Switzerland Road Ways Two on the Loose TRAVEL HUMANITIES PHOTOS

Geneva - Vegetable Tour and Pet Recycling

2010-07-18T13:16:00.000-04:00

Geneva - the Less Serious Side

Have we got a bus for you. Spotted near the Red Cross Red Crescent Museum: The VegaTour. Is this for vegetables, vegetarians, vegans, or other erstwhile Pommes de Terres aux Couches? Oh, heck.

Vegetable Tour Bus, Geneva, Switzerland

The real Vegetable Tours turns out, apres computaire, to be the fine Czech Vega-Tour Company, see ://www.vegatour.cz/en/site/about/company.htm/. We meant no harm, but international travel does result in some funny intra-linguistic gymnastics.

Next linguistic shenanigans.

Tired of your pet? We have a solution, for the inconvenient petit barkaire, and at our hotel.

Pet recycling, Geneva, Hotel Hallway, Switzerland

Le petit woof? Un exchange, peut-etre. L'hotel pour tout les problemes du touristes.

Geneva - Whimsy at the Bottom-Proppers, St. Peter's Cathedral Choir Stalls. Real folks.

2010-07-18T05:06:00.003-04:00

You are now in St. Peter's Cathedral in the Old City in Geneva. Barren, clearly stripped down (in 1539 or so) from its fancy Roman Catholic origins. There are lots of places that just look vacant, where did the inhabitant of this niche go? But that is what the Reformers did. No more distractions allowed. Do away with the corruption, see ://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/reformation-switzerland-calvin.html This is religion and we are serious.

Still, slip up to the choir stalls; see the places set for the elite to meet, and find these. Splendid wood carvings. There are elegant canopy forms, and two rows of places for people.

St. Peter's Cathedral, Choir Stalls, Geneva CH

Now, look a little closer: These are ecclesiastical bottom-proppers; bum-proppers to the unschooled, like us. You can sort of stand-sit at your place. You look like you are standing and get the credit for it, while you are really well supported where you need it during long, long services. They are highly imaginative, the wood carver's art at its best. And showing real people, not just the saintly conventional ones.

This is what they look like, captions ours and not theirs:

Unwilling worshiper, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

Domestic spat, choir stall seating, with a joker in the middle, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva, Switzerland

There is a hinge at the bottom sides, no pun intended, so the entire seat can be folded down straight, and made into a seat proper, not a propper. Look at the shelf support built in.

Floral and supplicant rodent, Choir Stalls, seats, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

Sacrificial ram, eyed suspiciously, Choir stall seating, stern person in the middle, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva, CH

Ecclesiastical carved bum-props. Excellent. Ordinary people in carvings. More excellence. There was a period where the great artisans no longer remained anonymous. See this ring of everyday faces in Croatia, the St. James Cathedral at Sibenik:

Exterior real people's faces, Sibenik Cathedral, Croatia

Geneva - St. Peter's. The Fancy in a Reformation Church. Theological Inconsistencies?

2010-07-17T05:02:00.000-04:00

Indulging in the Fancy
In a Reformation Church

Reformers let some beauty remain, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

At St. Peters, Geneva, the main church is stripped down from its earlier grandeur - showing the simplicity of the Reformation 1536 -- but attached is a lovely, lovely chapel. It makes you so glad that there remained an eye for beauty, color, elevations. There are stained-glass windows in the main church, and not just here. Cold stone needs some bling to make the wearied mortal sing.

This is an ancient site, with archeological evidence of Romans and pre-Rome.
.

Small tour of this unexpected jewel:

Stained glass, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva, Switzerland

Ceiling of Chapel, annex to St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva.

Chapel Ceiling, Vaulting, Ribs, Painting, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

Then step back into the main church, and look up there, also. More fun. What if we prefer the stonecarvers and the woodcarvers to the theologians?

Fanciful capitals, St. Peter's Cathedral, Geneva

BOOM!

Geneva - Founts of Water and Theology. Tall and Wet , to Deep and Dry

2010-07-16T06:57:00.002-04:00

From the Tall and Wet to the Deep and Dry.

Geneva Offers Both, but Humorlessly.

I. Fountain Jet at Geneva

Tall and Wet

Le Jet d'Eau - Water Fountain, Geneva, Swizerland

This is the tallest fountain in the world. Hoo, thought we, but we did enjoy a fast and legal parking spot (still, watch for the meter demon, and take no chances) and a stroll by the water at Lake Geneva. Get a fine overview of Geneva at ://www.geneva.info/ The fountain is a drive-by attraction, broadly visible, and no real need to get out. So we aimed for the Old City, and found an unexpected hassle to find a parking lot there.

Why is the Old City not better marked for tourist cars already in the downtown, and going in ovals and circles and trapezoidinal helixes with the one way boulevards and other turns, and yearning to breathe free by finding the right access street to find the history. And once in some big underground garage, there is a goodly walk, and it is hard to keep bearings. Not car-friendly, and the Old City is elusive. Hard to hone.

II. Theology at Geneva

Deep and Dry

Oh my.

Reformation Wall, The Four Reformers, Bastion Park, Geneva CH

Geneva, like many modern places, has an odd, disembodied relationship with its religious past. Here are the Great Reformers, in an outdoor park, Le Parc Bastion, and the geneva.info site does not even name them. We will. May we introduce, here at the Reformation Wall, ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/geneva-reformation-wall. The task was re-forming Christianity from the elaborately constructed Roman Catholicism it had become, to another, less dogmatic, less riches-focused, etc. form, while demanding deep sacrifice in fluff. Is that so? What happened then?

Guillaime (William) Farel, First Preacher

John Calvin, Leader of the Reformation Movement, see ://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/CALVIN.HTM

Theodore Beza, who succeeded Calvin

John Knox, friend to Calvin, and the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland

This is very austere stuff. Here is an advance look at St. Peter's Cathedral, once Roman Catholic, then purged of most of the fancy, and Protestant. From one extreme to another. Both, and a mid-ground, unstable against those who foist.

St. Peter's Cathedral, John Calvin's Chair

Sit. Up. Straight. Don't make me tell you again. Hiss.

Geneva - International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum

2010-07-15T16:32:00.002-04:00

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva is sobering, inspiring. The organization addresses not only natural disasters and wartime, but also ongoing political issues, such as treatment of political prisoners, prisoners of war.

Prisoners of war, seated; sculpture, International Red Cross Red Crescent Museum, Geneva

Focus exhibits change every few months. The photographs, vignettes, settings, show the vast reach of the services. See ://www.micr.ch/index_e.html/ No organization will be perfect in reaching all it is intended to do, and using funds without reproach, but this one is filling a gap no other group touches in scope.

Political prisoners, standing, sculpture, entry, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva, Switzerland

Note the slogan: "Our world is in a mess. It's time to make your move," at the ourworld-yourmove.org banner at the Museum. That is the organization for the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. The message is to start with simple gestures; don't wait for the big one to be stepped out and unrolled by others. Individuals count.

Symbols for International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, canopy at entry

1919 - just after WWI. The International Federation was started. American Henry Davison proposed forming a federation, after the war years of highly successful activity by a number of humanitarian groups. The first post-war focus was improvement in health for people in the torn nations. There are now 186 member societies, after the first handful.

But it was a Swiss, Henry Dunant, in 1859 who began the idea itself, after a specific battle, the battle of Solferino. See ://www.ifrc.org/meetings/events/solferino/dunant.aspHe organized local inhabitants to treat wounds, feed and clothe the soldiers. An international committee was formed, also with Dunant, in 1863. See the history at ://www.ifrc.org/who/history.asp/

The American Red Cross: see its work and the global network at ://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d229a5f06620c6052b1ecfbf43181aa0/?vgnextoid=a43ff9ae2b4ab110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&cpsextcurrchannel=1/ Get practical with the disaster response laws, at ://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/idrl/

Juggling options.

We thought we would park between the Red Cross Museum and the Palais des Nations, the United Nations Conference Center, see the nice Google map here, and how logical it is to park on the nice road between, instead of the parking lot all the way over to the bottom right. So we did, but the time to do the UN is too long, over two hours, and we got a not so nice ticket. Switzerland does not know how to do credit cards to pay for les infractions horribles, so you have to do an expensive wire transfer if you don't have an extra day to find out what to do.

Geneva - The UN. Secretariat Building, European Headquarters. Le Parking Ticket.

2010-07-01T16:13:00.007-04:00

United Nations European Headquarters

War and Debate Issues Made Visual
Secretariat Building

The Three-Legged Chair. Landmines maim, kill, but for some, a life goes on. See the three-legged chair at the entry area for the UN in Geneva, symbolizing the movement against anti-personnel land mines, the ones you step on. Once.

The idea of the chair: Paul Vermeulen, Handicap International, Geneva. Creator of the chair: sculptor Daniel Berset.

Three-legged chair. Anti-personnel landmine symbol: UN, Geneva,Switzerland

Originally, the chair was erected in 1997, to support progress on the Land Mine Treaty, see it at ://www.icbl.org/index.php/icbl/Treaties/MBT/Treaty-Text-in-Many-Languages/English/ It went into storage a while, now is back. Who has signed? 152 countries. Who has not? 42, including the United States. See ://www.thewip.net/contributors/2007/05/a_chair_can_be_a_powerful_symb.html/ What makes the news more than this? BP may be corraling and burning sea turtles as it burns off oil in the Gulf, see yes, that is important, see investigation and lawsuit at ://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-30/bp-killing-sea-turtles-in-spill-containment-burns-activists-suit-claims.html/.

But so are the some 15,000 children a year who step on land mines, even in countries not at war, where the things remain sub-grass, or in-toy.

Logistics in visiting the UN.

There is a parking lot, but it looks like overkill if you want a quick visit, see ://www.unece.org/meetings/practical_information/2010_Practical_Guide.EFR.pdf/. There is also street parking but beware. You may pass the big lot hoping to find one that you can be in and out of faster, and cheaper, but then can't find easy way back around, and instead you see a space. So you street it.

The book says the tour takes an hour, but you plan to go faster. Then you find it takes an hour just to get through the reception-identification-phototag not-quite-strip-search maneuvers, then more time to wait for a tour in your language and yes, you have to go by tour; and then the tour itself. You've lost nearly a morning. And the walk back to your car takes more time, and voila. Un billet du Monstre aux Affaires Criminalistique Touristica! See FN 1

Dignitary entrance drive. United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. Tourists around back.

The main conference room.

Very impressive, but somehow at this UN you see no women among the dignitaries. No women in the pictures of famous groupings of problem solvers. There must be some, but clearly not given prominence in the OPTICS. Is that why the UN has been criticized for posturing, ineffectiveness?

UN, Geneva CH, Main Conference Room.

The murals. These are thought-provoking and moving. There are many of them. See a photostream at //www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/with/3312371228/ It takes time to absorb, focus on each element, figure, idea. That is the reason to take a picture. The guide keeps moving, and you have to stay with the guide. You. Have. To. Stay. With. The. Group.

