Out of the Blue
You may think you know Zurich, the buttoned-down stronghold of the
banking and insurance worlds, but you're in for a surprise.
. Photographs by Julia Baier.
Some places get pigeonholed. They change dramatically over time but
are still saddled with a reputation that is no longer deserved.
Such is the case with Zurich. Its image has long been one of a
somber, sober, well-ordered city that is primarily a center for
banking and insurance. In reality, it has evolved into a hedonistic
place, bursting at the seams with things to do and to see, and is
home to a frenzied club scene that rocks from night till dawn.
I had the stereotype of Zurich in mind when I went there to find
out why a British firm - the Mercer Human Resource Consulting group
- has for five years running named it the most desirable city in
the world to live in. Why not
Paris,
Hong Kong, or San Francisco? I
wondered. I thought the answer would be suitably mundane - say, a
mixture of good health care, high wages, and the appeal of the
famously clean streets.
I'm no stranger to European cities and their desirability. I've
lived in
Europe for over a decade, mainly because I love the way
its cities are constructed. I miss
America, particularly the
baseball stadiums and the music and the wide open spaces, but I
can't give up Europe's courtyards and town squares. I've been
spoiled by places like Strasbourg and
Prague. There is nothing so
grand as to take a room in a city-center hotel and have hundreds of
restaurants, shops, museums, and beautiful sights like rivers and
cathedrals within a 15-minute walk. I don't need a car, never run
out of things to do, and often sense that something surprising is
just around the corner. Somehow, in spite of the 10-plus years I've
been in Europe, I never realized that Zurich is the ideal place for
people who delight in the style and ease of European cities. It is
compact and perfectly proportioned, and almost everything I need
is within strolling distance of my hotel room in the Old Town. The
few places that are farther afield are quickly reached by the
city's aging but easy-to-use streetcar system, which can actually
be used for sightseeing as well. But more important than its
convenience is Zurich's breathtaking beauty. In fact, I'm not sure
those are strong-enough words. Stunning? Gorgeous? Nothing seems
sufficient.
The city's allure nailed me the first time I walked across the
Munster Bridge, which links the two parts of Zurich's Old Town.
Everywhere I looked, I saw postcard-worthy vistas. First, the old
churches, gently lit in the fading evening light; then, the simple
three- and four-story medieval buildings in the Old Town that are
separated by cobbled lanes; and finally, the rushing glory of the
Limmat River, which leads to Lake Zurich and the
Alps beyond. Few
cities have such a glorious setting. But there was more than just a
historic backdrop - movement and action were everywhere.
This, I thought, is the perfect city: true to its past, quite alive
today, and sparkling with invitation.
Zurich is Europe's little secret, often visited for a day or two by
those en route to nearby ski resorts and mountain retreats. But
it's rewarding as a destination on its own and is perfect as a base
for exploring the nearby mountains and lakes. I found lots of
little human (and canine) touches - including the city's more than
1,200 water fountains, many of which are fed with fresh springwater
and most of which are equipped with bowls at street level so that
dogs can take a drink. Plenty of cities have rivers running through
them, but few besides Zurich have built lidos along the water, used
for
swimming and sunbathing by day and transformed into open-air
bars during the long summer nights. It is a tradition that goes
back more than a century and still provides relief during the
surprising midsummer heat.
The key to enjoying Zurich is to choose a hotel that is centrally
located in or right next to the Old Town. A simple one will do
nicely, though there are several swank and wonderful places to stay
if a splurge is in order. Then revel in the fact that every type of
urban pleasure the world has to offer is close by. Forget about
fondue and yodeling - the food here is diverse and delicious, and
the music scene is raucous, not pastoral, catering to the 24,000
university students who give Zurich its youthful flair. Even the
Zoo Zürich is unconventional. Imaginative zookeepers have
re-created a Masoala rain forest inside a domed building
constructed in what was an empty pasture adjacent to the rest of
the zoo, giving visitors a chance to experience the heat,
vegetation, humidity, and wildlife of an actual rain forest. I
found it exhilarating to step across the threshold and into a
completely different environment, one in which I was able to see
and hear and breathe the tropics while at the edge of the Alps. The
moisture in the air was intoxicating. The waterfalls, the exuberant
plants, and the sight of the lizards and birds transported me to a
faraway place. And the rain forest restaurant - with a giant
plate-glass window offering a Garden of Eden-like view of a
tropical paradise - is, without a doubt, the most beautiful zoo
restaurant I've ever seen.
My favorite part of town is the oldest part of the Old Town, where
some of the buildings date back to the fourteenth century. It is a
pleasure to see how cities were formed back then, around town
squares and clock towers that must have seemed huge at the time but
that by today's standards seem positively petite. Chain stores and
international luxury houses have not yet discovered this part of
town. It's a pedestrian zone filled with one-of-a-kind jewelry
shops and galleries. The Old Town is the place to buy beautiful
music boxes and lovely umbrellas printed with scenes from Renoir
paintings, evoking the era of the impressionists.
