September 11th – 25th, 2024
September 11th – 25th, 2024
by Richard Bergmann
We are back on the road after spending the last 3 nights in one spot. After Ayold reads what he refers to as the words of the day (Morvarian daily verses) he asks, “shall we do some singing?” He’s already passing out the song books, as we sing, I notice the front windows starting to fog up which I interpret as a sign that we still need to wake up.
We make a brief stop in the town of Steffisburg where the popular Yodor family name originated from, and we can see their family coat of arms in the Reform church. There are some families in our tour group whose ancestors would have come from this town and it’s nice to share in their experience. We learn that the name Yodor (Swiss) or Godor (German) came from the patron Saint Theodore a long time ago and much later in the 17th century many Yodors and other Germans were invited by William Penn to emigrate to America whereas a Quaker he was also proponent of religious freedom.
It’s time to make summit the Schilthorn Mountain and our destination base camp is Lauterbrunnen. Ayold plays a video about the Swiss economy and how it was built on trust. The Swiss remained neutral during WWII and Germany tucked a lot of cash, gold, and whatever else they had in Swiss banks of which it is not known how much was never claimed. The Swiss have a culture of working hard, spending little and saving a lot which has made them very wealthy despite being such an expensive country to live in.
We arrive in Luaterbrunen and thankfully we don’t need to climb to 10,000 feet on our own legs but we have a few different gondolas and train transfers that finally get us to the top. It’s Saturday, there are many other foreign tourist groups and the gondolas are packed to the brim. At one point, an aggressive tourist was trying to cut their way through our group to make the next connection but there’s no crossing Ayold when he’s defending the interests of his group. During this “stare down”, I jostle my way over and use my size to help Ayold set a good screen so that the rest of our group can get past and stay together without getting split up. Travelling can be challenging and a patience tester for tour leaders, but Ayold is doing what any good leader would do and ensure they advocate for their group when it’s necessary.
There are no words or pictures to describe the scenery and views of today. We enjoy a full lunch buffet at the restaurant that rotates to enjoy the views. The weather is perfect and there are all kinds of hand gliders that are taking off from the mountain. It’s fascinating watching them fly because they use the thermal air currents to gain altitude, and they stay up there for endless amounts of time before they slowly fly down to the bottom of the canyon. I will need to try hand gliding one day as it looks like the most peaceful adventure activity to attempt – all in good time. The Shilthorn in its early days was also the set of a James Bond movie in the late sixties so there is an entire exhibit dedicated to James Bond and this movie.
We make our way down the mountain, which is quite a journey with the connections and gondolas and stop in Lucerne, receive a brief introduction to the city, and time on our own for dinner. One of the most famous landmarks in Lucerne is the chapel bridge, a wood-covered bridge connecting two sides of the city over the Reuss river. Look up in the rafters as you walk, and you will see the 50+ paintings from a Catholic priest some 650 years ago. That said, in the early 90’s an unfortunate fire destroyed much of this bridge and paintings were rebuilt, restored, and remain the most popular photographed spot in Lucerne.
Today was a light day for walking and more of a sight-seeing day, but for many this was a scenic highlight of the trip that has been so richly filled with history along the way.