Mural, European HQ, UN, Geneva CH

Why do all of these now remind me of what it was like to cope with that parking ticket. See FN 1. And don't get us going on concealed landmine pay-go stations invisible invisible around the corner. Was there one anywhere? We looked! Pay-go is excellent, but too widely spaced. Sometimes far around the corner from the street where you are.

Mural, United Nations, European Headquarters, Geneva.

There I am, in that mural up there, lower right.

The grounds. The grounds are a fine set of walkways, views, places to meander and relax. There are xhibits, display signs. Peace monuments. This is Japan's. See more at ://peace.maripo.com/y_1950.htm/ Read the tributes to Hiroshima at ://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/hiroshima-koku/en/special/index_20070820.html/. There are peace bells, peace gongs, around the world.

Cast bell, Japan Peace Monument, UN, Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva Swiss Police and Hertz can't work out how to take a credit card for a parking ticket. Is this for real?

GONG.

.....................................................................................................

FN 1

Le Parking Ticket Theatre Farcicale.

There be ironies. You are in Geneva, money country of the world, where gnomes squirrel away billions under the sidewalks, and they won't let you pay a parking ticket by credit card. If that weren't so pathetic it would be funny. Switzerland? Switzerland!

You know you need to pay your $40 parking overstay, but see what happens. We were flying out the next morning and the ticket gives no place for your credit card info and simple mail-back. You have 30 days to pay, so you send your $40 in leftover Swiss Francs and Euros with proof of mailing but those obviously disappear in the mail room (don't even try). So you contact the police and ask to pay by credit card. If you do a wire transfer, as they request, that is another $30-35. So try to process the credit card. Hertz has properly identified you as the ticketee, no problem, but they add 40 Swiss Francs plus 3.05 VAT for the courtesy. And keep doing another bill, and another, all for that so-called administrative fee. You ask again to use your credit card. Hertz says they can't do that. And send another bill.

So you call the police at Le Parking number they give, to ask them to take your credit card, but you can't understand the string of words that trill on after the Bonjour, and then get put on hold. Add to your bill the cost of an international call. While you try to get someone to understand how credit cards work, the 30 days goes by and another $30 penalty is added for failure to pay within 30 days. That takes another $30 wire transfer. And Hertz charges you 43.05 Swiss Francs for notifying you as their costs per month. So you ask them please just use the credit card they already have.

No, this is Switzerland, and we don't do credit cards?

Solution:

All they have to do in the Geneva police and Hertz is put in a place on the ticket-return for your credit card information. You authorize that payment as soon as you get it at home, for the amount and the charge origination. You can call your credit card company and authorize it, and when it comes through, then you change your card number to be safe.

Of course, then Hertz (they keep notifying you) can't collect the administrative fee of 40 Swiss Francs plus the VAT tax of 3.05 Swiss Francs more. Look what they get by obstructing means of payment - the fee they add to their notices to you, on top of the Geneva parking amount and then the Geneva penalty after 30 days and 30 days etc.

But why is Hertz even sending notices? All they need to do is give your name and address, which is fine, and appropriate, and then let the police do their jobs by the police letting you pay by credit card. No, Hertz wants a fee of several Swiss Francs each time they send a notice. This is ridiculous.

So: Parking gnomes? Voici le plastique! Geneva. Is anyone listening? We know some French but not a lot. Try this. C'est le moderne methode de payment. Le credit card. Le. Credit. Card. Again? Geneva. Voici le moderne methode de payment. Le .... Oh, X@#!X*

The International Conference Center, see ://www.cicg.ch/en/ Will all those who want to go to war with Geneva's police department, Le Parking Groupe, please meet on Monday and get back to all renters who tried to pay with credit cards and are told no.

Nyon - Sights, Chateau Up and Rive-side Down

2010-06-28T12:58:00.001-04:00

The Sights of Nyon

Nyon, you have a lovely castle.

This is a small chateau town. In the 13th Century, Counts of Savoy began building their castles, and the one here is built atop Roman ruins. See ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/resorts/holiday-destinations-in-switzerland/nyon.html/

Nyon, Switzerland. Water view

Start uptown, for the view,

Nyon Castle - Chateau, Nyon CH

At Yverdon-les-Bains, where there is another Savoy castle, we learned that the Savoys liked the square format, and some calling it the Savoy Square. The shape lends itself to various performing arts events.

The Savoys' Castle with frescoes for performing arts, Nyon, square interior

No-one could easily creep up unseen at this towering site. Now there are nice walkways.

Chateau, Nyon, Switzerland

This is a nearby large house (when does it become a chateau?), see it to the left of our top photo, where the eye immediately goes to the Chateau de Nyon, all white. Time for this one to come out of the shadows. Not everyone has replastered and whitewashed. Good. We like the ones that show some age.

Get a full walk-around show on Nyon and its streets and buildings at ://www.dpeck.info/nyon1.htm/

Chateau, smaller one, not face-lifted and lovely, Nyon Switzerland

Take the elevator down.

Nyon outdoor elevator, from hill Chateau to riverfront area, le Rive

You can also walk the winding way back down to the riverfront area, the Rive. That is where our little hotel was, bless it.

Look closely as you walk the rest of the way to the riverfront, and find Roman ruins - there, a structure, a part of wall. Some columns. Julius Caesar established the colony here and called it Noviodunum, after he had finished with his conquest of Gaul.

Corinthian columns, Nyon, park area, Roman ruins, Switzerland

Nyon - Lake Geneva. Respite Spot Yes and Not

2010-06-28T12:44:00.001-04:00

NYON

The town of Nyon is on Lake Geneva, between other major destination points: Geneva itself, and Lausanne. If you landed at Geneva, and are in your rental car after a long night flight, Nyon is probably too close for a stop. You may want to just drive a while. So use Nyon for your overnight on the way back to Geneva from Yverdon-les-Bains or Murten, on the way out. Who wants to go into a big city in the late afternoon.

Sail late into Nyon, Switzerland

See crew shells on the Lake, with the castle and a ferry in the background.

Rowing on Lake Geneva, Nyon, Switzerland

People fish from the rocks by the shore, on the promenade past at the Rive area of town.

Shore fishing, Nyon, CH

You may end up in a room like Guantanamo, however.

Narrow in Nyon

And still pay dearly for it - because you left the looking for a room so late ... yes, it is that narrow. Aargh. For that price??

Very narrow in Nyon

Narrow room in Nyon. But the bawth was clean, as was the room, so chalk it up.

Who needs plush

Nyon. Prepare also to be taken.

Scamtime. Switzerland is no different from anywhere else, including the US when it comes to taking advantage of passers-through, but prepare for this one: an entrepreneur swipes your card, says --uh-oh -- not going through, tsk tsk. We'll just have to try it again, and swipe. Still no good, says he. So you go to an ATM for the cash needed for what you want, no problem, and in the morning they say -- lucky us, the card went through! So you sign for what you had not paid for before, but when you get home, you see the items you paid cash for, added to your not-so-fritzed card. Luckily, ours were minor.

Leaving Nyon

Yverdon - les - Bains - Castle, Baths, Mummies, Celts and Romans,

2010-06-27T02:44:00.003-04:00

Yverdon-les-Bains

Yverdun

At the southern end of Lake Neuenberg (Murten is to the northwest), is an old spa town with surprises in its castle. See ://www.texetera.ch/english/testimonials/historic-buildings/yverdon-castle/ Listen to part of the audio guide there. "Dun" or a variant of that means fort, or hill fort, from Celtic times.*

Yverdon-les-Bains Castle, Pierre II of Savoy after 1260, now a museum, CH

Yverdon still is a spa town. Go ahead: find a venerable tub and submerge, partially. Les bains - the baths. Thermal spa, sulphur water, magnesium; come here for healing. People have for 6000 years. There is some therapeutic value to the soaking, but not the mystical scope as once believed, see ://www.wwdmag.com/Sulphur-Water-Solution-article3130/ Relax, revitalize, let impurities begone.

Spa tub, museum, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

Now think of the poultices and remedies you might try.

This old Savoy Castle houses a manageable museum, that includes geographical and geological exhibits. We like the more modest museums.

At this nice spa town, however, prepare to meet the grave-robbers from centuries ago and not so long ago, and gaze upon the fruits of their labors. Mummies apparently were quite the rage, see ://www.mummytombs.com/ The Yverdon mummy story is at ://www.musee-yverdon-region.ch/musee.php?include=collections&lng=en/ The artifacts date from the Ptolomaic era and are highly regarded by those who follow these things.

Egyptian mummy of Nes-Shou, sarcophagus lid, 200 BC, pilfered out of its resting place for the amusement and edification of generations of gawkers.

Why mummies here? Mummies and healing. Use their parts, or grind their parts into a powder. Stir.

Mummies were believed to have healing qualities, see ://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/index/Castle_reveals_secret_of_severed_hand.html?cid=4109604/. Find the history of the travels of a specific mummified hand at Gruyeres castle.

Mix the powder with honey and/or wine, apply it as a poultice or drink up.

A Napoleonic expedition in the late 1700's got everyone interested and the craze began. Taking mummies was illegal, so parts were used. More easily smuggled, but clearly others found their way across and into Switzerland and elsewhere.

Mummy, Nes-Shou, exposed, Yverdon, Switzerland. Full body scan.

The Swissinfo site says tar was used for embalming.

Embalmed Nes-Shou mummy, unlidded, Yverdun CH

Even this site says he looks rather homesick //www.isyours.com/e/guide/arc_jurassien/yverdontown.html/.
Can we let him go home now?

Artifacts: fine arts of Celts and Romans and many cultures at Yverdon

Fine furniture:

Carved furnishing, Yverdon. Do women figures predominate?

The chapel is still used for weddings. See ://www.isyours.com/e/guide/arc_jurassien/yverdontown.html

Chair,Yverdon Castle. Pestalozzi era?

Looking for our notes: have a vague recollection that this was this a chamber pot chair, where you lift the seat and sit. No, perhaps not. Fancy chamber pot chairs usually have a panel at the front concealing the pot. Checking.

1805-1825: The Castle was used as an educational institute, set up by Heinrich Pestalozzi, reformer. It was used for a school in various ways up to 1974. His method: move from the simple to the complex.

observation, then consciousness, then speech, then measuring, then drawing, then then writing, then numbers, then calculating. The whole person. See his ups and downs at ://www.nndb.com/people/730/000097439/

Heinrich Pestalozzi, 19th Century Educational Reformer, Yverdon Castle (Yverdun)

View, leaving Yverdon CH

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* Etymology of dun. Yverdon was the Celtic Ebre-dun-um. Look up this discussion of word history in place names in Europe, as the "dun" became down, or thun, or don, as in London, at ://books.google.com/books?id=fxQLAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=Yver+dun+fort+Switzerland&source=bl&ots=dOtX9L12MD&sig=WnbUBuI1r7Gx4EAejcbNGYko0hY&hl=en&ei=pPAmTPGrN8P98Abwr4jiDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage q=Yver%20dun%20fort%20Switzerland&f=false

Noviodunum has become Nyon.

