Swiss flag, which you see everywhere, including on the lovely Swiss chocolates. Flag picture from Wikipedia.
Does the Swiss flag look familiar? The colours were reversed for the Red Cross, which was started in Switzerland.
Swiss Languages At Lunchtime
When I met a member of a multi-lingual Toastmasters club, in Singapore, I was so excited that my dream, already exists in Zurich, Switzerland. A club where they speak English French and German in one meeting, and you can speak in any of these languages and pick up the others.
No need to give up an evening out or with family. They meet every other Wednesday. So, if you are passing through Switzerland, time your visit for a Wednesday when the club is meeting. Email them in advance.
The club is a part of the worldwide Toastmasters International. So if you speak fluent French but only a basic German, as I do, a chance to brush up your German.
The club meets in Zurich, in Switzerland. I must admit, if you say Switzerland, I immediately think of Geneva. But you are more likely to land in Zurich airport, or to drive through it, before darting off around Switzerland by car or train. Yes, of course I have been through, and to Zurich.
Reminders About Swiss Cities
Zurich is the biggest city and you are likely to fly in there as we did and take a train elsewhere. Berne is the location of the government.
Zurich is on Lake Zurich in the north. You walk along the river and see swans and waterside restaurants. Hotels are expensive. We limited ourselves to two nights in the expensive entry city.
Restaurants are also expensive. Check out the chain restaurants. But my family frowned at the fast food places. Insted we economised and and opted for a sandwich and coffee at lunchtime, splurging on a more expensive dinner with fondue or raclette in the evening.
You could do things the other way around. Spurge in daylight by the scenic river for photos at lunch. Then find a cheaper out of town basement in the dark at night. it might depend on the times of day of your arrival and departure and whether you are in the city midweek or at weekends, or simply when the restaurants can offer you a table.
Fondue
Fondue is likely to be with bread, raclette with potatoes. I am a potato person, especially if I have had sandwiches for lunch. If you care, check ingredients before picking a dish or a restaurant.
We checked out menus in every place we passed. The walk along the pedestrian street, start (near the hotel) to end (by the art museum and Chagall windows in a church) was predicted to be half an hour to an hour, according to various guide books and people we asked.
However. we made repeated delays looking at menus and restaurants upstairs and downstairs rooms. This turned our predicted half hour walk into a three hour stroll including stops for window shopping and shopping. In addition we had half hour stops for elevenses, lunch and tea.
Fraumunster and Chagall
By the time we reached the Fraumunster with the Chagall windows, walked all the way around it to find the inside, it was nearly five, closing time. There was an entry fee. They did not want to let us in. We started to argue. Then we realised we would want to read the captions and leaflets and contemplate, so we had to go back the next day.
Fraumunster, Zurich, Switzerland, photo by
Fraumunster The church is called Frau (lady) munster (church)lady church not after the Madonna but because a benefactor built it for his daughter and church women.
Chagall Chagall's Art
If the Chagall windows, the tall triple windows, look familiar, it's because they resemble the blue windows in the Rheims Cathedral in France. Chagall was born in Belarussia to Jewish parents, but he went west and ended his long, productive life in France which is Catholic but officially secular.
Chagall windows in Rheims Cathedral, France.
You might also recall works by Chagall such as the windows in the hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, a major tourist site and sight. Over in the USA, see the Chagall in New York. Back in France, Chagall in Paris, and many more.
You pay a fee to see the Chagall's. A fee - for a church? Yes.
The advantage is that limits numbers. You can stare and stare. Each picture has different stories and the colours have different symbolism.
Art Gallery Monet's Water Lillies
Next stop in Zurich, for us, was the art gallery, to see more Chagalls and other world famous painters paintings, such as Monet's waterlillies.
The largest and most striking picture is the giant waterlillies which stretches wall to wall in its own room. Must be worth millions. My local supermarket charges a tenner (ten pounds sterling) for a little art work in a frame. Not surprisingly, guides are watching the paintings and you.
