Susan was a hoot, loved a joke, very engaging as she took us to her small one room chalet out the back. In one of our talks she mentioned her daughter who lived in Randwick, Sydney, Australia, where we live, and suggested we visit her which we will do. One of the many funny things she did was lighting a candle for breakfast when I said the light was too bright. I had fun with her grand kids by miming and speaking in our own different languages, and met my second dog who came and sat on my feet then just lent – lovely dog.
We walked up into the hills through gorgeous rainforests with moss covered rocks and tree bases. The ground was covered in autumnal leaves while the new Spring and evergreen ones shadowed us as we walked. Above all of this were huge vertical rocks which even the Swiss could not use, while below, huge fences protected cars and mountain trains from falling rocks. We walked with silence for a while when the sound of cars once more indicated yet another pathway, and a restaurant.
A large man on a motorbike motored up, his helmet removal indicating someone our age. Roger was retired and very happy to be out on his ‘once in a while’ triumph bike. He spends time now with his myriad of grandkids and paints as a hobby. We were very curious about a nature painting right in front of us and asked him about it. These three superb mountain peaks – now only a gully away, were the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau. We said goodbye to this chef of 40 years and wished him well.
Soon back onto our leaf covered path once more we met a Swiss couple with less grey hair than me. He told me about the wonderful open air museum in Brienzwiler. It featured examples of all original Swiss buildings from the 20-30 Swiss cantons (regions) in Switzerland. Each house/shed contained original tools and machinery used as well as a live cheese-making show. Once he had finished he said : “we would like to sing a song for you” – so they sang, and it was ‘waltzing matilda’ so of course I joined in. I and they for different reasons were impressed with the strength and tone of my voice – it assured me that voice exercises are working.
Our home town is a quiet little village with only one small shop so we have dinner cooked for us and it was the best meal we have eaten in Switzerland and a bonus – dessert. Now we are enjoying after dinner chatting with our husband and wife hosts and Herman who is a perennial walker and an author of detective novels. If you are German and like mysteries, his name is Herman Schunder and his books are called: Hautnah and Theunes Lehrgeld.