Frauenparkplatz; and Where the Buffalo Roam

2010-06-26T10:21:00.002-04:00

Murten and Wise Parking Arrangements

Avoid parking where you must anticipate your time away. Ticketing, and hiding the pay-go ticket machine around the corner so you think the parking is ok on the street where you are (NOT!) is, as here, a favorite municipal pastime. Lots cost more, but you can enjoy your lunch.

Frauenparkplatz in Murten. Ladies-only parking. A common-sense safety courtesy: In Murten's facility, ladies can park cozily on the first level, at the street entrance, lots of lighting and a chance of people around. With our Sir Daniel Galahad along, however, we happily spiraled downward instead. For any parking garage safety and efficiency in car-retrieval, write down your parking level and identification. Or take a picture at your level and spot and delete it when you don't need it. Before getting in your car, check under and all around, quick in and lock. As anywhere. Walk noisily so you do not surprise someone doing what some do.

Frauenparkplatz, Ladies-Only Parking, Murten CH

Roll down the window and inhale. Aah. No parking fumes. But, what the?

Egad!

Buffalo roaming, Murten-Yverdon Road, Switzerland

Les Buffalo!

These are not the water buffalo whose milk has a high fat content and is added to some Swiss mozzarella cheese varieties, see ://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/world/europe/12swiss.html/. These are the USA western plains variety. Is their milk also used for cheese?

Known: Their rumps make a nice salted meat product, and those and other parts provide variety steaks and burger, see http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T9G-3YCV00N-B&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2000&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1382446832&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=09b38e163f53418765a23f761044d3d4/.

Salted buffalo rump? Air-cured. Bresaola. A new Swiss industry. From its Italian roots to the Swiss, see ://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-bresaola.htm/

Yup. Sure is a buffalo. And a beauty, at that. Murten -Yverdon Road, Switzerland

Inhale? Are you kidding?

Buffalo dining, Murten -Yverdon Road, CH

Very fine milk, too.

Buffalo and Junior, Switzerland

Murten's Churches - Catholic, Protestant

2010-04-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

There are two main churches in Murten: a Catholic, Late French Gothic (about 1478), and a Baroque Protestant German Church about 1710, the Deutsche Kirche (no surprise there).

Find a history of protestantism in Germany and Switzerland at ://www.isyours.com/e/guide/religion/christianism/protestantism.html/ In this town, they coexisted. The Zurich theologian, Zwingli, shared the same motivations as Martin Luther, says the site.

In investigating old churches, watch in the later ones for the influx of ordinary people, bodies, faces. It looks like the 1400's marked a change: regular folk replacing the saints, that had peopled the churches in the centuries before the 1400's or so. Individual expressions, tastes on clothing, headwear. Hardly inspiring in the sense of recalling to a worshipper the story of the martyrdom or whatever; but far more interesting. This is not just a protestant trend: look at this Catholic church in Sibenik, Croatia, with its human faces circling the exterior, at Sibenik, Cathedral of St. James, Croatia.

First, the German protestant church: It had been a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary from 1518, and was repurposed. See www.igougo.com/journal-j23315-Murten-Medieval_Marvel.html#ReviewID:1182200/

Choir Stalls est. 1494, German Church, Murten, Switzerland

The pulpit in the Deutsche Kirche is hewn from a single tree trunk, oak we understand. It dates from about 1484. Note the three dimensional areas. The pulpit looks alive, with branchings.

Pulpit, German Church, from a single treetrunk, Murten, Switzerland

German Church, Murten, Switzerland, Traditional stained glass

Then see the French Gothic church (Roman Catholic), dating from about 1481. It replaced an earlier St. Catherine's Chapel and has some replacement stained glass windows that are modern and very bright.

French Church, Roman Catholic, modern stained glass, Murten, Switzerland

Interior, Catholic French church, Murten.

French Gothic (Catholic) Church, interior, Murten, Switzerland

Ceiling medallion - researching which church. See the Bern bear in the middle.

Battle of Murten: Ramparts, Roofs, Allotment Gardens

2010-01-26T14:36:00.000-05:00

Murten: Commerce, Ramparts, Secrets, Allotment Gardens

Murten has always served as a commercial crossroads. The main square is busy. Fuchs is a big business, with several storefronts.

Murten, Switzerland, main square

Climb around the ramparts, however, and find locked doors with big keyholes. Look in and find a nice room with an inviting door to the outer walkways - no access for you.

Murten, secret walled rooms, ramparts, Switzerland

Peer down the alley, where the houses share a party wall with the City Walls, and see a mannequin on the balcony staring back at you, there midway up, at the center; and then a nice chair on the cobbles for people-watching. This is not a museum city.

Murten, houses at the wall, alleyways, Switzerland

The Battle of Murten, see://www.muellerscience.com/ENGLISH/Switzerland.htm/.

In 1476, the Confederation was attacked by the Burgundians from the French side of things; and sent out runners to get help. The other Swiss groups indeed responded, and - to the surprise of the better-equipped Burgundians - the Swiss Confederation combined army won. Here are cannonballs from that battle, still in the walls of Murten.

Cannonballs, embedded in City Walls, Murten, Switzerland

This angle showing cannonballs shows how high the walls are - remember that there are two to three story buildings on the other side, sharing the wall. Houses, Inns, shops. The Burgundians were driven into the lake, and tales are told of thousands drowning in armor; so that for years after, parts of bodies and equipment were coming up on shore.

Battle of Murten, cannonballs, Burgundians defeated, Switzerland

See the diorama of the battle at ://www.murtenpanorama.ch/en/schlacht/221.php/ This is also known as the Battle of Morat. See ://home.eckerd.edu/~oberhot/morat.htm

Murtensee, Lake Murten, beyond City Walls, Murten Switzerland

Go outside again, the other side from the cannonballs, and see nice gardens for vegetables and flowers all along the City Walls. Even - what do you call those shaped wall plants climbing up?

Allotment gardens, outside City Walls, Murten, Switzerland

In many European cities, there will be an allotment garden area outside or in the town, where people get a small plot and set up a mini-house, not just for equipment, but also for a bed and a chair for a get-away. Gardener's time off.

Allotment Garden house, Murten, Switzerland

Dizzying climb up to the ramparts, interior wooden stair.

Murten: Heraldry, Gates, Sgraffito

2010-01-13T11:56:00.002-05:00

Walled City - Murten

Heraldry, Gates, Sgraffito

1. City gates. The entry ways show the depth of the walls. The walls are not always freestanding. Here, there are houses and businesses abutting, even part of it. See the slant back at the facade of the building just through the gateway - its own kind of buttressing. Many city walls have a second line of defense past the main gate, before entering the city: a second huge door, or iron portcullis to drop down the slots. Some have a murder hole above, where defenders can rain down arrows, pitch, on those stuck in the midway before getting through to the town.

Note that an invader has successfully passed through and is waiting for lunch.

Murten, Switzerland, city gate with heraldry

This gate is sectioned into the big swinger, and then its own little door with its own little window - allows the watchmen to let one person in without the vulnerability of the entire gate opening; and the little window to check identities. No body scanners yet.

2. Heraldry. There is a heraldry motif on this gate to the city of Murten: See a red and white wavy line pattern, seen also on shutters, doors.

Look up heraldry to see meanings, if any. Or it is just personal taste spread about. The white (also silver, or "argent"), according to://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm/ means peace and sincerity; the red ("gules") means "Warrior, martyr; Military strength and magnanimity." A wavy line means water, sea. Fine: this city knew many sieges, and it is on Lake Murten, or Murtensee. The site also notes, however, that there is no one interpretation of any of this.

3. View from inside the city. Here is the other side of the gateway, looking back at the tower and its warning bell, and a cafe next door.

There is ornamentation known as "sgraffito" on the cafe built into the wall, visible from the inside.

Murten, Switzerland, gateway from inside the city

4. Sgraffito. Sgraffito is a multiple-step decorative process, where one color of pigment is covered with another; sometimes a layer of plaster will be covered with another layer, then the top one is scratched deep enough to reveal the contrast beneath. See entire pictures on buildings; or designs that can be made to look like stonework, ironwork. Do an images search for sgraffito technique.

5. Clockworks

Clockworks display, Murten, Switzerland (at ramparts area)

Murten - Walled City. Celt or Saintly Roots? Looks Celtic.

2010-01-02T12:22:00.004-05:00

MURTEN: CELTIC ROOTS

among others

Names carry history within them. Murten. The city of Murten, Switzerland, on the Murtensee. Lake Murten. Murten. A name not glamorous in sound. Brings to mind an eccentric uncle, or friends of Lucy and Desi as in I Love, and not a name to draw you in off the roadway.

Murten, Switzerland; battlements

Think again. The roots of Murten are ancient. Explore some possible connections:

1. Early name migration to the British Isles.

Is there a connection to "Morton", coming maybe from "Moortown"; or "Marton" that tilts us toward "Martin." All sound veddy British. Morton alone is said to be English in origin, but only from the 19th Century, and this city in Switzerland goes for millennia before that: see all this at ://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Morton/.

2. Moors

We are interested in the "Moortown" idea because of the tradition of the blackamoor in Switzerland, see Moor as St. Maurice, patron saint of weavers in Bern; and on the district flag at Avenches, town to the south. See Moor Motif in Switzerland. His name also appears as St. Moritz, now of ski fame, Is this the same as St. Martin of Tours? Not by comparing biographies. See Martin at ://st-martins.net/martbio.htm/; and Maurice at A History of Christianity in Egypt, The Saints, at ://www.touregypt.net/chiste3.htm/.

St. Moritz, St. Maurice, was black - the Ethiopian commander of an African legion, from Thebes, in Egypt, that fought with the Romans, but was comprised Christians. Maurice refused to attack a tribe that had Christians in it, and many were martyred for that refusal to follow orders. Read the ancient Golden Legend about him, his name is also called Moris, at The Golden Legend, at ://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden277.htm. Does Murten, the lake as Murtensee or Lake Murten; and the walled town on its shores; as a name have any connection with "Moortown", from something about the black Maurice-Moritz.

Here is a Star of David, as we know it, formed by a different color roof tile as seen from the ramparts. This did not signify a Jewish population, apparently, but was a form used commonly by Christians and signified

Murten, rooftop tile Star of David, Switzerland

the journey of the Magi at the time of the birth of Christ. The five-pointed star has a long history, not just in Judaism. Do not go to ://christianity.about.com/od/symbolspictures/ig/Christian-Symbols-Glossary/Christian-Stars.htm/ because you will be hit with ugly ads for teeth whiteners all across the top. Skip that one and go to something more exotic, like Religious Symbols at ://www.jesusfamilytomb.com/back_to_basics/alternative/secret/star.html/

3. Celts

Looking elsewhere for Murten's roots, see Celtic civilization. Here is the really ancient; and it is tied to many of us. See http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/history.html/ They were here, there, everywhere, pre-Christian, shoved about by the Romans and Slavs and others ultimately, and many landed in the British Isles.

The British Isles - Gaelic; one form in Ireland, another in Scotland, and versions in the off-islands? "Mor" in Scots Gaelic means great, or big. "Ton" or tun or dun means fort. So Morton or Murten as a place of a big fort makes sense. May not be it, but at least we came up with some explanation for a dull-sounding name. Scroll down at the Celtic history site to find the Swiss material.

