Strawberries! Pull over!

It seems like after 10 months of waiting, the last 10 minutes seem to creep by like a barge heading upriver.



Fortunately instead of hitting port, my destination was Bingen am Rhein and into the waiting arms of Jessica and her family. They had flown into Amsterdam about two weeks ago and were slowly making their way down the Rhein from The Netherlands. They picked me up and we made our way to the Dettweiler Hof in Wintersheim. The trainee there, Crystal, took over hosting duties as Heike and Heiko always seemed to be out and about. I think we shared only two breakfasts together the whole weekend.

Due to some unknown scheduling circumstances, Saturday's schedule was thrown a bit off cue but we were given more time to sightsee. Instead of going to Worms, we went to Heidelberg. I called Tim and Heidi that morning and asked if they wanted to join us. Heidi and Gustav couldn't, but we picked up Tim and he was a wonderful tour guide for the afternoon. (Thanks Tim!)





I like to catch what I've been calling 'Funny Looking Europeans' in pictures, and the next one is probably the best I've caught in the 10 months I've been here. Why not walk the streets of Heidelberg in Dominatrix attire?



The Fridley's rented a Ford Galaxy which comfortably sat the six of us plus luggage. It also came with a GPS, but in the following picture you'll notice another GPS on the dash. We made due with two GPS's, which always seemed to find the BP fueling stations and IKEA super-stores. Sometimes the two would find different routes and we'd be left discussing whether to turn or not. Luckily, both are programmed to re-calculate the route if you 'miss' a turn.





The first weekend together was Ascension Day, or Pfingsten in German. The Dettweiler winery across the road in Wintersheim put on a wine festival. We had lunch there on Sunday. After, Heiko took us on a walk through the vineyards explaining and taking questions on all things grapes. Then it was naptime! That night, we sat out on the patio and made our own winetasting evening while being accompanied by the band across the street, who also happened to play hits of 80's, 90's and today until nearly 2 am.

We headed out on Monday through the Black Forrest in Southern Germany on our way to Switzerland. We stopped in Freiburg in the late morning. Perhaps if it hadn't been a national holiday and more things would've been open, I would've been more impressed. We stopped in a small town south of Freiburg, Staufen, where we made our signature picnic lunch at the base of a castle on a hill.

We stopped at the German Basel Train Station so that Jessica and I could get our Munich-Prague tickets and Jonathan and Julie could get tickets from Utrecht to Burgos, over Prague. After that, Debbie recommended a traditional Swiss restaurant where we had fondue. Usually fondue is consumed when there is snow on the ground, but we decided to throw that out the window and join it on the sidewalk. After supper, we continued on to Langnau im Emmental, where Eliane's parents opened their house for our posse.

The Kipfer Family knows how to make people feel at home and well-hosted. Eliane took Tuesday off and had a wonderful auto tour planned that lasted until supper. While long and a bit tiring, she showed us her part of Switzerland. The first stop was Trachselwald Castle, a fortress where Anabaptists were imprisoned during the time of Persecution.







We then drove through some mountains and found ourselves driving along the Lake of Thun...



...and through Interlaken and up to an Alpine restaurant.



After lunch we went to the Frutigen Valley. Barb's, Jessica's mom, maiden name is Schmid and this is the valley where her family comes from. She had come with her family in the 70s, but wanted her family to see where they had come from. We stopped at the church and wandered through the cemetery for a little bit.

Then Eliane took us to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We walked through the old town and poked into the random shop.



For supper that night, I sufficiently engorged in Lisa's raclette. I sat beside Peter for most meals, since I was the only one out of the group (except for the Kipfer's, of course) who could communicate in German. He handed me his cheese tray and asked for another piece of cheese. I put it under the grill and then he told me that it was for me...so for awhile I had two pieces of raclette going. I was stuffed full by the end of the night.

Wednesday after breakfast, we left for Hemberg but stopped over lunch and for the afternoon in Zurich. We spread our picnic out beside the Zurichsee.



I took them on a walking tour of some of the churches in Zurich. We visited the Fraumunster and the Grossmunster. There was someone practicing the organ in the Grossmunster, so I decided to take a video.



We also made our way past a plaque that is in the place of where some Anabaptists were drowned in the Limmat River during the Reformation.

The next day, we're on Thursday now, I got to show them my area of Switzerland, the Toggenburg. Our first stop was the Appenzeller Show Cheesery in Stein, where they make famous Appenzeller Cheese.





Then we went to the town of Appenzell, which is a more-than-typical Swiss town. We had another picnic lunch here while the shops had also closed for lunch. Then we walked around the town for an hour or two.

We took a scenic drive past the Säntis, the mountain that I can see out my window. On the other side is a picturesque valley (not that mine isn't picturesque enough). We took a skilift up and then hiked on a special walking trail.











Aside from having lots of cows to pet, it's a musical walking trail. There were different instruments to 'play' along the hour-long stretch that we did. There was a see-saw that had xylophone bells in the middle and when you see-sawed, a ball would roll and make music. There was an iron cage with many cowbells hanging from chains and you can shake it to get them all to ring and sound like a herd of cows. Then there was this one:





Jonathan and Julie left yesterday with the car to return it to Utrecht and tonight they are in Paris.

I took George, Barb and Jessica to the Zurich Airport this morning and came back to a house full of sick people. Dirk and Maya are both spending a lot of time in bed asleep. Salome was sick this past week, as was Tim. So far Jara and I are the only ones who haven't gotten the bug. If it were to get me, my hope would be sooner rather than in the middle of the week because that's when I leave for Munich and meeting back up with Jess. I'm distancing myself from them and not holding hands when we sing before meals and hopefully that plus a lot of handwashing can keep it at bay.

See you 'round,
Jon