Today Zurich is a huge bustling city, one of the two major banking centers in Switzerland, the other one being in Geneva. A bit like Canada which has two language regions, Switzerland has a French speaking region in the west of the country, centered on Geneva, and a German speaking region centered on Zurich, and binding the two together is the capital city in the middle– Bern. Old Town Zurich is well worth an extended walking tour, and this post will be about it. Like Lucerne, the city has a beautiful lake right in the city as well as a river. And of course endless fountains like this one.
Towns in Switzerland pride themselves on their crystal clear and clean drinkable water, so you will see people drinking right from the fountain. One thing that many of these old cities do is ban big trucks from riding through the narrow cobblestone streets and alleys of the old town. Not only so, but Austria bans big trucks on the highways on Sunday when people are coming and going to holiday spots or visiting relatives. We could learn some lessons from these folks. Here are some street scenes from the old city.
Of course we stopped for food and beverages along the way….
I will give the Germans/Austrians/ Swiss this, although I am not real fond of their over-fried foods like Wienerschnitzel, their draft beer and various of their ‘wursts’ like bratwurst are quite good and their pubs are classic.
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