Leesa and I had been anticipating this opportunity for weeks, ever since exchanging emails with an Elder in the mission office before we'd left home. David Tew (along with his wife Judy) had been a huge help to us in getting prepared. I had spoken with David over the phone (working around a 9-hour time difference) when I asked him to be on the lookout for a package from Seidensticker Shirts.
Back in the 70s, Seidensticker shirts were much coveted by the Elders. They're an expensive shirt, but the collars stay sharp and clean, the material crisp, and they wear like iron. I'd ordered a number of them, to be delivered to the office, and David said he'd keep an eye peeled. We got to talking about other subjects, and he advised us to get a Charles Schwab checking account.
You can use a Schwab debit card all over the world, and they handle currency exchange rates and eliminate international ATM and purchase fees. Now, I don't want this to sound too much like a Seidensticker or Schwab commercial, but David also told us about the upcoming Senior Couples' Retreat, for which we would be just in time. Turns out it was being held in May as opposed to late March, but it was well worth the wait.
We wanted to kill a few birds with one stone on this trip. Ever since bringing up the subject of Alpine coasters, Leesa has been curiously intrigued by them, and really wants to go on one. You get in a sled on a track, and roll down through the forest with a brake joystick to control your speed. Leesa's not normally that adventurous, but as so often happens, no matter how long you've been married to someone, they find ways to surprise you.
So our plan was to head out a little further east than our retreat site (Iseltwald, Switzerland, near the famous resort town of Interlaken) and head out to Jakobsberg, the site of the coaster at Kronberg. This would take us close to another bucket-list item of mine, visiting the tiny state of Liechtenstein. So we'd take a trip on the coaster, and have lunch in the Liechtenstein capital of Vaduz. Then we'd double back and drive to Iseltwald.
From Freiburg, we'd take a smaller highway into Switzerland toward the first X, the Kronberg alpine coaster. Then a short hop over to Vaduz, Liechtenstein, and then down to the retreat town of Iseltwald.
Weather forecasts were somewhat gloomy, but we forged ahead on Thursday, May 12th. Rain has been pretty much a constant here in the Spring of 2023 in the Black Forest, with occasional gorgeous days of sunshine. But this day was dark. The upside of all this is that everywhere is GREEN. Northern California has already turned brown by this time, but this corner of the world is rich and lush with evergreens and beautiful glades.
As we approached Kronberg (first crude X on the above map), we drove through a few small villages, and the road got increasingly narrow. This road is actually a two-lane road, and you have to find creative ways to pass oncoming traffic, usually by pulling over into a driveway or wide spot.
Disappointment! We got to Kronberg, and it was just too rainy for them to open the Bobbahn (coaster). Rain tends to have a deleterious effect on the brakes, so we didn't argue much. On the bright side, we were arriving in Liechtenstein (second X) just about lunchtime. I pulled over to get this shot inside the Principality of Liechtenstein.
We ate a delicious lunch at the Gasthof Au in Vaduz (Leesa got adventurous and ordered Steak Tartare, which is seasoned (and raw) ground steak), and I checked that one off my bucket list. I'd been wanting to visit ever since my first mission, and heard tales of this quaint little microstate from my companion, John C. Fjeldsted, who'd been there. The country of about 39,000 citizens is run much like Monaco, by a royal family. Tourism is their main economic engine. Every once in awhile, when the royal family wants to throw a party (royal wedding or other such event), they invite the entire country, and sell off a priceless work of art to finance it.
Then we headed off to Iseltwald. During the last part of the drive, we followed the road along the south edge of the Brienzersee (Lake Brienz) and got some truly gorgeous photos.
We pulled up to the Chalet du Lac (Cottage on the Lake) in Iseltwald just about 4 p.m., and found several missionary couples on the patio waiting for us. We checked in, and found this balcony view waiting for us.
The weather began to let up a bit in the late afternoon, and there were a group of brothers and sisters on the patio. The air was crisp and clean, and we were beginning to get a little sunshine. I started taking pictures.
