Out & about.

I was on program today, and we headed off to Meringien, a town on the other side of the Thunnersee and Brienzersee from me, in the heart of Switzerland. As you might have guessed by the name, it’s the birthplace of the meringue. Canuk, Brazil, and I were on Meringien duty, with SAussie and Finn taking another group into Bern for the day. The three of us checked out every Bakerei in town before heading off to wander the town. We looked at a small church, notable for its impressive flower garden and religious woodcarvings, then walked by the Spital for me and the Schule for Brazil, who is a teacher back home. We found a locked gate in the face of the cliff that lines the back of the village, and we walked along a little trail until we could see one of the waterfalls. Next was a bigger church with a lovely graveyard. I had decided to sample the water in every Swiss public fountain I came to, and the one in the graveyard and the mossy one across the street were no exception. Canuk and Brazil are convinced I will die of this practice, no matter how safe the water is reputed to be. Since I was as good as dead already, Canuk dared me to slide down the banister in the biggest church in town, then filmed me to ensure everyone would know I’m destined for hell. (It was a good banister, sturdy, long, and smooth.)

In addition to the meringues, Meringien is supposed to be where Moriarty finally got Sherlock Holmes, at the Reichenbach falls. They had a Holmes museum, hotel, tour, and statue, but aside from a quick rest on the detective’s bronze knee, he couldn’t pull us away from the bakeries. (The rocking horse and giant chess set could for a few minutes, though.) We got back to the main street at just the wrong time, though: much of Switzerland closes down every day from noon to 1400, as well as Sundays and all afternoon on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We ate our sandwiches at the train station, but that didn’t kill enough time, so we walked by the stream coming off the waterfall and looked at the tower on the edge of town. We arrived back at our bakery of choice, only to notice that the sign said they were closed from 1200-1330, not 1200-1300, as we’d though on our last glance. Brazil went off to look at another school, and Canuk and I hiked to the foot of the waterfall, then back into town along the top of its old rampart. The wall looked like it was designed to keep people in rather than out, and the rocks were slippery.

We all made it back to the bakery at 1330 exactly, then bought a large box of meringues to bring back for the rest of the staff. The proper way to eat one is in double crème, and the proprietress of the meringue shops look awfully disappointed if you don’t want the crème with yours. I also bought what turned out to be a slightly soft chocolate biscotti sort of thing, with a thin raspberry filling.
We met back up with the tour bus at 1400 and were shuttled up into Grindelwald, a touristy village in the nearby Alps.

Canuk and I immediately set out for the gorge, as we’d missed a good one in Meringien, but we accidentally chose the long way and couldn’t go the last fifteen minutes if we wanted to make it back to the bus on time. We’d come down a long way into the valley as it was and hiked uphill very quickly to make it back. We did get to see some better scenery than in town: old churches and houses, Swiss villagers out for a stroll, a receding glacier, and the gorge from a lot closer than in town. We could not see the top of the Eiger, Monch, or Jungfrau, unfortunately, due to the clouds. We’ll be back in Interlaken (between the aforementioned lakes) in a couple of days, so perhaps we’ll see the famous peaks then. There’s a train right through the Eiger that takes you to a saddle high on Jungfrau, but it’s hardly worth the exorbitant fee even on a clear day.

The highlight of Grindelwald turned out to be its playground. (Sorry this is sideways.)


I enjoyed the views over the lakes as we rode home, and the tunnel between Frutigen and Adelboden was closed for repairs, so we got to go a different way than usual. I smiled at the sheep grazing slowly uphill, their fleece recently shorn so that they finally don’t look like their spindly legs shouldn’t be able to support them. It’s spring in the Alps, at long last, even if spring is schizophrenic and can’t choose between thick snow, bright sunshine, or misty rain.

Cheese, Grommit!

