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Published: December 29th 2007
Hello! We have just finished visiting the second of three countries that we planned for our trip: Switzerland! We arrived in Zürich on Wednesday, 26 December. Our first task, as usual, was to find our hotel. There was a courtesy shuttle at the airport to take us to the Swissôtel in central Zürich. The hotel has 32 floors. Our room was located on the 24th floor and gave us an amazing view of the city. On the 32nd floor is the fitness and wellness centre. There is a pool, whirlpool, fitness centre, massage parlour (for an extra fee) and a mixed (co-ed) sauna with the words “Naked Area” printed on the door. Since is was later in the evening when we arrived, most shops were closed so we spent our time looking around the hotel and gathering information (maps, bus/train info) to plan our days.
We spent our first full day in Zürich in the downtown area walking along the main shopping strip, Bahnhofstrasse, and visiting some sites. Bahnhofstrasse is lined with high quality shops such as Swarovski, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Tiffany, Dior, Chanel, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger and Swatch. It is also lined with countless numbers of bakeries and
chocolate shops. However, EVERYTHING is very expensive in Zürich so we did not buy many things other than food (and Bri splurged on a bit of Swiss chocolate!). It was rather amazing the number of people we saw walking around in fur/faux fur coats! There was one particular lady we saw inside Prada who had a very strong resemblance to Cruella Deville! After visting Bahnhofstrasse, we went and visited Grossmünster. Construction for this cathedral began in 1100 and was completed approximately one hundred years later. It is the largest cathedral in Zürich. We went inside the church and observed the Romanesque architecture, the 3 stained-glass choir windows, the pulpit and the crypt. Inside the crypt was a quite overpowering Gothic figure of Charlemagne. The figure dates back to the 15th century, but due to his weather-worn state he now stands inside the crypt rather than at his original location outside on the southern tower of the church. We walked the stairs to the top of the tower and got a fantastic bird’s eye view of the city. Another site we visited was Fraumünster. Fraumünster is an Evangelical Protestant church that was founded in 1853 by King Louis the German. Fraumünster
houses the largest organ in the state with 5,793 pipes and is also home to the famous Chagall stained-glass windows. Unfortunately, pictures were prohibited inside the church so we were only able to capture this site from the outside. Located just down the street from the Fraumünster is the church of St. Peter. St. Peter is Zürich’s oldest parish church. It originally traces back prior to 800. The church displays the largest clock face in Europe, 8.7 metres in diameter. We ended our day back at the hotel and had a wonderful, relaxing dip in the pool and whirlpool, soaring overtop of the city of Zürich.
Our second full day was by far our most exciting day in Switzerland. We had purchased tickets to go on a full-day excursion called “Mt. Titlis Glacier Paradise.” (Yes, it is pronounced Tit-less. Haha…get your giggles out.) We started the day at 10:00 am by boarding a deluxe motorcoach and driving a very scenic route to the mountain village of Engelberg. Engelberg was absolutely stunning! Everywhere you turn there is a mountain range in front of you glistening with snow and ice, covered in evergreens. Engelberg is the location of the starting point to
venture up Mt. Titlis. It took us 40 minutes to ascend up the mountain. The first stage of the ascent was a 25 minute ride in a gondola (a wire-suspended “box” dangling over the mountain that held up to 6 people). When we reached the end of the first stage of ascent we were 5,904 feet above sea level. For the second stage of ascent we rode inside a larger gondola that held up to 80 people. It was a little bit unnerving because the gondola swung quite a bit on the cable due to the weight! At the end of the second stage of ascent, we were standing 8,036 feet above sea level. Finally, for the third and final stage of ascent, we boarded the world’s first ever 360o revolving aerial gondola. While ascending to the final vantage point of the mountain the floor of the gondola revolves, giving passengers a spectacular view of the Alps. We finally reached the top of Mt. Titlis, the highest vantage point in Central Switzerland. We were standing 10,000 feet above sea level! From the top of the mountain we could see the pre-Alps (the “smaller” mountains, not quite so monstrous as the
Alps). And of course, we could easily see the Swiss and Italian Alps! Due to the sheer size of the Alps, it felt like we were standing right next to them! The view was absolutely breathtaking. Before beginning our descent we went inside a glacier cave inside the mountain. The trip to the top of Mt. Titlis was unforgettable. Our pictures cannot fully show you just how amazing it felt to be at the top of a mountain, thousands of feet above ground, having nothing around but the Alps, mountain air, snow, ice, and skiers making their way to the bottom. The feeling was just so liberating and extraordinary. After leaving Mt. Titlis we began the drive back to Zürich. We stopped in the small town of Luzern where we had an hour of leisure time. Luzern is a very pretty town that has the mountains as its “backdrop.” We walked around the town admiring the buildings and then we walked across Luzern’s trademark - the famous covered wooden Chapel Bridge. Finally, we returned to Zürich shortly after 6:00 pm and made our way back to the hotel for another relaxing evening.
We began our last full day in
Zürich by staying in bed until 10:30 am. We woke up earlier but laid in bed reading our novels. Around 11:15 we made our way to the rooftop pool for a refreshing dip. After lunch we spent the afternoon wandering around central Zürich. We forgot our maps at the hotel so we decided to walk around and get lost. We knew we could eventually find our way back to the main train station. It was a sunny and clear day and the view of the mountains over lake Zürich was beautiful. We explored two more churches: Predigerkirche and Augustinerkirche. Predigerkirche dates back to 1230 and the inside of the church has a stunning organ and artistic detail. Augustinerkirche was built in 1270. We walked through many small alleyways that were lined with various shops. At the end of one of the alleyways we found the Zürich Opera House with statues of Wager, Mozart and Weber. We walked along the edge of Lake Zürich taking in the scenic views before heading back towards Bahnhofstrasse. We enjoyed calzones for dinner and then returned to our hotel.
Tomorrow morning we leave for the airport and then we’re off to Paris! We hope
you enjoy our beautiful pictures of Switzerland! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!
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Tim
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Amazing Pictures
Hey you two. I love your pictures. It is really cool becaues I can think "i've been there!". Did you get a chance to visit the Lindt factory when you were in Zurich? Miss you