Sunday, March 28, 1982

Mount Titlis (3/28/1982)

Sunday, March 28, 1982
I awoke at 7:15, and since it was dark I thought it was cloudy, forgetting about the change to Daylight Savings Time.
Train day pass
I caught the 8:20 train to Olten and changed to the 9:28 to Luzern, arriving at 10:10. Followed a Hasidic family onto the narrow gauge Luzern-Stans-Engelberg (LSE) train. The bright red train left at 10:30, traveling around the Vierwaldstättersee/Lake Lucerne then into the hills to Stans, working its way up a valley. In Obermatt the train hooked onto a cog rail to climb up to Engelberg, arriving at 11:40.
Luzern-Stans-Engelberg train
Luzern-Stans-Engelberg train
A sign pointing towards Titlis led to a parking lot, and I decided not to believe the sign and turned towards the Kloster Engelberg, a huge Benedictine Abbey in town, one of seemingly many Benedictine abbeys hidden in the Alps!
Kloster Engelberg/Engelberg Abbey
Klosterkirche/Abbey church
A Mass was in progress in the Abbey church. I walked back through downtown where the road seemed to be made of gravel, but it was just the dirt and gravel thrown down for the snow and ice. Returned to the parking lot and found a path beyond it leading to the Titlisbahn/Titlis Railway station.
Titlisbahn funicular
Bought a half-price round trip ticket for 16 CHF/$8 and boarded the 12:30 funicular for Gerschnialp.
Titlisbahn ticket
Apparently the funicular does not take a lunch break during ski season, and I was stuffed in the car with a hundred skiers. At Gerschnialp we switched to a large aerial cable car, into which 50 of us were stuffed. At Trubsee we changed to another aerial cable car, crossing a flat snow-covered depression, crisscrossed with cross country and downhill ski trails, to Stand. We changed cable cars once again, traveling over a glacier which had, here and there, pale green ice “waves.” There were a few ski tracks made by daring foolhardy skiers on the unpredictable surface of the glacier. The top stop was Kleintitlis/Small Titlis at 3020 m/9908’. A sign indicated this ski run was for first rate skiers only and you must stay with the trail. I followed signs to the Ice Palace, which were just large halls cut into the ice. In the last one they put a light behind the ice to give a light blue glowing effect. I returned to the main building and went up to the second floor souvenir shop with an outdoor platform facing the big Titlis mountain at 3238 m/10, 623’.
View from Kleintitlis
Titlisbahn aerial cable car
Climbed to the top floor restaurant and panorama room with a view down on the glacier. A plane flew at a level below us. Two fellows seemed to be sticking with me, and I couldn’t understand anything they were saying to each other. Only later when we joined a group of kids speaking British English, did I realize that is what the two guys were speaking. We took the cable car down to Stand, where I got off to take photos.
Lots of tiny skiers
Titlisbahn Trubsee aerial cable car
View towards Titls
View towards Trubsee
An Italian woman and her son were on the next cable car, and they were watching a daughter/sister ski down below them. Met up with the English group at Trubsee, and were joined by a girl with a pair of skis, one had the tip bent over. Back in Engelberg at 14:30 and caught the 14:43 train to Luzern, arriving at 15:45. Crossed the bridge to Schweizerhofquai, then left on Löwenstrasse, right at Löwenplatz and into the park to the Löwendenkmal/Lion Monument.
Löwendenkmal/Lion Monument in 1900
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-07222)
It is a sculpture designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and carved in the wall of a former sandstone quarry in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. it commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution in Paris. Today it was half-covered in scaffolding. Up the hill, I went to the Gletschergarten/Glacier Garden for 4 CHF/$2.
Gletchergarten/Glacier Garden ticket
Gletchergarten/Glacier Garden guide page 1
Gletchergarten/Glacier Garden guide page 1
It seemed like a lot to pay to see a small garden with Alpine plants, but it was much more! There were a series of glacier potholes with smooth stones in them. There were grooved stones and stones with fossils. The old building was part of the complex and going in the nearest door I found myself in an old Alhambra Mirror Maze transported from some exposition in Geneva. Kind of neat! Another door took me to a museum with the first floor devoted to geological history with a time era calendar and paintings of Luzern as a tropical area and during the ice age, also fossils, skeletons, prehistoric implements, etc. The next room had giant relief model maps of ancient and present Switzerland. In the back were models of Swiss farmhouses and a biology exhibit that included fetuses. Fancy wooden stairs took you to the next floor with a model diorama of a battle in 1799, a room made to look like a farmhouse room, an exhibit of rocks and minerals, a porcelain exhibit, and a room of maps. The top floor had rooms furnished with antique furniture, and pictures and models of old Luzern. Outside you could climb the hill past a waterfall to an Alpine hut and an observation tower. I hurried back to the train station where I was to call Jan at 17:00. We agreed to meet at the Royal Ciné Theater in Bern at 18:35. I boarded the 17:08 train to Bern, which arrived 10 minutes late at 18:35, but I arrived at the theater the same time as Jan & Kirby. Bought our 9 CHF/$4.50 tickets and sat down to watch “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.”
Movie ticket
Jan & Kirby brought me dinner from McDonald’s, which I tried to eat inconspicuously. Surprisingly, the movie did not inspire much emotion and I might have had a tear for the forgiveness scene, but it was interestingly done.

