Day 1 : Zurich

After traveling for almost 24 hours we arrived at our hotel in Zurich in the late aftenoon of 5 July 2011.  After taking a shower and relaxing a bit (and some messages to South Africa) I was ready to see more of Zurich.  It took a bit of time to convince my tired mother that we needed to go out for a walk.  It was about 17:00 and there was still time to see a lot of Zurich.
Our hotel was in the old part of the city, close to a lot of the tourist attractions. We did not even have to walk far to get to the Grossmünster ("great minster") is a Romanesque-style church.  The church has big, heavy bronze doors.  We went inside but no photos were permitted.  Every time I enter one of these old churches the beauty and the fact that they all look different surprise me.  The church has lovely stained glass windows and it was very quiet inside.

Zurich, Switzerland
Grossmünster

Zurich, Switzerland
Mom in front of the bronze doors of the Grossmünster
We continued to walk in the streets of old Zurich.  The buildings are pretty with flowers in the windows.  We found some benches next to the river and sat for a while to enjoy the tranquility of the water flowing in the river and swans trying to swim upstream to get to their resting place for the night.  And somewhere a church bell is ringing. 
Zurich, Switzerland
Limmat River and Grossmünster towers
On the way back to the hotel we passed the Rathaus or Town hall (built in 1694-1698) and the Fraumünster with its pretty tower.
Zurich, Switzerland
Rathaus
 
Zurich Switzerland
Fraumünster
At 19:30 we are back to the hotel but we were ready for bed.  We had trouble sleeping on the plane and we needed some rest before the next part of our adventure. 
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

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