Zurich, Switzerland

We decided to spend the weekend in Switzerland, and headed to Zurich. I know what you’re thinking – how many countries can you visit in one trip?  Given the relative sizes of the countries, it was only ~750 KM (8 hours) to drive from Assisi to Zurich (which is a shorter drive than from Regina to Calgary).

We learned a couple of things before we left. The Swiss – Italian border is not as open as other country borders in Europe (because Switzerland is not part of the European Union). We had our passports ready but never needed them – the border officer waved us in but only to get us to buy the required “Swiss motorway vignette". This pass is required to travel on the Swiss highway system and costs 40 Swiss Francs (CHF) -- equivalent to about 50 Canadian dollars.

Once we had our pass, we were off. As soon as we crossed the border, the landscape changed to the mountainous scenery of the Swiss Alps. It was a stunning drive. We were able to travel along some pretty stunning valleys and lakes.  As we were on one of the main ‘interstates’, we also managed to drive through some pretty impressive road tunnels – one of which was over 16 KM long.
Once we arrived in Zurich, we stayed in the historic downtown of the city.  We walked around the area and did some window shopping which included looking at Swiss watches.

We saw a really nice church steeple in the distance with a very large clock face. It is St. Peter's church (St. Peterskirche) which was built on the foundations of earlier churches dating back to the 8th century AD. The steeple's clock face has a diameter of 8.7 m, the largest church clock face in Europe. For comparison, the clock faces on the Queen Elizabeth Tower in London (also known as Big Ben) are 7.0 meters in diameter. The bells date to 1880.


We also saw another striking church with two rounded towers in the distance. The Grossmünster ("great minster") is a Romanesque-style Protestant church. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche and St. Peterskirche). The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne himself. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220.
Location: Zürich, Switzerland

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