The group went to Ballenberg yesterday, which is an outdoor museum of Swiss history. They’ve got traditional chalets set up for touring, plus different types of farming, cheese-making, woodcarving, paper cutting, weaving, and all sorts of other crafts. The museum is laid out sort of like Switzerland itself, with Geneva and French CH info in the west, Lugano and Italian CH in the south, and Appenzell in the east, etc. I’m not sure I’ll make it there myself, but it sounded neat. I think I’m getting enough information about Swiss culture by living in a traditional mountain farming town and traveling all over the country.

I cleaned up the barbecue, stocked the T-Bar, and had a bit of time off. It was a fairly light day of work. When they all returned in the evening, I helped with dinner and hosted the evening program, which was a movie about Adelboden in Swiss-German. It’s tough enough to understand German, much less Swiss-German, much less Adelboden (or any little village) Swiss-German, but I learned quite a bit about the area. I’ll try to bring home a copy of the DVD. I liked the portions about soldiers hanging out in town during the war, all the skiing over time, and how the farmers supplement their incomes by working the ski lifts in the winter. It makes sense, but it’s got to be a tough life.

They went off on the usual hike to Engstligen today, so I heard all kinds of stories about snowstorms, slipping down the hills, and building snowmen this evening. One more guest came today, so I showed her around. I just got back from hosting a Swiss wine & cheese night. We had white, rosé, and red Swiss wines, of which the white was best, plus a whole room full of cheese platters:

• Frühstückskäse, from Adelboden [breakfast cheese]
  
• Raclette, from Adelboden; creamy and fruity [usually used to make the meal of the same name]
  
• Appenzeller, from Canton Appenzell [very pungent]
  
• Gruyère, from Gruyères; nutty and the main ingredient in fondue
  
• Emmentaler, from the Emme Valley in Canton Bern [This is what much of the world calls “Swiss cheese,” with the holes and all.]
  
• Alpkäse, from near Adelboden [Alp cheese tastes different depending on the time of year, which farmer made it, which flowers and herbs the cows ate, and any number of variables, but they’re all strong cheeses.]
  
• Rotschmierkäse, traditionally made in monasteries [red mold washed rind cheese]
  
• Mutschli, a softer and aromatic mountain cheese
  
• Hüttenkäse, made locally and with herbs [cottage cheese]
  
• Sbrinz, from the Berner Oberland; hard and grainy

Plus two foreign cheeses: (They were made in CH, though, so it was okay.)

• Brie, from France
  
• Gorgonzola, from northern Italy, near Milan

Luzern, day two. [unfinished]

[notes]

• Bus:(1hr: CHF 2.80) Lucerne (8:11- 8:25) --> (8:30ish) Kriens, Linde-Pilatus (25min)
• Gondola to Mt.Pilatus: CHF 64 (1/2: 32)
Aeriel panorama gondola:(8:30-16:45) Kriens --> Krienseregg --> Framkmuntegg (30min)
Aerial cablejavascript:void(0)
Publish Postway: (9:00- 17:15) Framkmuntegg --> Pilatus Klum (18min)
• Hike on Mt. Pilatus
• Gondola back down (bus or walk to Lucern)
• Town, Brewery, Picasso & Klee & impressionists
• Train home, arriving at midnight

Zug zug!

I have decided that the Germans call a train a Zug because it's onomatopoetic. Zug zug zug zug.

Sloan, Brazil, Bowie, and I all went to Luzern together for the past two days. We first took a train to Stansstad, home of the Fürigen Fortress. This barrack is built into the mountain, as are a good many of the 15,000 Swiss fortifications scattered throughout the Alps. They've got cannons and gus that can shoot six miles out over the surrounding countryside, should Switzerland ever be invaded. There's a place underground for every one of Switzerland's seven million residents, and they can hold out for over two weeks. They have a system in place to destroy the tunnels, bridges, and access roads into the country, then wait in the mountain strongholds till the conflict is over. The bread lasts two years, and the rooms are all sealable and thus gas-proof. Switzerland built a network of these fortersses during WWII, in case of Nazi invasion. They refit them during the Cold War, in case of nuclear war. The Fürigen Fortress is one of the bigger ones open to visitors: it could hold 100 people for three weeks. I'd like to see one of the airstrips or hospitals cut into the middle of a mountain, but I think they're closed.

