Zürich

On my return journey to Karlsruhe, I took a detour to Zürich, which is a 20-minute train journey from Brugg.

Since I had only a few hours to spare, I didn't get to see this city as much as I would like. After I left my belongings in a locker at the main train station, I followed the walking tour suggested in the map that I picked up at the tourist center. The route took me first to the sites on the right bank of Limmat, including the Großmünster (the view of the top of one of its twin towers is impressive), the building where Lenin once lived and Cabaret Voltaire (where Dadaism was born) at the nearby street, and the Opernhaus (opera house).


After a coffee and a small croissant at a local cafe ("wow" for the taste and "ouch" for the price - about US$7), I crossed the Limmat and enjoyed the tranquility by the pier at Zürichsee (Lake Zürich) before the arrival of a large tourist group. On the left bank, I particularly enjoyed Marc Chagall's stained glass windows at Fraumünster. They reminded me of the ones we saw at St. Stephan zu Mainz last year.

Before I headed back to the train station, I stopped by Paradeplatz, where pigs were once traded and is now the center of private banking in Switzerland. Not that I have any asset that is worth hiding from the US tax authority, but I wanted to get some good Swiss chocolate from Confiserie Sprüngli's flagship store. Here it is, the Truffes Grand Cru, which amounts to about US$2 a piece.

What I am impressed most by Zürich is how orderly everything is. No wonder it has been voted as the most livable city in the world this year (that is, if one can afford the high cost of living there).