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.