
were told) small walkways where only horses and humans could navigate
were built long before motorized transport became fashionable. And, of
course the Zűrichsee where birds of many varieties pretty much had the
lake to themselves on this pleasantly chilly day. In warmer weather
they would reluctantly yield a portion of the water for swimming and
boating.
We had use of a ZűrichCARD Pass that permitted us into
many of the buildings and to ride public transportation at no charge, ride
first-class via train to the airport and use the pass to enter the museums
of Zűrich free or ride the sightseeing boat. For forty-eight Swiss Francs it
is the most reasonable way to sightsee Zűrich. It is well worth the fee and
I recommend it highly.
After a superb two to three hour sightseeing walk our
time was running short, but we still wanted to visit the Kunsthaus Zűrich
Museum which was only a short distance. We were not anticipating the breadth
of the museum's painting's diversity. From Medieval artist, Albrecht Durer's
Adam and Eve to Jan Brueghel the Elder, Edvard Munch, The Scream to
Caravaggio, Monet, Salvador Dali to modern painters and sculptures by
Switzerland's own, Alberto Giacometti, and Rodin's The Gates of Hell...and
then, time ran out on us. Dinner reservations restricted us to barely a two
hour visit. Definitely not enough time to see all the marvelous paintings
and sculptures at this amazing museum in Zűrich.
The birds have the lake to themselves in
chilly weather.
Credit: Fred McKinney
Our dinner reservation was at the five hundred year old
Zeughauskeller restaurant which specializes in traditional cuisine, but it
was so crowded that we couldn't even get in the door to claim our
reservation. We opted to cross the small alley-type-street and went into
Cantinetta Antinori, an Italian restaurant that unexpectedly proved to be a
dining delight where we happily ate, drank and marveled over the super day
we had touring the city.
The short walk to the Bahnhof from The Hotel Montana the
next morning for our train ride to the airport was a "piece of cake". Using
our ZűrichCARD to ride in first class comfort we arrived within minutes to
the state-of-the-art Zűrich Airport.
All things end, good or bad, but we all agreed that a
return to Zűrich in warmer weather would be in our future travel plan.
For more Switzerland information:
www.MySwitzerland.com/
Note: If you're traveling to Switzerland via Zurich
request the Airport Guide, "Flughafen Zurich". Or go on-line at
www.zurich-airport.com and view this neat little guidebook to airport
facilities...duty free. railway connections and special services. Such as,
many Swiss trains stations allow you to check your luggage before your
flight and issue you a boarding card. You may also check in the evening
before a flight which is very useful for those early departures.
Some Airport Conveniences:
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Self-check-in machines
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Extended hours for airport shopping and dining
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Staffed nurseries/playrooms at Gates A and E
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Pre-order duty-free items via the Internet
Also on the GolfSkiandTravel.com web site check out the
very humorous short films about Switzerland, They're under "Switzerland
Spoofs Itself".
Photos by Fred McKinney
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*(click on thumbnail for larger image) |
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