An excursion to the Botanical Gardens in Zurich … that was not meant to be …!

In case you had enough of reading and seeing pictures of the plants on my balcony, let me share instead on the excursions that the hubby and I did recently.

We had bought some discounted day travel cards more than a month ago but did not have the opportunity to use them earlier. However, as the cards had to be used by 8 May, the hubby and I therefore had to scramble quickly at the last minute to try and make some plans for trips within Switzerland in order to make use of the cards.

The initial plan was of course to go somewhere far … maybe close to the German or Italian border … in order to get as much worth as possible out of the day cards. But since such trips would take several hours and best done by sleeping overnight, we decided to drop the idea lah. Instead, we ended up doing what I enjoy best. Since the hubby knew that this wife of his lurveees flowers and plants, so he suggested using the cards to visit parks and botanical gardens in other Swiss cities! Awww … so kind of him. Anyway … spring is synonym with flowers and the like after all … so it made sense to use the card to enjoy such spring beauty, no? 😀

So we flitted from one city to another during the last weekend, visiting Zurich on Saturday and Fribourg on Sunday … and we even set some time to stop by the small town of Morges after visiting Fribourg to enjoy the Tulip Festival that is currently being held in Morges until the middle of May.

And even though the weather during the weekend was not ideal … both the hubby and I enjoyed our little excursions very much.

The green landscape as we took the train to Zurich on Saturday 4 May. The last time we took a train ride through the German-speaking part of Switzerland was in the middle of February when we went to see the Basel Fasnacht (which I have yet to share!).

The landscape at that time was definitely quite different from this. After the long winter spell, it was nice to see so much green along the way. As soon as we arrived in Zurich, we tried to find our way to the Botanical Gardens.

But I could not resist stopping for a few minutes to take several shots of this colourful and pretty scene located just behind a tram station at Kirche St. Jakob am Stauffacher.

So very ‘spring’, do you not think so? 😀

We later arrived here … not the Botanical Gardens … but a park which the hubby had believed to be near the vicinity of the Botanical Gardens. And since we were already there, we decided that we might as well take a look around the park before looking for the Botanical Gardens. Anyway, I was quite excited when I saw wild garlic plants growing in abundance in this park. Those green plants on the left of the walking path … they are not grasses … but are wild garlic plants!

Lots of wild garlic plants … which unfortunately, had not fully bloom yet (top pictures). And on the right side of the walking path, the slope were filled with these small white wildflowers.

I stopped for several minutes here to take photos of the wild garlic … and I did so again … and again … when I saw more of the wild garlic plants as we walked through the park! Yes … I know, I am behaving like a ‘jakun‘ who had never seen wild garlic …but this is my first year getting to know this wild plant, and so I get easily excited each time I spotted them lah! hehehe 😀

The park, called Rieterpark in German, covers some  67,000-square metres (source: museum’s website) spread across slopes and flat terrain. Although it was a Saturday, there were not that many people walking in the park. The chilly and grey weather must have been the reason.

I persuaded the hubby to go and have closer look at these magnolia trees. It was too bad that the flowers were already coming towards the end of their blooming cycle … but … from far, they still look quite impressive.

And imagine how excited I was when I saw more of these wild garlic plants growing underneath the magnolia trees! I was very tempted to pick some of the leaves to bring back home … but felt a little stupid wanting to do so since I already have a pot of wild garlic plants growing on my balcony! Not only a ‘jakun’ … I am even being a little ‘kiasu‘! hehehe …

We made another stop near another magnolia trees … which had lost even more of their blossoms. And again under these magnolia trees, I saw lots of wild garlic plants growing! So … of course, I took more photos of them and of their dainty white flowers! 🙂

After being reminded by the hubby that we should start moving along in order to have enough time to get to the Botanical Gardens later … we continued with our walk through the park.

The hubby was already heading towards the end of this rows of trees by the time I finished with taking photos of the wild garlic plants under the magnolia trees.

Such beautiful spring colour in the park. The hubby had run in this park before … when he was working in Zurich a few years ago … so he knew what would be at the other end of the row of trees.

So when I caught up with him, he was already busy taking photos of the panorama that could be seen from the viewpoint here.

Hmmm … so we could actually see Lake Zurich and the other side of the city from here! Very nice!

Looking towards the end of part of Lake Zurich and towards the cantons of Schwyz, Sankt-Gallen, Appenzell and Glarus.

There is also a museum in the park. Although the hubby was keen to take a look, I was not. So we gave it a miss and after making a short toilet stop … decided to make our way to the Botanical Gardens. But on our way to find the toilets which were located near the museum … I saw more wild garlic plants sprouting from the edge of the pavement along the way!

And it was while snapping photos of the wild garlic flowers here that I noticed … that inside each flower bud, there were several small flowers … so that when the flowers would be in full bloom, the single bud would become a cluster of flowers. Interesting! 🙂 But magnolias and wild garlic flowers are not the only flowers that I took photos of while in the park.

I also snapped the photos of the flowers above.

And as we were making our way to the tram station to catch the tram to the Botanical Gardens … which were actually quite a distance away (as the hubby had found out after looking for them on his street map) and not at all near the vicinity of the Rieterpark …

… my attention was caught by these pretty flowers growing from the main trunk of this tree! So cute and interesting! And there were a few of these trees growing along that stretch leading to the tram station for the Rietberg Museum on Seestrasse.

We then arrived here … after asking for direction from an old man that we came across near a traffic light. Err … this was not the Botanical Gardens either … but was just another very small park in front of a church (Neumünsterkirche at Riesbach)! Ish, ish, ish … So we returned to the junction where we came from and then took a different turn.

And after walking for a bit, including a nice area by a stream (Hornbach) … we the saw the Botanical Gardens sign! Hurray we found the garden !!!!

Unfortunately, before we could enter the gardens … we were told by people who were coming out that they had been sent out as the gardens were already closed. Oh no … it seemed that we were 10 minutes too late … to even step into the gardens for a quick look! Haizzzz …

So after one last look at the gardens from outside, we left and made our way to Zurich central train station to go back home to Lausanne. But …

… not before making a slight detour to the beginning of Neumünsterstrasse so that I could take some photos of this interesting garden that I saw as we were taking the bus to the Botanical Gardens. Interesting huh? 🙂

And since we still had a bit of time to kill before catching our train, the hubby suggested we got off at Bahnhofstrasse and then head towards Bürkiplatz to enjoy a bit of the lakeside atmosphere … which is what we did!

Just a few shots of lake Zurich and of the city taken from the ZSG jetty at Bürkiplatz. The bottom right shot showing the spires of the cathedral of Zurich. I must admit that the more I go to Zurich, the more I get to like this city. And since I did not get to visit the Botanical Garden, I suppose this means that we just have to come back here again lah! 😀

Other entries on Zurich

• An afternoon in Zurich to … enjoy the spring  (hubby’s entry on the same trip)
• Playing guide in Zurich…
• Zurich stopover on Christmas eve, on the way to Davos…