Woke up to a gorgeous, sunny day. The weatherman had predicted rain today, but luckily they were wrong.

So on this perfect sight-seeing day, we were off.

Zurich is a pretty large city, but the old town is fairly compact and mostly flat. Our hotel is located on the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the main shopping and restaurant street that runs from the train station (Bahnhof) to the beginning of Lake Zurich, just a little over a mile long. It is the boundary on the right side of the river, with a few streets on the other side of the river making up the bulk of the old town.

We started out by walking up towards the two main churches that Zurich is known for – the Fraumunster and the Grossmunster. The Fraumunster is the church that gets visited the most due to the stained glass windows that were painted by Marc Chagall.

The Grossmunster is known by its twin bell towers.

To get to the churches, we weaved our way through the various side streets to get a look at some of the architecture and colorful squares. There were even a couple small parks. Considering the cost of space in the city, it was refreshing to see a little green space and trees along the streets.

Another surprise for us were the many fountains around town. Even more surprising was that the water was drinkable and was cool and tasty. Of course, if there is a longer incubation period, I’ll take that off and tell you about Swiss Hospitals.

My one disappointment was that neither of the churches permitted photos. I would have loved to show you the stained glass windows created by Marc Chagall. There were five large panels around the altar and then a large rose window above the organ loft. The Chagall windows were created and installed when Chagall was in his 80’s.

Besides the beautiful windows, the two churches were fairly plain inside. Both were victims of the reformation in the 1500’s and stripped of most of their statues and artwork.

Crossing over the bridge to get from one to the other, we had a great view of the boats heading up towards the lake. The water is so clear it’s amazing.

We continued walk around, but we were both getting hungry. Time to find a little lunch. There are many restaurants, of all types, in the old town. If you can’t find one that you like, you’re not hungry!

We found a cool little Italian restaurant with some nice shaded seats and delicious sounding lunch specials – and everything was homemade. Ciccheteria da Rosa was the name and it was just what we wanted. Good food, good Italian Rosata wine and reasonable prices.

Since my back was telling me it needed a rest, we completed our loop through the old town. You just never know who or what you’re gonna meet. Some people thrive on celebrity sightings, we have our own favorites.

We headed back to the hotel to rest up for a while and then later in the evening went down to the outdoor bar for a nightcap. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

We’ll be watching the weather reports, but tomorrow our Travel Pass kicks in so we are heading out on a day trip. Bring on the trains!