There is a big Moortown in Leeds, England, and that supports a Celtic background, not necessarily a black one.

Spiez, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

2009-12-12T14:27:00.002-05:00

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The gem of this castle complex is the old castle church, the Schlosskirche. Irish missionaries arrived here about 500 AD - a Carolingian church, think Charlemagne era, was built in 762 AD. This church probably dates from 900-1000 AD. S, but the square tower could be from the original church, ee ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/spiez-castle-church?source=ge

Schlosskirche, Tower, Castle Church, Spiez Castle complex, Swizerland

Early churches also served as refuges. Many had no windows, or very narrow ones at a higher height, not easy eye level, suitable for archers.

Schloss Kirche, Castle Church, Spiez, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Frescoes inside Schloss Kirche, or the Castle Church, are faded - Christ Enthroned - but lighting is provided. Just put on the spotlights for yourself. Turn the lights out when you leave.

Frescoes, Schloss Kirche, Castle Church, Spiez Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Narrow doors also were a defensive measure in many early castles and churches. Persons in armor had a difficult time passing through, and had to go single file. Meanwhile, on the other side, waited the ....
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Narrow interior door, Castle Church, Schlosskirche, Spiez Castle, Switzerland

See the dim insides, with no windows at eye level. All the light just tumbles in at the altar.

Altar area view, Spiez, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Dignitaries had to be accommodated.
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Bishop's Chair, the "Cathedra", or for other dignitary, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Spiez Castle, Switzerland

Here, the Bishop's Chair, we believe. The enclosed foot and leg space would keep out drafts. No heating. Look at old pews as well - often high backed, with partitions and doors to the aisle.

But most of the oldest churches did not provide pews - just straw on the floor of a large milling-around area, where people stood, not sat. Later there may be individual chairs to move about.

Choir stalls, however, may have seating, including fold-up seats with little shelves you could arrange your behind upon, and look as though you were standing but you were really just butt-balancing. People in the choir and doing the services were not free to leave at any time. They needed support.

Crypt: Always ask for one. The crypt here was locked. Those tend to look alike, so we did not mind. Go down the old stairs, see the niches, the big coffin-holders, the sculptures on top of those within. Was this one different? We'll never know. In Germany, many crypts served as good bomb shelters.

This I hesitate to identify as part of the view from the Schlosskirche, because I am not sure. Is this later Murten, another town to the far west? Need to check. The Schlosskirche is on Lake Thun, with a lovely view of the little harbor there. Spiez or Murten? We think this is Lake Thun, despite the lower mountains to the other side. But the roof tiles look Murten. Will get back to you.
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Spiez Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

2009-12-12T13:56:00.002-05:00

Spiez, Castle at the Town on Lake Thun

The castle complex here at Spiez is located for maximum views of the lake, mountains and countryside. The castle itself, here (see the church at another post) shows the transition from defense to residence, old tower, later stately mansion. Rooms originate in the 1200's through the 1700's, but the castle itself dates from the 10th-11th Centuries. Fortified colonies here date to 1000 BC.

The name: More Celtic connections - the name of the town came from the Gaelic word for corn, says this site. See ://www.swissqualityhotels.com/hotels/Switzerland/spiez/about.asp?_lang=en/ *

* Corn? We thought that crop was North or South American?

Spijates and Spiez. The word is "spijates". Have to look that up. Just did. Can't believe all you read. Spijates here is defined as "thorn" and not corn at all. And it is indeed Celtic, not Gaelic. See http://www.epinions.com/review/trvl-Dest-Europe-Switzerland/trvl-review-7D6D-9EC060-394B064F-prod1/ Isn't Gaelic later than Celtic? Yes. Celts were all over Europe before being shoved into the British Isles, and finally the remotes of Ireland and Scotland. See their history at ://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html

For looks at the relationship of Gaels and Celts, see ://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/ There are six languages in the Celtic group. Gaelic is English for a cluster of three of them: the Irish, the Manx, and the Scots.

Spiez Castle, residence side, Lake of Thun, Switzerland

Spiez Castle, Tower, Lake Thun, Switzerland

The tower is Romanesque with 13th Century Graffiti, we now learn, but did not see. Is that it above the window, preserved? This site calls it medieval castle with baroque style, but that can't be right. Centuries separate medieval from baroque. Fine to say originated as medieval, later redecorated in baroque. See //www.interlaken.ch/erlebnisse/sommer/kultur/schloss-spiez.html?L=3

Castle Thun at War; Metalwork. Castle Chillon. Armor for Women and Men, Castle Defenses

2009-12-09T15:12:00.002-05:00

Part III. Women in War

Men in War

Metalwork, War, Culture

Without the forge, the smith, there could have been no weapons or defenses as effective as were developed in medieval-renaissance times. Look at the detail work on the mechanisms, the suits of armor for both women and men here at the Chillon Castle. The woman's is (obviously) third from right. Room for the busty-chesty (not quite Rubenesque, who would have come later) and with an efficient, tidy, defined waist.

Woman's armor, among the men's, Chillon Castle, Switzerland, 3d from right.

How was the metalwork done. Forges used to be commonplace. See a forge, for farm implements - like scythes - at ://www.beautifuliron.com/vienna_techmuseum.htm/. For a history of medieval technology, see ://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/middle.htm/ It sounds like a short step from the sharp heavy blade of the scythe to the fine steel of the sword, but the differences in tempering, honing, took centuries. Locks, bolts, hinges, not just the swords and armor, all needed for survival. Anything could be a weapon. See ://www.medieval-castle-siege-weapons.com/weapon-of-medieval-times.html/

Iron bolt, door, Thun Castle, Switzerland

The sword - mastery of it began in childhood, with gradual strength building so that the young adult and adult eventually had the shoulder, back, core and arm, hand and wrist strength to wield the 4-foot blade, length estimated here.
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Medieval Sword, looks about 4-foot in length, to handle. Thun Castle Museum, Switzerland.

Castle stairs as a defense. The coiled stairs to the tall towers wound up to the right, so that the attacker coming up the stairs (assuming a right-handed assailant) could not swing his sword from his strong side. The defender, however, looking down at the attacker, had the room and advantage of a full right-arm swing at him. Ropes were used to thread through as railings, so that if attacked, the rope could be severed and not interfere with the sword's action. A metal railing would obstruct.

Castle tower staircase, winding up to the right.Thun Castle, Switzerland. The defender above had full arm swing down, for the sword. The attacker's right arm, as he fought his way up, would be constricted.

Armor. Armor that covered the entire body was designed for equestrian use. Thus, it is logical that a woman could play that part as needed, and did. Some armor has a female appearance. It takes time to recognize it, however, because we are not taught that role in history classes. It takes seeing. Then do the research and find that it was so.

Woman's armor, Thun Castle, Switzerland.

Other armor has no such suggestion, just accommodations for different body types. These do not look at all female.
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Suits of men's armor, Thun Castle, Switzerland

Now look back at the woman's armor, in its position next to the man's at Thun Castle Museum. The two are intentionally juxtaposed to show the difference. See Women and Knighthood in the Middle Ages at http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/

Armor for the woman, front angle in context with armor for the man; Thun Castle Museum, Switzerland

Women in war. Not unusual. Done as needed, and done as the skills and interest warranted. Then quietly slipped out of the history books as her cultural role became as constricted as the castle coiling staircases, deny the one trying to get up.

Medieval Female Knights.

There were female orders of knights. See Women Knights at ://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/wom-kn.htm/. Read about the Order of the Hatchet in Catalonia (Spain) 1149 AD - and the women who defended Tortona against the Moors. A dame so admitted to the order received benefits, tax exemptions, "and took precedence over men in public assemblies." They were called cavalleros or knights - the author suggests using cavalleras,

Read on there about the Order of the Glorious Saint Mary in 1223, where women of Bologna were granted the rank of militessa. Pope Sixtus dissolved this group in 1558.

On and on. Netherlands, England, military orders, the female grand-cross. Modern military orders include the French Legion of Honor where the women are called "chevaliers". Take a day with the heraldica site. Order thee some armor, lass.

Castle Thun, Schloss Thun, Switzerland

2009-12-08T15:48:00.001-05:00

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Thun Castle was built in about 1195. Celtic tribes had lived here until their defeat in 58 BC, that defeat beginning in France with Roman victories, and then extending to Switzerland. The Celtic lands were vast, and culture was longstanding, but they left no written records. Their word for fortress, something like "dun", or "dunum" at this site, became Thun. See ://home.att.net/~long.hair/steffi/thun/thun.html/

View across, Castle Thun, Switzerland

The Romans were pushed out in about 400 AD, Irish priests came and converted folk in the 500's AD and then two groups battled it out: the Latin-speaking Christian-Burgundians; and the German-speaking Allemani. Enter the French, after a time of this and that with the Charlemagne group, and more centuries of jockeying. See the steffi site above.

Locks, door to prison in tower, Castle Thun, Switzerland

The dynasties and fighting would take pencil and paper and a graphic outline and time line to absorb. Ultimately, Bern and the Germans assumed a greater role in governing the area.

Thun, Manacles, prison in tower, Schloss Thun, Castle Thun, Switzerland

In 1322, during an inheritance dispute, one royal brother, Eberhard, wounded his competing royal brother, Hartmann, and had him hurled from the parapet. See ://home.att.net/~long.hair/steffi/thun/thun.html/.

View down, Schloss Thun, Castle Thun, Switzerland. Brudermord from here?

Brudermord. The Brother Murder.

Enjoy this site for more photos, see ://www.tompgalvin.com/places/ch/thun.htm/.

Architecture for the Elements and Uses: Heavy-Duty Chalets, Balconies, Recesses

2009-12-08T15:26:00.001-05:00

The weight and blow of the snow can be difficult to imagine in the fall or summer months in Switzerland. But the architecture is a reminder of the practical need to deflect the elements, hold up the tons, keep windows clear. The size of the front overhang tells the story. See the supports needed to hold and protect that overhang from yet more weight. Read about the development of the architecture at ://www.mountainpassions.com/culture_environment/mountain_chalet.htm/.

The Workhorse Chalet, Switzerland

The balconies are useful for drying clothes, and even storing fruits and vegetables, says the Origins and Architecture site. In the mountains, roofs can be timber planking combined with thatch and/or slates of limestone, or spruce tiles.

Seasoning over generations.

Long-seasoned (aged) wood, old spruce, with the tannin that darkens with age, would be held back and used for roofs only when the seasoning had made them strong enough. In some cases, wood would be stored for the roof use, at the lowest level where the firewood was, the big logs facing out, for generations before being put in place.
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Chalet-balcony principles, town residence, Thun, Switzerland

Here are some interiors of classic chalets. See ://www.mountainpassions.com/living/chalet_abondance.htm/ There, see the wood stacked at the lowest level for fireplace use (accessible from inside), and the logs being seasoned, facing out. The wood-stacking added a layer for insulation as well. Mosses and lichens stop up the drafts inside.

