After breakfast at the Kameha Grand, we headed out for our last full day of the trip. We took the tram to Tiefenbrunnen, by Lake Zurich, and walked back to the Altstadt. We visited the Chinese Garden on the way as well as the large Wienachtsdorf, a Christmas market. We walked through the Altstadt, visited more markets, and saw the evening’s Singing Christmas Tree performance before walking around the city a bit more.
Morning
After waking up at the Kameha Grand in Zurich, we headed downstairs for breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant.
This odd horse shelf is at the entrance to the restaurant.
We headed outside without too much of a plan other than to walk around Zurich a bit more and to try and check out some more Christmas markets. This was the hotel’s confusing entrance as we headed out to the Glattpark tram stop.
There’s nothing of much interest near the hotel as a tourist. It is a convenient location though near a tram line as well as the airport.
We took the next tram to Central, a trip that takes anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes depending on the specific tram line taken. We noticed this tram decorated with a crash test dummy.
Central is located at a big intersection where six roads meet, just across the Limmat from the Hauptbahnhof. There are four separate platform islands from which you can board various trams going down five of the six roads here.
Lake Zurich
We ended up taking a tram to Tiefenbrunnen, the last tram stop along the eastern shore of Lake Zurich and adjacent to a S-Bahn station. The large historic building on the other side of the tracks is the Mühlerama. It is a museum located in the Tiefenbrunnen mill. Flour is still produced here today in this over 100 year old building.
We crossed the street to reach the eastern edge of Lake Zurich. Although the weather was generally overcast skies, we did see some rays of sunshine shining through the clouds!
We started to walk along the lakeshore to the north, headed back to central Zurich. Technically, we walked to the northwest here as the lakeshore curves ahead. Up ahead, we could see the southeastern edge of a park that stretches to the northwest between the lake and the street we were walking along, the Bellerivestrasse (Beautiful Shore Street).
We walked into the park, coming across a stone sculpture.
Other than a bit of sunlight to the south, it was kind of cloudy and a bit unpleasant where we were.
It turns out that this is an outdoor swimming park called the Strandbad Tiefenbrunnen (Deep Well Beach).
As we continued to the south, we saw a diving board up ahead!
There was a pond along with what seems like locker and changing facilities in the background.
We walked over to the diving board to take a closer look. We’re definitely not going to be going into the water today!
There were some platforms offshore in the lake. Perhaps a place to get out of the water and relax in the sun during the summer?
We also saw what looks like a circular boardwalk on the lake to our west.
We went for a closer look. It seems like a protected swimming area?
It turns out it has a wooden floor! This is basically a swimming pool in the lake! We walked around the wooden walkway that surrounds the pool.
Just to the west, we saw what is probably a water slide as well as a plain old slide leading into the water.
Looking to the south, a familiar view with the continuously present crepuscular rays coming down from the sky.
We returned to land to continue walking to the west. This area, by the slides, seems to be shallow water with the signs indicating it is deeper beyond. There is a two fish sculpture in the water which looks like it may be a fountain.
As we continued to the west, we noticed a potential problem. We saw a fence ahead of us!
We tried to see if we could go around the fence by the lake but unfortunately could not. It turns out that this swimming facility is not free during its business hours. There seemed to be limited entrances and exits and none of them were open due to the construction other than the one we came in by at the southeastern end of the park!
So, we had to backtrack to where we entered so that we could walk along the street by the park’s northern edge.
After passing the western edge of the park, we turned to our left to continue on where we would have ended up if we could have simply gone straight through the fence that was blocking our path. We walked by a restaurant with a Land Rover or something similar out front.
The park continues on by the lakeshore here, or probably more accurately, another park begins. We passed by this sculpture which is actually labelled on Google Maps as the Weibliche Figur (Female Figure), a monument to Hildi Hess. This sculpture actually seems to be titled Rhythm and is by Hildi Hess. At least Google Maps helped us get more information about this sculpture and its creator!
