Joyful Journey

Ah, snow, glorious snow! And the views aren't bad either. Today was a day to take many different forms of public transportation. We took the elevator down out of the apartment, and then walked to the bus stop just down the street. We took the Post bus as far as the Oberglatt train station where we caught the " Urban train number 5" into the Hauptbahnhof (main train station in Zurich where we did some quick shopping and rode another form of transportation, an escalator !) From the Hauptbahnhof we transferred to an InterCity train to Visp. From Visp we took portion of the Glacier Express (cog) train to Zermatt where we caught an electric car taxi (only vehicles allowed in town) to our apartment for the week. Whew. It was snowing from Visp on and so we didn't seem much of the surrounding moutains, but the snow covered trees were breathtaking. In the morning we awoke to find that the Matterhorn was visible from our living room window! It was clear and the li...

Initially we planned on taking the train to Luzern. Instead we all squeezed into the car and drove since we wanted to visit both the city and tour Pilatus Aircraft and thought it might allows us to see more if we did not have to concern ourselves with the bus schedule to Stans. We began the day by hiking up to the old city wall. Unfortunately, although we were able to hike up one of the towers when visiting in May, when arriving we found that the towers are only "climbable" during the summer tourist season. (We'll just have to come back, eh?) But the views from this upper level of the city are still magnificent. Built in the 1300's, there are still 13 towers remaining. Next we headed through old town, not stopping until we visited the Löwendenkmal, something we had almost missed on our visit and wanted to make sure they were able to see. Carved out of the side of a hill, it is a memorial to the heroic deaths of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. Mar...

Of course, we had to take a trip to visit all the historic spots in Zürich! We watched some chess games on Lindhof (site of the original Roman fort and a great spot to overlook the old city), wandered through portions of the old city, visited most of the historic churches, including St. Peter's, the Fraumünster, and the Grossmünster as well as climbing one of the towers of the Grossmünster. We stopped by the "Bretzel King" stand at Stadelhofen so that we could make sure our typical "hiking or sightseing" lunch included fresh pretzels, along with salami, baby bells, fruit and cookies while sitting along the lake side. As it was getting late (we had gotten a bit of a late start!), we took the train up to Uetliberg and hiked up the cell tower to provide for those first magnificent views of the Alps. We got there just past sunset, but still had some awesome sights to behold. Only a small glimpse of what was to come!

I am quite behind in blogging our adventures, mainly due to the fact that I left Switzerland the same day Joel returned to the states after his visit, which is the day Dad died. And so, now I hope to be able to go back and recreate some of things that we did while Dawn, Steven and Joel were here in January. The day before they arrived we had a bright, sunny day with crystal clear views of the Alps and the day they were arriving was scheduled to be rainy, which is unfortunately it was. But after a bit of a flight delay, everyone and all luggage arrived safely. Bob headed off to work from the airport and the rest of us SQUEEZED into the car and went home. After some breakfast and nap time, emphasis on nap time, we decided to head up to the medieval era town of Regensberg. There is a water tower that we would like to climb sometime, but it was locked again today. I am wondering if it is only open during the summer tourist season. There is an old church that we went inside to view...

Frankly, I was shocked. I went to the Post this afternoon to mail some letters to the states. After greeting the "Postmistress," (not sure what her title is in German), she looked at my letters and I understood her to say, "5 letters to the USA, all priority mail, right? That will be 9 francs." I UNDERSTOOD! I was so excited, I almost shouted "Woo Hoo!!" Now, I realize this may not seem like a big deal. Or as Bob would say, "You don't get out much, do you?" But when so far in conversations, I have only recognized a word or two here and there, to actually understand two entire sentences, as they were being spoken felt big. Don't know if she noticed, but this was the first time I was able to give her exactly the amount owed, not "guesstimate" what she said and hand her more than enough to make sure I was covered. Nope. This time I counted out exactly nine francs. Anyone care to celebrate with me? What do you say, how about...

On January 21, 2008, Dad made his final trip home. Sometime in the early hours he left his earthly body and entered into the rest reserved for those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. I (Pam) was heading out that morning to go to PA for two and a half weeks to help care for him, but his body gave out before I arrived. He had taken a turn for the worse the weekend before Christmas. It was determined that he was too weak for Mama Miriam to care for him and so we thought that he would have to be put in a nursing home. However Dad's brother, Leonard opened his home and offered to care for Dad for as long as he lived. At the time of Dad's death (as well as many times after), Uncle Leonard remarked that he just couldn't believe that Dad had gone so quickly. So Dad spent his final days on the farm at where he had lived as a youth being loving cared for by Leonard, Mama Miriam, Aunt Rhoda as well as Daniel as often as he could make the trip out. I am so gra...