Einigen, Kirche, Church and Legend; Lake Thun

2009-12-07T13:18:00.000-05:00

There are twelve churches on Lake Thun, and this, St. Michael's, is apparently the "mother" church, see //www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/destinations/nature/offer-About_Wedding-Wedding_Chappels-308480.html/ It was built in 1223, see http://www.ywam-einigen.ch/?p=region/.
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Einigen Kirche, Einegen Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

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Read the legend of the Duke Strattlingen, his patron, the Archangel Michael, and the miraculous return of the Duke to his wife just before she was to be remarried (he had given permission years before, if he did not return to claim her), and the building of this church in thanksgiving.

See that and more legends at Legends of Switzerland, at google books at page 116 give or take; at ://books.google.com/books?id=k_8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=Einigen+church+Switzerland&source=bl&ots=phhulMRaoO&sig=i_5dN8MsqNbdgMDHNnoQoFYqzDU&hl=en&ei=60MdS_KGJYzjlAfK1e3xCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false/.

Oberhofen Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

2009-12-06T20:21:00.001-05:00

Castle Oberhofen, Schloss Oberhofen, Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland

Oberhofen am Thunersee

Drive around Lake Thun, going the high road, not the easy coastal lake road, and find Oberhofen - dating from the 13th Century, passed into the hands of the Austrian Habsburgs, then the Bernese from the north (also German-speaking), other comings and goings and, ultimately a museum, and now an independent foundation again. See ://www.schlossoberhofen.ch/en/home/history/; remembering that schloss means castle.

Oberhofen Castle, Tower Detail, Lake Thun, Switzerland

There are parks and gardens along the lake, Lake Thun. The castle is a branch of the Bernese Historical Museum. See also ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/top_attractions/attractions-museums/castle-oberhofen-museum-and-park.html/ Oberhofen am Thunersee. We even tried to find more of its history using the non-English, and find little. Still looking. Who were the original people?

Schloss Oberhofen, Gated Entryway, Lake of Thun, Switzerland; Castle Oberhofen

Minaret ban, Switzerland. Height; and Vista Preservation; not Xenophobia

2009-12-03T18:18:00.004-05:00

Articles and comment about the Swiss ban on minarets. These can be really high. Here is one, a mosque with its minaret on Gibraltar, the minaret at least double the height of the mosque below.
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Minaret, mosque, Gibraltar

The articles against the Swiss ban on more minarets focus so far, mostly, on outrage: that Switzerland would restrict how people worship; that it is intolerant and closed. See overview at the Harvard Law Review, at ://www.hlrecord.org/opinion/switzerland-s-minaret-ban-about-more-than-xenophobia-1.951293/ Does the Swiss ban really signify a high degree of fear and uncertainty. No. It is pragmatic.

Pragmatism.

Minarets are no more necessary to religious practice than steeples.

Focus instead on the pragmatic impact of minarets on the practice of the religion. Is it necessary. No. No more than our steeples are. What role does the minaret really play in the practice of the religion: it is no more symbolic than a steeple is. And the practice can go on without it. See role of the minaret at Swiss Minaret Ban, Narrow Tourist Vista Purpose.

Minarets do impact negatively on the tourist industry on which Switzerland substantially relies. How about the pragmatic impact of the proliferation of minarets on an industry on which Switzerland relies: the tourism industry, the photographic opportunities, the lure of pretend.
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Thun Castle, view from tower, Switzerland

Interlaken, for example, is more Eastern-Indian-Other foreign than Swiss, it appears in walking about, and the experience is just that: global, great food, international, but not "Swiss" if that is important to you.

This idea of preserving the history, the tourism (that brings in money) also applies to Austria, and Northern Italy, the other angles of this most recent regional trip. Our photos and desire to return depend on fantasy. Is that worth preserving? Maybe not.

What if there had been minarets or other religious symbols dotting the landscape above roof level at Castle Bruck, Lienz, Austria;

Bruck Castle, view, Lienz, Austria

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or Turin, Italy, a city with a vast eastern and middle eastern population - just follow the trolley lines to the center, and go through vast markets.

Fostering some "Pretend" in our lives

People make all kinds of things up to get by. Religion and romance and regret (the real Three R's) are full of it.

The "Pretend" involved here, in this minaret issue, is that you live or lived in this castle, yodeled on that hillside, were watching Heidi, or learning of William tell, or there when the Romans were, at Avenches or other places with Romans in Switzerland, or you were in a medieval canton, a renaissance or baroque church as it was being constructed. I am a princess, yes, I watched from this window as my knight rode ever nearer. Nuts, yes, but fun. Disney is made of fantasy.

I may well have had my own armor, yes, I did. Take that, you stereotypers.

Women and men's armor, Thun Castle, Switzerland

Promoting photography, scenic vistas. Would we have taken this picture or that, if there had been a minaret there.

Probably not. Minarets are counter-old history. They are modern amalgamation symbols in modern countries with diverse populations. Switzerland is modern and a mix, but its broad ethnic diversity should not hinder its tourism industry that profits on the old.

So: as tourists, we would have tried to move to another angle if a minaret had appeared in the lens, to avoid the intrusion of another culture's modern symbol when we were indulging our fantasies, much as we also avoid power lines and tour buses and Big Macs.

Xenophobia?

Fear of the new, different, strange to oneself? See ://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xenophobia/

Not necessarily. We see banning minarets as a desire for the experience we paid for: the imagination, the fantasy, the beauty of the old scenes, untouched by the modern. Learning history. Is that worth anything? Maybe not. Maybe the new economic order (why don't steeples get allowed in the east?) makes minaret construction necessary. Are they needed to worship? No.

The minaret, to the West, means Our Failure, Mistake, Blunder with Repercussions Centuries Later

Think of it. What do minarets really mean to our Western culture? Failure. Ours. Failure. Our failure. The Crusades were the biggest religious, theological, political, and humanitarian mistake of that era.

Crusades: A Curiosity Now. But See Crusades as a Religious, Theological, Political Disaster Then. Also now. Templars at Malbork, Poland.

We are still living the Crusades' repercussions. Minarets as symbol.

Resolution.

So, why not allow new minarets at a height and in a location that will not disturb the photo-scenery industry - that is pragmatic - and no more until there is an exchange: western people's steeples can shaft as high in eastern and middle-eastern lands as they would have minarets shaft in the west.

Fair and balanced. Use zoning, height limits, placement, and a tourist's perspective if you want that. Ban entirely, okay since a feature of architecture is only that.

History-fantasy. That is what tourism thrives on. Why not. The minaret, the steeple, don't overblow what either means.

Interlaken: The Golden Pass RR, Changing Demographics.

2009-12-03T12:11:00.002-05:00

Interlaken.

Interlaken is a venerable, old Grand Tour Town between Alpine lakes, with famous peaks - the Junfgrau, the Eiger and the Monch nearby. Some like railroads to get there - The Golden Pass Line, the narrow-gauge railway takes the scenic route from Montreux through Gstaad to Interlaken, see ://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=86&xid=idh558351960_0160/; and ://www.switzerlandflexitours.com/goldenpass-line.html/. You can also take a scenic railway Jungfraujoch Top of Europe. We were running out of time, and will do that next time. Be careful of the high altitudes if you have heart and blood pressure problems. Go to the NYT Archives, Sunday January 19, 2003 at Travel section p. 11 for a fine overview and photos. The Aletsch Glacier is there.

You will probably not stay in Interlaken, however. It has changed.
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1. Getting there: The Way to Interlaken. In the old days, passage was treacherous: carriages, horseback, mules and donkeys. Here are some donkeys.
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Donkeys, farm en route Montreux to Interlaken, Switzerland

We like the drive. There were more switchbacks, indecipherable signs to the smallest possible destinations rather than a big town on a map that would have been more helpful, but finally we found Gstaad and the ski resort, farms, cliffs, valleys, and - exhausted - Interlaken.

2. The beauty.

Here is the gorgeous view to Lake of Thun, from above Interlaken, the high cliffside route toward Thun, the town.

Lake of Thun, high cliff road Interlaken to Thun (town)

Switzerland is in the news lately with its recent ban on construction of minarets.

3. Now: Fast forward to Current events, balance of interests. Minarets.

What is the place, in such a place as Interlaken, of tradition and whether tradition should be maintained at the expense of other people's desired architecture for their places of worship. Would minarets here add to, or not, the breathtaking sight.

3,1. Pro: a blanket ban on minarets preserves traditional views that lure tourists, foster a local and national economy, establish identity for its people sharing its history.

3.2. Con: a ban on one group's desired architecture may be too broad. Why not go a lesser route, to impose height restrictions. Minarets are not necessary to the worship, but, like steeples, evolved and serve secular as well as religious-symbolism purposes.

3.3. Require reciprocity. As soon as the homelands of the newer people will foster steeples and churches for Western worship styles (United Arab Republic, for example, permits none) in their countries, then figure out a reciprocal fostering for Eastern worship styles in Western countries.
.Lake Thun, Interlaken, Switzerland

4. How to weigh the issues.

These height/zoning restrictions do not denigrate the Eastern religion, but instead balance the interests of vacationers from other cultures who may want, or do want, to settle, set up their own communities; against the nation's established tourism and the views that produce it.

Explore the issue. See it at ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/resorts/holiday-destinations-in-switzerland/interlaken.html/. The Bernese Oberland. Aljazeera is wrong to frame the issue as mere misogyny. See ://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/12/ 200912281637353840.html/ It is more like Connecticut restricting home construction on mountain ridgelines - have your home, but preserve the view for the rest and, in Switzerland, a country dependent on photography and tourists, for its economic health. Or allow steeples unrestricted in other countries. Would that be fair?

5. Back to Interlaken itself.

Even Rick Steves says not to come here. Or of you do, you will probably stop briefly then move on, as we did. It is a haven for backpackers, and a multitude of ethnic groups those styles of shops etc. have changed the town completely. That need not be a bad thing financially because it looks like the town is prospering, with well-heeled visitors. But it changes what the town means.

The name of this town, Interlaken, means between two lakes, here the Lake of Thun and the Lake Brienz, in lovely Alpine Switzerland. The name used to mean large Victorian hotels, the Grand Tour of the Uppers, a town where carriageways and private passages by horse and mule (luxury along the way, of course) and trains converged; with the ladies in large hats with huge wooden trunks (the domed steamer trunks were preferred and indicated status, because they had to be at the top of the stack, in the baggage rooms, deep in the steamers coming over the oceans, and were retrieved first; the flat-topped steamer trunks were for others, or for less important accoutrements/ The trunks opened to reveal a side for hanging things, and the other, had drawers for the bloomers).
We were here in the 1960's - a different family era. It is little like that now, perhaps for the good, but the issue here is an industry. Do a search on Maps - there are no easy roads over to Interlaken - either you take the autobahns going like huge pentagrams from urban center to urban center, Lausanne to Bern and down: or you go over the mountains and through the woods, and after a while, with all the beauty, it gets to be a slog.

6. For us, see Interlaken, but do not expect it to be "Switzerland."

We did the heavy narrow road sneak past the blind turns up and over from Vevey, Montreux, Villeneuve - across, not up easy and down. Dan and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the big hotel, still there, tablecloths, people discreetly bowing hither and yon, old days. Go outside, and that atmosphere is no more.