Saturday, March 27, 1982

Mount Rigi (3/27/1982)

Thursday, March 25, 1982
Met Jan & Kirby after work to first go to Ipsach to retrieve Taco shells from the S family’s freezer, then to go to Helen’s apartment by 19:00. Roslyn, the Kindergarten teacher was there as well, and Helen accepted our gifts (Roslyn a candle, me a plant, Jan & Kirby a bottle of Spanish wine with an American corkscrew). We sat on the floor for a fondue meal. I was hungry, so ate the fondue that had a lot of wine in it, and I was thirsty so also had a glass of musty Spanish wine. Dessert was peach halves and Basler Läckerli (“gingerbread”).

Friday, March 26, 1982
My next door neighbor, Jong-Soon, came to invite me to go to church with her to hear a sermon. I wasn’t interested, even when (and especially when!) she said it was a place to meet people! Ach! Jong-Soon has accidently walked into my room several times, but last Wednesday she knocked first. She is a nurse in the operating room and has worked three years in Germany, but spent the last four at her home in South Korea (while her parents tried to find her a husband!). (She says she has declined 10 prospects found by her parents.) Her parents are still hunting and apparently Jong-Soon seems to be doing some husband-hunting here on her own!

Saturday, March 27, 1982
Train day pass
Caught the 8:20 train to Olten, arriving at 9:10, then changing to the 9:28 train to Luzern and points south. In Olten at platform 12 there is a sign indicating “0” for the zero kilometer point in the Swiss railway network.
An Asian guy got on the train asking two passengers in choppy high-German if this train went to Flüelen (let me tell you, that is a hard word to say!). Since they were Americans, he tried again in English, but they had no idea. The Asian asked the conductor in the vestibule who brought him into our car, sat him down, and told him to stay there until we reached Flüelen. But the guy asked his seatmates if this train went to Flüelen. Since he was hard to understand, the guy across the aisle from him asked if he spoke English. No, German was better. He was Vietnamese. When his new-found friends got off the train, the Asian asked his newly boarded seatmates if this train went to Flüelen! When another conductor came through, he asked him as well.
I have noticed poles with bits of wood nailed on at right angles planted in an empty plot of ground. Lately I have noticed other poles with the bit of wood nailed at an angle and realized these poles were placed to mark the corners/outlines of a building, some with a pitched roof. They must do a three-dimensional plotting to see if a new house will block someone’s sight lines?
I got off the train at 10:50 in Arth-Goldau and went to the narrow gauge Rigibahn station. I got a ticket for 16 CHF/$8 for Vitznau which would allow me to go to Weggis. We left at 11:00, pushing a ski rack car ahead of us. I was in a standing room only car full of people wearing ski jackets and had goggles on their heads. A few carried large flat parallelogram nylon packages. They spoke a variety of languages, but according to the patches on their hats, they all belonged to a hang-gliding club. The train made its way through a 2 m/6.5’ deep gorge of snow. The whistle blew as if we were going to cross a road, but we crossed ski trails where skiers waited for the train to pass. The evergreen forests and snow made a lovely scene. Closer to the top were fewer trees but more hotels. We reached Rigi-Kulm at 12:00. As soon as everyone got their skis and hang gliders off the rack car, the train left.
Retrieving items from the ski rack car
I ducked under a hang glider on someone’s shoulder and began my hike to the tippy top of Rigi. I slipped a little on the slushy path. The snow banks started at 1 m/3.3’ high, but reached 2-3 m/6.5-9.8’ at the hotel.
High snow banks
Beyond that the snow was blowing and there were no more snow walls. At the very top the wind threatened to blow you away, but fortunately there were railings to hold while you admired the surveyor’s marker at 1,800 m/5,905’ above sea level and the radio tower.
Survey marker and view SE
View NE of Zugersee/Lake Zug
Also to be admired was the wonderful panorama of the Alps to the south.
View SW of Pilatus
View SSW to Jungfrau
There were displays of mountain outlines so you could identify what you saw. The Jungfrau trio was not obvious, so I had to find them first in the display! To the north there was only a gray pall covering what should have been the pleasant rolling hills merging into the Jura mountains and the Black Forest in Germany. The Rigi is called an island mountain as all around it are lakes. The hang gliders were all at the top either admiring the view or checking the winds. Supposedly this is the place to watch sunrises.
