Zurich 1

Largest city in Switzerland, located at the northwestern
tip of Lake Zurich, the 6th largest lake in Switzerland
with the 1st being Lake Geneva. Population of 380,500
people in the municipality and almost 2 million in the
metropolitan area. Official language is Swiss German, which
sounds completely different from both Austrian German
and high German (which people in Switzerland will speak
if you ask them to. Practically everyone knows English and
signs/instructions/inscriptions are often in German, French,
Italian and English.

Tall steeple to the right belongs to the Fraumunster, with

the largest clock face in Europe.

The double tower Cathedral is called Grossmunster and

in front of it is the Wasserkirche (water church). If you

cross the bridge Munsterbrucke (4 other bridges

also cross the Limmat to the old city), you get to the

Fraumunster cathedral which contains 5 amazing

glass stained windows and a rosette by Marc Chagall.

Other Chagall works can be found at the Kunsthaus just a

few streets right of the Grossmunster. I caught a Monet/

Van Gogh/Cezanne exposition. The line was really long but

I got to see some of their best-known works, including

Monet's 3 gigantic waterlily paintings.

I saw the Swiss Knie circus at the end of my trip. The

marquee was located right beside Zurichsee, outside

the city center. Sat in the 2nd row so performers

interacted with me a lot. The show, titled Imagination,

was given in German/French/Italian and made fun of

German, French and Italian people, which was hilarious,

and I got to see a ton of animals.

Swiss National Museum, across the street from the Hauptbahnhof.

Interesting sort of Art Nouveau facade. Shops are great

here, but I guess as one of the wealthiest cities in Europe,

that is to be expected.

Nice view beside The Haus Konstruktiv, which contains

the Rockefeller dining room.

The streets around the main train station are very busy,

especially the Bahnhofstrasse, a shopping street.

View from Lindenhof, a former Roman customs post and

the highest point in the Old City.

Walking up from Burkliplatz, berth for the Lake Zurich

boats.

Typical office building.

Closeup of the Fraumunster.

Closeup of the Swiss National Museum.

Opernhaus (opera house).

Prediger Kirche. Building on left is an old gild office. Bridge used to be named

vegetable bridge but it changed to city hall bridge (city

hall is on the right, outside the picture).

Swans...because the city is not pretty enough already.

View from Zurichberg, accessible by cable car.

My favorite city...I still have several places to go but Switzerland has a very distinctive, hard to define quality that separates it from the rest of Europe. If it were not chilly and the Lindt & Sprungli factory was open to the public, I would still be there right now, which would be problematic for several reasons. The surveys are right, the quality of life does seem to be ideal and many important people live(d) in Zurich. Beispiel, Einstein taught at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (designed by Gottfried Semper) and Tina Turner presently has a house there. Food is very expensive so I recommend subsisting on chocolate, pastries and coffee. Is chocolate in Switzerland really that good? Yup.

Salzburg 1

View from Nonnberg Convent. Maria lived there before

joining the von Trapp family. Once the home of 400 nuns,

26 live there now.

Several churches and bell towers throughout Salzburg.

Salzach river, tours offered on boats specially designed

for it.

Views on the way from Salzburg to Mondsee. The water

becomes a lot bluer than the water in the city. Mirabell Gardens. Mirabell Palace was built in 1606 by

Archbishop Wolf Dietrich. Salzburg was ruled for a long

time by Archbishops. This and several other design features in Mirabell gardens

were featured in the Do Re Mi sequence in the Sound of

Music. While some Austrians are familiar with the story

of Maria and the von Trapp family, collected from her diaries

written in German, most (you know who you are) have not

watched or do not like the Robert Wise movie based on the

Rogers and Hammerstein broadway.

The landscape in Mondsee. A religious Moon culture evolved

in the area 4000 years ago, with inhabitants living in houses

built on stilts around the lake.

Back in Salzburg, Hellbrunn Castle is one of the locations

used as the von Trapp house and current home to the

gazebo. The gazebo is now closed due to an unfortunate

accident. An 82 year old lady tried to reproduce the dance

sequence in "16 going on 17" and fell through the glass. Frohnburg Castle. The lake and mountain scenery, but not the

Castle, was used in the movie. Important lectures, including

one by Henry Kissinger, were given here after 3 harvard

alumini purchased it.

Mondsee church used in SOM wedding scene. Procession

up to the altar made to exaggerate its length. The 17th

century organ inside was used in wedding march.

Views from Hohensalzburg Fortress Views from Monchsberg Museum of Modern Art's restaurant/

cafe terrace. Amazing museum dug inside the mountain

with several works by Picasso, Mondrian, Paul Klee,

Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Joan Miro, etc.

Interior of Museum

The Hohensalzburg Fortress is the largest completely

preserved fortification in Central Europe, built in 1077.

It is accessible by foot or by taking Austria's oldest

funicular (1892).
Gathering of wine merchants and wine samplers.

You can see the city's landmark fortress on the right.

Outside the Mozart House (on the right)

Church bells every quarter hour.

Crossing on the Mozart bridge

Probably one of the best weekends of my life. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much and Mozart concertos are playing in loop in my head. I am very grateful and glad to have the chance to see all of this. The air in Salzburg is very crisp and clean. Even with eyes closed, you can feel the difference between standing on a mountain and standing by the river. The food was also great and you can get good beer from the Spiegl Brewery. The hills are alive with the sound of music and there is no shame in doing very touristy things that make you happy and eager to travel more. There are no drawings in this post but next one will have only drawings. Next stop is the one I have been looking forward to the most...