Switzerland: Zurich

From Konstanz, we took the train to Zurich, the economic heart of Switzerland.  Although it is one of the major banking centres of the world, it has a population of only 364,000 people and still retains many of its historic districts, built centuries ago by the guilds that ruled the city.  The city straddles the Limmat river, which flows into Lake Zurich (Zürichsee) at one end of the city.  There are lots of hip cafés, shops and bars in central Zurich, and some of the most charming medieval houses I've ever seen.  

Our hostel turned out to be on the main street of the Red Light District, but until I read about it in a travel article, I would never have guessed!  It looks just like a normal street, with a few kebab shops and bars but nothing out of the ordinary.  Even the Red Light Districts in Switzerland are nice!

Zurich was recently ranked the 2nd best city to live in in the world, after Vienna in 1st place and with Geneva in third.  In all, German-speaking cities occupy 5/6 of the top spots (Auckland is the odd one out).  Switzerland has one of the highest GDPs per capital, at $76,000 per person.  In 2010, it was had the highest wealth per adult, with $375,000 per person in financial and non-financial assets. 

We spent the next morning exploring the city, which took about 3 hours, before heading off to Lucerne.  The streets were very quiet and peaceful (most were pedestrianized), and most of what we walked through were streets that still retained their original medieval homes. And yes, everything is expensive in Switzerland.  Ergo, the Food Bag. 

 UBS - one of the many banking companies based in Zurich. This city holds the wallets of some of the world's biggest corporations. 

Much of the city's medieval architecture has survived.

The Swiss National Museum.

 On the inside, written line-by-line on the horizontal bars of the rafters, is the Apostle's Creed in Latin.

Lots of awesome, cheap chocolate in Switzerland!

I love the beautiful paintings on houses in this city.

Art Nouveau windows in this centuries-old church, by French master Marc Chagall.

The Rathaus, or town hall.  We stopped in just to look at the decor, and were invited by the security guards to go up to the visitor's gallery and watch a session of the regional assembly in debate!  It was pretty cool, even though we didn't understand a word of what they were saying in Swiss German.  They were all very civilized, although a few people were reading the morning paper instead of listening to the speakers. Switzerland is a federation, much like Canada, and the cantons (or provinces) hold a great deal of power.  There is a lot of direct democracy in Switzerland, with many issues put to a referendum every year.  There is also no "President of Switzerland" - the parties take turns nominating someone to chair the cabinet.  Very unique and interesting type of government!

Some of the old shops maintained the tradition of having a picture of whatever you're selling on your street sign - in this picture it's the pretzel over the baker's shop.

 Here, it's a glover's shop.

The National Opera House.

Sailboat on Lake Zurich, with mountains in the background.  Almost everywhere we went in Switzerland was on a lake, in the shadow of the Alps.  

Ahoy!

   

Grossmünster cathedral, where the Reformation began in 1520 with a speech by Ulrich Zwingli.

I love the doorman's uniform in Cartier!  This street, Bahnhofstrasse, is the most famous shopping street in Switzerland, with stores by Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc.

 In contrast, the charmingly medieval Augustinerstrasse, which intersects it. 

 Old men playing outdoor chess.  

This delicacy, similar to the "macaroons" you find in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, are called Luxemburgerlis. They're a kind of desert sandwich: 2 crispy, light layers on either side of an icing filling.  They looked too pretty to eat!  We tried these at the Confiserie Sprüngli, one of the most famous confectioneries in Zurich.  Yum!