Home to the modern day symbols of affluence, the SWX Swiss Exchange, the seat of World Bank, the UBS, the Credit Suisse, Swiss Re, Swiss Life to name just a few, my pre-conceived notion of Zurich was a mix of emotion and rationality, love and business. Thanks to the Yash Chopra movies and the beautiful Bollywood beauties serenading in Chiffons at sub zero temperatures in the Alps, the word Swiss in the mind and heart of an average Indian evokes love and beauty. The adrenaline starts running faster with the letter ‘S’ of Swiss!
The Zurich airport is a reflection of German engineering. Simple, precise & elegantly designed with no frills attached and in plain pastel colours, it did not take a genius in me to realize that Zurich has to be a German canton of the Swiss! It is said that there are two degrees of precision: there are Germans and then there are Swiss Germans!! And the world famous Swiss German marvel the Swiss watches too, were omnipresent at the airport. The beautiful and the most populated canton of Switzerland, Zurich, has about 400,000 habitants, 30% of whom are foreigners. The canton has an old and long history, but the short German name ‘Zurich’ is quite recent dating way back to the ninth century. And voila! we started our day.
Even the fast train connecting the airport to the city had her sense of humour. An announcement that the train had reached the central station was followed by the mooooo! sound of our bovine friends, the cows!
The Swiss central station is a symbol of Swiss opulence with its panoramic architecture and huge grandeur.
Landing in the city at 6 in the morning, we were welcomed by a cool breeze which was soon followed by clouds. Seemed like, looking at us, the two starry-eyed Indians, even the weather seemed to be ready for a little mischief, a Bollywood rain & dance number!
Our hungry stomach made louder noise then our greedy eyes to have a view of scenic Zurich. And we headed to the first café we found, situated right in front of the lac de Geneva. The chocolate croissant with the cappuccino café at that French restaurant was one of the most sumptuous breakfasts we ever had in our lives. Exorbitantly priced, but justified by its taste and the view, we sat there for another couple of hours, looking aimlessly at the drizzling rains and sipping cups of coffee!
Situated at the backdrop of the pristine, titanic and expansive Alps with the swift Lac de Zurich flowing through it, Zurich presents a divine experience. A touch of heavenly Alps with a feel of ethereal Lac de Zurich, the place evokes a sense of two worlds coming together: where the sensory perceptions of sight and touch unite to give an experience surreal. Founded from an ancient valley glacier, where the river Limmat is born from the Lac de Zurich and then follows her path to join Sihl. Schanzengraben7, another important water body, curvaceously meandering through the city, adds not only the mystic aura to Zurich, but also provides the much needed source of sustenance, water, to her habitants.
Content and serene with the beautiful beginning, we started our day. Like a pilgrimage, we made a quick detour to the usual touristy museums and churches.
A visit to the Swiss National Museum is like a quick, crash course about the history and culture of the Swiss. Another museum, Rietberg is a rich and interesting with a huge collection of oriental art works.
Situated at the heart of the city, the 1200 year old Church of Fraumunster has beautiful stained glass works by Marc Chagall and Augusto Giacometti. Another architectural masterpiece is the roman styled Grossmünster Church, that took around 120 years to complete.
But I was yet to discover the Bollywood effect! Enamoured by the lac de Geneva, I felt, the visit would be meaningless without a boat ride. Firmly seated outside, we sat on the deck to capture the moments, sing songs and feel the charisma of the place. The eternal hour long drive seemed dreamlike. The cool breeze, followed by splashes of dew drops and then intermittent sun, it was a melody of seasons, a meeting of the celestial Alps with the earthly lac de Geneva. It was our date with each other in the lap of nature. Stroked gently by the breeze of wind, the oneness with nature could not just be seen but also felt. It seemed to last forever!
On the way back, we decided to walk. The trouble was worth the visual delight that followed. Walking through the cobbled streets, crossing over bridges and drinking freely flowing natural water we were back rejuvenated.
We also discovered some artistic richesses of the city on the way. Zurich has been a capital of art, culture and literature. Many prominent composers like Max Frisch, Johann Heinrich, Füssli, Gottfried Kellera, Thortin Wilder and James Joyce were born or lived there.
My heart knew no joy to be in the beautiful city when I discovered that my revered author and the creator of my favourite 'Siddhartha', Herman Hesse lived here. I wanted to stay longer and with some sense of clairvoyance feel the artistic soul of the city. But in this long journey of life, it was just a little stopover. And it was time to run to the airport and catch another flight to another city..........
3 comments:
Hey kalpana, it was a real delight reading through your account - I could almost picture the descriptions! Hope to get thr in person sometime. For the moment its going to be NY / Boston - you going to any of these places in the next week?
*Sry had to delete the last comment to correct a typo :)
Hey Madhu! Thanks. Well I should be in US sometime next year... dont know exactly when! But I am leaving for Italy next month.. would you take a stopover someplace in Europe or is it a direct flight? And we MUST meet... :)
Nt an issue .. I can understand..
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