December 30 - Last day around Zurich

Our last day started with David and I going out geocaching and doing an "adventure lab" (app associated with geocaching).  The kids chose to sleep in (first time we've had in a few days!) The lab takes you to 5 different sites near each other and you have to complete the answer to a clue to get the next clue.  They usually have a little bit of history linked with each site.  This is the south door to the Grossmunster church.  I'm pointing to the image of Zwingli feeding the poor.  The question was what was the row and column for this image.  The door is relatively new, dating to 1950.

Here is a statue of Zwingli (with his sword and bible)

The Rathaus had windows with gold cover grills.  How many clovers are on the building?  184! We had to count each window x 8 clovers each. 

The eaves of the Rathaus were cool - blue with gold stars painted on them.

There were a few swans swimming in the river.

Beautiful view and hardly anyone on the street at 9;30 am. 

We walked through an artsy district with a lot of galleries.  This picture particularly caught my eye. LOL.

The small alleys were still decorated with pine and lights.  Quite charming.

 Small Christmas trees in front of many businesses. 

Saw the artsy kleenex box that was fun :)

Part of what I like about Switzerland, beyond the beautiful mountains, is the tidy culture.  These street sweepers just exemplify this for me.  We take care of things and things are done well and on time. 

We enjoyed a really nice lunch - The plan had been to get cheese and chocolate fondues to finish out the trip, but chocolate was not an option and we had already had cheese, so we just got cheese bread with toppings.

We spent the afternoon in the Landesmuseum in Zurich.  Basically history of Switzerland and Zurich.  A very well done museum with lots of touch screens and interactive exhibits (all in 4 different languages). At times I think it assumed a little more basic history on the part of the reader than I had, but still very enjoyable.  Above is one of the early Confederacy alliances between three different groups.  Each attached their seal to the document.  Below is one a few years later with 19 different seals attached.

Above:  fashion statement from the 1500's.  

Below fashion statement from the 2000's.  Made of Urethane, polyester, velvet and plexiglass.  Ugg!

I was fascinated by the history of this 5 panel mural.  It originally contained the story of several saints of the city who were tortured and martyred.  It contains a historical snapshot of the city features dating to the early 1500s.  However with the reformation, the artist was ordered to remove the saints from the pictures, so he painted over them (and chopped several inches off the three panels on the right).  When the photos are xrayed (below), it reveals the original images under the newer cityscape. 

The xray also revealed that the faces of the saints has been scratched through (like cutting a canvas, but this was on a wooden panel). The panels were later restored to close to their original. 

There were some marble statues that were saved by individuals who added them to their homes and renamed them.  Instead of Madonna and Child, one became "The White Lady of the House".

Below is a giant "who's who" of Zurich between 1490-1798

An up close shot of the wheels.  Each has a crest of the local person/artisan/guild member.

This tapestry had a cool interact screen that let you zoom in on it and told you about specifics parts of the scene.  This depicts Louis XIV and the Swiss ruler signing a treaty.  The contrasts between the Swiss dressed simply in black and the radiance of the French court are stark. 

Beautiful end of the day.  Everyone was standing on a bridge capturing this image. 

December 29 - Travel day back to Zurich

Today was a travel day back to Zurich.  We took the intercity train past Lake Thun to Bern and then on to Zurich.  These are doubledecker trains that move at pretty high speed when not in the mountains.  At one point we were up to 111 mph.

Lake Thun

We arrived at the train station, which was huge!  At least 42 tracks according to the signs.  Its a double level station with tracks up and down. There is essentially an entire mall on the top level. Crazy. We walked about 10 minutes to our airbnb.  We had had some concerns because it had gotten some back recent reviews and our communication with the host was spotty and unclear.  We arrived early and they stored our bags for us as they finished cleaning, so we went walking.

Grossmunster church in Zurich.  We picnicked on the river front then went in.  People who were walking by kept giving us double takes, like they'd never seen anyone eat crackers and cheese before.  Not sure why this attracted so much attention.  When I was hear last summer, lots of people were picnicking.  Maybe its unusual seasonally?  The cool weather doesn't seem to slow down the city life.  Lots of people out on the streets and even some people sitting on the street in cafes.  I saw one lady working bare handed on a laptop (no gloves and it was 40 degrees) - no thanks.

The North and South bronze doors had lots of biblical stories depicted on them.  They date to 1935 and 1950. 

We got to go upstairs to the organ level.  It was cool to see, but wish I could have listened to it. This is a new instrument, installed in 1960.

This is Urlich Zwingli's home church.  He was a Swiss theologian and major figure in the Reformation.  In 1524 the City council ordered the removal of all images of saints from all churches in Zurich.  The church was stripped bare of all saints and icons and 'idols' with the arrival of the Reformation.  Its a classically bare protestant church. Zwingli's tomb is in the church. 

These were seats in the side aisles on the 2nd floor.

The tree was pretty upfront.  The only stained glass in the church is up front and was installed in 1932.

The tower was open to climb to the top for a great view of the city.  I think there were 187 steps and they were STEEP!

View of the lake to the south.

View of the river Reuss to the north.

This is the 2nd tower.  Both towers were originally wooden, but they burned in 1763 and these two newer ones were completed several years later. 

I liked this angle with the smaller steeple above the alter area of the church visible through the balustrade.

The church also houses a bible collection that dates back to the early 1500s.  Nearly every bible that was printed in Zurich between 1524 and 1798 are in the collection.  The printing press allowed more people to read the scriptures for themselves and Zwingli and others translated the bible into German for the first time. 

There is something pretty amazing about staring at a book that is 500 years old. 

This is an image from the times that showed the striping of the church and burning of many of the statues of saints.

The roman numerals caught my eye.  We are so used to seeing MCM or MM in roman numerals.  MDXXV = 1525.

This is a statue of Charlemagne (Karl de Grosse) dating from 1450.  It used to be on the outside of the church, but has been removed and placed in the crypt.

There are very faint paintings on the walls in the crypt that date back to 1500. 

This was a very nice nativity set out on the side aisle.

Side view of the Grossmunster

After visiting Grossmunster, we wandered down the small pedestrian streets of the old city, doing some window shopping.  Lots of antiques, bookstores, and home decor stores (of the very pricey kind).

One store had a lot of classic children's stories.  I thought this was cute that Pooh Bear is Pu de Bar. 

There were still a lot of Christmas lights up .  I found all the gifts decorating the balcony of this hotel (along with a large cow) pretty fun!

The small streets were lined with live Christmas trees that were placed in front of various businesses.  I think I read a sign that said they were part of a city project.  Very festive. 

Lots of people out and about.  Classic image of the old city.

Burger King wasn't so classic. 

The kitchen and dining area in our last airbnb - very tight quarters.

Adam could not even stand up fully under some of the support beams.

Nice bathroom.  The window was clear glass but looked out on a wall that was about 2 ft from the window. 

I think this dates from the 1980s?  Probably the buzz-in for the front door of the building.

This bedroom had what appeared to be a new shower stall in the corner of the room.  A little unusual, but nice if you were sharing the space with others and needed an extra bath.