About 20 years ago, my parents kept in contact with a distant relative of ours, Martha, who lived in Meiringen. She is the niece of my great grandfather. Recently, my mother had tried to get ahold of her via snail mail to tell her that she and my dad were coming over to Switzerland and hoped to see her. My parents never heard a response and so they didn't know if Martha was alive.
As it turns out, since Meiringen and Grindelwald are so close together, everyone in the area pretty much knows everyone else. With the help of Daniel, Sue, and their family, we were able to find out that Martha was in a local rest home in Meiringen. So we planned on going to see her.
Meiringen
There was even a waterfall right by the nursing home where Martha was. So pretty!
Here we are with Martha. It was a great visit!
Cemetery and church by the nursing home.
Daniel and Sue offered to come help translate for us while we talked to Martha. Perhaps I should explain a little about Swiss German...it isn't a language, it's a dialect. However, it's so different from German that most Germans can't understand Swiss German. Daniel and Sue explained that people in Switzerland learn Swiss German (Schwiizerdütsch) just because that is the language spoken around them. It's not something that is taught in school. Sue told me that awhile ago, they tried to make it an official language and tried to write it down, but there were different ways that people were spelling words, etc. It just didn't work. So right now, it remains a dialect. The Swiss are also taught German at school among other languages, such as French. When you go to Switzerland, all the writing around you is in German.
We met up with Martha, who was very surprised to see us. She spoke a few words in English and some German with Mark, but talked to Daniel and Sue who helped translate back and forth. My parents asked her how she was doing and talked about her life in Meiringen, and asked about some of her relatives that lived around and where they lived. Martha was very kind and showed us pictures of her family and talked about them for a little while.
My parents asked her how to find the graves of some of our relatives, but Martha could only tell us the site of one grave, Fred Baumann, which was in the cemetery right next to the nursing home. In some places of Europe, there is a rule that after someone passes away, the family must keep paying to have the gravesite for their loved one. If they can't afford to pay the fees for the gravesite (I'm not sure if they have to pay every year, or what) the grave gets dug up and replaced with someone else. Because of this, it made it a little hard to find some relatives because their graves probably didn't exist anymore.
After we set off on foot to find Martha's house, this man pulled up in his car and turned into the very house that we were looking at. It was Martha's twin brother and it was his house. I can't believe we just ran into him! We chatted with him a little while, and he was kind enough to let us get a picture with him.
Another shot of Meiringen
Remember how I told you that meringues originated in Meiringen? We visited a bakery that sold some. Mmmm. Here's a meringue "sandwich." He must be pretty tasty, because he's licking his lips!
As is proper, Meiringen holds the record for the world's biggest meringue. Mark's attempting to take a bite out of this fake meringue outside the bakery. Too bad it wasn't real!
We also got our hands on some bratzeli, little traditional Swiss cookies. My great grandma and grandma always made these, especially around Christmas. We still make them often, and Christina even bought an official bratzeli iron in Grindelwald!
I think this is Lake Brienz. Isn't it gorgeous?
Interlaken! It was so pretty here, but there are lots of tourists. Even on a rainy day, there were plenty. Sue told us that later in the summer, it is much worse.
Behold! The Jungfrau!
After we explored Interlaken, we went back to Daniel and Sue's house and had yet another delicious dinner. This was our last day with them and it was rather sad! I must say that they are probably the nicest people I've ever met in my life. They were so generous to take us in and spend the whole weekend with us. They were also incredibly nice to take us to find Martha and help translate. This meant so much to us, especially my parents. They helped us, cooked for us, and drove us around. It truly is a miracle that we were able to meet such nice people.
Daniel and Sue, we owe you so much for being such good friends and hosts! Thank you, thank you!
The next day, we packed up our stuff and headed off for Bern. Daniel had printed off maps and bus schedules to make sure we would be able to find our hotel and get settled in. What a big help! We arrived at the train station and caught a bus over a bridge to our hotel. Isn't Bern gorgeous?
The center of Bern is almost completely surrounded by the Aare River, which the first settlers used as a source of defense. So the city center is very old and has retained a lot of its historical properties.
Mark and Dad walking by the train station
Downtown Bern
Looking towards Parliament Square
House of Parliament
The parents on Parliament Square
Big building
A view of Bern from behind the House of Parliament
We walked down to this church to see the inside. This is the tallest cathedral in Switzerland, hence why I couldn't fit the whole thing in one picture.
Bet you can't guess which one is Mark!
Stained glass on the inside
While we were outside the cathedral, there were camera crews interviewing this guy and another lady. We had no idea who they were or what was going on, but I thought I would take a picture just in case they were important people. :)
Later that night (or the next day, I can't remember) we saw these people on the news! I couldn't understand what was going on because it was in German, but we saw the clips of them being interviewed in the square where we were.
Moses and the 10 commandments
There's a lot of these little statues in Bern. This guy is taming a lion, or something like that. I believe they were originally built as a water supply.
A statue of a monkey?
Old Bern
Remember this post about how I wanted to go swimming in the river in Bern? This is the river! Although I think I'll wait until the river clears up a little bit from the runoff. ;)
Medieval city center
Christina enjoying a Magnum bar. Mmm!
Our first day in Bern was spent mostly walking the streets and seeing the sights. Bern is so much different than any other European city I've been in, so I loved it.
The next morning before we caught the train to Lucerne, we ventured to some botanical gardens that were close to our hotel. I love bees, and there were bees everywhere!
I spotted some Edelweiss!
Mom and Dad in the garden
The bees sure were busy with all the flowers, but it seemed like they were doing their job well! Good job, little guys!
This mushroom reminded me of something you would see on the old Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
One entrance to the botanical gardens
Goodbye Bern! Until we meet again!
Next post: Lucerne and Munich.
Great Job,Candice!! The pictures turned out with a brillant shine! I learned some things about the area that I had missed on the trip. Thanks so much for taking the time! Mom
ReplyDeleteWow!! It is so extremely gorgeous over there. Thanks for the little windows into your part of the world. You are never going to want to come back home.
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