Although Zurich is Switzerland’s largest city, it was not our primary destination. We were passing through to get to a small town. However, my pre-trip planning revealed a beautiful downtown I wanted to photograph. Thus, instead of making a quick train connection, my wife and I opted to stay for several hours. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t ideal for tourism or photography.

Still, I was looking forward to capturing historic buildings that significantly differed from Paris. From my novice perception, Zurich had a more German-influenced architectural style. We headed directly for the old town located along the banks of the Limmat, about a fifteen-minute walk from the train station.

The structures around the river didn’t disappoint with their character-filled facades. Historic city centers are wonderfully walkable and filled with photographic delights. I was pleasantly surprised how liveable it looked for a city of half a million. Zurich is the financial capital of Switzerland, but the city center doesn’t have any powerful-looking modern skyscrapers — the kind you see in New York or London.

Not all buildings were hundreds of years old. However, the modern structures blended nicely so as not to disturb the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood.

I only brought one camera and lens on this European trip — the Fujifilm X-E3 and Fuji 16-80mm f4. I put it to good use at the Limmat, zooming from a wide equivalent of 26mm to this picture at 120mm equivalent — creating compression of a distant scene north along the river.

At a 76mm equivalent, I perfectly framed the west bank of the Limmat with two delightful church steeples complete with a clock tower. We only stayed briefly, and the weather worsened, but I managed to photograph some beautiful scenes of central Zurich. Admittedly, the rain and wet pavement actually enhanced some of my images. I will feature those later in the series.

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