Sumiswald (4/16/1983)

Thursday, April 14, 1983

Sylvia Weiss made dinner of a green salad and Fleischschnitte/cold cuts. She put a veal paste on a slice of buttered toast bread and put it in the oven. Then she placed a piece of bacon on top. We had tea and cookies. Sylvia told us that it was mandatory for women to take a 5-week Hausfrau/housewife course before they got married!

Saturday, April 16, 1983

Train day pass

A warm sunny but hazy day. Went shopping at 8:30, then later caught the 10:34 train to Bern, changing to the 11:23 train to Burgdorf. There I changed to the 12:04 train to Langnau. A girl asked where the train was going and since the lady across from me did not answer, I did. I changed in Ramsei for the 12:20 train to Huttwil, and arrived at 12:30 at the Sumiswald-Grünen station. I figured I wasn’t actually in Sumiswald and walked straight out of the station a block, turned left to where there seemed to be more buildings. I found a sign pointing towards Sumiswald and saw a church steeple up a hill. Sumiswald is a very small town with a mixture of old and new buildings. There were lots of old wooden houses made with weathered materials, having façades filled with windows and the large overhanging roof. Not many gables were painted. I found the Zum Kreuz inn, which was the most remarkable building in town.

Zum Kreuz

Characteristic building with church bell tower behind it

I found a shabby uncharacteristic building housing Kramer Orthopedics which may have been the Kramerhaus indicated in the Michelin guidebook. Having walked all around town and past its white church twice, I headed back to the train station. I caught the first train out of town, the 13:17 to Burgdorf. A girl got on at Ramsei and wanted to know where the train was going, then if it stopped at Hasle-Rüegsau and how many stations that would be. She thanked me very much even though I couldn’t tell her the hours the Hasle ticket window would be open! At Burgdorf I caught the 13:47 train to Bern, arriving at 14:10. Decided to go to the 14:30 showing of the movie “Gandhi” at Gotthard Cinema.

"Gandhi" movie ticket

There was a long line, but plenty of seats. This theater had very comfortable seats with high backrests for your head. There was an intermission in the middle of the 3-hour movie, and they came down the aisle selling ice cream! The movie let out about 17:40 and I caught the 17:53 train to Biel.