I followed a path behind the hotel, past the Rigibahn station and towards Weggis. I was hoping to run into an aerial cable car to take me down into Weggis. It was slippery going down the path. At one point it went through a tunnel and the floor was all ice. One by one, a whole line of people slid down holding on to the handrail. A couple older women took a tumble, but got up with a laugh. I took my turn and made it on my feet. As we hiked down, a red rack railroad train passed us on the way up from Vitznau.
Vitznau Rigibahn at Rigi-Kulm
Lots of ski areas
Skier crossing
I ended up at Rigi Staffelhöhe where I looked at a map and determined I could get the aerial cable car at the next station at Rigi Kaltbad. The next train wasn’t for 10 minutes, so I decided to walk to Kaltbad. Sometimes the snow was so deep you had to walk on the train tracks. I wished I had my sunglasses! Benches were hidden behind snow banks, and most were occupied by people sunning themselves. I beat the train to Rigi Kaltbad and went to the aerial cable car station where they readily took my Vitznau ticket. I boarded the next car leaving at 13:30, and saw a lady remove metal cleats from her boots. Now I know why many older people hiked down that path without a care while I kept tense and took teensy weensy steps. We started off over a snowy level section and then whoop, we dropped off the edge, continuing down over evergreen forests. The occasional fallen tree interrupted the vertical pattern of tall upright trees. Ten minutes later we were in a parking lot in Weggis.
Rigibahn aerial cable car in Weggis
Followed Rigistrasse down to the lakefront of Vierwaldstättersee/Lake Lucerne. It was warm enough to remove my ski jacket. Weggis is a spa resort, but at this time of year the quai was bare of flowers. Caught the 14:13 boat to Luzern.
MS Rigi
We stopped at Hertenstein dock on the large promontory jutting into the lake from the foot of Rigi. Landed in Luzern at 14:50 and walked to the train station. In front of the station I noticed a Wanderweg/hiking trail sign pole with signs pointing in all directions. A closer look showed that they pointed to all the different Lucernes in the world, mostly in the U.S.
Boarded the 15:08 train to Bern. It was fertilizing time. Some farmers shoveled clumps of straw and manure onto their fields. Snow didn’t stop anyone, as some farmers had a long hose to spray brown stinky stuff over the field. Arrived in Bern about 16:30 and went to the McDonald’s to use the restroom. Went window shopping down the main drag, while keeping an eye out for the Restaurant Commerce at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 74 where I was to meet Jan & Kirby for dinner at 18:00. Went to the bear pits but they were empty. Saw a guy in lederhosen/leather shorts with a feather in his green cap and silver trim on his green jacket. He gladly obliged when a girl asked to take his picture. Before 18:00 I sat at a bench to watch the front of the restaurant, but must have missed when Jan & Kirby entered. I tried peeking into the restaurant, but did not see them. Finally Kirby came out to find me when the waiter mentioned someone was loitering outside! I didn’t realize they meant for me to meet them inside the restaurant. Fortunately they had already ordered the paella for four, which takes at least 25 minutes to prepare. Also at the dinner table was Sylvia, an old acquaintance whom they met through a doctor at the Kinderspital/Children's Hospital. She spoke English well and used some funny phrases like something is not “ha, ha funny.” The paella was served on a large platter where the waiter dished out our portions. The Spanish dish is rice in a slightly tomato-ey sauce, and overwhelmed with other goodies, like mussel shells full of rice as well as the little mussel, shrimp, squid, chicken, and sausage. The Spanish wine was too dry for me, so I just had water. Overstuffed on two helpings. The bill came to 125 CHF/$62.50. We were “kicked” out when the group arrived for their 20:00 reservation of our table.
Went to Mövenpick for ice cream, sharing a big bowl with six ice cream scoops (chocolate, vanilla walnut, pistachio, and caramel, and strawberry and raspberry sherbets). Plus there was meringue, little cookies, and a mass of whipped cream topped by raspberry sauce. Lucky for us chocolate abstainers! (Jan and I have given up chocolate for Lent.) There were only two seats left at the movie theater, so we walked Sylvia back to her car and went to Jan & Kirby’s car to drive home. Arrived at 22:30. I set my clock forward for Daylight Savings Time to 23:30 and went to bed!

