Zurich by Night

A night of celebration in the economic capital of Switzerland. Zurich, so many times "bypassed" on the way elsewhere, on the magic wings of the legendary Swissair... those were the days... Today I visit it for the "erste mal" (first time). Zurich doesn't betray expectations: austere and superb just as I expected, it pleases and convinces, like the whole country that carries with it and on its sturdy, wealthy shoulders... In a glacial climate, unacceptable for us Mediterranean peoples, we visit this lovely Swiss town, grand in its Bahnhofstrasse, where the banks, capitalism and "other people's" money rule.

Having landed at Kloten, coming from different parts of Spain, we meet our dear Swiss colleagues; the biting cold firms up our warm, fuzzy skin; the old Swissair buildings are still there to recall a glorious and nostalgic past, amid barren expanses, fairy-tale woods and a dark grey fog that doesn't exactly bode well... But instead... We stay at the wonderful NH Hotel at Zurich airport, truly lovely, where we receive a stylish welcome cocktail, drink a good Riesling and enjoy bresaola canapés on dark bread... truly exceptional!! And here we are... after a short bus ride... in Zurich. Bahnhofplatz. The centre... Microcosm of money and business, rich and unrestrained... at least in appearance, Zurich is warm in the kind eyes of the unknown Swiss and in the vividly exotic taste of Glühwein, the mulled wine that lights a fire in the throat and soul of us poor frozen beings.

At the market set up inside the railway station we visit the famous market, typically Zürcher, with at its centre the emblem of so much blatant, flaunted wealth... an immense crystal giant, a Christmas tree entirely adorned with Swarovski crystals, enormous, blinding and of undoubted beauty. Around it people buy and sell as in medieval times, among cows, here a national and sacred icon as much as in India. Shivering, we cross the Bahnhofstrasse, admiring its wonderful shops and rich shopping centres, the prestigious labels — no wonder they say it's the richest street in Europe. In the end we reach the loveliest part. Leaving the modern area behind, immersed in the murky waters of a few glasses of mulled cinnamon wine, our movements slow, words and thoughts numbed by the cold, we admire the frozen fountains; a biting cold seems to immortalise the beauty of the medieval quarter.

We climb a small slope and come to a series of beautiful cobbled lanes, little squares, more lanes, more little markets... here the Zurich bankers made their money from German and Italian merchants, grew rich and then laid the foundations for the wealth of modern Switzerland... well done!!! Suddenly, amid the lights of a Christmas here ever more colourful and dazzling, here we are... at the splendid bridge where the river flows into Lake Zurich, an arm of stone and metal that reaches the other bank at Zwigliplatz, there where Zwingli launched the protest against the thieving Vatican, the reformation of wars and blood, a new era of death and shame... here where the peoples of the north awoke from their torpor, leaving us poor southerners in the deep sleep of ignorance... Grossmünster: here the church, the cathedral symbol of Zurich, stands superior and austere, prudish and very Swiss...

We go back and forth, turn and climb... but of the restaurant there's no sign; in the end we find it and all is well!! The place is undoubtedly beautiful, the atmosphere magical, the cold infernal... but a good dinner and good wine make you forget a little of the traveller's chilly suffering... Happy travels to all and... if you can, visit Zurich in spring at least... because it really is worth it. Happy Switzerland to all...

bye Andrea