After several changes of plan, Jan and I eventually decided to spend New Year in Zurich. We booked a room at an IBIS hotel and travelled there on 29th December. After checking in and dumping our luggage, we went for a cheeky Burger King before heading into town for a first look at the sights. It was dark by that time and snow was falling… prefect for testing how good my new camera is in not the best conditions 😉
While we were walking around, we spotted a pub that had a quiz on that night, so after stopping for a beer elsewhere (Feldschlösschen Amber is very tasty) we headed on over the the pub quiz. We didn’t do badly for only having 2 people, managing to come in the top 5.
The next day we went for a wander round Zurich, following a route that Jan had downloaded onto his phone. We started at the main train station, where a statue outside reminded us of why cities normally turn off their fountains in winter…
Then it was off down Bahnhofstrasse, along the River Limmat and up the hill until we reached Lindenhof, from where we had a view over the city.
Once we’d taken a few photos at Lindenhof and spent some time trying to catch perfect snowflakes, we headed back down the hill on the other side, passing St Peter’s Church and walking through some pretty streets before taking a break at the Sprüngli cafe for delicious but expensive hot chocolate.
Once we’d finished our hot chocolate, we headed back out into the snow. Our next stop was the Fraumünster church (literally “Lady’s Minster”). No photos were allowed inside, but here are some from outside:
After taking a look at the inside of the church with its famous stained-glass windows (by Marc Chagall), we walked down to Lake Zurich, which is where the fireworks would be the following night. A group of Asians were down there feeding bread to the gulls, which was quite a sight. So. Many. Gulls! There were also swans and ducks, including one very pretty green duck that I spent ages trying to get a photo of.
Once I finally managed to drag Jan away from the lake, we walked back along the river towards the Niederdorf, or old town, area and headed to the Grossmünster (“Great Minster” – note that in normal German the church name would be spelled Großmünster, but there are no ess-zetts in Swiss German!). Again, no photos were allowed inside, but we climbed the tower and I was able to take some of Zurich from above.
Once we’d climbed back down from the tower, out tour was almost done. All that remained was a quick walk through the old town and a glimpse at the Rathaus (city hall) before our tour took us back to Bahnhofstrasse, where the Christmas lights had now been switched on. Then we decided to build a snowman on a wall next to the city police station. We named him Travis.
Snowman built and duly photographed, it was finally time for a break! We went back to the Niederdorf and found a small bar/restaurant where we treated ourselves to a beer and some cheese fondue… which I forgot to take a photo of because I’m a bad blogger!
And that’s (more than) enough for one blog post, so I’ll save New Year’s Eve for the next one.
Beautiful! The first few photos feels surreal!
Looks like a charming city captured beautifully by you and your new camera!
Thank you! It’s a very quaint city – these photos show pretty much all of what there is to see.
Wow! What a beautiful (cold) place you have captured! Looks like you got a good camera 🙂
Better than my old one anyway. The zoom is amazing!
Very pretty pictures! I love that you guys made a little snowman! Too cute.
Thanks! I liked him too 😀
All these pictures are lovely, but my favorite is the iced over fountain!
Jan took the fountain photos 😀
So pretty and wintery!
It’s a really pretty town!
your new camera certainly takes great photos.Love the catching snowflakes one. What a fab place to spend New Year.X
I was amazed by how clear the snowflakes looked… I just had to try and capture it on a photo!
Such gorgeous photos!
I noticed you’re reading The Amber Spyglass – very good choice! ;D
I’ve been reading it for a while. It’s too big for my handbag so I can’t have it as a commute book! I’m really enjoying it when I do actually get a chance to read it though.
It looks so peaceful! Great photos, what camera did you upgrade to?
It’s a Nikon again, but a newer and slightly more expensive version. I would have to look up the precise model.
Looks like your new camera takes some excellent shots! 🙂
It’s certainly better than my old one! Now I just need to figure out how to use it 🙂
You are doing well so far! 🙂
The city looks so pretty in the snow! I love all the birds! Thank you for sharing the pictures!
The birds were adorable!
Oh my word your photos are just amazing! And making me so jealous… I WANT SNOW!!!! Zurich really does look pretty (especially in the snow). Also looks like you had a great time!
Such magical views in the snow – what a wonderful trip!
The snow was gorgeous. Thanks for stopping by.