Our renovated hotel in Zurich was not only situated in the 'medieval old town' but was easy walking distance to the city and all of its attractions, so we spent a day familiarising ourselves with the area.
The water was crystal clear in Switzerland
A bridge of 'locks'
A miniature house, of course
The (original) breakfast room at the hotel
That evening discovered the Johanniter restaurant which provided delicious traditional Swiss food and beer. It was originally built in the 13th Century as two houses and later converted to a restaurant. The vaulted ceilings were amazing, and we felt blessed to be dining in such an ancient building.
As we soon discovered, Zurich isn't the place for vegetables - no matter where we dined, chips were the accompaniment and traditional foods included pork or veal schnitzels, macaroni and cheese and potato rosti (very close to traditional American hash browns); everything is fried!
We also soon discovered that Switzerland is the most expensive country we have ever visited. Coffee was often A$8.00 per cup and we even paid A$5.40 for public toilets!
Our first day trip was to the beautiful city of Lucerne, a 45-minute drive from Zurich. Penny had visited Lucerne in 1981 and still had memories of the famous Chapel Bridge and the old town. We took a one-hour boat cruise on Lake Lucerne and then spent a few hours wandering through the city.
Traditional Swiss houses, on the way to Lucerne
Lake Lucerne
(Photo courtesy of www.luzerrn.com showing the original paintings inside)
The Chapel Bridge over the River Reuss is 650 years old. In 1993 a fire ripped through it destroying all but the two bridgeheads and the water tower. It was rebuilt in 1994.
In the early 1600s artist Renward Cysat painted 158 paintings which adorned the inside of the bridge. By 1993 only 147 remained, and the fire damaged 110 of these. Unfortunately, two-thirds of the remaining 110 were either severely damaged or destroyed. Penny remembers the original paintings from her visit in 1981!
The Jesuit Church
Bakers making traditional Swiss plaited bread
The massive Lion Monument (currently undergoing maintenance) was carved into the stone in 1820/21, to commemorate the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution
Surely the amount of croissants we ate during our holiday would have equalled the size of this one...
The next day we took the Polybarn (funicular) up to the University of Zurich where we could view the entire old town.
We wandered about the impressive buildings of the University and then just happened upon the wonderful
Zoological and
Paleontological Museums.
All the writing at the museums is in German and Penny used her Google translate app where necessary. But we think this exhibit is supposed to be Australian and Tasmanian - do they think Tasmania is separate from Australia?
That night we were craving vegetables, and luckily discovered a cafe not far from the hotel that served a wonderful salad!
Our next day trip was to the mountain towns of Grindelwald and Interlaken which are a little different to the ones we known in Tasmania...
The view from our lunch venue in Grindelwald
A unique book exchange in the main street of Interlaken
Paragliding is very big in Interlaken. Groups of five paragliders are taken to the top of one of the mountains and then jump off, one by one. We watched dozens descending during the afternoon.
We had coffee at US restaurant chain Hooters where the waitresses wear very short shorts...
And of course... Interlaken was hosting The World of Dinosaurs exhibition, the same one Penny saw at the Country Club Casino in Launceston a couple of years ago
On our last day in Zurich we again caught the Polybarn up to the University of Zurich and this time visited Focus Terra, a museum that details (in German and English) the history of the Earth, space and the oceans. Absolutely fascinating.
Meteorite
The timeline of Earth from the Big Bang to modern day, spread over a 24-hour period.
Model of the Insight Lander which measures meteorite impacts, earthquakes and tidal forces on Mars
Our next adventure was the flights home... We left Zurich at 6.15pm on Tuesday 30 May and flew from Zurich to Dubai and then Dubai to Brisbane, arriving at 7.15am on Thursday 1 June, having spent 29 hours in planes and airports.
The 'silver lining' to our long and tedious trip home was being able to watch the State of Origin live on our flight from Dubai to Brisbane. There were many Queenslanders on board and there was much clapping and cheering as the Maroons won!