Wednesday, March 24, 1982

Andermatt, Göschenen, Altdorf, and Bürglen (3/20/1982)

Saturday, March 20, 1982
Train day pass
Up early today to catch the 6:31 train to Olten, arriving at about 7:20, changing to the 7:32 train to Chiasso. It was still very cloudy when we arrived in Arth-Goldau, so I skipped the idea of going to the Rigi mountain. I stayed on the train, which did not stop in Altdorf, so I ended up in Göschenen at about 9:40. Decided to take the 10:00 narrow gauge Furka-Oberalp (FO) train to Andermatt. My day pass was not valid, so I bought a half-price round-trip ticket for 4 CHF/$2. I tried to photograph the train which was difficult because it was in a narrow alley of sorts.
Furka-Oberalp train in Göschenen
The train followed a winding mountain stream. The snow was deep and you didn’t always have a view because the snow banks were higher than the train! We traveled through a lot of avalanche tunnels with occasional ice stalactites. After 10 minutes we were in Andermatt, where I carefully made my way over packed snow and ice to the main street of shops and hotels. Straight ahead was a hill covered with anti-avalanche barriers.
Andermatt
There were skiers coming and going everywhere. The streets were supposed to be the “typical Italian binario structure with granite sets,” which I think actually means structure of the railroad tracks… Andermatt is considered the true crossroads of the Alps (including the Gotthard tunnel passing beneath it) and it certainly was busy with skier traffic. The skiers had passes that opened the turnstiles to the train to Disentis, a ski resort in the Romansh area of Switzerland.
Caught the 10:24 FO train back to Göschenen, arriving at 10:35 to hike over to the bridge for a view of the ice field of Upper Dammastock mountain through the Göschenental gap. I could barely see the gap in the clouds, but I could see the town below me and the chemical-green colored Reuss River.
Reuss River in Göschenen
Furka-Oberalp train
Took the 10:48 local train towards Luzern and got off at Altdorf at 11:30, for the 15-minute walk into the old town along Bahnhofstrasse. I reached a t-intersection and looked right to see the Telldenkmal/Wilhelm Tell Monument.
Telldenkmal/Tell Monument
The statue (that created the physical type of how Wilhelm Tell was to be remembered) was of a big burly man with a crossbow over his shoulder and his son at his side.
Telldenkmal/Tell Monument
The town square had buildings with painted façades and wrought-iron signs. I crossed the street to wait with a small crowd for the bus to Bürglen. The bus driver carefully examined my half-fare pass and then declared it invalid, so I paid full fare for the 1.20 CHF/60 cent ticket.
Bus ticket
We left at 11:52 and a couple stops later we were in Bürglen, the bus having climbed the hill for me to let me off in the center of town. The Wilhelm Tell Museum was right in front of me, but a typewritten notice said the museum was officially closed.
Tell Museum
I wandered in the town of Wilhelm Tell’s birth, seeing buildings with painted façades and old farmhouses, one dated 1609. The only thing that may have been present in Tell’s time was a restaurant built in 1135. Followed a sign pointing to the Tell-Kapelle/Tell Chapel, a little stone chapel, supposedly built on the site of his home.
Tell-Kapelle/Tell Chapel
Inn and another Telldenkmal/Tell Monument
Next door was Kirche von Bürglen/local church and cemetery. Wandered in the cemetery, but everyone seems to have died in the 1970s. I decided to walk back to Altdorf, and went down the hill. In the tiny valley was an old house with letters painted on it declaring it to be Tell’s home (it isn't the home of the old Wilhelm Tell; maybe descendants?).
Tells Heim/Tell's Home
The setting reminded me of the stage for the Wilhelm Tell play in Interlaken!
