I started off walking along the Limmat, heading downstream from about Hardturm, towards the Altstadt.
It was a pretty walk, one which I had never taken before, but also one that is much nicer than it would have been 12 years ago. I wound up in the little garden behind the Landesmuseum, and popped briefly into the shopping center under the Hauptbahnhof to pick up what would be the first of many additional memory cards on this trip. Not only am I an incessant shutterbug, but my new camera takes much larger photos than my old one did!
Back above ground, I started wandering through the winding streets of the Altstadt, with no particular agenda in mind other than just to see it again. In many ways Zürich had become as much a time for me as a place, and I wanted to bring it into the present tense of my mind.
Many views were just as I had remembered.
The old, arcaded buildings and the low bridges across the Limmat,
and the Lindenhof up on top of the hill,
with its enshrined Roman headstone, the oldest reference to "Turicum", the Roman name for Zürich.
I remember when T came to visit me on her spring break. She kept marveling- right along this street- about how adorable the shuttered windows were, and how old everything was. What surprised me was my reaction, and how much a new "normal" had assimilated into my head. Yes, of course everything is so old, and this is just what all the windows look like here- nothing noteworthy! Her reaction made me stop and be amazed at it all again!
It was unseasonably warm, and everyone was taking advantage of it, hanging out in the outdoor restaurants and sidewalk cafes.
OS and I did the same when we met for a yummy lunch of Rösti on Niederdorferstrasse...
...like Dad getting his Harold's chicken on trips home, how could I not get Rösti at some point during my visit? :)
After lunch I was on my own again to reacquaint myself with the city. I of course went up to the Polyterrasse, and enjoyed the view across the city to my Uetliberg.
The Polybahn would have to wait for another day...
I noticed little details I hadn't remembered or noticed before, particularly some language-based things. Check out the e/umlaut on this facade:
...and this adorable Isebahnli!
So Swiss. I love it! :)
One of the buildings over by Bahnhofstrasse taught me a valuable lesson. Fish kissing your ears are ticklish, but don't let geese do the same- they hurt!
There was a plaque on a building called "Elsässerhof." When I was living here, I must not have thought much of it, as I didn't know until afterwards that my German ancestors were Alsatian! After a quick visit the night before, however, I smiled when I saw the name.
This building was constructed in 1897 on the site of a medieval house (and restaurant/tavern, I presume), in which Alsatian wine had been sold since 1422. The current building is a contemporary of the cast iron facades of SoHo, and it shows.
I still love the streetscapes here, even though the colors are mostly very cold grays and whites. I remember how lonely and impersonal this palette felt on the cold, dark, cloudy days of February.
The Zürchers certainly can't be faulted for a lack of impeccable precision, though! :)
The Theaterplatz next to Sächseläutenplatz was a construction site, with a(n underground?) parking garage soon to be here. There was fantastic signage on the site fence, explaining the archaeological finds they've been coming across here.
The Swiss lakes were inhabited with pile dwellings from about 5000 to 500 BC. There are a number of these sites that have been preserved throughout six nations, and collectively they were designated a UNESCO world heritage site this year.
The underwater archaeology taking place here has made it a "competence center" - or better translated, "center of expertise" - for such work.
The 17th Century Baroque city wall is the next layer found here above the prehistoric pile dwellings.
The star-shaped city wall was begun in 1642 and enclosed new neighborhoods. The wall was dismantled, starting in 1833. Two remnants that can still be found today are the Bauschänzli, the little (man-made) island at the end of the Limmat which now has a restaurant on it, and the Schanzengraben, the remnant of the western moat.
After the dismantling of the city wall, a grain house was built on this site in the 1830s; it was replaced 30 years later with the first Tonhalle (concert hall) in the city.
In 1835 the "Minerva" was the first steamship on Lake Zürich. It docked here, and began service between Zürich and Rapperswil.
The Utoquai was jam-packed with people, which was hardly surprising on such a fabulously lovely Sunday in early April!
The view of the Alps from Bürkliplatz was stunning. The whole year I lived here I was on a quest to photograph the Alps from Zürich. Between the hazy overcast days that were so typical and the distance, I never was very successful in this; today, though, they were just as incredible as I'd remembered!
The Arboretum was very reminiscent of a beautiful spring day in Central Park...
...but that didn't stop me from finding a quiet shoreline spot under a tree to just take in the view!
I made my way back over to the Hauptbahnhof
then on to the Gessnerallee, along the banks of the Sihl.
This little reclaimed urban park was new since I was last here; if I remember correctly, there were barracks here!
The barracks have been cleaned up, and now house various theaters.
US cities should start adopting little details like this as we work to become more bike-friendly!
...although details like this aren't so useful, unless you plan on allowing bikes to be locked up to them! Ah, so tempting, though!
This stretch of the Sihl, once a backlot, almost forgotten area, can now be appreciated.
Next I made my way over to the Schanzengraben, one of the remnants of the Baroque city wall.
I found myself once again laughing at the way I wander around cities.
In an entire city of beautiful sites, where do I always eventually find myself?
Along a quiet stretch of water away from the crowds! :)
The Schanzengraben wraps around the Old Botanical Garden of the Uni Zürich, on a piece of land that was once one of the points in the star-shaped wall.
That's enough wandering for one day. Time to head back Central, meet OS for dinner, then call it an evening! :)
