Today we walked in Old Town Zurich–meandering brick streets centuries old with shops and restaurants and apartment homes above shops.

A pedestrian bridge had fencing filled with locks demonstrating everlasting love.  I understand this is a commonplace European practice.

It rained a bit too hard for our jackets to handle, so we stopped at an Espirit store to buy umbrellas. And of course, it stopped precipitating within a few minutes after unfurling the new purchases. It did rain off and on the rest of the day, though, so we’re we’re thankful nonetheless for the purchases.

Some of the old churches charge admission to enter, so we only took exterior photos of those. One of Europe’s largest outdoor clock faces is mounted on the side of one church steeple. We did go into Grossmunster, a very large cathedral with stunning stained glass windows. They only charged admission to walk up the stairs into the tower, but our tired legs couldn’t take the climb.

John, the wonderful trip planner that he is, pre-ordained that if it should rain, we would duck into the Kunsthaus Zurich Art Museum. What a good idea that was! With over 4,000 paintings, sculptures, and installations, we viewed art ranging from 12th century frescos to 21st century pop art. Most of the titles and descriptions were in German, but the handheld audio guide tool assisted immensely. We could type in the corresponding exhibit number to hear information as needed. I remember Dutch masters including Rembrandt, vanDyk, and vanGogh; French impressionists Monet, Manet, Degas, VanGogh, Chagall, Gaugin, and Cezanne; the Italian artist Giacometti; the German artist Munch; and a fairly wide representation of 20th century art including Picasso and Kandinsky. Many Rodin statues filled the exhibition rooms and niches. One stood outside (“Gates of Hell”) with a miniature version of “The Thinker” at the top of the installation.

We found a trolley to take us back toward the hotel, stopping for a brief rest. We regained our strength before sunset, walking back into OldTown. Deciding on the Ristorante La Pasta by the east side of river, I enjoyed eggplant parmesan, and John had pasta with spicy sausage and tomato sauce. We shared whipped cheesecake with strawberries, and returned along the shining riverbank. Sleep awaits.