Cow Bells and Crime

BP: Even though it's only been a week since we've been in the Schweiz, I feel like so many things have happened it's hard to know where to begin.  In light of how varied, and sometimes unbelievable our days have been, I think it's only fitting to bring back the classic freshman orientation game-two truths and a lie.  So here goes..

* We lingered so long over breakfast it actually went into lunch time

*We committed our first crime within 3 days of being here which resulted in getting kicked off a train late at night in sub-zero temperatures

* I now can say 5 words in swiss german along with one phrase. 

Hmm.. well anyone who knows swiss culture may guess the first one is true and it is.   And knowing LB and I the second is obviously true as well.  (but mom and dad before freaking out-I'll explain the story in more detail in a second) and the last statement is false.  I know 6 words now:  "good", their equivalent of bon appetit before eating, "exactly!", "thank you", "cranberries", and the phrase: "ready, set, go!".. all words which help further emphasize the super optimistic, blissfully ignorant American image.  well, all besides cranberries maybe.

Anyways, as for LB and I's now notorious reps in switzerland.  It all began innocently enough after going to see a crazy, euro-pop inspired Christmas production at a church in the Zurich.  We had to catch the train to get back to Küsnacht (our home away from home) which required purchasing a ticket at one of the apparantly confusing automated kiosks.  I, obviously, am little help with my german skills  (besides offering encouraging support occasionally, "genau!" exactly and "guete!" good. )  so LB was left to figure it out herself.  We ended up buying tickets and jumping on the right train ready to get back at that point to warm Küsnacht.  About 3/4 of the way into the trip we were approached by someone in a transit system uniform who began speaking to LB asking to see our tickets.  Upon seeing our tickets he began speaking rapidly and the next thing I knew the train had stopped and we were being escorted out.  2 seconds later we were left in the dust on a freezing, desolate platform miles down the mountain from our stop. At that point LB informed me we had bought the wrong tickets-much cheaper ones.  I figured as much.   Luckily we had a cell phone and called LBs uncle Fritz who came and picked us up.   I think LB may have been a little concerned at this point though,  (and I am now too looking back on it) because instead of reacting with fear or frustration, I was more psyched about the fact we had committed a crime in a foreign country. 

LB: Since then, I don't think any more crimes have been committed, that I'm aware of. My entire family has been talking about that little encounter, mostly about how complicated the ticket system is, how unreasonable the train people are (''It was negative 12 degrees Celcius! What was he thinking?'') and how I should have acted clueless and pretended I didn't know what he was talking about. I did try to play the dumb American, but a little too late--I had already been speaking to him in Swiss German before I switched to English, so that didn't work too well.

Anyway, we survived that little incident and came up to the alps the next day. Since then, we've been soaking up the mountains, the crisp air and snow, the gorgeous views, and the food. We're currently working off a fondue food coma. Eating sort of turns into a sport when I'm up here with the Kessler family. We spend a good part of the day sitting at the table, or else planning where or what we're going to eat. In between we might work it off with a hike or something, but often the food is the main event.

We've done a couple of other things since we've been up here besides eating, I guess. Amazing walks through snowy pine woods (that end at a restaurant famous for its pie. Obviously). Climbing up an outlook tower that has you literally standing over a giant ravine, staring at the enourmous snow-capped alps with brown jagged cliff faces where a rockslide took out an entire side of a mountain, and where, far below, the Rhine river meanders along the bottom, and a red train winds its way beside it, disappears for a minute into a tunnel that was blasted through the mountain, and then emerges on the other side. Wandering through the old 16-century cobblestone-street sections of the town of Ilanz (the ''big'' town right next to our village, Schluein, with its 600 inhabitants), exploring an old church, admiring the original city wall with the original Ilanz crest (a gold crown with the Rhine river flowing through it) and drinking delicious spring water out of a fountain just outside the wall.

Today Bethany and I took a walk on a little trail from Schluein down to the Rhine. It was getting dark on our way back up. Every once in a while we would stop and listen to church bells from the nearby towns ringing out the hour and echoing across the valley. When we got back to the village and were walking along one of the main streets on the edge of town, we could look across the snowy valley and then up to the mountains on the other side, and see the twinkling lights of other towns, a few of them halfway up the sides of mountains. You can see those clusters of lights everywhere you look, dotted throughout the landscape, and Bethany said something about how if someone from 400 years ago were suddenly dropped in our time, they would have thought aliens had landed. It's probably true. Some of the lights are blue or reddish, and it would definitely look strange to someone from the 16th century. But then I thought, aside from the colored lights, it probably doesn't look all that different at night than it did around the year 1600. The same towns, though smaller, were already here, and many of the original houses are still here now. The landscape out here in these mountains hasn't changed very much. ( BP:  and come to think of it, the smells and sounds probably have changed very little as well. The church bells still toll on the hour echoing from one village to another, we wake up to the donkey braying and sheep bleating who live next door, and the air smells like a mix of farm odors and pine trees.)

BP:  So needless to say, we've been getting some good R&R.  And if I didn't feel blessed enough already... LB pulled one over on me and gave me quite a surprise yesterday.   She tricked me into going into town with her, promising a walk at night along the Rhine in a village nearby and who did I meet on the train platform but Andrea. Dawson. Hague.   WHAT??  I think I woke the whole town of Ilanz with my scream and definitely scared some composed switzerlanders nearby.  But yes.  As I type she is next to me at our cabin and will be spending Christmas with us!! 

If this trip continues to be as much as a blessing as it has already, and something tells me it will,  I may just be stuck with this goofy grin on my face permanently.  so be forewarned. 

Merry Christmas!!