A thunderstorm began before I reached Altdorf, and the wind turned my umbrella inside out. I sat in the station to dry out while waiting for the 13:32 train to Luzern. By then it was snowing. Arrived in Luzern at 14:50 and went to a souvenir shop, deciding to get two wooden figures; one of a dairy farmer with a wooden milk carrier on his back, and one of a cheese-maker with a round of cheese on his back, for a total of 116 CHF/$58. The girl took her time to wrap them sloppily. It was raining again, but turned to snow as I waited for the 15:42 train to Olten. On this train a baldheaded man picked up a magazine that he thought was the train magazine, but realized his mistake when he read an article critical of the railway system, and apologetically handed the magazine back to its owner. Arrived in Olten about 16:20 and changed to the 16:59 train to Biel. There were several 30-ish year olds on this train and they shuffled a lot of papers to appear to be studying. The clouds were so low it was like looking at them from an airplane! Arrived in Biel at 17:45.
I stopped by Jan & Kirby’s Personalhaus/staff residence room to give them a house-warming gift, two rolls of Charmin toilet paper that had come from the Ls in Czechoslovakia! I was invited to dinner of salad with Kirby’s special homemade Swiss dressing and a fondue from a recipe they got from a family in Olten whose daughter is an occupational therapist (O.T.) on the U.S. West Coast! This was the best fondue they had ever tasted and probably the best I will ever taste! It was tastier with the herbs and spices, and was somehow lighter, although not thinner. Excellent! I could never compete with Kirby, the gourmet chef!
The meal was accompanied by Jan’s tea and my sugar cubes! We left at 20:30 to stop at their new apartment. Although it was dark, the walk up to the door seemed to be between manicured plots of lawn and plants. The apartment was really nice with a big fairly new kitchen. There was a table with a plastic covering of a red-daisy design and red chairs with cane seats they got from Heidi V, the former Kinderspital/Children's Hospital O.T. They also are “keeping” other furniture for Heidi and her husband who are finally on their way to England, as well as some really nice big plants. In the bedrooms and living room there was wood parquet flooring. They had a pair of twin beds (there are no full size beds, yet, in Europe, they just push together two twins), a wardrobe, a desk, a day bed/sofa, a pair of tall shelving, and lots of cube shelving, some with drawers. The front hall was curtained off and had a telephone. Behind curtains were a sink and a shower. And a lavatory with toilet and a cold-water sink. We were there to pick up an extra kitchen table to return to the S family, which we strapped to the car roof. While Kirby drove, I held one end of the rope and Jan held the other. Kirby hurried in case this was illegal. In Büren an der Aare we stopped at the last house in a modern development where all the houses looked the same. Brigitte S opened the garage as we delivered the table. We went through the garage into the basement to see dozens of pipes of the heating system that heats the floors of the house. Upstairs, you could see the house wasn’t quite finished, as the S family is doing the interior themselves. I met Hans-Rüdi. The Ss have become personal friends of Jan and Kirby who both work with their son who is in the CP Kindergarten. We had been invited for dessert of lemon sorbet with fresh berries and whipped cream. I couldn’t identify the berries (yellow currants and red blackberries?). The conversation went on and on. The reason I was invited was because Brigitte wanted someone to improve her English with and she could teach me French, as she was from the French-speaking part of Belgium. Plus she played volleyball and might be able to get me into practices.