This sign near the sculpture shows the various creatures that inhabit Lake Zurich. The crustaceans at the bottom right are all types of crayfish. According to Wikipedia, the Signalkrebs is a species of crayfish native to North America and is an invasive species here.
We crossed over the Wehrenbach, also known as the Hornbach, a stream that flows into the lake here. Mallards were congregating at the mouth of the stream.
Up ahead, we saw a metal sculpture that seems like someone threw together a bunch of mechanical parts. This is the Heureka, a kinetic sculpture created by Jean Tinguely. It was originally made for the Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne, which seems to be Expo 64, but ended up here in Zurich. It is described as being in operation from April through October three times a day with an eight minute runtime.
We decided to walk inland a bit to find the Chinese Garden. It should be somewhere here. But clearly not right here!
We came across a monument to Alberich Zwyssig, a monk the composer of the Swiss Psalm, the Swiss national anthem!
We soon found the southern corner of the Chinagarten!
The garden apparently sells Chinese takeout. The ratings are pretty bad at 3.2 on Google Maps.
We found the entrance to the left of the takeout area. Entrance was free, though there is a security guard who basically tells you to not do anything stupid.
We walked through the gate and into the garden. What is probably best described as a grotto was directly ahead.
The central feature of the garden is a pond with various structures around it. This garden was a gift from the Chinese city of Kunming in Yunnan as they have a sister city relationship with Zurich.
The hexagonal pavilion in the middle of the lake features a dragon at the center of the ceiling.
The pavilion has a beautiful view of the hall on the southeastern side of the pond, though it probably looks a bit nicer when there are leaves on the trees.
The grotto seems like it resembles stone formations in Yunnan.
Bridges cross over the pond to provide access to the hexagonal pavilion at the center.
We noticed these small flowers that looked very much like cherry blossoms. There are species of cherry tree that bloom in the fall.
We walked to this two story hexagonal pavilion at the northern corner of the garden.
From there, we walked over to head to the hall at the southeastern edge of the garden. There are covered passageways on either side. Upon entering the covered passageway on the north side, we looked up to see art consisting of what looks like a crane holding what seems like some sort of plant. This reminds us of the coat of arms of The Hague, which we saw recently on our trip to the Netherlands. There are other details on the ceiling as well, particularly the scenes on the sides.
Looking down the passageway, we can see more scenes painted above.
The passageway has surfaces that seem like they’re intended as seating?
We continued past this small bamboo grove.
We walked over to enter the hall.
It looked like the seats were available for sitting, though we weren’t really sure about that. Is this a space to be used or a space to be looked at?
The art on the ceiling here depicts a peacock. And like the other ceilings we’ve seen here so far, there were various scenes drawn on the sides.
The entrance doors had some scenes on them as well.
After we went back outside, we noticed that there were fish in the pond.
From the front of the hall, we looked upon the six sided pavilion in the middle of the pond as well as the adjacent stone bridge.
A look at the covered passageway to our right, where we came from.
We decided to backtrack to visit the outdoor area where we saw the bamboo earlier as it seems to be the only way to reach the outside area around the hall.
There wasn’t much to see.
This rear entrance to the hall was closed. When we were inside, these doors were behind a wooden folding screen.
The elaborate corner area of the ceiling in the outdoor passageway as we headed back.
We returned to the entrance gate to head back out and continue on our way.
We exited the garden and continued walking through the park. The odd looking modern building ahead is the Pavillon Le Corbusier. It was the last building designed by Le Corbusier, a Swiss-French architect, and is currently a museum. Le Corbusier was one of the architects responsible for the UN Headquarters in NYC.
We returned to the edge of Lake Zurich near a sculpture of a woman sitting on a bench. Trying to find out more about this sculpture has failed.
We resumed walking northwest along the lake’s shoreline.
The building in the background had an interesting appearance. Also, the stone platform in the foreground is a bit odd.
We walked past a very modern looking building. It seems like it might be an office building. It is still under construction on the current Google Maps satellite view so it is likely relatively new.
