Vacation news-sightseeing

One of the highlights of the vacation was the sight seeing that I would get to do. Switzerland is a very old country, and I was looking forward to learning a little about it's history.

As I was going to Interlaken, I took the time to go to Luzern, a train stop along the way. It was recommended to me that if I had 30 minutes to go and see the foot bridge there and take in the art work on the bridge. So I planned to do that. I actually met an American woman who was doing the same thing, and together we enjoyed the winter market, the foot bridge, and the view of the lake there. We had a great conversation for the 2 hours, talking about our careers and talking about Switzerland. The foot bridge was cool. It had over 150 different mural paintings overhead which told stories of kings, battles, and the history of the town.

On my free day in Interlaken, I had an interesting barefoot language learning opportunity. As I was finishing up a nice lunch, a family with young children were sitting in front of me. The daughter, 6, was drawing on the back of the paper place mat while the son, 3, was running around the restaurant. As the mom chased her son, I went up to the girl to see what she was doing. She had drawn her family, the sun, a flower, and trees. So I asked her what each of these were, and she told me. Then I drew a similar picture of my family in the town, and from that picture she told me the German words for mountain, cloud, sun, train, river, mom, and dad. Of course some things are tough to communicate, as barefoot language learning will teach anyone, but I thought this was a good start. Roger Haun would be proud of me for taking this initive on my vacation. :) I did want to learn to greet people in German while on the trip, and I was able to after several days.

Of course while I was in Interlaken I was skiing. I did find an animal park up a mountain, and saw some cute mountain goats and a beautiful overlook of the city. I also saw the downtown district-which had some old catholic churches, one methodist church, a courthouse, and a lot of old buildings. They had some nice shopping areas and restaurants, which I explored in the evenings. And, George, they even had a real casino in the town.

In Zurich I took my time to explore various places. Saturday when I arrived I was tired and wanted to rest a bit. So I checked into my hotel and after a light nap decided to go exploring. My exploring led me to an adventure. I found news of a winter market in a nearby town that I could get to by train. I decided this would be my evening entertainment, and went there for 3 hours to look around. These markets are like any holiday fair-winter crafts, food, etc. In Switzerland you'll find the fondue as well. By the way, I'm obviously not European-I do not like the smell of that cheese. But I couldn't help but to think of my cousin Kriss, knowing she loves cheese and thinking she'd be in heaven there. A highlight at this market was finding a beautiful rug of a hand stitched angel. I didn't see the price for the rug, but I'd bet anything it was > $1500. I asked if I could take a picture of it, but my batteries were too cold to get the camera to work.

My Sunday exploring took me into the heart of Zurich. I went to a church service at 10, and then hit a few museums in the afternoon. They had a 1/3 marathon during the day, which made getting around the town difficult. I was able to see all I wanted to see, and had a good time touring the city. I wanted to get the chance to catch a guided tour, but found out that in december they go every other weekend. I happened to be there at the off weekend.

I'll write a note about the church service. It was a light service. As it was in German, i didn't understand anything, but I observed. They started promptly at 10 with the usher locking the main door at that time. Late guests could come in by using a side door entrace and sit in the balcony. The service opened with a liturgy reading, 2 hymns, what seemed like announcements, which I was surprised by, and then the first prayer of the service 30 minutes into the service. After the prayer they had the children's christmas program, which was cute. The kids were wooded creatures who seem to notice something going on. Two of them played instruments, and played them very well for their ages. I did find myself laughing at their hyperness, noone could sit still and several waved at their parents during the play. But it was cute. As the play ended, the leader stood up again, led in 2 verses of the last hymn, and dismissed us with no prayer. An offering was collected as we walked out the doors.

On Monday I took the day to go to the zoo. The zoo was a fun time, though some of the animals were missing in action. Even my cold weather friendly otters were cuddled close together. The lions were huddled together, the tiger I was hoping to see was gone. It was sorta funny seeing the elephants slip on the ice as they walked in their pen. They had a lot of penguins who were enjoying the weather and the swimming conditions. I did get to see some shy sea lions, flamingos, dart frogs, and a few birds. There were some elk, sheep, goats, cows, and various other farm animals there, too. The highlight of the zoo, though, was the climate controlled rainforest they had on display. The rainforest was basically an enclosed greenhouse which regulated its temperature. It wanted to be about 90 degrees F, but this day it was closer to 75. That's a lot of heat when outside it's 30, so I wasn't surprised 75 was all they could do. I saw some monkeys in the rainforest. There was a nice waterfall, lots of plants and vegetation, and quite a few birds. I was looking hard for a lizard or two, but never saw one. It was a good trip.

And I was hoping my new friend, Jennifer, could come with me to the zoo. She was packing to go back to the states later in the week, but we did meet for breakfast that morning. Our conversation was a great highlight and closing to the trip, as I got to debrief a bit about my adventures. We also talked greatly about our world view understanding and how to possibly contribute to the human needs that are so rampant in the world today.

These were my adventures in Zurich. So much to share, as you can tell. I hope this whetted your appetite to know how the trip was. If you have any questions or want more details, please email me and let me know.