Sunday, March 21, 1982
It was 00.30 when we left the S family, this time with two chairs in the back seat and the three of us had to share the front seats of the VW Golf that had a manual shift! We drove through the lighted medieval square of Büren an der Aare and crossed the covered wooden bridge.

Monday, March 22, 1982
Hans-Rüdi picked me up at 20:20 to go to their home in Büren an der Aare. While he read bedtime stories to the kids, Brigitte and I started with a review of the Migros French lessons. I really learned how to pronounce, even though my tongue hasn’t. Then we got into English with both Brigitte and Hans-Rüdi. I was driven back home by 22:40.

Wednesday, March 24, 1982
Because I was searching for my lost Piepser/beeper, I forgot about my last French lesson at Migros! I never did find the Piepser. Jong-Soon, the new nurse from South Korea, came to visit in my room.

Sunday, March 14, 1982

Avenches, Moudon, Payerne, and Estavayer-le-Lac (3/14/1982)

Sunday, March 14, 1982
Train day pass
Again took the 7:52 train towards Bern. Got off at Lyss at 8:00 and saw the next train towards Lausanne wasn’t until 8:41. But there was a bus to Aarberg at 8:05 on Sundays. I boarded the PTT bus in front of the station and asked if my day pass was valid. It was, but the driver said he was not going to Aarberg. He would eventually get there, but the long way around via Lyss at 9:00. Maybe he forgot it was Sunday? I took a walk through Lyss in hopes of finding a typical old farmhouse to photograph, before returning to the station to catch the 8:41 train. We had a 15-minute stopover in Kerzers, as trains came and left from every direction at this crossroads. Another 15-minute layover in Murten. Finally arrived in Avenches at 9:40. Avenches is a small town of about 2,000 people that is on the site of the ancient Roman city of Aventicum, which had a population of 50,000! Headed out past the industries into farmland. A sign pointed me to the excavation of a Roman bath under a roof of red tile supported on wooden posts and tightly enclosed by a chain-link fence.
Roman baths excavation
Continued past someone’s private bird sanctuary with peacocks and a couple giant ducks. On the other side of a hilly mound, there was a stretch of fields with the remains of a wall on a further hill. I wasn’t sure how to get there. Came to a horse farm where a path of sorts led me up to the wall. The ground was wet and muddy with big puddles and “flash flood” streams. I mucked my way along the length of the wall to reach the Tornallaz Tour/Tower ruins, once an observation post and now surrounded with spotlights.
Eastern Gate and Tornallaz Tower
The path along the wall seems to be used as a motocross track; lots of dirt bike tracks. Still farther along the wall is the Porte de l’Este/Eastern Gate, which was a funny maze of walls. In the circular sections you could climb stairs up on the wall for a view out to the countryside, or turn around to look in to the countryside!
View of Avenches from the gate
I followed a road through the fields and woods, where people walked their dogs and kids rode bicycles, that led me straight to the Roman Theater. Kids were using it as their playground. A path took me to the Cigognier/Storkery (stork sanctuary?) which was more Roman ruins with a 40’ high pilaster/column.
Storkery and Roman Theater
Now I was on the edge of town, as I passed modern houses to reach L'amphithéâtre romain d'Avenches/Avenches Roman Amphitheater up on a hill.
Roman Amphitheater
The seating was partially restored with concrete. A few people were wandering around the place that once sat 15,000. I climbed to the fat tower (built later in medieval times) that housed the Roman Museum. Opened the creaking door and walked into the first level with sections of mosaics, parts of statues, and a stone carving of the she-wolf with the twins Romulus and Remus. I walked upstairs to meet the lonely guard at the ticket desk. He said I was the first visitor as I bought the 2 CHF/$1 ticket.
Musée romain d'Avenches/Roman Museum
