St Petersinsel (9/26/1982)

Sunday, September 26, 1982

When I left, it was clear and sunny, but when I reached the docks at Bielersee/Lake Biel, the sun had disappeared behind dark clouds and there was a stiff breeze. I bought a half-price boat ticket for St Petersinsel for 2 CHF/$1.

Biel to St Petersinsel boat ticket

It began to rain when the boat left 20 minutes late at 11:10. The boat was crowded and I stood in the roofed over outdoor section. It got darker and rained harder. You could just see the grapes were still on the vines in the vineyards. Some of the concrete walls below the highway were covered with camouflage. It looked like they were weather testing different types.

It was raining in earnest as we docked at St Petersinsel. I put up my umbrella and followed the crowd through the woods, past a hillock and through farmland with fields on one side and pastures of horses on the other.

Fondation Pour le Cheval/Foundation for Horses

Past a few farm buildings and an orchard until we reached the Chloster Hotel.

Orchard

Chloster Hotel

Everyone entered one doorway that took you through a hall to a courtyard. The courtyard was literally overshadowed by tall trees. There was a café under the eaves around two sides. On the other side was a stairway leading up to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s room. An outer room has his books and quotations and the inner room was simply furnished with a bed, desk and chairs, and a sofa. Back outside I passed a memorial with a small bust of Rousseau, who visited here for six weeks in 1765.

Despite the pouring rain, I began to hike back past the boat dock to Erlach. At first the gravel road led through the woods, then it opened up onto fields of corn. No cars are allowed on St Petersinsel, which is actually a peninsula into the Bielersee/Lake Biel. The peninsula is fairly wide, and with bushes on either side of the road and land beyond, you don’t even see water. Off in the distance you can see the surrounding hills of the outer edges of Bielersee/Lake Biel. I mostly had to hold the umbrella in front of my face and trudge on. I put my back pack on backwards (on my front) to try to keep it dry. The hike was supposed to be one hour and 10 minutes and although I was trudging and not going fast, I made it in 50 minutes. When I was about 10 minutes away from Erlach, I could hear music, and when I arrived, I saw they were having a carnival in town. I walked up to the old town with a really neat cobblestoned street working its way uphill. The shuttered houses had lots of flowers and flags of various cantons.

Erlach old town street

Houses with cantonal flags

The castle is on top of the hill and is now apparently a school. It also was undergoing renovation.

View from castle of St Petersinsel

I went down to the dock and caught the 13:45 boat to La Neuveville, getting a half-price ticket for 80 Rappel/centimes/40 cents.

Erlach to La Neuveville boat ticket

In La Neuveville I got a half-price train ticket for Biel for 1.60 CHF/80 cents.

La Neuveville to Biel train ticket

On the train was a spry old man in his running suit who mentioned he was hiking all the way around the Bielersee/Lake Biel, but gave up because of the rain. That distance is 43 km/27 miles! He was 82 years old!

Low clouds over Biel

Thursday, September 30, 1982

After work I met Hetty and Elisabeth in the hospital lobby and Hetty drove us downtown in her new car. We dropped Elisabeth off to get pudding, while Hetty and I drove around before stopping in Mühlebrücke to wait for her, and for Jan. At 18:40 we all drove off together, or at least tried in Biel’s traffic jam. We went to Twann and headed up the mountain to Prêles. It was cloudy and dark when we arrived at a building in the middle of town. Through the windows we could see Fr Dr Bangerter and several kids. They welcomed us to the Kindergarten Lager/camp. We went upstairs to see the kids snuggled in their beds, then returned downstairs for dinner. We were “celebrating” Hetty’s last day at Wildermeth. Veronica, the camp cook, had prepared spaghetti with a thick sauce and a cucumber salad. We drank a cold tea. Also present were Silvia, Pia, and Kirby, and a friend of Hetty’s who was Romansh, but lived in England for several years. She spoke to her kids in English, Romansh and Bärndutsch. Hetty was presented with a certificate good for a year’s subscription to a horse magazine (she was our hippotherapist). We gave her a photo album with pictures of the kids she worked with, with funny captions. After washing the dishes, we had dessert of Hetty’s apple-raisin pie, which was slightly burnt and misshapen, but tasted good, especially with the pudding drizzled over it. We P.T.s were in charge of dessert, and not knowing that Hetty was bringing something, Elisabeth had got some wonderful cream-filled rolls and rumballs. We had those with coffee or tea. Conversation lasted long into the night and the smoke was horrendous. Jan and I washed, dried, and put away the dessert dishes, and still no one was ready to leave. The P.T.s finally made the move to go, but were prevented from doing so because a few cigarettes were still burning. Once those were finished, we were allowed to leave. Jan went to mail some cards and Elisabeth and I walked down the driveway as Hetty got the car. Hetty picked us up, then zoomed past Jan. Hetty backed up to pick up Jan and we careened down the mountain. I was dropped off at the Personalhaus/staff residence with Jan who was walking home. I had a terrific headache and my sinuses were congested.