Now, Interlaken is a skeleton.

It has the bones. It offers excellent food, fast service where you may want that, but only the shape is there: Lake Brienz on one side, this little isthmus that is Interlaken, and Lake Thun on the other. The old hotels are still there, but the street levels that used to house fine watches and couture is immigration central, are now fast food, trinkets. Vacation central for all parts of the world.

Enjoy it as the east-west global vacationer magnet that it is. For the old Swiss Switzerland of the Grand Tour, head elsewhere.

Vevey: Charlie Chaplin, The Fork, Eminescu, the Chair and You; at Lake Geneva

2009-12-02T13:48:00.002-05:00

Vevey. Not far from Montreux, on Lake Geneva. On the Swiss Riviera.

It deserves its accolades for surroundings. Charlie Chaplin came here to live, in 1953, with his family after being subjected to the witch hunts of the McCarthy era in the US. He was in his 60's then, see ://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/Charlie_Chaplin_s_star_on_rise_again.html?siteSect=22121&sid=6712262&cKey=1251963835000&ty=st/ He died here in 1977, at age 88 or so.

Vevey, Switzerland. Charlie Chaplin memorial

Charlie Chaplin memorial, view toward Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Charlie Chaplain contemplates The Fork, Lake Geneva, Vevey, Switzerland

Now: The fork in the lake. Apparently this commemorates the tenth anniversary of a food museum across the way: Henri Nestle started his powdered milk factory here in the 19th Century.

Lake Geneva has been settled for thousands of years, but the earliest Celtic tribes left no written records. Start, then, with the Romans in the first century BC, if you need writing. Romans, then Burgundians, then Dukes of Savoy, Reformation and Revolution. And an international role in its secret banking, alleging neutrality in order to maximize profits from that, then League of Nations and United Nations at Geneva, and the Red Cross. Switzerland in a nutshell, or bank vault.

Look at the changes in boundaries among groups claiming this area throughout history, at ://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/lake-geneva.html/. Many forks in those roads.
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Giant fork, Lake Geneva, Vevey, Switzerland. Commemorates food products museum.

Now, for romance.

What other visage is that, which now presents its solitary self to mine wandering eyne?

A romantic poet, bigger than life, also gazing soulfully out to Lake Geneva's far shores. Mihai Eminescu, 1850-1889. Ah, so young, she sighed.

Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet, Lake Geneva, Vevey, Switzerland

Read his poetry, aloud, standing and gesturing in front of your own mirror. Do three a day. Start at ://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poeti_tr/eminescu_eng.php/ Did your life improve? No? Do it again. He appreciates you. He really does. The one entitled, "Desire" however, must be whispered.

The melancholy one. I have been searching....

Vevey, Lake Geneva, Switzerland: Mihai Eminescu, or M. Eminovici (Eminovitch)
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Here is a brief biography - see ://www.muc.de/~tueting/EMINESC.HTMLhe died in Bucharest, after 5 years of paralysis. but no information is given about its origin.

There's a place for you, as well, while you read, or contemplate. Sit here, at the Lake, in a formed chair bolted to the rock against the storms.

Chairs on the rocks, Vevey, Lake Geneva shore, Switzerland

At first, they look like some form of sea bird. but have faith. Those are two little chairs just for you; and just a solitary bird beside. Just watch your step. No railings. Just clamber down.

Chair for you, bolted to rock, Lake Geneva shore, Vevey, Switzerland

Black and White at Chillon Castle: The Bath, Vincent Freischling, and Bernese Governors

2009-12-01T18:25:00.001-05:00

The Frustration of Heraldry

Where can you find a castle better than Chillon, one so manageable in size, and so varied in what has been preserved. We wonder about the "preservation" of the obvious (to us) modern Santa Claus, instead of even a traditional Saint Nicholas, in the heraldry, but move on to the prevalence of blacks. And learn little.

Regardless, get comfortable, be sure the linen is laid in the tub to prevent splinters, have a monk (isn't that a tonsure?) and a lady nearby; emerge from the soak, and consider:

Chillon Castle, Switzerland, the Duke Emerges From His Bath

Heraldry and portraiture with numerous black faces or black and white themes at Chillon, some blurry because I messed up:

Chillon Castle, black figures, unknown reference

Motto: "Learning to observe is learning to respect." Whom from, pray tell?

Who is this Vincent Freischling. There is a Freischling in Austria, but that is east of Linz. We see no Vincent at the Freischling history site, at ://www.freischling.info.at/english/history/

Chillon Castle, Switzerland, Vincent Freisching? Black and White in Heraldry. St. Vincent?

What is the black ram? Nothing like it at this coats of arms site: ://www.rollintl.com/roll/grcoat.htm/ Black in heraldry is "sable," see ://www.luz-herald.net/free/pimbley/Pimbley%27s%20Dictionary%20of%20Heraldry%20-%20B.htm/ but still no clue.

There is Saint Vincent, and the Cathedral in Bern is St. Vincent's, see ://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g188052-d244410/Bern:Switzerland:Cathedral.At.Munsterplatz.St.Vincent.Munster.Kirche..html/ We see no connection with his biography at ://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=326/. Who is that?

Chillon Castle, Black and White heraldry (blurred - life is tough)

Why the half dog white and half dog black. Just whim of Bernese governors? See ://www.planetware.com/montreux/chateau-de-chillon-ch-vd-chill.htm

Chillon Castle Santa. Black Madonna. Heraldry on Walls. And Religion on Ceilings.

2009-11-29T19:02:00.004-05:00

Finding Santa Claus, and a Black Madonna, in Unexpected Places.
Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Join a tour, have to keep up. But, if you go on your own, you can stay as long as you like, and find things. Here, start looking at frescoes, wall and ceiling paintings, and heraldry. Some things bowl you over.

A. We found Santa Claus.

Yes. He is not at the North Pole. He is on Lake Geneva, Chillon Castle heraldry room, confronting a big black bear - possibly a Bern image, but what about Santa? Or is that a black dragon? The heraldry Griffon, perhaps, also spelled "Griffin" - see ://www.isidore-of-seville.com/griffins/9.html/. Or Gryphon. There are littler cute griffins or gryphons showing below, black against red griffins there? Who prevailed: it looks like the red griffin is bottom up. It looks like waves around, or big winds, black and white again and the red Santa. For heraldry, start at ://www.heraldicsculptor.com/heraldry.html/.

Back to Chillon: Find a clue: "Frederic de Gingins." Who? This is really odd.

Santa Claus in Heraldry, Frederic de Gingins, at Chillon Castle, Switzerland. Santa here. Yes, Santa.

First, Santa: No clue from our fast look-ups. But it is there. Hoax?

1. Frederic de Gingins as Baron de Gingins, whose name apppears beneath some unusual (anachronistic?) heraldry in the heraldry hall at Chillon Castle, Switzerland. He is in a google book now, at "Historic Studies in Vaud, Berne and Savoy; from Roman Times to Voltaire, Rousseau and Gibbon" by an English General Meredith Read (family connections to America, Virginia; Civil War era accomplishments noted) at ://www.archive.org/stream/historicstudies00readgoog/historicstudies00readgoog_djvu.txt/ This is full of Gingins references - skimmed for Santa or a Saint Nicholas or something, did not find. But long long history of Ginginses.

All that is fine, but when and why and how the Santa? As a Vaudois nobleman, he is listed as Frederic Gingins-La-Sarra, 1790-1863, or La Sarraz (see Author Index at ://fmg.ac/MGR/Indices/Sources/Authors/Links/G.htm/), a historian specializing in medieval times who sometimes went beyond his documents to make something what he wanted it to say, see ://1911encyclopedia.org/Switzerland/. Antoine-Charles de Gingins. Ancestry.com has an 1859 geneology you can order. Is Santa home? Part of the Sires de Montfaucon comtes de Montbeliard.

2. There is a "Christmas Market" in Montreux, town just down from Chillon Castle (is it in Montreux?), but that looks modern, but then again so does this odd Santa, see ://switzerland-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/visit_the_romantic_montreux_christmas_market/ The heraldry is a hoax? Ok. Here is a long history of Switzerland: at ://1911encyclopedia.org/Switzerland/ No mention.

3. This is not St. Nicolas of Myra, patron saint of children, see ://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/ecclesiastical.html/ and there are no ecclesiastical hats or flock hooks here either. See also ://www.civicheraldry.com/page/7297/ Swiss civic heraldry is indexed at ://www.civicheraldry.com/region/switzerland/ Have not been through them all.

B. And a Black Madonna at Chillon.

We found a Black Madonna. This time, up high.

We have seen free-standing paintings of Black Madonnas, and statues. There are many, and varied in explanations and places in Europe, and, we understand, elsewhere in the New World. See, an outdated, but good for a start, our collection at an earlier time at Europe Road Ways, Themes, Black Madonnas.

Here we find our first Black Madonna painting on a ceiling, a ceiling fresco, or, perhaps, it is just a painting there. Fresco, on the other hand, is a special technique, that means painting on wet plaster so it lasts a long time - we don't know which this Chillon ceiling painting is. Fresco: see the Italians who were especially good at it, at ://www.italianfrescoes.com/frescoTechnique.asp.

Here is the Black Madonna we found at Chillon Castle:

Black Madonna, ceiling (fresco or painting?) Chillon Castle, Switzerland (and black child)

What is the history? We cannot find it. But there are many other black figures at Chillon, and black-white motifs. Being researched. We see reference to a Madonna da Vico at ://www.archive.org/stream/santuarioofmadon00rossuoft/santuarioofmadon00rossuoft_djvu.txt/, but an Images search of Madonna of Vico shows nothing like this. Even Dorothy Dix in 1926 makes no mention of this in her travel journal from the US to Eastern Europe, this part at Chillon, see ://library.apsu.edu/dix/lettersanddiaries/diary1926.htm/.

Comment, approach audience from stage: Are we at the point in travel like, with news, all we can get is people's rehash on tours of what someone else said or did. Look at fact content anywhere. Where are facts. Nowhere to be found. We get opinions and views in place of news, and in places that are labeled "news" and aren't p they are opinions and propaganda.

Nuts. As with art. Where are the facts. Here, in art, same thing. We get tours with see this, see that, and the people do, click the same pictures, and leave. What about all the rest? The things that are there, but ignored, and who knows what they are. Enough. Somebody pick up on these, however, because they are fun.

Chateau or Castle Chillon: Innards, Furnishings, Ladies in Armor?

2009-11-27T21:05:00.004-05:00

Castle Basics
Chillon

Join us going through rooms and ins and outs of the Castle at Chillon. The top "teeth" on the battlements are called crenellations: archers and other defenders behind getting some protection, ducking frpom cover to cover. It also is a common sense kind of minimal fencing. See ://architecture.about.com/od/buildingparts/g/battlement.htm

Security checkpoints, Castle Chillon, defenses.