Here there were coins and a case of small bronze figures of Roman gods. The guidebook made sure you noted the golden bust of Marcus Aurelius (closer inspection of the fine print stated this was a copy; the original is in Lausanne). On the next level was pottery. After I left the museum I walked through the old town to the Château de Avenches, passed the Hôtel de Ville/City Hall, then returned to the train station. There must be a military base nearby as I waded through a crowd of khaki-ed servicemen. Across the tracks you could hear the reports of guns at a target practice.
I caught the 11:28 train to Moudon. The conductor was a comic, joking with all the regulars. At each stop his job was to check his watch and blow his whistle to signal it was okay to go. We had a 10-minute layover in Payerne; oh, the thrills of local trains! Arrived in Moudon at 12:15, and the next train out wasn’t until 14:40. I hoped I could keep busy for 2-1/2 hours!
I followed the crowds of people under the highway into the old town.
Old town street scene
There were amusement rides and food stands that were closed at this time. There was a scattering of wildly-dressed people and a booming costumed band marched by and went into a restaurant. Late Fastnacht celebrations? Passed through an arch under the belfry of the large L'église Saint-Etienne/St Stephen Church (13C) to enter the town square full of food and souvenir booths, and people! To the right I found some dark medieval streets and to the left the bridge crossing the Broye canal, I mean river! From the bridge I was supposed to get a pleasing view of old houses with overhanging roofs, all backed by the Maison de Rochefort, Château de Carouge, and the ancient Broye Tower. I saw a disarray of old dirty buildings with bare walls of only a couple windows, none of which was backed by castles or towers, only a sort of roundish wall. Wrong bridge? Crossed the bridge and followed the river to a wooden bridge which led to a few buildings at water level under cliffs upon which the castle sits. Retraced my steps to the bridge back into the main part of the old town and headed up Grand’Rue, then Rue du Château towards the top of the cliffs. Passed a bombed-out looking building, then a rotting farmhouse squeezed between medieval tenements. A plain square building with painted shutters housed the Musée Eugène Burnand, showing the works of a local artist. From here you could look down on the bare roundish wall which was the Broye Tower. A bit farther was the Musée du Vieux Moudon Rochefort/Museum of Old Moudon which was located in Maison de Rochefort with Fontaine de Moïse/Moses Fountain out front.
Fontaine de Moïse/Moses Fountain
Across the street was a renovated building, now a school, but it was formerly the Château de Carouge! Going back down the hill on the other side of the castle, I passed some old gray buildings, one covered with antique antiques. Back down in the old town, I found my way blocked by barricades with a man selling tickets for the Fastnacht parade. They really are behind schedule in Moudon, which actually is known for the craziest Fastnacht parade. But I wanted to catch the train, and walked around to St Stephen’s, and found myself inside the barricades! As I waited for the 13:43 train, a girl sat next to me and asked the time in French. I showed her my watch. She asked if I was traveling. “Oui.” She asked a few more questions that I could answer with “oui” or “non.” When she learned I was a physical therapist, she said I should get a job in Lausanne. But I don’t speak French. She said I could learn at Migros. Good idea! (Since that was exactly what I was doing!)
She also told me the parade would last two hours, but it didn’t start until 14:00. On the train I could see the château/castle and chapel complex on the hill over the town of Lucens. Before that I had seen billboards along the highway inviting you to visit the castle, but with a poster across one corner saying it was re-opening in April. At 14:00 I got off in Payerne and ran into the old town to see the Église réformée Notre-Dame de Payerne/Reformed Church of Our Lady and castle, but notably the Église abbatiale/Abbey church which was once used as a barracks, and as a hay loft. It was being restored and had a Romanesque look.