I have yet to see some of the cannons hidden in barns, but most houses around have bomb shelters and the residents of those that don't have an agreement or rental contract with one nearby. Anyway. We shot photos at a tower, then boarded an SVG boat for a cruise across Vierwaldstättersee to Luzern (see above photos). Touring the city, we saw churches, cathedrals, the town hall and its tower, lots of cheery squares, the building Goethe stayed in during his visit, and a whole lot of shops in the pedestrian old town. One of my favorite buildings was this restaurant, which has a huge Mardi Gras mural all across the front. In Luzern, they go all out for Karneval. As in the mural, the rooster crows early on Karneval, and the townspeople leap up to frighten winter away. The masked high & mighties throw oranges down to the revelers, as the fruit is rare in winter and thus marks the beginning of spring.

Of course, we also walked across Luzern's famous bridges, starting with the Kapellbrücke. It was built in the 14th centuray at an angle across the river, both to serve as a lakeside defence and to directly connect St. Peter's Chapel with the town fortifications. At every reinforcement in the ceiling of the bridge, there's a painting commemorating Luzern or Swiss historical events. The squat little tower in the middle was built a century before the bridge, for use as a water tower. In later incarnations, it was used for imprisonment, torture, and archival storage. We walked along the Reuss (pronounced "royce") River on the other side, admiring the old houses and restaurants and the stylish castle on the hill.

Halfway between the Kapellbrücke and the other wooden bridge stands the city's water control system, the Nadelwehr, or water spike dam. The drainage from the lake eventually feeds into the Rhine, but the volume fluctuates quite a bit over the year. Luzern adds or removes "spikes" in the dam to control the level of the Vierwaldstättersee, just as they have since about 1850.

I prefered the next bridge to the famous tower bridge. It's the Spreuerbrücke, or Chaff Bridge, named for the water-powered mill that used to provide Luzern its grain. It's an older bridge, built in 1408, and the artwork is from the 17th century. The paintings along this bridge all feature a skeleton, and are called the "Dance of Death" series for the way they show death gleefully coming to everyone, regardless of station. The channels are all that remain of the mill, though they've got a turbine on display from the 1889 power station and they still generate hydroelectric power in a plant hidden under the water.

Our city tour continued with a stroll by the old apothecary in Weinmarkt square. Its medieval Latin inscription, Amor medicabilis nvllis herbis is still visible, and translates roughly to "medicine cannot cure love." You can still see a lot of old paintings on buildings all across town, including many religious ones and others telling stories about Luzern.

We'd had enough of wandering the streets after visiting Hirschenplatz ("Deer Square"), so we headed over to the Löwendenkmal, a giant (20 x 30 feet) sculpture carved into the sheer wall at the edge of town. The crying lion represents the brave Swiss Guards who died during the 1792 massacre at Tuileries Palace in Paris when the French revoluted. It's got another Latin inscription, Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti, or "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss." The surrounding garden was empty when we arrived, lending the area extra poignancy points, but swamped with Asian tourists a few minutes later. We circled up to the glacial rock display before heading off in search of an access point for the remains of the city fortifications.

After a good 45 minutes of walking, we still couldn't find a way up. All roads, it seems, lead around Luzern. We got about this close before my camera died, victim to my not charging it after the Lausanne trip. I've borrowed pictures from fthe others for the rest of Luzern. We share a lot of photos around. I really must snag more before I leave. At any rate, we did finally make it onto the wall. We climbed three towers, including the clock tower, before heading off along the lake to our hostel.

Work.

