Ballenberg, a.k.a. condensed Switzerland

Among the many experiences I've had while my sister A has visited (including Cinque Terre, Prague, the Zürich Zoo, and a couple of incredibly weird art galleries) is our visit to Ballenberg a couple of days ago.  If you're into historical Swiss buildings from all regions of Switzrland, seeing "endangered" lifestock (such as this lovely rooster), and curious about the history of Swiss barbers and hair stylists, this is the place for you. Even if you're not, it's worth it just for the train ride from Lucerne to Ballenberg and the first few buildings of this open-air museum.

Parallel lives

I got a really great birthday present this year from D. She invited me to Bern to visit the Paul Klee museum and to have dinner with her family. In Switzerland, hardly anyone invites people to dinner, so needless to say, it as quite an honor.

So, Sunday afternoon I took the train down to Bern and headed to the Paul Klee museum. I didn't know a whole lot about Paul Klee before, but he's a very cool artist. We were inspired by his painting called Vorhaben/Intentions. It reminded us of our lives and our work.

D's mother worked hard to think of the perfect "Swiss" meal for her visitor--I learned that D's father is a locomotive driver for the SBB. He loves model trains, just like my dad! Wow! They told me about the trip they made to the US 30 years ago pre-D--similar to some of the trips we took when I was growing up. Parallel lives, hmmm.

Tour guide Whitter

Had a nice visit of my sister A and her friend B. They were in Züri for a couple of days and then we flew to Greece.

I would have to say one of the highlights was our day in Appenzellerland. We'd taken the train from Züri to Appenzell, where we had to get around by PubliCar, a kind of taxi service run by the PostBus service (there are, by the way, two 16-seat vans to service the whole area) since there is no bus connection from Appenzell town to the Appenzeller Schaukäserei, the cheese dairy where they make the famously tasty Appenzeller cheese. I can only recommend a PubliCar ride through the winding roads and hills of Appenzell--it's so green and beautiful!

Of course, Greece was great, but too short. The photos speak fro themselves.

Beatenberg--where the sun always shines

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Originally uploaded by wahartung

So my friend E was telling me about her trip to Beatenberg, which is somewhere on the Lake Thun near Interlaken. She said, it's always sunny and above the fog and there are some great views of the Jungfrau, Eiger, and Mönch. So we, (KK, a Singaporean guy from work, KC, an American who's visiting work for a month, and I) decided to go Sunday for the day.

Well, E was half right. Although the weather was gorgeous as we reached Beatenberg, but as we took the funicular up to the highest point, Niederhorn, huge clouds began to roll through the area. We sat for a while, hoping it would blow over, but although it cleared up slightly at the Niederhorn, there were too many clouds over on the Jungfrau side to see the mountains.

Still, this did not spoil the fun. We impatiently watched a paraglider wait ages for the right "thermal" and finally throw himself off the mountain, and we had a nice walk down to Vorsass through a very interesting part of the forest. We eventually took the boat on the Thunersee all the way to Interlaken, watched the paragliders land, eat some pizza, and go back to Züri. It was a very, very nice day.


For some more pics, check out KC's Picasa pages or my flickr page.

Quebec in 7 days or less...

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Originally uploaded by wahartung

This post has next to nothing to do with Switzerland or Swiss people, but I just got back from an amazing trip to Quebec to meet my family, who drove up from Ohio. We spent a few days in Montreal--there is so much to see and do there, we didn't even scratch the surface. We were also in Quebec City for a few days--it's one of the oldest cities in North America, and one of the most beautiful by far, with the Chateau, amazing views of the St. Lawrence River.

All through Quebec, people are very proud of their French roots. They speak to you in French if they think you have an inkling of what they mean. The food has a decidedly French flair, and everything proceeds at a slightly slower pace than other places in North America. I couldn't believe the churches--in Kentucky, where I come from, there is a church on every street corner, even way out in the country. In Quebec, there is a cathedral on every street corner! I definitely hope to make it back one day.

Backpost--Pilgrimage to Trub!

This is the event that's inspired the blog...

Several months ago, a few friends of mine (all from Bern) and I went to see a Swiss movie called Die Herbstzeitlosen. It's about a couple of old ladies who live in a small town in the Emmental, a rather conservative area, and they start a lingerie shop. The townspeople are somehow in an uproar over this. Anyway, it's a very cute move, all in Bern dialect.

So they all decided that we should make a pilgrimage to Trub to check the place out. We took the train one sunny morning to Trubschachen, and had a nice hike to Trub. On the way, we met a real live Swiss Mountain Man, saw lots and lots of cows, and we even found a silo with K's namesake on it. Finally, we made it to Trub, where the actual store front is a furniture/kitchen shop instead of a lingerie shop. But there was still a small package in the window from "Petit Paris" (the fictional lingerie shop).

We had a couple of beers in Trub, as well as an amazing strawberry tart, and moved on to E's apartment in Bern for a really nice dinner.