Zurich

A couple of pictures from the train ride from Annecy to Zurich, the countryside is just gorgeous!

This year I had a very, very happy birthday.  My 25th birthday was spent in the wonderful and beautiful city of Zurich with the marvelous Madisons! This city is awesome it's big, it's gorgeous, it's clean and it is so fun! I woke up to a little present that bethy had wrapped so cute! Ah how fun!! She is so thoughtful.  Bethy got me such cute things from H&M including earmuffs, a beautiful scarf, adorable hair pins, and a fun orange headband!  I loved everything so much! I wouldn't wait to wear them all so I wore the scarf and the headband the rest of the day.  Thanks Beth and Reece!

Then we set out to explore the town! Our first stop was the Grossmunster, one of the most famous landmarks of Zurich.  Of course we couldn't take pictures inside (boo!) but my favorite part of the church were the agate stone windows.  Artist Sigmar Polke designed windows using colorful, thin slices of agate stones to create beautiful contemporary windows to decorate the church.  The great German artist Sigmar Polke (1941–2010), known as “the Alchemist” for his love of working with and combining unconventional materials, completed a large cycle of extraordinary windows for Zürich cathedral—his last great work—just prior to his death in June of 2010.

After touring the church we climbed up the hundreds of stairs in one of the twin towers of the cathedral to get a breath taking view of all of Zurich.

It was A M A Z I N G!  I literally could not stop taking pictures, what a stunning view

After we came back down from the top of the tower we headed across the river to the Fraumunster to see the famous Marc Chagall stained glass windows (the Fraumunster is the church with the green steeple that is in several of my pictures.)  Once again there was a lame no pictures rule so I couldn't take any with my bulky, unstealth SLR ... So I pulled a few images from the internet to show you how amazing the windows are.

After our tours of the two most famous churches in Zurich we set out to explore the little ins and outs of the city.  There was a picture waiting to happen at every turn, the whole place is so picturesque.  We also had fun window shopping and looking at all the fun fall displays that all the stores had designed.  One of my favorites was a classy little floral shops that had all sorts of autumn gifts and decorations.

Then it was time for lunch.  If you are in Zurich for one day there is only one place to eat and that is at Cafe Sprungli, it is just heavenly.  The Sprungli & Lindt (more commonly known as Lindt chocolate...) company began in 1836 and they have been making divine confectionery concoctions ever since. 

Intricate little chocolate chesnut

We got plenty of sweets from the very chic chocolate store before heading upstairs to the elegant cafe for lunch. Reece and I both ordered their roast beef club and it was to die, for it is definitely in the top three of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten in my life.  It had a tangy herb aioli that was nothing short of amazing.  Bethy got a couple of their exquisite tapas.  It was the perfect birthday luncheon.

To be continued ....