I’m in the office all day today, since they need to give senior staff a few days off. The other junior staff cooked up a great Schnitzel barbecue for the Guild, and we finished it off with a Toblerone each. Before that, I did a bunch of paperwork, made some spreadsheets for the summer events, and labeled the new guestbooks. I also had to call the Dänzer family to arrange for a sleigh ride for some of the guests. The Dänzers speak Swiss-German, but I could find out about times and prices and number of riders possible and available days. I think it will work out. The Guilders are fantastic, but they drink a great deal of tea. It’s a struggle to keep the tea bags, milk, cups, and spoons stocked in the T-Bar and conference room. It’s tea before breakfast, tea at breakfast, tea after they get home from program, tea before dinner, tea before bed. I’m impressed with their bladder capacities.

I worked all day yesterday, too, since I wasn’t on program. The Guild went off to Thun (this is them on the bus), so I stocked things and cleaned the Chalet. I spent much of the day organizing the recycling, which I don’t mind. I feel like I’m saving the planet. When the women returned, Brazil and I held a successful bingo night in the dining hall. Eleven of them won prizes, and I learned all about bingo culture.

I’ll be on house again for the next two days, while the group goes out, but then I’ll get to go on some great programs. (This is Canuk and me actually on a program.) I really like the Guilders, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of their stories. A couple of them told me about their world travels while we hiked to the woodcarvers’ the other day, and a bunch have already offered their homes if we ever stop by England, Scotland, or Wales. They live all over the place, so we’re set if we do a UK tour. Sadly, I’m not likely to make it over there for a few years, at minimum.

Guilders and languages.

Trefoil week started this morning. The seventy women arrived last night, but we did our opening ceremony at eight, right before breakfast. The staff wear their national uniforms (I don’t have one) and we present the flags of all the countries the staff come from, plus the flag for our guests. I was Switzerland.

After breakfast, we split everyone into two groups. Canuk, Brazil, and I took half of them to the woodcarvers’, while Finn and SAussie took the rest into town. I bought a few things for my family and for my own amusement, but mostly I chatted with Karl, the woodcarver’s son. He taught me the Swiss-German for cow and rabbit, but I’ve forgotten them already. I will try to practice my Schweizer-Deutsch before I go there next, in a couple of weeks. I also intend to try my hand at Holzschnitzen (woodcarving) at some point. They use linden (chestnut?) for most things, but cherry for the simpler ones, since it’s harder to carve. Cholerenschlucht (Cholera Canyon) still isn’t open. I’m looking forward to the last bit of snow melting down there. I’d really like to check it out, and it would make for a better walk home.

This is what it looks like down in the Adelboden valley.

This is really how the locals live. They've got their axe and skis at the ready, just outside their little chalet. Panning left, you can see the fruits of their labor, lots of chopped wood, and the bells the cows will be wearing in short order.
            

We got a pair of Finnish chefs in for the week, thank goodness, so we don’t have to swap off cooking for eighty. They’re about sixty, but they’re lighthearted. Marjatta speaks no English, and Emma speaks a bit, enough that we usually don’t have to ask Finn to translate. They helped me learn to count to ten in Finnish last night, and we tried to teach Marjatta the same in English, but she just laughed. Finn says the “th” in three is far too difficult for Finns, and Dutch says it’s difficult for everyone. She taught us how to tell her we loved her. I’m going to be in trouble in Amsterdam, if I make it that far, when all I can say is “I love you.” SAussie is learning Dutch, since she’s dating a Netherlander, but I’ve my hands full with German. Luckily, if they speak extremely slowly, I can sort of get the gist of Dutch. Finnish is impossible.

Imbisse!

I will now interrupt my lack of posting to bring you a short guide to Schwizer Imbisse, or Swiss snacks.

First, of course, Toblerone. We can get this one at home. It's milk chocolate with honey, plus almond and nougat bits. It also comes in white and dark chocolate. It's shaped like a pyramidal tube. This shape is so strongly associated with Toblerone chocolate here that they have nicknamed the similarly-shaped tank barriers "Toblerones."

