On Thursday, September 22nd, we had breakfast again at Michel, then took the train to Zurich, via Bern. We had never been to Zurich before, except to the airport, or to the main train station, to change trains. On two prior occasions we had reserved a night at a hotel there, but on the first, we stayed an extra night in Tuttlingen, Germany, after Mary Joy played a concert there. The second was set for April, 2020, when the pandemic cancelled everything.
After leaving our luggage at the Hotel Bristol, we got back to the station right at noon, in time to meet Mary Joy's cousin Frank, who gave us a walking tour of the city.
We had lunch at the world's first vegetarian restaurant, Hiltl, which had an interesting and efficient buffet.
Frank said goodbye to us at the Tourist Information office in the station. The lady there was very helpful. We had tickets for that evening's orchestra concert at the Tonhalle, which didn't appear to be within easy walking distance to our hotel. We bought a 24-hour transit card, which could get us onto the trams, and even onto a river cruise.
We had an early dinner at the local version of Holy Cow! Mary Joy didn't like the taste of the beef in her burger.
The number 11 tram took us from a stop two blocks from the hotel to Bürkliplatz, on the lake, which was three blocks from the Tonhalle.
It is an unusually small space for a major orchestra's concert hall, we had maybe the worst seats in the house--limited view, at the back of the right side. Yet, we felt on top of the orchestra, much closer than in Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, or even the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul. The concert, without intermission, had pieces by Nielsen, Sibelius and Prokofiev, conducted by Paavo Järvi. Hilary Hahn was wonderful playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto.
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