Hurried back to the train station to catch the 14:20 train towards Yverdon that took us through the hills to Estavayer-le-Lac by 14:30. Walked through a residential section to the old town. Down a side street I saw two boys on roller skates who had set up a line of miniature traffic cones, and they were weaving in and out of the cones, crossing their feet between every other cone! This fair-sized city is on Lac de Neuchâtel/Lake Neuchâtel, but you couldn’t see the lake from the old town. Found myself at the rear ramparts and passed under one of many towers. The Église Collégiale St. Laurent/Collegiate Church of St Lawrence was closed for renovation. Found the Musée communal/Local Museum where you had to climb the stairs to the second floor (third in U.S.). A bell jangled when you opened the door so that you couldn’t sneak in without buying a ticket! I paid the 2 CHF/$1 and signed the guest book.
Local museum ticket
I started in a room filled with cases of weapons; a great variety and great number all jumbled together. I saw an old map and looked for the sights to see in town and how to get there. Another room was filled with books, religious objects, jewelry, ceramics, and other assorted junk. A stairway led down to a restored kitchen and in the back room a man was loudly telling about a Japanese visitor who loved this museum, or this room. There were many displays using stuffed frogs dressed to play the part of every day life in 19th century Switzerland, such as students in a classroom, a family at dinner, soldiers, etc. There were a few stuffed birds and a few paintings. A stairway led to the ground floor with a room full of railroad paraphernalia like signs, lanterns, signals, etc. I was properly overwhelmed and left. Next to the Château de Chenaux.
Château de Chenaux
I entered one tower that led to a bridge or rampart bringing you to another tower. Exiting this tower I returned to the castle on a path through the former moat. From a park overlooking the front ramparts you could look down on some new houses and muddy flats. The lake looked far away and the Jura mountains were covered with clouds.
I walked down through town to head for the lakefront to try to get a general view of Estavayer-le-Lac.
Estavayer-le-Lac general view
After some promenading along the lakefront, I went to catch the 15:53 train to Fribourg. As we headed south, I suddenly saw the long panorama of mountain tops along the horizon. I had never seen so much to either side of the familiar Jungfrau trio of Alps! Arrived in Fribourg at 16:30 for the 16:45 to Bern. The train was crowded with people from the Geneva Auto Salon/Exposition. You could still see the very clear alpine panorama, so when we arrived in Bern at 17:10, I rushed to Parliament to get a photo. At that time of day the view was already dimming, but it is the best view I had ever seen in Bern.
Alpine panorama
As I headed back to the station, someone in a pale yellow Renault waved and asked in English if Ii was going to Biel. It was the Kinderspital receptionist, Barbara S. She was with her friend, Ariane, and they drove using the local roads to Biel. Just when I thought I had too much of the smoking, they would quit for a while. They played mostly Neil Diamond on the cassette player. Barbara invited me to come for dinner at her apartment in Vingelz, that had a great view of the Bielersee/Lake Biel, and today of the mountains. She had a one-room apartment with a bed alcove, a kitchen and bathroom. As Barbara started making dinner of a spicy spaghetti, I looked at her photo album of her visit to Cincinnati and Ariane played with the guinea pigs, Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci! Pineapple slices and homemade chocolate for dessert, along with cookies and coffee. They played me a record of a Swiss singer who sings all her songs in English, and a record of songs in dialect. At 20:00 I was dropped off at the hospital, while the two of them went dancing. I fell into bed.