| |
 |
| On
the upper deck of the passenger ferry from Thalwil to downtown Zürich,
a thirty-minute ride. |
| (Beate
on the left; Irmi on the right) |
| |
 |
| Look
closely, and you can read the "Lindt Chocolate Factory" sign,
as we steam past. |
| |
 |
| A
couple of locals preparing their boat for the upcoming sailing season. |
| |
 |
| Someone
out for a little early morning exercise. |
| |
 |
| Still
on the ferry, approaching the Bürkliplatz in downtown Zürich. |
| (End
station, last stop, everyone off the boat!) |
| |
 |
| As
we wandered up the Bahnhof Strasse toward the main train station,
Norbert turned and |
| snapped
this shot down a side street: financial district on the left and a hotel
on the right. |
| |
 |
| Approaching
the Großmünster, one of two magnificent churches in downtown. |
| |
 |
| The
Limmat River originates as snow melt high in the Alps and flows into
Lake Zürich from the |
| south,
near the city of Rapperswil. It exits the north end of the lake in
downtown, eventually |
| merging
downstream with the Aare, which, in turn, empties into the Rhine River
above Basel. |
| |
 |
| A
small, really small sidewalk cafe. |
| (Okay,
technically, there is no sidewalk!) |
| |
 |
| Ron,
Beate, and Irmi, navigating narrow streets of "The Old Town." |
| |
 |
| Smart
bird! |
| |
 |
| Limmat
River and "The Old Town," as seen from a park high above in
the Lindenhof. |
| |
 |
| Beate
and Irmi, wandering down from the Lindenhof, en route to "The Old
Town." |
| |
 |
| This
store sells nothing but "Gummi Bears." See the Gummi
Bear "pizza" in the upper left? |
| (That
"pizza," according to the sign out front, costs the equivalent
of about $21.00) |
| |
 |
| This
is H. Schwarzenbach, one of the oldest stores in Zürich.
Obviously, they offer a |
| little
bit of everything. I enjoy visiting just for the smell, which,
thankfully, still is free. |
| |
 |
| Irmi
and Beate, at Conditorei Schober, struggling with a life or death
decision: which cake to |
| order
with our coffee. Here, we took an hour's respite from the rigors
of window-shopping |
| to
engage in the time-honored tradition of afternoon "Kaffee und
Kuchen" (coffee and cake). |
| |
 |
| Walking
along the Limmat again. (The bridge in the foreground is where I
accidentally |
|
dropped two pairs of newly purchased shoes -- and felt obligated to dive
in after them |
| --
on the 4th of July,
2009, for anyone who may have read that story on my web site.) |
| |
 |
| Irmi
and Beate in "Shopville," located underground below the main
train station. For some |
| inexplicable
reason, a number of successful authors have used this setting for chases
and |
| shoot-out's
in spy novels. Trust me on this, nothing that exciting ever
happens down there. |
| |
 |
| Still
underground in Shopville, we have moved to the chocolate store "Sprüngli"
(175 years in |
|
business), a daughter company of Lindt Chocolates. These
confections, called"
Luxemburgerli" |
| (Luke's-oom-boo-ur-grrr-lee),
are approximately one and a quarter inches in diameter and, as |
| one
can see, come in various flavors. Unfortunately, they are extremely
fragile and go bad in |
| three
days, so they must be eaten very quickly. Place one on your tongue
and press it against |
| the
roof of your mouth, and . . . it melts . . . straight into your
bloodstream. Pure decadence! |
| |
 |
| Still
at Sprüngli, this is my all-time favorite cake -- orange cake. |
| (Sorry,
Aunt Virginia, but it tops even your world-famous pound cake!) |
| |
 |
| These
are not gold bars. Even better, this is pure one hundred percent
Sprüngli chocolate. |
| |
 |
| Still
browsing at Sprüngli, the strongest willpower melts in the face of this
display case. |
| |
 |
| We
took the cog-wheel train from the main train station to the |
| top
of the Uetliberg (Oot-lee-bear-g) (a hill by Swiss standards) |
| overlooking
Zürich. The platform at the top of this tower affords |
| additional
views in all directions. It is 150 feet high, and Norbert |
| and
I bounded to the top in 30 seconds without breathing hard. |
| (This
is a test to see if you are reading closely.) |
| |
 |
| Beate,
Norbert, and Irmi -- atop the Uetliberg -- with Lake Zürich in the
background. |
| Downtown
Zürich lies below and to the left, where the northern end of the lake
ends |
| (and
the Limmat River resumes its course). Lake Zürich varies in width
from one to |
| three
kilometers (.75 to 1.5 miles) and extends 37 kilometers (22 miles) in length. |
| |
 |
| This
is not a particularly good photograph, but one can see where we live
below |
| the
white arrow . . . and the relative proximity of the Alps in the
background. |
| |
 |
| Walking
down from the top of the Uetliberg to the cog-wheel |
| train
station. Do not ask what animal this is! A
combination |
|
moose and giraffe? It is a lamp post and it tells us only that |
| someone,
at some point in the past, had a great imagination. |
| |
 |
| Riding
the cog-wheel train from the Uetliberg
back down to the main train station, Mr. Karpinski |
| has
no doubt uttered a profound witticism, bringing a lovely smile to his
lovely wife's lovely face. |
| |
 |
| Passing
through the great hall of the Zürich Main Train Station, as we transfer
from |
| the
cog-wheel train to an inter-city express for the ten minute ride home to
Thalwil. |
| |
 |
| Irmi
and Beate on the train ride home (from downtown Zürich to Thalwil). |
| See
how clean, comfortable, and convenient public transportation can be? |
| |
 |
| Walking
home from the train station in Thalwil, this is one of two entrances to
our housing complex. |
|
| |
 |
| The
sun has set, dinner is done, and we stroll through the living room and
out |
| onto
our back balcony, . . . and reflect on a great day sadly coming to an
end. |
| |
| That's
all, folks. Adieu und auf Wiedersehen. |
| |
