Switzerland

Switzerland ~

22 September

Our 10:30am train out of Salzburg, Austria on Tuesday was the latest morning one we’ve caught yet. We were able to wake up at a reasonable time and get ready and packed in a decent way instead of frantically folding and rolling our things and fitting them back into our bag, hoping nothing was being left behind.

As a matter of fact, I was nearly done packing in Prague when Rhonda came into the bedroom and handed me my watch that I’d left in the bathroom. I’d left it right next to my glasses but still missed it. I was so thankful she saw it there on the window sill!

It helps that we don’t have much with us. Each has an airline-approved sized carry-on suitcase and a shoulder bag or backpack. Not much room for extras! I’m the only one who has purchased any souvenirs so far and that’s only been postcards.

I didn’t mention last blog that the Schloss Mirabel was where The Sound of Music was filmed. At least the exterior and garden shots. We didn’t walk the entire gardens because they were huge. We did walk through the Schloss (German for ‘castle’), into the inner court, and out the front entrance. The interior wasn’t open for tourists and I’m not even sure it usually is. The rooms looked more like offices or apartments.

We walked back to the motel and had a lovely supper. I think we were almost two hours sitting there. I’m thankful we had Rhonda with us to walk us through the European Fine Dining experience. We’d have look as if we were right off the farm otherwise. Nothing majorly different, just little things like: do we eat the salad right now because he set it off to the side (right now); should we ask for more water or let him see the pitcher is low (he saw it); why are there two napkins at each plate (one for tucking into collar of shirt one for wiping mouth); proper use of knife and fork (fork in left hand tines down, knife in right, load up back of fork and transport to mouth with left hand, tines down. Eat entire meal this way); do we ask for the check or will he bring it (we asked for it).

I never before understood what people meant when they referred to European lifestyles as a different culture. There’s enough different to qualify it as a different culture. I learned that when I pay for something, I don’t hold my hand out for the change. There’s a medium-sized tray that they put the money and receipt in and you take it from there. Although the postcard lady in Salzburg waited for me to put out my hand. Maybe it was because I stuck it out there halfway, remembered, and yanked it back.

Another difference is the bathroom lighting. Every single home, motel, or hostel I’ve been in so far (with the exception of here in Switzerland) has the light switch on the outside of the room. You must turn on the light before entering the room or you’ll be in the dark. We were sixteen hours in Budapest before I figured that one out.

Something else they do here that I’m seriously thinking of implementing at home for the kids at least is their method of bed-making. There is a fitted sheet, a pillow in a case, and a duvet folded in fourths sitting on top. The duvet is in a case similar to a pillow but closed with buttons or a zipper or the end folded over. So to make the bed, you fold the duvet back up and plump the pillow. How simple is that?

I’m doing a quantity of writing on this trip between this blog and a hand-written diary I’m keeping. In Salzburg, I stood at the deep window-sill and wrote at the open window in front of me, the cool night breeze gently wafting around with and the quiet city streets four floors below. I took a picture.

That’s another thing different in Europe. Their first floor is called the lobby or ground floor. Floor #1 is up one flight of stairs. So the number on our door key was 301 but we were on the fourth level; the third floor.

Our train went from Salzburg to Zürich and we caught another one that went to Lausanne but got off at Yverdon where our friend Heidi met us. She and her son Liam (nearly 4 years old) drove us to their home in the village of Donneloye (pronounced “Donna-lou-wah) about fifteen minutes away.

Heidi is a native American and she and Rhonda have been good friends for years. She (Heidi) married a Swiss and has been living here ever since. Ralph is a great guy with a wonderful sense of humor. They have three sons and a darling baby girl.

They live half a block from the two older boys’ school and they come home for lunch each day. Switzerland has very good public schools and home schooling is unheard of here. Since this is in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, the boys’ classes are all in that language. Heidi has taught them English from infancy and Ralph has taught them his native Swiss-German, so they’re growing up tri-lingual. Heidi says the two older boys will talk to each other in French and they are all supposed to respond to her in English and to Ralph in Swiss-German.

