Day 7 - Zurich

Half way through the trip, can't believe that we have been here a week already. Today was a full day in Zurich and no car journeys. We are improving slightly with our navigation and did almost all of what we planned today.

First up was a walk to the Tram and Thommo's bench. Photo below, and I still belly laugh about it. Maybe it is one of those things that you have to be there to appreciate the comedic value. Behind John is the Tramway that John was going up before we made a quick diversion between the bench and the lamp post that he is standing at, so clever, so quick, and so lucky!

Tram to the Old Town, pick up a few Limes and go for a Scoot about town and alongside the Lake. There is no video of the experience as I did have a try to do both tasks and it nearly ended badly. You just have to imagine how beautiful it is from this short video.

Then it was off to the Lindt Factory, which is head quartered in Zurich, for a tour. It is a little way out side of town and we take a bus, included in our transport ticket which is the price of a beer for 24 hours unlimited transport. We tend to have the habit of choosing the bus or tram going in the wrong direction - a few savvy checks have prevented any mishaps.

The Lindt factory was really good, they have an excellent set up around the history of chocolate, cocoa plants and the challenges they had. Chocolate had come a long way during the 19th century, but it was still hard and difficult to chew. In 1879, Swiss chocolatier, Rudolf Lindt, invented the conch machine which mixed and aerated chocolate giving it a smooth, melt-in-your-mouth consistency that blended well with other ingredients. This came about by accident as one Friday he left his workshop downhearted at another failed attempt with his conch machine. To his horror - he walked into the workshop on the Monday and the machine was still on. Expecting a real mess and unusable chocolate - he found this silky, shiny, smooth edible version of chocolate we know now.

After the history you go through the process and get to have as much of the various chocolate you want. Then you see the pilot of the real plan which is really interesting, I am sure you have heard of tempered chocolate but the machines do this and that is how Lindt can be poured into moulds and filled with fillings.

In the foyer of the building they have a chocolate fountain that is over nine meters high and makes 1500 kg of real chocolate flow. No! You cannot dip your fingers in it, but there is plenty of free chocolate to be had and a 500m square Lindt shop, the largest in the world.

Back into the Old town to visit WOW a digital museum, unfortunately after a frustrating time trying to find it (after having walked right past it) - they were fully booked.

Next stop was Künsthaus Museum, back on a tram then a bus and joy to John's ears was that Wednesday is free entry - kaching. This museum, for me has to be the highlight of Zurich - so many Masters, in fact I will reword that. So many paintings of all of the great Masters, Van Gogh, da Vinci, Monet, Rodin, can't remember the others. Then Pollock, Warhol, Miro to name a few. See for yourself below, it was all of those famous paintings you have seen or read about and they were there - all of them.

There was an installation that we both loved, I got into trouble for this video - so here it is.

Then it is off to Niederdorf which is part of Zurich's old town – and the locals fondly refer to it as “Dörfli”, meaning the entire Niederdorf and Oberdorf area that extends as far as Bellevue.

Niederdorf is a pedestrian zone and has lots of shops, bars and restaurants. We had an early dinner/late lunch and then it is back to the hotel to rest. As I write this John is pumping out the zeds!

Tomorrow we are back on the road, til then auf Wiedersehen und bleib gesund.