The amazing thing is that close up the painting is just a lot of blodges of muddled colours. I stood up close, muttering in English, "I am not impressed".
A guide approached me. No, he wasn't afraid I would touch the work. He helpfully explained, in English, "Follow me. Stand here by the door. Now look at the painting!"
Wow. What a difference! Step backwards (avoiding other visitors) until you are at the doorway - then, suddenly the whole picture is perfectly in focus. The colours are dazzling. It is day. It is heaven. It is invigorating. It is soothing. It is escapism. It is skill. It is creative. It is art.
I spent five minutes just staring. My family came looking for me. "What took you so long?"
I showed them where to stand. I stood long enough to add the picture to the art gallery in my memory.
I recall it as yellow, like Van Gogh's swirling picture, the most expensive in the world. But Monet painted many pictures of the water and plants in his garden, the same scene, at different times of day, different colours. So each one is a new experience. I had read about Monet many times. But this display of his paintings was the one which made the difference to me.
Waterside Options
From art to eat. Those Zurich restaurants and cafes on the waterside are more expensive. Worth it for a long, leisurely coffee, not for a quick stop, unless your aim is lots of souvenir photos of us having coffee by the boats.
Things to see: Walks along the pedestrian streets, either down by the waterside or parallel.
We stayed a couple of nights, giving us a day and a half. Make sure your walk allows time to visit the two main attractions, the cathedral with Chagall windows on the lower side of the river, and the art gallery, back across the bridge and uphill.
Summary of what to see:
1 Church with Chagall Window
2 Art gallery with Swiss sculptor and Swiss artist,
3 Walk along the waterside around the lake.
Optional extras:
4 Zoo. I have seen lots of zoos.
5 Corbusier
Last on my list was Corbusier.
We went to lok at the outside of the Corbusier house. Make sure to catch it on an open day.
His furniture is in the local museum which you can visit using the Zurich Card.
Transport
Trams - noisy and dangerous. I like trains. You could say the same of trains. But Swiss trains are like Swiss watches, precision objects.
We were very impressed by the trains. They run on time, no doubt timed by Swiss watches. The gate to the platform might close well in advance to prevent delays and undignified gallopping along the platform, so don't expect to rush up and leap on two minutes before departure, like on tube trains worldwide.
On our day of departure a band was performing a concert in the station concourse. The music echoed around.
On the trains we liked the hangers for your coat or jacket. Trains smarter than planes.
Shopping
Buy Swiss chocolate. Or Swiss army knives. Go window shopping for watches. Admire watches, and watch the prices and brands and maybe buy watches.
Knives might need to be posted or packed in main luggage rather than in hand luggage if travelling home by plane.
Events include Swiss National Day fireworks in August.
Local languages are Swiss German, French. Zurich is the German speaking area. Many people also speak English or Italian. Make time for that lunchtime multi-language Toastmasters.
Where Next?
Basel
On the north western border.
Berne
einsteinhaus
Einstein's home with his wife, where he wrote the theory of relativity, whilst working for the Swiss patent office.
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Berne
Geneva - water fountain, flower clock, Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum
Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva.
Lucerne - chapel bridge with water tower, covered bridge with frescoes and plaques inside.
Photo author Simon Koopman in Wikipedia.
Useful Websites
1 Tourism
Airline etc
https://www.swiss.com/sg/en/
2 Switzerland
https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-sg/accueil.html
3 Zurich
Handy and detailed information on museums and food.
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Zurich
wikitravel
https://www.zuerich.com/en
4 Chagall Windows
https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/attractions/chagalls-church-windows
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Chagall
5 Corbusier House & Furniture
Corbusier Furniture
https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/culture/museum-fuer-gestaltung-toni-areal#internal
https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/attractions/pavillon-le-corbusier#internal
tripadvisor
6 Multi-lingual Lunchtime Toastmasters Club
The International Lunchtime Toastmasters in Zurich
https://iltm.ch/
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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