A weird, and rather large, sculpture! What is it supposed to be? Luckily, there was a small concrete block on the ground with an identifying plaque atop it! This is Sheep Piece by the English artist Henry Moore. This sculpture, consisting of two bronze pieces, actually exists in three sizes. This example here is one of four full sized copies created from a plaster model. The other three are in England, New York, and Missouri.
Not far from Sheep Piece, there is a small point of land that juts out into the lake a bit. From this vantage point, we were able to see central Zurich to the north.
Just to the north, this little piece of land was for some unknown reason really popular with the birds. We saw various ducks, lots of gulls, and even a heron and a swan! It was also extremely windy at times. The gulls in particular would face into the wind when it blew.
The grassy park ended as we continued to the north. It was replaced by a nice walkway with very neat rows of trees.
The view looking back with crepuscular rays still coming down from the sky to the south.
Ahead, the metal railing was replaced by some large concrete planters, small wooden fencing, and lakeside benches. This must be very pleasant in the other seasons!
As we continued, we came across an anatomically correct male statue on a pedestal. It depicts David of David and Goliath with Goliath’s severed head. It was created by Swedish artist Ivar Johnsson in 1921.
We walked away from the lake and took a look at the front of the Opernhaus (Opera House).
The large public square in front of the Opernhaus was home to the Wienachtsdorf (Christmas Village), or more formally, the Zurcher Weihnachtsdorf am Bellevue. This is one of the larger Christmas markets in Zurich.
It was time for some snacks as we have been walking around all morning! We started with a stand with a kind of pie, similar to a British meat pie, from the Canton of Valais. It had raclette, leek, apple sauce, and some other ingredients. It was good and not something we’ve had while in Valais before.
We also had a pastel de nata (egg custard) with portwein (like it sounds, port wine) in the custard. It was just ok.
We got some fried shrimp wrapped with (potato?) noodles. They were excellent, though not really Swiss.
We also got a Berliner, basically a jelly or jam filled doughnut, with raspberry inside. We didn’t really encounter the filling until eating about half of it as it was more on one side. A bit sweet.
Apparently Jack Daniels is popular here in Zurich?
The market has a tall Christmas tree.
We noticed this seating area by the northern corner of the market. The sphere at the center looks like it is for burning wood for heat. And of course, wood is provided!
Just to the north, we visited Sternen Grill. This restaurant serves St. Gallen bratwurst, a specialty of the area around St. Gallen which is to the east of Zurich. It was very good and the although the bread roll had an extremely hard crust it was soft on the inside. They do have a dining area but we got ours to go as it was faster, though there was still a queue.
We were at this intersection yesterday!
Altstadt
We ended up initially walking the same route that we walked yesterday while on the east side of the Limmat, but in reverse. We walked to the north along the Oberdorfstrasse and then the Münstergasse once we passed by the Grossmünster. We didn’t walk on the Münstergasse yesterday as we were walking by the Limmat in this area. We walked by several small Christmas markets, some of which we saw yesterday.
This fountain is the Stüssibrunnen. The fountain, along with the Stüssihofstatt where it is located, is named after Rudolf Stüssi, a mayor of Zurich during the 15th century. He died while defending the city during the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl.
We spotted a blue cow and many presents at a small hotel.
We continued walking north.
We ended up next to the Limmat by Central, the same place where we switched trams in the morning today. We took a photo from this same exact perspective yesterday as well.
We crossed the street to take a look at the view to the north. The large tower is part of the Landesmuseum (National Museum), right next to the Hauptbahnhof.
The Hauptbahnhof is supposed to contain a very large Christmas market. We missed it when we passed through on our way to Zurich two days ago.
We didn’t really photograph the actual market, however, parts of it appear in these photos that we did take of the Hauptbahnhof’s interior. We hadn’t walked into this cavernous room when we were here before.
This particular market is known as the Christkindlimarkt and contains more than 100 market stalls. We ended up walking through it all.
We decided to try a cannoli with a pistachio filling. It was very good!
We also got Öpfelchüechli, basically, fried apple rings that have some similarity to American onion rings. They were good and not nearly as sweet as expected, though it would have been nice if there was more apple inside the batter coating.