(Jeff and Heidi Cook, from the Vienna Ward)
(This is the Schloss Seeburg (Seeburg Castle), a private residence on the point of a peninsula directly in front of the hotel)
The Schloss Seeburg was right in front of us, and was the model for a hotel in the Hayao Miyazaki animated film, Porco Rosso. Porco Rosso (Crimson Pig) is a former WWI seaplane pilot who works as a mercenary keeping seaplane pirates at bay on the Adriatic Sea between Italy and the Balkan peninsula. In the movie, the castle is shown as a hotel, owned by Porco's true love, Gina. Porco lands there occasionally to look in on Gina and take in a meal in the hotel's restaurant. The film is one of my favorites.
Dinner time was 6:30, and the Chalet du Lac serves excellent food in a very cozy 19th-century wood-paneled dining room. After dinner, I presented a little surprise to Scott and Jodi Naatjes, the mission president and his wife.
At the last zone conference in Bonstetten (just outside Zürich; Freiburg is part of the Zürich Stake), Sister Naatjes let it slip that her husband LOVES chocolate. Right after that, when it was his turn to speak, he spilled the beans on her, to the effect that she LOVES Swedish Fish, the gummy candies.
I decided to take that personally, so I ordered a big bag of Swedish Fish to be sent to the mission home, and as for the chocolate, I made my family-favorite Brooklyn Blackout Cake, which has three different kinds of chocolate in it, including something called Golden Syrup in the frosting. Golden Syrup you have to make separately at home.
Anyway, not wanting to risk destruction of a cake already put together during a long and winding car trip, I wrapped the baked layers in plastic, and transported the scratch-made chocolate pudding and frosting in separate containers. The super nice folks at the Chalet let me assemble the cake in their kitchen, and they kept the finished product in their refrigerator until it came time for dessert.
(Pres. Naatjes with his Brookly Blackout)
We all got slices of the cake, and it went over pretty famously. Dessert was followed by a game kind of like the old TV show To Tell The Truth.
The next day after breakfast, we headed off to nearby Ballenberg, a small dorf where residents and docents dress up in 17th-century traditional costumes, and ancient buildings are preserved, rather a very large museum. We were paired with Judd and Sharon Sherainian. Judd played violin in the Utah Symphony for over 40 years, and did we ever hit it off! We both move slowly, love to cook and eat, love the same types of food, and the list goes on and on. We had a wonderful time exploring with each other. Leesa got the chance to practice placing roof tiles on a rack, learning a bit of roofing in the process. We got to see a couple of docents make a clay tile, shaping it in the form, getting it ready to be fired in the kiln.
We also got some more pictures with the Sherainians along the way:
After dinner Friday night, we had a devotional with Pres. and Sister Naatjes speaking, followed by a testimony meeting, and we all felt very close to each other and the Lord.
Saturday morning, we took a quick walk by the lake, and came upon the scene of a famous Korean drama, Crash Landing On You. Apparently, this is a very popular TV show, and the scene filmed where we were staying, featured a grand piano being played st the end of the dock. A wealthy young woman is on a yacht out on the lake, and is contemplating taking her own life, until she hears the piano music.
It turns out that busloads of people, mostly from Asia, make the pilgrimage to this spot to take pictures of the dock. Being the clever capitalistic marketers that they are, the Swiss have put up a turnstile at the entrance to the dock, charging CHF 5.00 (five Swiss Francs, about $5.58) per person to get access to the dock, which hundreds of people willingly pay every day.
We started home shortly afterward, but we also stopped in the city of Thun (Toon), north of Interlaken. Thun was my last assignment on my first mission, and we found the house where I lived the last two months of my mission. It was owned by a member (Sister Weber) of the Thun Branch (now located in Interlaken), and from what I understand, is still owned by the Weber family.
That wraps up the travelogue, although we have another adventure this week: Pres. Naatjes volunteered us to help in the kitchen near the Swiss Temple. The St. Gallen stake is having a "Temple Camp" with activities spread over three days right next to the Swiss Temple in Zollikofen. I don't know how picturesque it'll be, but we're looking forward to blessing lives as best we can. Until next post!
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