Fredericksburg Traveller: Christmas in Zürich

Switzerland is the land of the Alps and the Matterhorn, secret bank accounts, expensive and accurate watches, and that oh-so-famous Swiss efficiency.   Its cleanliness and beauty are matched only by its sky-high prices (Zürich ranks as the number two most expensive city in the world, according to a Swiss Bank UBS 2012 survey).   Even so, don’t let that keep you away from visiting the land of Heidi during the Christmas Holidays.

Many international visitors to Switzerland will fly into Zürich, a transportation hub and the financial capital of Switzerland.   As such, my airline has direct flights from Dulles Airport to Zürich and it is a route I fly often.  Zürich is in the German-speaking region of Switzerland and hence, has German Christmas traditions.

The Christmas market in Zürich is in the main train station, just a short walk from the Marriott hotel where I stay.   After my morning nap (we fly all night to get to our European destinations, so a 2-3 hour nap is always in order) I walked down the river to the station and entered the main departure hall, where the Christmas market is located. 

A beautiful Christmas tree decorated with Swarovski Crystal decorations, dominates the market and departure hall.  Surrounding the tree are numerous stalls selling ornaments, decorations and food, as in any German-style Christmas market.

I was hungry so I browsed the stalls for something good to eat and came across one selling a traditional Swiss food, Raclette.   Raclette is both a type of cheese and a Swiss dish.  The cheese is melted then scraped off onto either potatoes or bread, accompanied with pickled onions.   While it is delicious, Raclette is not cheap in Zürich, and I ended up paying about ten dollars for a snack of cheese on bread.   I browsed the stands and enjoyed the bustling Christmas atmosphere while eating my Raclette.  The market is a small one and I had seen it all in less than an hour.

After leaving the train station, I headed down Bahnhoffstrasse, one of the main shopping streets in Zürich, toward the lake.  I already knew my next destination, Zürich’s famous Singing Christmas Tree.   The “tree” is actually a series of platforms stacked up in a pyramid and covered with pine boughs.  Choirs stand on the platforms, dressed in the same green shirts with red hats and scarves, and it looks a lot like a Christmas tree with red ornaments.  They sing Christmas songs as the crowd mills about drinking the traditional Glühwein (pronounced glue-vine), a hot, spiced red wine, purchased from the stall near the Singing Christmas Tree.    On that day a children’s choir was singing ‘Oh Tannenbaum’ and could be heard up and down the street, adding to the joyous feeling of Christmas in the air.

Leaving the Singing Christmas Tree, I continued my stroll towards the waterfront on the Zürichsee, as the 25-mile long lake is called, winding my way through the many walking and shopping streets of downtown and enjoying the many decorations and lights that herald the coming of the season.    

Near the waterfront, on the River Limmat, was the Circus Conelli, an annual circus which features acrobats and performers putting on a Christmas show.

Throughout the city and near the waterfront throngs of crowds were out, even though it was a Sunday, and all the shops and stores were closed.  Back home the controversy had been raging over whether or not stores should be starting Black Friday a day early and dragging workers out of their Thanksgiving dinners to give stores a boost in sales.  Here in Switzerland, as in most German-speaking countries, the stores are closed every Sunday, even though they could have probably racked-up more Christmas sales by staying open on the weekends leading up to Christmas.   Sure, the Swiss are as capitalist as any other Western culture, but it was nice to see that profits did not take priority over life and family on at least one day a week, let alone the entire holiday season.

As I walked back towards my hotel, I noticed people lining the streets for an, as yet unseen, event.  As I drew closer, I heard music and realized that I had been lucky enough to happen upon Zürich’s Christmas Parade.  Adults and children lined the parade route three and four deep as gaily decorated floats pulled by horses and people wound their way through the streets of downtown.  A float with a band of monks played what sounded like Dixieland music followed by another float with children dressed in elf costumes and making cookies.

Like our Christmas parade here in Fredericksburg, there were marching bands, kids in various costumes, and of course the Swiss Father Christmas, known as Samichlaus. 

The Swiss Santa is always accompanied by Schmutzli, his sinister alter-ego, who wears a monk-like robe and has a long dark beard and face hidden behind dark makeup.  Traditionally Schmutzli carried a broom for giving out punishments to children who had not behaved, though in much of today’s Switzerland he is a kinder figure who is there to assist Father Christmas.

As evening descended on Zürich and the temperature dropped, I found a restaurant in the old part of the city to enjoy a hot meal and a warm beverage.  I was filled with the spirit of Christmas and happy in the knowledge that, as much as I enjoyed these frequent forays into distant cities, I would be headed home to Fredericksburg and the comfort of my own bed the next day.