We headed back outside, walking by the statue of Alfred Escher, which we saw yesterday.
We continued to the south, passing by the Augustinergasse again.
Like yesterday, we saw the Jelmoli Märlitram! Just a quick phone snap as it passed by.
We saw Santa Claus giving out candy to children! We’re not sure if this is some sort of authorized Santa Claus or just some random Santa Claus.
This octagonal passageway is A Touch of Lucy, a crystal art installation that is here for the Christmas season. Lucy is the name given to the lights that hang above the Bahnhofstrasse, the road we are on that leads to the Hauptbahnhof. It is supposed to light up when operational from dusk until midnight. Unfortunately, it was not dusk yet so we mainly just saw mirrors and hanging crystals.
This fountain is the Junobrunnen. Juno is the Roman goddess of love and marriage. Her symbol is the peacock, which explains the bird that is with her atop the column.
As we continued walking to the south, we saw the Fraumünster, which we visited yesterday, on our left.
The view in the opposite direction was of the Paradeplatz. This location is described as something of a financial center where Swiss banks had their headquarters. The large building on the right was the headquarters of Credit Suisse, which was acquired by UBS. The large building in the background which is under renovation belongs to UBS.
We noticed a post horn on the side of a building and we are on the Poststrasse. Was this a Swiss Post building?
We briefly walked into a courtyard. It had a fountain and some shops.
We noticed this lights on an overhang above street level. They are attached to tree branches that have been cut and placed up there!
Yesterday, we visited the Schweizer Heimatwerk location by the Limmat which appeared in an episode of the K-Drama Crash Landing on You. We failed to visit that location yesterday but today we visited this other one that we happened to see. They sell lots of interesting Swiss made gift items.
We got a pink Alpinte glass from the shop. We first encountered Alpinte two years ago when we were at Zermatt as they had glasses with the Matterhorn in them. We noticed that Schweizer Heimatwerk had pink glasses of Jungfrau. So, we decided to get one as we haven’t seen the pink ones before.
We continued walking to the south until we reached Lake Zurich and the Bürkliplatz. The rather shabby looking rusty metal thing seems like maybe it generates heat or fire at night?
The sky was definitely clearer now compared to the morning when it was mostly overcast.
There was a bit of color in the sky as it was almost time for sunset.
We went back to the sculpture of Ganymede, which we saw here yesterday.
We stayed here for a few minutes before moving on as it didn’t seem like we would really see much in the sky for sunset tonight.
We caught a tram to jump back to the north a bit along the Bahnhofstrasse, getting off at the Rennweg stop. We walked to the north, passing by the Jelmoli department store. We should have visited as it will be closing permanently in a few months.
Breitling had some amusing Christmas displays at their store.
Looking up, the sky was getting darker but the Lucy lights had not been turned on yet.
One of the special Christmas events here in Zurich is the Singing Christmas Tree. Every evening, until the 23rd, there is a musical performance here at this “tree”. The schedule varies depending on the day and different groups perform each night, sometimes with multiple groups in an evening.
We actually photographed a sign with the full schedule yesterday when we walked by the area, though at the time we didn’t see the actual performance area. Today, Friday the 6th, the Gema Bhinneka Chor (Choir) will be performing.
Soon, the performers with the Gema Bhinneka Chor started to arrive. We ended up pretty close to the front, possibly too close!
Its time for the performance to begin!
We weren’t sure how long the performance would last or how many songs they would sing. We ended up recording bits and pieces of some of the songs and longer portions of some others, somewhat at random!
After the performance was over, we headed back to the Bahnhofstrasse. The sky was now completely dark and the Lucy lights were on. They look more impressive in person than they do here in this photo.
We took some photos of the trams and the Hauptbahnhof like we did yesterday, except at night this time. We noticed that the city actually runs some historic trams, like the one in the last photo that is running on line #6.
The view to the south, away from the Hauputbahnhof.
This building had many lights of its own. And illuminated umbrellas up top! There seems to be a patio area up there, maybe a restaurant?
