WILDERSWILL TO ZURICH
26 JULY 2014
Packed up after breakfast.
Said goodbye to the lovely and talented Gabi, and Fritz drove us to the
Station at Interlaken. Caught the train that was going through Bern to Berlin. Had 10 minutes there to change trains for one
to Zurich. Took some time to find the platform but got
there just in time to board the dining room car. This was a small section of the lower part of
a two storey carriage. It had a couple
of chairs and a serving station, which meant that Brian had to take our cases
upstairs and then down again when we got to Zurich.
He says he is definitely going to get a much smaller case for any future
travelling. I guess that means that he
won't be bringing the lap top next time, and that we will have to be travelling
to somewhere where only light weight clothing is required.
It rained the whole day, and when we got to Zurich, we started looking for the Hotel in
the rain. Brian eventually left me looking after the cases in a street
which we later discovered is in the red light area and went to see if he could
find it. But he got lost and had
difficulty in eventually finding me. I
couldn't believe that after about 45 minutes he still had not found the
hotel. He had asked several people, but
none of them knew where it was. I sent
him into a hotel opposite where I had been waiting with the bags, and would you
believe, it was next door! It is on at
the point of a triangle where two streets running in the same direction meet,
and the name of the hotel is covered by a tree.
After checking in, we donned rain coats and walked for about three
hours. We went back to the station to
check out about checking the cases in for the flight home
on Tuesday night, only to find that we can't do it in advance. However, we can leave the cases at the hotel,
which is good because the flight doesn't leave until 9.30 pm.
Zurich is a very nice city. The old
town is a network of narrow streets and lane ways where you come upon lots of
bars, cafés etc. The shops are interesting, and the shoe shops
of which there appear to be hundreds are to die for.
I told Brian I was going to
buy these for Diane, but he said that they would cost more than the limit on
our credit cards!
Took photos of the Churches.
It seems as though all of them have a clock on their towers. As Brian keeps telling me what else could you
expect from the people who invented time pieces.
We walked down both sides of the river and had coffee at the Rathaus
Coffee Bar.
Back to the Hotel for a rest and then out to a Spanish Restaurant
for tapas for dinner.
ANOTHER WET DAY IN ZURICH
- SUNDAY 27 JULY
Had breakfast at the hotel.
Went for a walk in the opposite direction to yesterday, then got back
into the old town where I took the photos of the shoes. Found ourselves in another red light area - I
told Brian that he seems to have a penchant for these areas. After getting back to the old town we went
into the Fraumunster
Church and the
Grossemunster Cathedral as well. Both
have some very impressive stained glass windows and impressive organ
pipes. The music they produce must be
pretty impressive as well because both churches have summer programs of organ
music, thankfully for Brian not until August.
We are staying in the Hotel
du Theatre which was originally known as the Theater am Central. According to the booklet in our room it was
the dream of the current owners' father an architect named Giovanni
Zamboni.
"His idea was to build a hotel which integrated art in its very construction, with sculptures at
the entrance and on the facade - a hotel with tales in its own theatre. In 1951 he built the Hotel with a theatre
hall...In the late 1950s cinema became more and more successful and threatened
the existence of many a small theatre.
A screen was erected in the
theatre hall of the Theater am Central in 1959, giving birth to the cinema
alba, today the art house alba where tales have continued to be spun in the
form of serious studio films."
The plays that were performed included works by French, German, and
English authors. the English authors I
recognised are two by Noel Coward, Private Lives and Quadrille, Candida by George Bernard Shaw, A woman of no
Importance by Oscar Wilde, Victoria
by Somerset Maugham.
The building was thoroughly renovated around 2009 and the aim was to
"reanimate with tales to be heard and pictures to be seen". According to the current owner, Livia
Brotschi-Zamboni, the result is a modern hotel in a building steeped in
history. A video artist, Ruth Baettig
used props and pictures from the theatre archives and the ones in our room 403,
are all from Coward's play, Quadrille. I
don't know that play but am very familiar with Private Lives, so if you ever
come to Zurich Robert, you will have to reserve one of the rooms ending in
10. I.e. 110, 210, 310, or 410.
Had dinner late this afternoon in a very nice Italian
Restaurant. The weather has improved
over the day, it is still grey, but has not rained since about lunch time. We are planning to go to Lucern tomorrow so
hope it continues to improve. Everyone
says Lucern is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
