Einsiedeln (9/12/1981)

Saturday, September 12, 1981

Once again, awoke early to catch the 7:52 train, this time to Bern to change to the 8:36 train to Zürich. This international train filled up fast, so I took the little fold-down seat in the vestibule (near the lavatory!). It was non-stop between Bern and Zürich, and had non-stop traffic to the lavatory. One bearded man went to stand behind me after he used the facilities, and made smacking kissing noises (?). I didn’t turn around to see what he was doing.

An hour and a half later, changed trains in Zürich to the 10:00 to Rapperswil. This was a local commuter train where you punched your ticket in a machine before you boarded. It is on the honor system, and there was a ticket checker on this train. We started out underground, came out by the lake, making a few stops in the city, then at every little town along the north shore of the lake. The last stop was Rapperswil, which I discovered is not at the end of the lake, but 2/3 of the way. I needed to get to the other side of Lake Zürich!

Local train at Rapperswil

Excursion boat at Rapperswil

I took the train for Pfäffikon which crossed a partially man-made causeway right from Rapperswil to Pfäffikon, in about 5 minutes! Pfäffikon seemed to be just hotels and restaurants surrounded by farmland. I walked to the lakefront to eat my lunch. You could hear the clunking of boats bobbing in the marina. There was a bit of a stink from too many duck droppings on the enclosed beach. Walking back to the train station, I saw farmers gathering wood, a riotous flower garden, and a tower with carved designs. Caught a train to Wädenswil, where I had a long wait for the train to Eindsiedeln. I walked down to the waterfront here to watch all the ducks and excursion boats dock to disgorge passengers. It was pretty clear today, enough to see across the lake.

Got the 13:00 Südostbahn/Southeast Railway train. A girl across from me asked if I spoke English, then if I was from Japan. She worked for a Japanese souvenir company in Zürich, and knew some Japanese phrases (more than I do!).

It took 45 minutes to slowly climb the mountain, although a tame one, to Einsiedeln. In the station I saw a poster for the “Grosse Welt Theater/Great World Theater.” A notice plastered on the poster indicated there were still tickets available at the service window. A station employee directed me to the theater office in the square 5 minutes away. The ticket office was closed, so I walked up to the grandstand set up in front of the Einsiedeln Klosterkirche/Abbey Church. The stage was simply the square in front of the huge church. In small arcs away from the square were arcades of souvenir shops.

Souvenir shop arcade

Einsiedeln is a pilgrimage destination, so many of the souvenirs were religious in nature. At 14:00 I joined the crowds at the ticket office, but they were sold out for tonight. I learned you could wait until just before the performance, and often some reserved tickets were not claimed, freeing up some seats. I checked out some hotels, but was told they had no single rooms. (Did they have doubles?) I decided to walk away from the center of town for smaller hotels, but there were none. I only saw kids flying kites in a cow pasture, because I was very quickly outside of the town!

Returned to tour in the Benedictine Klosterkirche/Abbey Church. It was very ornately decorated but did not seem gaudy. The object of the pilgrimages is a Black Madonna. The original Black Madonna belonged to a hermit monk, St. Meinard, and he placed it on the altarpiece in his hermitage. Legend says the face was blackened by candle smoke, and miracles were attributed to it. Now the Black Madonna is dressed in elegant robes. What was unusual to see in Switzerland were all the black-robed priests and groups of black-habited nun tourists eagerly writing out their postcards.
The Abbey was established in 934 and legend says that the church was consecrated by Christ himself in 948 with the assistant of the four Evangelists. The present abbey and church were built in 1704-19.

Klosterkirche/Abbey Church

Klosterkirche/Abbey Church with grandstand of seats in front

Marienbrunnen/Fountain of Mary (1684-1686)

Doors to the church

I walked around both sides of the monastery, peeking through gates at athletic fields, and horses in an enclosure on the other side.

The rear of the abbey

Behind the monastery was farmland and hills.
I followed signs to a music exhibition, but it was a slide show with organ music. On the way to the station I stopped at a Goldapfelbäckerei/ Gold Apple Bakery to buy a local specialty. These were heavy sweet “cookies” formed in the shape of a peasant hat (pointed like a Chinese coolie hat). However, they are called Schafbocks/Rams (?).

Schafbocks cookies

I tried to buy stamps from a vending machine, but it was empty. The newsstand vendor allowed me to buy a stamp if I bought a postcard, but she had only the 70 Rappen/Centimes/35 cent stamps, and I needed the 1 CHF stamp.

Südostbahn/Southeast Railway

Took the 15:36 train back to Wädenswil. I didn’t see any hotel prospects in the small towns, so decided to head home through Zürich. Got to Biel at 19:00, and since it was pouring rain, I waited for a bus back to the hospital. No bus came. I looked carefully at the schedule to learn that after 19:00 the buses leave from Mühlebrücke and not the station! By then the rain had let up, so I walked.