Zurich: a great city, rain or shine

Thursday 17th – Sunday 20th September
Zurich, Switzerland

We have a theory that it’s sometimes just good or bad fortune whether you fall in love with a city. Beautiful sunshine or a fantastic meal and your memories are positive. Too much wind and rain and you perhaps miss your chance to see a city at its best. 

Zurich was grey and rainy when we arrived on Thursday, after a 45 minute train ride from Lucerne. But there was nothing the weather could do to dampen our love for this city. And by our final day on Saturday the sun was shining, so we could see Zurich at its best. 

It’s easy to walk for miles in the centre of the city, with each turn offering another great view, interesting narrow street, or fascinating-looking shop. And our achy legs are confirmation that we covered a lot of ground in our three days there!

[Views of the city, below: view from Lindenhof; view of St Peter’s Church; Zurich Opera House; view of Zurichsee from Burliplatz; us enjoying the view from Lindenhof]

Macau Orchestra, Tonhalle Zurich
We decided to enjoy some of Zurich’s culture on Friday night. There seems to be a lot on offer, and the city is currently getting ready to host the Zurich Film Festival, which starts in a couple of days’ time. We got tickets for a concert at the Tonhalle Zurich. The Tonhalle is widely considered to have excellent acoustics, and was inaugurated in 1895 by Johannes Brahms. 

The performance was by the Macao Orchestra (on a European tour from China) with a Swiss soloist called Lionel Cottet on the cello. We heard ‘Dance of the Yao Tribe’, by Mao Yuan and Liu Tieshan (see below), Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 in A major. It was great to experience a full orchestra in such a beautiful concert hall. We topped the evening off with cocktails at a great bar close to our hotel.

Kreis 5, Zurich
On Saturday we decided to explore a different side of the city. Kreis 5, a short distance from the city centre, used to be the industrial area, but in the past few years has reinvented itself as a neighbourhood of funky shops and creative businesses. We particularly liked Viaducktstrasse, with great shops and a fantastic food market hidden under a railway viaduct.

Music of the day
This is a recording of ‘Dance of the Yao Tribe’, by Mao Yuan and Liu Tieshan, which opened the concert we attended at the Tonhalle.