Advertisement
Published: April 25th 2009
DATELINE: Saturday, April 18, AARGAU, and points west.
Before resuming the account of my Swiss adventure, I should mention that TravelBlog experienced a global server problem which includes lost photos of numerous bloggers during my journey. Two of my earlier entries presently have black boxes instead of photos. TB is working hard to restore the images from backup files, where possible. Some photos may have to be re-entered by authors. (I really love this site, and wish the owners well in their efforts at recovery of missing info. Life happens, and we will all move forward. Could such losses be why Socrates had no trust of the written word, but placed great emphasis on memory and recitation?) I should also mention that several individuals who have left messages for me on the site have only just been read by me, as I was unsure how to access those notes.
In my last installment, I was waiting in the parking lot of the Ballenberg open-air museum for a couple, Mattias and Maia, who had offered me a ride to Aargau, on their way home to St Gallen's kanton in the northwest of the country, near Lichtensteig. Well, it turned out
Mattias, a beekeeper
The family homestead is over 400 years old, and apparently it replaced an early house.that they had offered rides to other riders, too, filling their small vehicle. And one man had huge baggage. I began to feel as though I was imposing, and tried to have myself excused. ('I could take the train in the morning,' I asserted.) But Maia would not hear it. So I remained, while feeling somewhat awkward.
The first rider was traveling to Lucerne. When we arrived, our conductors apparently felt I should see a bit of the city. (Such generosity!) So we went for a stroll along the river and over the famous, long-standing, wooden foot bridge, which burned in the 1990's, but has been restored. It's a lovely city; we enjoyed ice cream cones during our stroll. The river was home to many swans. The architecture, old and new, was impressive. And then we were off toward Aargau.
Aargau was not so lovely, at least, not to my moted eyes. (I had prayed to see Christ within each individual I encountered on this journey. But I had failed, right here where Christ was most effective — with those with the deepest needs.) The approach to the rail station was inhabited by what some might term the
Bee condominum
Instead of boxes, he has outfitted a small trailer with cabinets housing individual colonies. Each colony is helped to find their 'apartment' via colored doors. 'less enlightened.' These locals seemed to be engaged in various vices, from pimping and prostituion, to drug selling and wasting. It felt, to me, positively filmic; but this may be a misperception of my own making. (However, Matthias later did inform me that odd comments were made about me and my straw hat. And I surely felt those many eyes that followed me as we entered the station.)
We visited the ticket agent inside, and had my round-trip ticket, from Zurich to Ballenberg, amended; we also asked about hotels in the vacinity. Then we proceeded, past the strange crowd once more, to one of the hotels. It was locked, and had to be rung open. This was of further concern to me, and caused me to decide, then and there, that my visit to Aargau for Saturday and Sunday should be abandoned. I just wanted to get out of town to anywhere safer than I felt at that moment. And this is a rare feeling for a male who is 6'2". I had come here with purpose, but suddenly I felt that destiny was beyond my control. The Greeks surely knew better, that destiny, indeed, is beyond human planning.
Interior of trailer
Here we see two tiers of cabinets with doors, for easy rear access to each colony. All supplies are at hand for easy maintenance. Mattias urged me simply to come home with them. This seemed intrusive, as he and Maia were preparing to marry in two weeks. But I assented; and I resolved to be a gracious guest. (The Swiss are so genuinely friendly! I simply can't articulate the graciousness that was extended to me by so many individuals I met there.) So we proceeded, first to visit her horse, which was being romanced by a stallion at a nearby stable, and then to their apartment in Goldingen. Maia made spaghetti; and we all retired, exhausted from a long day.
The next morning Mattias invited me to visit his parents on their farm in Krinau. It was going to be a big day, as Maia's father and his wife were going to visit the farm to meet the parents of Mattias for the first time. (I felt very honored to be included in such an intimate encounter.) So off we went, arriving early so Mattias could attend to some beekeeping duties. He offered to drop me off in Lichtensteig to wander about the city. This was very tempting, as the city was ancient, and colorfully attractive; but I also keep honeybees on
Scraping wax on the back stoop
Here's a side view of his bee mobile. He has parked it in a glade at the bottom of a hill, near a small stream. my farm, and wanted to observe his methods. So I declined.
Their farm is beyond charming. This is a part of Switzerland which could easily be termed Heidiville. And the season was so much warmer than I had expected. When I left the Buffalo NY area on Easter Sunday, April 13th, it was -6ºC (about 21ºF) in the early morning. But, in Switzerland, I was able to sleep with my windows open every night but once during my weeklong visit to the Berne Oberland, and now again in the northwest. Considering the elevation, I expected things would be much colder. Yet in fact Switzerland seemed to be 3 to 4 weeks warmer than home, which was evidenced again on my return to a very frigid several days. (The Swiss countryside was green beyond description with Spring in full bloom; but Buffalo was yet to leaf out. The leaves of the lilac outside our kitchen window at home were barely emerging upon my return, while the rest of the trees in our valley still appeared to be hibernating.)
So, now I will begin inserting photos into the text, and tell some of the balance of my visit in captions.
A bee's view of the farm
This is steep country, but exceedingly lovely. The cows are feed grass and hay, as the soils are too thin for grain. The cheese is exceptional. But I will ever remember this visit, and the many, many charming people who touched and blessed my journey. I truly feel that Switzerland evinces a spirit which once seemed so American to me — a spirit of independence, and ofresolve to attain an ideal which has been designed into humankind. I do so admire these people.
~eric.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.093s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0479s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
temitope
non-member comment
i need more
please i need moretitle to what am looking for. i amlooking for more explanation on "Destiny, Purpose and Destination"