Time Out
Streets of gold
RAJNISH WATTAS
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Though the roads in Zurich may ply over the vaults of the world’s richest banks, the city is much more than a bankers’ capital.
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Nothing quite turns the stodgy image of Zurich on its head than the fact that one of the world’s most rebellious art movements, Dadaism, had its roots in the city.
Photos: Rajnish Wattas
Low-rise profile: Traditional houses along the Limmat river.
As the Swissair flight from New Delhi hovers over Zurich in the early hours, peeping through the clouds is a lush green landscape, dotted with church spires and “cuckoo-clock homes” that still have their lights glimmering from the previou
s night. A low rise city with landmark historical buildings spreads out along a river and a lake, ringed by the magnificent, snow-capped Alps. The announcement of outside temperatures of 3-4 Celsius by the Captain sends a shiver up our spines, hailing from the land of the delicious spring of Chandigarh! However, as we disembark at the swanky Kloten airport with its state-of-the-art design and facilities combined with the proverbial Swiss efficiency, we forget all about the outside chill.
Help at hand
As the airport has a train station right below it, we decide to take a train to the heart of the city where our hotel is located. But the heavy bags and suitcases pose a big challenge. However, divine help is on the way. A group of athletic, Swiss women, also with heavy baggage, are on the platform and notice me and my wife’s plight. “Are you from India?” we suddenly hear a voice from the group. There couldn’t be sweeter words heard in our present tired, hungry and exasperated state of travel fatigue. Soon she is gushing about her recent exciting trip to Rajasthan. From then onwards, we are on a magic carpet that gets us transported to our destination: the main train station Hauptbahnhof.
Although one of the biggest train terminals, it’s spotlessly clean with elegant restaurants, kiosks and very efficient information offices, banks and tourism infrastructure. The station building is built in a mix of Baroque and Romanesque styles of great architectural elegance. But we are badly in need of some piping hot coffee. While paying for it at a kiosk, as I collect the change, a familiar face imprinted on the 10 franc note stares at me. It’s the design that has a picture of Chandigarh’s famous Swiss-born French architect-planner Le Corbusier on one side and that of the Secretariat building designed by him, on the reverse. I was so thrilled at the collector’s item falling into my hands, that I couldn’t resist pointing it out to the vendor that I was from that very town! As he understood little English and perhaps had more interest in bakery products than in architectural marvels, my excitement was lost on the man. But as a gesture of friendliness, he did offer me another crisp croissant free!
Quiet beauty
Trams.
The Hotel Marriott, where we are staying, is a modern steel and glass structure with a commanding rooftop view of the city. From its exclusive Executive Bar on the 14th floor, at night one can see the glitzy city defined by beautifully-lit church spires, dim lights along the river Limmat, fading away at a distance into the snow-capped Alps. The grand National Swiss Museum building, built in traditional chalet-style stone architecture, is brilliantly lit up. At daytime, the city skyline is one of traditional, medieval buildings with sloping roofs, painted in bright colours located along cobble-stoned streets. Elegant trams slink smoothly through the centre of roads like graceful eels in an urban sea of traffic. The clock-work precision and efficiency of the integrated city transport system of trams, buses, trains is the hallmark of Zurich’s tourism’s infrastructure.
Next day the young, ebullient receptionist at the hotel desk suggests booking us quickly on a city tour on the trolley bus! We step outside into the cold, windy day with our overcoats and mufflers, as the early February chill is still strong. And suddenly it begins to drizzle; unfazed, we are determined to see the city.
Zurich lies at the northwestern end of the lake Zurichsee, from which flows the languid river Limmat. Until well into the 19th century, the city was limited to this ancient site: the old quarters of the city, including the picturesque 16th and 17th century riverside guild houses.
Culturally alive
The historic Grossmunster cathedral.
Till you see it Zurich is a city that usually evokes the imagery of a boring banking capital. On the contrary, it’s one of the most quaint, romantic, arty and culturally alive cities. As we pass through Bahnfhofstrasse, one of the world’s most exquisite shopping streets, the designer stores of the world dazzle you. And you have the satisfaction of walking on streets of gold, as many of the famous banks have their vaults beneath the cobble-stoned streets!
The city boasts that the lake waters are so pure that one can drink it safely. We didn’t try that but certainly soaked-in the beauty of the landscape and the colourful marina lined with swanky boats, yachts and aquatic sports clubs.
Our next halt is next to the famous 13th century Fraumunster cathedral. The bus drives into a beautiful cobble-stoned piazza enclosed by traditional houses on one side and the magnificent cathedral on the other. In between you have the ornate old guild house from whose balcony Sir Winston Churchill had addressed the people of Zurich during his visit. As one steps into the dark, cool and majestically scaled interiors of the cathedral, the sunlit stained-glass windows, designed by the artist Marc Chagall in 1967, create a pristine ambience.
Between the guild house and the Frauminster is a very panoramic view of the river Limmat with a romantic, medieval bridge across the river. It takes you to the most conspicuous landmark of Zurich, the twin-towered Grossmunster cathedral, built by Charlemagne; the swashbuckling hero and Governor of Zurich in the 9th century. The cathedral has a great historic significance as it was here that the famous thinker-preacher, Huldrych Zwingli, began speaking out against the Catholic Church in the 16th century, thus bringing the Reformation and Protestantism’s influence to Zurich.
We get a taste of Zurich’s intellectual life as the bus moves into the university area. Two institutions of higher learning, the University of Zurich, maintained by the Canton and the Federal Institute of Technology, are located there. The academic standards of these two institutions can be gauged from the fact that Einstein taught at both the institutions. Many aesthetically designed, modern as well as traditional sculptures adorn the piazzas in front of the building facades. The one in front of the medical school, of the “Convalescing Man” is high art and especially etched in my mind.
Rich in arts
The city’s love for art, theatre and opera is evident from the various museums and centres for the performing arts located in Zurich. The most significant of these are Kunsthaus Museum of Fine Arts with its rich collection of Alberto Giacometti stick-figure sculptures, Monets, Van Goghs, Rodin sculptures and other 19th and 20th century art. Quite interestingly, there is quite an artistic connection between Zurich’s Rietberg Museum and the Chandigarh museum, as the latter regularly loans its rich collection of Gandhara sculptures and Pahari miniature paintings to the Swiss museum.
However, nothing quite turns the notorious, bland but badly mistaken, stodgy image of Zurich on its head than the fact that one of the world’s most rebellious, avant garde and deliberately nonsensical art movements, Dadaism, had its roots in the city.
Tonight is our last night in Zurich. At the dining table, over some wine and Italian cuisine of grilled fish and pasta, we strike up a conversation with a warm and friendly couple — and they are both architects living in the city! The gentleman is an urban planner who has retired from the city’s government and his charming wife is still in practice. And they both have been to India. It’s indeed a small and a shared world.
It’s also the essence of our Zurich visit. It was very y different than what we had imagined; yet so much like home.
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