Castle interior design did not include closets. People used wardrobes - large and bulky; or these movable chests that could then be packed and sent on with the owner to the next castle stop. To the equivalent of Miami for the Season, or perhaps to the next place where tolls were being collected and books had to be audited.
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Clothing chests, or other household goods, wooden-carved, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Some chests are religious in theme, others secular. As today, it all depends on your predilection. Here is Adam and Eve, the snake now morphed into a female representation, when the Bible says the Snake is a "he." All to suit the increasing masculinization of the Church? Start trashing the ladies? Above is a contemporary merchant kind of dress on the people represented.

Religious theme: Adam and Eve and, oh, no, a female snake (the Bible says the snake was a "he"); all the better for dogma, my dear. Castle Chillon, Switzerland

This kind of wardrobe - armor - would not fit into the chests. Women in armor. Look at the shape, second from the left. Then fast forward to other collections of armor, say, at Thun, Switzerland. Unh-hunh. Amazing how a cultural need to box in a group succeeds just by never mentioning. Let the evidence just slide by, so nobody's antennae are set in that direction. Is that so?

Women in War. Woman's armor? Chillon Castle collection, second from left, Switzerland

Firebacks are familiar but have a longer history than we may think. A fireback is a cast iron backer that deflects and absorbs and radiates back into the room the heat, away from the rock stone fireplace, where such heat can lead to cracking over time. Let the fireback crack first. See ://www.fireback.com/ for American colonial firebacks. Can't remember the theme of this one: should have made a note.

Fireback, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

How to keep warm. Small fireplaces had iron firebacks to reflect heat back into the room. Beds had constructions available for curtains, and little roofs to them of solid wood instead of just fabric canopies for additional warmth. We were told that the mattress, just a few inches of something, sat directly on a wooden platform.

Bed, Chillon Castle, Switzerland; portable. Guide said Duke took furnishings with him castle to castle.

Roofs served many functions inside and out: here, outside, the roof to the battlements were solid, for weather-proofing, as well as to withstand invaders' weapons and fire arrows. Hurling weapons at each other, including setting fire to them and then firing them off, has a long history among enemies, see History of Rocketry at ://www.spacearium.com/special/spaceline/spaceline.org/history/1.html

Roofed battlements structure, post and beam, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

The roofing was not only protection for the fighters beneath, but also could deflect a fire weapon into the courtyard where somebody else could cope.

Medieval post and beam structure: here on battlements.
Large medieval fireplace with overhang, not heat-efficient, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

In fireplaces, even the huge ones, most heat went straight up. It took the later wood-burning stove, or coal burning, with its ducts leading hot air to different floors and rooms, to make large places livable without an active fireplace in each room. See Europe Road Ways, Themes, Wood-Burning Stoves.

Chillon Castle, Chateau de Chillon, Switzerland

2009-11-21T13:43:00.005-05:00

Chillon - A Small Castle

Lake Geneva

Castle Basics

Smaller castles, used for residence and defense, can be known as "chateaux" - or, a single one, a chateau. Use a variety of names when researching a castles - add chateau.

Castles on the water, on peninsulas, or on islands, are particularly lovely. Water all around, or on three sides, is a military advantage to the defender. Some manufactured the defensive advantage of water by creating moats (many of those old moat areas are now gardens, or just depressions left when watercourses changed, or drained.

Chillon is still on its island in Lake Geneva, firmly built out of the rock foundation already there. Was it a peninsula? There is a bridge now.

Now: a tour of some of the main rooms, courtyard, staircases, little doors for going where you don't want people to know you are going.... and the necessaries. Necessarily included.

Castle Chillon, an island now bridged, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Before electricity lighting up the water, it was easy to glide over to climb in. Bars on windows was a common sense defense, and did not signify a prison area inside.

Chillon Castle, View from the Prison at water level,above an unloading dock, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Pilfering: keep the keys on the manager's hip. Or was this a prison cell?

Courtyard and fortified storage area, perhaps prison off and on, Castle Chillon, Switzerland

Round towers came later as a defensive measure, and signify a newer addition. Read an online discussion of the development at ://www.castlesontheweb.com/quest/Forum12/HTML/000483.html/. Apparently, the rectangular form persisted well after the 1200's. Some used the round form as a kind of trademark. And Romans used a rounded front sometimes.

Outer walls, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Escape hatches or hiding places. We saw many floor-level indications of spaces beneath, with only the need for a crowbar in the iron ring to lift it.

Escape hatch or treasure storage? Put a rug on top. Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Shapes of doors indicate function: where it is desirable to keep armed people out, make the door too narrow for armor. Where it is desirable to let someone in after hours, or to leave one's own chamber after hours, make a little door suitable for a quiet in and out. Or, let the person slip away to the pottie and back.

Passageway door, to area between walls; too narrow for armor, just slip in and slip out, Castle Chillon, Switzerland. Boudoir? Council room? We recall boudoir. Check for us.

Our idea of staircases folding into the attic is not a new one. Here are folding castle stairs.

Folding stairs, castle defense, Castle Chillon, Switzerland

Courtyard staircase to battlements, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

A covered staircase was not only for weather, but also to shield from arrows, to a degree. Lattice-work allows a look at whoever is trying to climb up from the other angle.

Tower-top prison room, with manacles, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Prisons were not always below ground. We saw prison confinements at the tops of towers.

Castle toilet. Garderobe. A one-holer, lookig down to lake. The necessary. Chillon Castle, Switzerland. Also useful for invading climbers. Look before you sit.

Life's necessities. Castle toilets. Garderobes. /. See ://www.jamesmdeem.com/castlepage.toilets.htmThe idea of a one-holer or two-holer is not new. In Sicily, see the sizable square room with one-holers all in a row on each side. A family affair, no problem, and a special slot in Sicily at the Roman Villa for the handy stick on which a piece of disposable cloth or wool was attached for cleanliness, then let go, and the water flowed beneath - running water. Our medievals were not so pampered here in the towers.

Chimney pots, baffles for cinders from fireplaces, Chillon Castle, Switzerland>

Letting ash fly into the air from the kitchen fires was dangerous, with wooden shingles on many roofs. Chimney toppers, known as chimney pots, baffle the embers' flight enough for them to cool and die, flameless.

A two-holer, more Necessaries, Chillon Castle, Switzerland (with guard)

Was this bar there originally? Perhaps, because it was possible - and considered a fine invasive maneuver - to grapple your way up the wall and into the castle this way. Here is a Museum of Toilets, at ://www.sulabhinternational.org/pages/museum_toilets.php/ Here is Plumbing Information, including Turkish, Crusader, etc. Go to ://www.theplumber.com/toilets-world.html/. Flatrock.org has more, but this is enough.

A two-holer with arrow slit above for defense when not otherwise in use, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Chillon Castle tourist who thinks sensible castle plumbing is fun

Persuasion techniques. Many castles have their old torture equipment around. And the various Madame Tussaud's wax museums recreate it all. This table, however, was different. Its pieces move and extend and contract and twist about. Un-Cheyney us, please.

Not fun. Torture table. Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Who was it from the US who put in an order a few years ago from the Chillon Grisley Catalogue? In 1348, Jews were accused of poisoning the water supply and causing Plague that broke out in Villeneuve. They, along with accused Christian accomplices, were tortured at Chillon. See ://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/lake_geneva/chillon.history.html/ But the site says they were tortured in the dungeon - the dungeon at Chillon is above water level, so the window is not inconsistent. First cause: lack of understanding; first resort: go torture somebody.

The Prisoner of Chillon (Castle), Switzerland. And Poem, Lord Byron 1788-1824

2009-11-18T21:08:00.003-05:00

Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Here is the castle at Chillon, just northeast of little Villeneuve on the Swiss Riviera, on the road heading for more famous and pricey Montreux.

There is noise here now. The autostrasse passes nearby, so people don't have to tarry with past things any more.Read the poem slowly, aloud, to sense the history. We start here with the dungeon, where the prisoner Bonivard was held all those years, at water level - not underground, but here just at water level, where he feared each storm would flood it all.

With the old print of the google book, you may prefer an easier read, try ://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/lbyron/bl-lbyron-prisoner.htm.

The castle is modest in size. But it has been well maintained. There is the bridge, that may once have been a drawbridge. Get there right at 9AM, before the buses.

Drawbridge, now entry, Castle of Chillon, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Get right to it, and head down.

Stair to the dungeons, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Part of the dungeon area was for storage, with the casks of supplies, including wind, and the narrow arrow slit for defense on the lake side.

Supplies casks, dungeon area, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Chillon is a small chateau, and tourists are free to wander anywhere with unlocked doors. Tours stay together, which is far less fun.

Old log staircases, from rooms in dungeon, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

It has been well-maintained. An impressive feature is the rock bed, that forms the flooring at the lower level. There is no under-water level that we could see. Imagine the boats of provisions anchoring just outside; or invaders trying to slip by.

Chamber after chamber, dungeons, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Stake and chain, dungeons, Prisoner of Chillon, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Supplies would have been brought to this water level, and unloaded for the castle's needs, but that room and its gates to the water were out of reach for the prisoner. See his story below.

Waterlevel view, dungeon, Castle of Chillon, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

There is a noose hanging in one of the rooms, but hardly original For more, see ://www.wisdomportal.com/Inspiration/CastleChillon.html/

A way out The prisoner is released. Castle of Chillon, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Now, read the short sonnet about Chillon, also by Byron, at ://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/knarf/Byron/chillon.html/ See the alternative spelling, Francois de Bonnivard. This site says that the narrative by Byron, supposedly the prisoner speaking, is fictitious. See ://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/lake_geneva/chillon.history.html/ Probably. How would anyone know?

How to see the Castle of Chillon, on Lake Geneva, without first reading Lord Byron's poem about the prisoner.

Read first. Meet a monk-scholar from Geneva named Francois Bonivard, who was chained there from 1532 to 1536 or 1530-1536, depending on the records; and during the Catholic-Protestant Troubles there; and also at a time when he was accused of inciting the Genevese, along the lake, to rebel against the Duke of Savoy, only being released when the Bernese from the north pressed that far south with their newfangled contraption, mobile artillery.
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Bernese mobile artillery, Castle at Chillon, Lake Geneva; military advantage, freeing the Prisoner of Chillon?

Varying accounts, see ://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/lake_geneva/chillon.history.html/ for the The poem is now a google book and free for the taking: go to The Prisoner of Chillon, Lord Byron.
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The Bonivard (sometimes spelled Bonnivard) family was persecuted during this era of Reformation-CounterReformation, and then the 30 years' war between Papists and Reformers who could not stand each other. Of the three Bonnivard brothers sent to Chillon, with other family members already deceased, the prisoner here is the only survivor.

Alternate scenario: He was released when nobody cared anymore what anybody else believed, according to the religious accounts, not the social change accounts. Good choice. Faith-based conflicts get nowhere, then or now. Just leave people be. In the end, I am the guns. I cover all?