And, oh, the delicious specialty-food stores in the Old Town. I
couldn't help sampling the fare at Bodega Gorgot and Bodega
Española, a Spanish bodega and restaurant set up in 1874 and
stocked with fine rioja and excellent chorizo and calamari. I also
couldn't resist the offerings at H. Schwarzenbach, an aromatic food
emporium laden with spices, teas, coffee, meats, and wines that can
match anything New York and Paris have to offer. The sweets
department even offers handmade marzipan shaped like Snow White and
the seven dwarfs - not to my taste, but I knew my daughter would
love them, so I plunked down the necessary Swiss francs.
The Old Town is particularly moody at night, when the old-fashioned
gaslights come on and the medieval streets are filled with
modern-day revelers. The absence of harsh, modern anticrime
lighting gives everything a mellow look. I enjoyed just wandering
around and drifting back in time, stopping at a few places for red
wine before I went home for the evening.
The Old Town is, thankfully, not entirely sanitized. This is the
part of Zurich where eccentrics are welcome, including people like
Frankie B., the grizzled proprietor of Coiffeur du Théatre, a hair
salon where every customer is invited to share a beer and is given
a chance to enjoy the hundreds of black-and-white rock-and-roll
photos and other eclectic decorations. When I stopped in, a Buddy
Guy video was playing, so the shop was filled with the sweet sound
of
Chicago blues. In the summertime, Frankie moves his operation to
the street to escape the heat in his shop. He welcomes new
customers but warned me to try to book appointments before noon,
because the beer drinking takes its toll on him: "After that, the
barber is drunk," he admitted. I checked my watch - it was 3:30 in
the afternoon - and decided to move on without getting a trim.
At the far end of the Old Town is Zurich's truly great art museum,
the Kunsthaus Zürich. I love paintings, but I've never been a big
fan of museums. In fact, I've been to Paris dozens of times but
have never gazed at the Mona Lisa - I just can't face the lines.
So, for me, the Kunsthaus Zürich was perfect. This is the museum
for people who don't like museums - it's set up to be enjoyed, not
revered. I could see the art up close, without the crowds or the
waiting time. Even on a busy weekend afternoon, I found myself
alone here, in a room with Monet's oversize water-lily paintings
exhibited in a strange but stunning juxtaposition with classical
sculptures by Rodin. In adjoining rooms, I saw major works by Van
Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, and Cézanne, which were easy to enjoy
since I didn't have to face the throngs common to most museums.
Surrealism, Dada, and modern art are represented, as well, as are
the old masters; it was easy to become drenched in the images of a
Europe gone by. And I was knocked out by the Edvard Munch
collection - I knew him mainly from The Scream, which I've always
found disorienting and painful, but some of his works at the
Kunsthaus Zürich are filled with an almost psychedelic beauty and
repose.
After being immersed in the world of art, I felt like doing some
serious window-shopping, so I walked across the river to the
younger, ritzier part of the Old Town, where the buildings are
only a few hundred years old. Some of the city's finest hotels and
tearooms are in this part of town. The brands in the boutiques
along the Bahnhofstrasse will be familiar - Prada, Valentino, and
the like - but the setting is far more congenial than those of the
congested major fashion cities like
Milan and
London. Shopping here
is less hassle and more fun. Traffic is light, the streets are free
of litter, and from every vantage point, you can see church spires
and the foothills. Many of the specialty shops are worth a visit;
you'll find beautifully crafted wooden toys and lovingly made Swiss
chocolates. My favorites were the watch stores, which have
extensive collections of top-quality Swiss watches (like those by
Patek Philippe and Breguet) on display. I like to try on $35,000
watches even though I know I won't be buying them. Other visitors
might prefer the Montblanc fountain pens or the beautiful Hermès
scarves.
The main shopping street ends at the pier at Quaibrücke, at the
confluence of the river and the lake. This is where the Old Town
opens to incredible views of Lake Zurich and, on sunny days, the
high Alps. The sensation of having the sun on your skin, the wind
in your face, and the snowcapped mountains in your line of sight is
something I have felt only in Zurich. To make the experience last,
I boarded one of the many ferries that ply these waters on a
regular basis for an inexpensive boat ride. These boats (free to
people holding a ZürichCard travel card) operate year-round,
linking lakeside towns to downtown Zurich, and they are nearly as
enjoyable in the winter as they are during the summer months, when
the narrow lake is filled with sailboats taking advantage of the
reliable winds.