Another common chocolate bar is Cailler Branche. This brand was the first to build a chocolate factory in Switzerland. Mr. Cailler figured out how to make chocolate bars, and I'm pretty sure that's when Switzerland became an independent country. As Wikipedia says, Mr. Cailler's son-in-law "had the idea of combining the chocolate with his neighbor Henri Nestlé's condensed milk to make milk chocolate. The Caillers eventually merged with the operation of Charles-Amédée Kohler (the inventor of hazelnut chocolate) to form the firm of Peter, Cailler, Kohler. They were acquired by Nestlé, which had become a manufacturing giant, in 1929." The traditional Cailler bar is about the size of one Twix stick. It's hazelnut milk chocolate with tiny hazelnut bits on the outside. A bit sweet for me, but not bad.

I've actually not had any Nestlé here yet, but I couldn't resist the Lindt & Sprüngli, which we just call Lindt back home. I've received two milk chocolate bars as presents. Wonderous.

Of course, these larger companies make all kinds of chocolate. You can get it with extra milk, chunks of raspberries, super dark, almonds, hazelnuts, nougat, milk or darke chocolate mousse, marzipan, peppermint, cookies, yogurt, cornflakes, rum raisins, you name it. The chocolate aisles are small miracles of opportunity.

I also tried a Lindt & Sprüngli with orange chunks in it. It was good, but it made me wish they'd done it with bits of ginger or something. Mmm. Once you've got chewy bits in the chocolate, you might as well get crazy with it.

I know Ritter Sport is actually German chocolate, but I also tried their coconut one. These bars are square and the filled ones have a layer in the middle, like an Andes mint. Coconut and chocolate went well with skiing, as did dark chocolate and Haselnuss, as did Dunkle Vollmilch, which is some kind of half milk-, half dark-chocolate hybrid (medium chocolate?), as did one with bananas in.

I received a small truffle as a gift as well. Its origins are unknown, but it does have chocolatier Philippe Suchard's surname on its wrapping. It looked like one of those chocolates with a cherry and liquor inside, but it turned out to be the same idea with a prune. Suchard is with Milka, another Swiss chocolate company. The Milka bars are very popular around here. They just tasted like ordinary milk chocolate to me, but the milk chcolate fans swear they're special.

Minor bars are common as well, although slightly more expensive. I got a mini one when I checked out of my last hostel, in Luzern. The regular bar is also about Twix-sized, but it forms a square cylinder instead of a round one. It's one of my current favorites, despite its milk chocolate base, because it has bigger chunks of hazelnut inside.

Kägi-Fret is basically the original Kit-Kat. It's another square-Twix shape, though a bit bigger, and you get two in a pack. They're crispier than Kit-Kat, and I like them better.

Appenzeller Bärli-Biber are sort of... hmm. They're like cinnamon-apple cookies with a thin marzipan filling, only not at all. They're a traditional Swiss hiking snack, and they're quite adequate for this purpose. They are slightly sweet and squishy for my taste, though, and sort of odd.

Balisto bars are kind of like granola bars, except they aren't as sweet and they come in more flavors. They're made of muesli, which is what I have for breakfast most days, and sometimes also as a snack. These things are great for hiking. You can get plain muesli, yogurt, berry, almond honey, coconut, and a few others. We have chocolate peanut here, so that's what I eat.

There are also Choc-Ovo bars, which I think I already described (compressed and vitaminy malt powder with a milk chocolate coating), and these cute little cookies that have shortbread on top and bottom with a thin jam filling. They look like flat Dairy Queen ice-cream sandwiches, only shortbread-colored, and one cookie has two eyes and a grin cut out of it. I think I heard someone refer to them as Naughty Boys, though I'll have to check on that. [Update: they're called Spitzbüb Coquin, and we also have mini Panettone now as well.]

I've made myself hungry, so I'll head off for a mini berry tart now. I intend to catch up in here soon, though we have a full house once again and I've got lots of hikes to go on.