The empty Singing Christmas Tree, as seen from the Bahnhofstrasse.
We noticed this huge lighted display for Globus, a department store that originated in Zurich. The statue atop a pedestal is a monument to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. According to Wikipedia, he founded the Zurich chapter of the Illuminati. It seems he is known for his work in advancing education reform and helping to eliminate illiteracy in Switzerland.
We decided to walk to the south again to visit the Christmas market by the Fraumünster, which we visited yesterday. On our way there, we passed by the Paradeplatz. The former Credit Suisse headquarters building was illuminated in an orangish reddish color. The windows on the ground floor of the building held snow globe displays.
The view to the south, although we are not going any further as the Fraumünster is just a block to the east of here.
We saw the Jelmoli Märlitram again.
We walked by a Christmas display in front of a Blancpain store, a Swiss watch manufacturer.
Just a random store with some illuminated trees in front.
After arriving at the Weihnachtsmarkt in the Münsterhof by the Fraumünster, we got some glühwein (mulled wine). This is the only market where they seem to have their own special branded mugs. When you order a drink, the mugs are provided with a deposit. You can either keep the mug or return for your money back.
The market’s large Christmas tree was nicely illuminated.
We also a smash burger with raclette cheese. The beef patty was pretty mediocre but the cheese was very good.
Next, we decided to try some momos, Nepalese and Tibetan steamed dumplings. These are shaped like jiaozi, which means, according to Wikipedia, that these are probably Tibetan.
These are not common in the US but seem to be very common here in Zurich. The ones we had here had beef fillings which unfortunately was pretty dry. We only used a tad of hot sauce, which mirrors our momo experience in the US in that spicy means spicy and not watered down for the local population!
The market was extremely busy, much busier than it was during the day when we were here yesterday!
Looking up at the Fraumünster’s tower.
We decided to get one more snack, currywurst! Unfortunately, it was not as good as the ones we’ve had in Berlin but they were surprisingly spicy here!
One last look at the market behind us as we walked to over to the Limmat.
The Limmat is right by the Fraumünster. We went to the north side of the Münsterbrücke to take a look at the view to the east. The Grossmünster is on the other side of the river and appears to be glowing red from the light that is being projected upon the tree in front.
We decided to go onto the Münsterbrücke to take a look at the view over the Limmat from the bridge.
The view to the north.
There’s less to be seen to the south, particularly at night when the lake and mountains in the distance aren’t visible.
We photographed this view to the southeast mainly because of the illuminated stars that are atop one of the buildings behind the Wasserkirche.
The view looking back at the Fraumünster. The illuminated tower next to the church is the Katharinen-Turm. This tower is a temporary installation scheduled to remain until the 10th. It commemorates the 500th anniversary of Katharina von Zimmern handing over the Fraumünster to the city of Zurich. Katharina von Zimmern was the last leader of the Fraumünster when it was an abbey.
It’s not clear if the city’s webpage about this tower is temporary. Just in case, the English text on the page is below:
August 20 – December 10, 2024
In order to implement reformation peacefully and avoid a civil war, Katharina von Zimmern handed over the Fraumünster Abbey to the Zurich City Council in December 1524.
To commemorate this important turning point in the history of the Reformation in Zurich, a 40-meter (130 ft) tall art installation will stand next to the Fraumünster Church from August 20 – December 10, 2024. The tower, which comprises 29 steel rods, representing the 29 abbesses of the Fraumünster, serves to symbolically replicate the old, demolished south tower of the Fraumünster. The tower is clad in green strips of fabric, totaling 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) in length. On the strips are printed the names of 500 important Zurich women.
The tower bears the name “Katharinen-Turm” in memory of Katharina von Zimmern.
On our way back to the Kameha Grand, we decided to stop by the Coop Supermarket by the Bahnhofbrücke and Hauptbahnhof to buy more Swiss chocolates.
While waiting for the next tram to Glattpark, we noticed the windows on the east side of the Hauptbahnhof were displaying projected images.
The Landesmuseum also had images projected upon its tower.