Aboard the ferry, the cold wind was bracing, and some found that it
made for a romantic experience. One young couple sat outside in the
stern of the vessel, exposed to the icy snap of winter air, and
kissed for the entire 90-minute ride.
Nighttime in Zurich presents some perplexing choices. The
restaurants, nightclubs, and beer halls in both parts of the Old
Town are fantastic and are usually filled with tourists and locals
alike. There are fancy, sit-down restaurants as well as street
stalls serving delicious kebabs and grilled bratwurst. But a short
streetcar ride away is Zurich West; once a decaying, nearly
abandoned industrial district, it is now the center of nightlife
for the younger crowd that flocks to the all-night clubs set up in
the former factories.
In the early 1980s and before, when the shipbuilders and breweries
moved out, this area seemed destined for oblivion. Then, in the
latter part in the decade, city planners decided to turn the old
buildings into warehouse-size restaurants, bars, clubs, and
theaters. It was an undertaking that has paid off handsomely,
revitalizing an entire part of the city and, at the same time,
saving impressive old buildings from demolition. I got a kick out
of the way Zurich has saved part of its heritage by giving the
buildings a completely new and modern use. Most nights, I combined
the old and the new, starting out with an excellent, indulgent
dinner in a restaurant for grown-ups in the Old Town and then
making my way slowly to Zurich West so that I could hear a set or
two of live music when the scene got going, around midnight. But
typically, I was in bed at my hotel by 2:30 in the morning, when
the hard-core clubbers were just hitting their stride.
I prefer the pleasures that can be found earlier in the night at
places like Brasserie Lipp. Everyone knows this famous old landmark
in Paris, with its opulent belle-epoque look and its traditional
French food and extensive wine selection. But few people know that
there is one in Zurich, with the same beautiful feel to it and
topped by the Jules Verne Panorama Bar, a fantastic spot providing
a view of the city from a perch atop a 10-story tower. It was odd
at first to sit in Zurich and experience being in Paris, but the
sensation became authentic with the first sip of wine. The light,
the tiles, the paintings, the mirrors - everything says Brasserie
Lipp, including the occasional annoying Parisian yap of the small
dogs brought in by some of the patrons. This is a place to indulge:
bouillabaisse with a dry white wine, followed by a country-style
cassoulet and some hearty red wine, will make any night
enjoyable.
In Zurich West, American music is very popular, and many European
students get their first dose of old-fashioned soul in Zurich's
bars. One of my favorite clubs was Moods, where the motto is "Real
funk for real people." It's set in the cavernous Schiffbau, once
used for assembling ships. It was great to see a whole new
generation exposed to the classic soul hits of
James Brown, Aretha
Franklin, and Ike and
Tina Turner, performed live by Soul Survivor,
a band whose lead singers are backed by powerful horns, gutbucket
guitar, gyrating backup singers, and a solid drummer.
But there is much more than soul music available here. Jazz, blues,
hip-hop, and European house music are all represented, and the
energy usually peaks at about three or four in the morning. The
all-night scene has become a magnet for young people throughout
Europe, and some don't even bother to get a hotel. They arrive in
the evening, hit the clubs, party all night, stumble out at dawn,
have a hot breakfast in a café, and then board a train to go back
home.
At the ornate central train station next to the Limmat River, it's
not unusual to see tired young rockers with burgundy-tinted Mohawks
stumble onto trains at eight a.m. as well-dressed bankers and
insurance executives disembark for another day at the office. In
fact, it's pure Zurich.
If You Go...
For listings of Zurich hotels, restaurants, and tours, and for
information about the ZürichCard travel card used for the
streetcars, boats, and other attractions, visit the excellent
website Zuerich.com. (To read everything in English, just click the
"English" button on the homepage.)
Many of the major hotel chains have outposts in Zurich, and a number of boutique hotels have opened recently. There are many smaller hotels in the Old Town, including the Sorell Hotel Rutli (011-41-44-254-5800, www.rutli.ch) and, in the newer part of the Old Town adjacent to the central train station, the elegant Hotel Schweizerhof (011-41-44-218-8888, www.hotelschweizerhof.com). Rooms in midpriced hotels will likely seem small to visitors accustomed to American hotels.
If You Want To See What I Saw...Beyer Chronometrie011-41-43-344-6363
www.beyer-ch.com
Bodega Española 011-41-44-251-2310
Brasserie Lipp011-41-43-888-6666
www.brasserie-lipp.ch
H. Schwarzenbach011-41-44-2611-315
Kunsthaus Zürich 011-41-44-253-8484
www.kunsthaus.ch
Moods in Schiffbau011-41-44-276-8000
www.moods.ch
Coiffeur du Théatre011-41-44-252-3801
Zoo Zürich 011-41-848-966-983
www.zoo.ch
american airlines operates daily nonstop service to zurich from dallas/fort worth and new york/jfk.