Little Liam sat on the couch with Rhonda, handed her a book and asked her to read him a story. Rhonda opened it and said she didn’t think she could. He asked if it was in French and she said it was. He encouraged her to try (everyone else he knew could read French, why not Rhonda?) She explained that the only books she could read were ones in English. He quickly offered a Berenstein book about the great honey hunt, ran to get it, and snuggled down for the story.

During the car drive to the house, he asked Mom if she could drive a car. Mom said she could but not in this country. He had trouble with that, too. Every other grown-up could drive a car here, why not her? Mom tried to explain but I don’t think she got anything across.

We haven’t had a chance to get to know the older boys yet because we got here just before chores and bedtime. We know all we need to know about sweet little Alinya….a darling seven-month-old baby girl with a heart-melting smile.

~23 September ~

I’m rather ashamed to admit that we slept in again this morning but at least we got up at 8am instead of 10:30.

Hanus and Dylan had already left for school but Liam came upstairs and visited while we tidied up before coming down. Rhonda and I heard him ask Mom, “Why are you so old”?
“Because I’ve lived a long time,” Mom answered.
“My dad is old,” Liam shared.
“I think I’m a bit older than your dad,” Mom replied. “I’m likely twice as old as him.”
“No,” Liam objected. “He’s forty.”
“Well, I’m seventy-seven,” Mom assured him, “and that’s about twice his age.”
“No.” Liam was staunchly loyal to his dad. “Forty is older than seventy-five.”
Rhonda and I were in the next room trying to smother our howling.
The boys have half days every Wednesday so after they came home for lunch we went on a sight-seeing tour. Ralph and Heidi have a seven-passenger van so we all piled in (except Ralph who had gone to work) and set off for the Nestlé chocolate factory and the Gruyeres cheese facility.

I don’t know if that’s the only Nestlé factory in Switzerland or not or if that was the original factory. What I do know is the very air is perfumed with chocolate. What a place to live in! There is a self-guided tour but you can’t see much of the factory itself. We watched a film of the process and then meandered through the exhibits. The best part is that on your way out, there are trays of samples and no one there to monitor how much each one takes.

There is a gift shop, of course, and I got a couple postcards of Switzerland.

We went a little further to the Gruyeres cheese factory. Again, I don’t know if that’s the only factory or if there are more. For a fee, about 7 euros, we went on a tour. We each had a device that looked like an elongated phone handset as our guide. We typed in the numbers that corresponded with our preferred language and then listened as we progressed from one numbered area to another. We could see most of the process through windows from above.

Liam wasn’t too sure about the salt baths. At first he thought is sounded sort of interesting. Heidi asked if he wanted to be in there for eight days. He decided it wasn’t as appealing as it first appeared.

We each received a sample of cheese that had a slice of cheese aged six months, one aged eight months, and one aged ten months. I had had a slice of eight months aged cheese the day before at supper so I elected to save my cheese for a snack on the train later.
We had enough time to drive up to the Château de St Gruyeres. It’s a fairy tale village with the cobblestone streets, window boxes full of geraniums, and lace curtains in the windows. The dates over the doors tell when the building was built or renovated or something. The oldest date I saw was 1594. Since it was a distance from the castle, I’m guessing it isn’t the oldest.

There is a fountain in the center of the road where we filled our water bottles. It looked decorative what with geraniums planted above it sprinkling the water with their petals and the deep basin beneath. I saw Heidi filling her bottle so when in Rome….. It was cool, clear, and delicious

It looks something like what Williamsburg is; where you can go to see how people lived in centuries gone by. What it really is, is a village where people live and work. There are shops of every kind, motels, and even a retirement home.

We didn’t go into the castle but there was a walkway around it a little lower than the base that we followed. It was a spectacular experience to look out over the valley to our left and then look up at the looming castle walls to our right.

We came back home for Hanus’ soccer practice, supper, and then Bible study. The study starts at 8:15pm here. That makes for less rush during supper but it keeps the children up later. Everyone spoke French at this study with the exception of us three and Heidi. Ralph prayed in English but spoke in French; Heidi prayed in English and spoke in French but then repeated in English. It was very special.

Ralph figured out the problem I was having with accessing their wireless; we visited for about an hour over cups of tea/coffee, and then headed for bed.