Villeneuve - Lake Geneva, Swiss Riviera, Lac Leman, Deep Lake Breath After Alps

2009-11-15T21:11:00.002-05:00

Hairpin turns take their toll in the Alps. Go slow, but keep up, edge around the bends, no passing but the other guy just might be, where you can't see. Then, down, and flat finally, and Lake Geneva. To the French, it is Lac Leman. Half of the lake is Swiss, half French, with the Swiss city, Geneva, at that little pointy bay, a jutty-out place that looks like it should belong to France, dipping down at the eastern end. Lake Geneva is a traditional respite, resort area, long history of boundary changes, castles; and also a center of intellectual and political ferment through the centuries.

Here is Villeneuve. A gateway, quiet town. It was founded in 1215 by Thomas I of Savoy who owned nearby Castle Chillon, some two kilometers away, and lived there seasonally. Villeneuve became a supporting port, and a place for a tollbooth and warehouses. See ://www.chillon.ch/en/index-La%2Bgrande%2Bhistoire-0-0.html/

Mountains behind, finally.
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Villeneuve, Switzerland, Alps backdrop

Villeneuve begins, at this end of the lake, the area known as the Swiss version of the Riviera. Romans stopped the ancient Swiss Helvetian tribes from moving south into France, and contained them in Switzerland until Roman Rule faded in the 400's. This was not an animus - just practical. There was relative peace during the Roman occupations. All the major Swiss cities stem from Helvetian Celt or Roman settlements: Lausanne, Zurich, Geneva, Basel. Only Bern emerged after the Romans. See ://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/switzerland-age-romans.html/

That history of Switzerland site gives a full listing of Roman towns and military outposts, and when they reached their peak size and influence, with the linguistic suffixes that identify them, as opposed to the linguistic clues for the Celts.

Lake Geneva, Villeneuve, Switzerland

With day ending, why go further into the major resort of Montreux where prices will be higher, and the lake the same. Looking toward Montreux, from Villeneuve here, the view from the long dock here is even spoiled by the autobahn stretching above the old Castle of Chillon there toward Montreux, below the arches.

Promenade dock, Villeneuve, Switzerland, Lake Geneva

This was a market town, and the Old Town still has its medieval character. Stop and look for it: go inland a block or two, rather than merely driving through on the main road.

View, Villeneuve to Montreux, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Lakeside park, Villeneuve, Switzerland, with sports sculpture

When choosing a hotel room, aim for the back, without the view, where it is quieter. You will close the drapes anyway.

Swiss Side: Gran San Bernardo Pass, Great Saint Bernard Pass, Alps

2009-11-11T03:24:00.003-05:00

The Gran San Bernardo Pass

Great Saint Bernard Pass

Swiss Side

See Part I, from Italian Side, at Italy Road Ways, Italian Side, Alps, Gran San Bernardo Pass. FN 1

The San Bernardo Pass crosses the Alps from Italy to Switzerlandl and we took that south to north route. We started at Aosta, in Italy, and then went to Montigny, in Switzerland. The Romans called the primary mountain here Mons Jovis; in the Middle Ages, the Pass was Mont-Joux. Use those names to research very early material.

Here:
1. The Pass on the Swiss side; the Monastery at the Summit
2. An accident there - no injuries, and not ours. But no tow truck available, either.
3. The Saint Bernard dogs;
4. Napoleon
5. The Black Madonna image in the monastery; and excerpts from Legends of the Madonna
..................................

1. The Pass

Great Saint Bernard Pass, with bridge over gap, Alps, Italy

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Don't take the tunnel. Cross the big one, the Gran San Bernardo, the Great Saint Bernard Pass.
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Our route: South to north. We went from Italy, at Aosta, in Italy; to Switzerland, at Martigny. Napoleon crossed in the opposite direction - from Martigny, in Switzerland; to Aosta, in Italy. Same road.

Passport checkpoint (Switzerland not in EU), summit, Gran San Bernardo Pass

You need to be prepared show your passport at the summit, because Switzerland is not part of the border-checkpoint-free European Union. The EU.
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Summit lake, Gran San Bernardo Pass, Alps, Italy-Swiss border

Monastery and hostel complex, refuge, Gran San Bernardo Pass, Swiss side

Probably the monastery here was not founded by St. Bernard, because of conflicting date records (the founding if at 950 was 130 years before his death in 1081, or some such), see ://www.vtliving.com/saintbernards/index.shtml/; but no mind. The Pass was named in the 16th Century.

2. The small accident.

Car and motorcycle. Somehow, though, the rear end of the car went over the edge. No injuries. But the passage remaining was so narrow, and there are no tow trucks up there, so in the bustle nobody checked passports or vehicles for a long time. Surrounded by EU countries, why doesn't Switzerland just join up and let us through all the time. Why? Because they make money making us change our money from Euros or Dollars into Swiss Francs. Give a Euro, and they may take it, but they will give change in Swiss Francs and charge the conversion fee.

Car-motorcycle accident (no injuries) at summit, Gran San Bernardo Pass, Swiss side

3. The Saint Bernard dogs.

Rescue dog needed. Rescue dog needed. Here is one: a Saint Bernard, right there. They were bred by monks at the summit, see a history of them at ://www.vtliving.com/saintbernards/index.shtml The monastery could not afford to maintain them on their own any longer, and we understand that a benevolent fine lady bought them all and supports them, including handlers, bringing them to the mountain for all of us to enjoy. Other groups have also stepped up to save the Saint Bernards from breed dissipation, example ://www.saintrescue.org/

Saint Bernard rescue dog, Great Saint Bernard Pass, Italy

That is not the offending motorcycle of accident fame. Now - Look closely, there on the mountainside. There are more of the old breed, the Saint Bernard dogs, out for exercise. Listen. They are being very loud about it.

Saint Bernard rescue dogs, Gran San Bernardo Pass, Italy. Exercising, with handlers.

The Saint Bernard dog. Where is the little keg flask?

Saint Bernard rescue dog, close-up, Gran San Bernardo Pass, Alps, Swiss Side

4. Who else passed this way? Napoleon and 30,000 of his closest friends.

Napoleon and some 30,000 passed this way, graphic photo, St. Bernard Pass, Alps, Switzerland side.

History: who succeeds, who finds the route, who learns the secrets of survival in nearly impossible conditions, and manages to pass them on.This pass has served for millennia.

There is no note of Napoleon on the Italian side. Only the Swiss, because he prevailed in battles against the Italians, probably. Is that so? The Swiss love Napoleon; and feature his army crossing in illustrations and hats by the side of the road. Italy? You would never know that the hatted, hand-inside-vest one, ever passed this way. The Swiss side so happily exploits Napoleon, we expected to see a halo over the hat.

Napoleon, commanding respect, Gran San Bernardo Pass, Alps, Switzerland side

On the Italian side, find no reference to Napoleon. To victors, the spin.

5. The Black Madonna, a copy of an original now at Czestochowa, Poland

The most famous Black Madonna is at the Jasna Gora Monastery, here at the summit of the Gran San Bernardo. Did the original pass this way on its way up to Poland? There are several Black Madonna representations and original at Jasna Gora Monastery at Czestochowa, Poland, and this is one that is seen there. See Poland Road Ways, Czestochowa Black Madonna. Scroll down to the second image.

Black Madonna, copy from Jasna Gora monastery, Czestochowa, Poland. Several variations are there.

What is the history of the Black Madonnas. They appear in many places in Europe and Central and South America. Here is some information, an author's views from the 19th Century, in this free e-book, Legends of the Madonna, 1860 and 1881, at ://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/2/0/4/12047/12047.htm/. The author is a Mrs. Jameson, 1794-1860. We know no more about her, yet.

Here are passages attempting to explain the theme in that 19th Century book:

It is curious that, hand in hand with this development of taste and
feeling in the appreciation of natural sentiment and beauty, and
this tendency to realism, we find the associations of a peculiar and
specific sanctity remaining with the old Byzantine type. This arose
from the fact, always to be borne in mind, that the most ancient
artistic figure of the Madonna was a purely theological symbol;
apparently the moral type was too nearly allied to the human and
the real to satisfy faith. It is the ugly, dark-coloured, ancient
Greek Madonnas, such as this, which had all along the credit of
being miraculous; and "to this day," says Kugler, "the Neapolitan
lemonade-seller will allow no other than a formal Greek Madonna, with
olive-green complexion and veiled head, to be set up in his booth." It
is the same in Russia. Such pictures, in which there is no attempt
at representation, real or ideal, and which merely have a sort of
imaginary sanctity and power, are not so much idols as they are mere
_Fetishes_. The most lovely Madonna by Raphael or Titian would not
have the same effect. Guido, who himself painted lovely Virgins,
went every Saturday to pray before the little black _Madonna della
Guardia_, and, as we are assured, held this old Eastern relic in
devout veneration.

We have not yet found that particular black Madonna della Guardia. Do a find for "black" and this passage appears about 3/4 inch down the scroll bar.

Continue to the next occurrence of "black" and find the author's view further:

Because some of the Greek pictures and carved images had become black
through extreme age, it was argued by certain devout writers, that the
Virgin herself must have been of a very dark complexion; and in favour
of this idea they quoted this text from the Canticles, "I am black,
but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem." But others say that her
complexion had become black only during her sojourn in Egypt. At all
events, though the blackness of these antique images was supposed to
enhance their sanctity, it has never been imitated in the fine arts,
and it is quite contrary to the description of Nicephorus, which is
the most ancient authority, and that which is followed in the Greek
school.

So, this work has its own explanation, and rejection.

The next reference is to an artwork with a black servingwoman behind Mary. Would that be Sara la Kali?

10. We will now turn to a conception altogether different, and equally
a masterpiece; it is the small but exquisitely finished composition
by Rembrandt. (Grosvenor Gal.) The scene is the garden in front of
the house of Zacharias; Elizabeth is descending the steps in haste
to receive and embrace with outstretched arms the Virgin Mary, who
appears to have just alighted from her journey. The aged Zacharias,
supported by a youth, is seen following Elizabeth to welcome their
guest. Behind Mary stands a black female attendant, in the act of
removing a mantle from her shoulders; in the background a servant,
or (as I think) Joseph, holds the ass on which Mary has journeyed; a
peacock with a gem-like train, and a hen with a brood of chickens (the
latter the emblem of maternity), are in the foreground. Though the
representation thus conceived appears like a scene of every-day life,
nothing can be more poetical than the treatment, more intensely true
and noble than the expression of the diminutive figures, more masterly
and finished than the execution, more magical and lustrous than the
effect of the whole. The work of Albertinelli, in its large and solemn
beauty and religious significance, is worthy of being placed over an
altar, on which we might offer up the work of Rembrandt as men offer
incense, gems, and gold.

Continue the "find" and there is Black Balthazar, the Ethopian King as the author identifies him, with his train borne by a white page, to signify equality of the races, she says. So, vet your sources, see if you agree, see what is objective fact, if anything, and what is authorly surmise and wishful thinking. Always interesting, not always reliable, is that so? Couldn't Balthazar, even if black (is that Biblical, be from elsewhere?)

Find a website on Black Madonnas from the University of Dayton at ://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/blackm/blackm03.html

Now: go to the first half of the way over, from Italy, at Italy Road Ways, Italian Side, Alps, Gran San Bernardino.

FN 1
We came from the south, Aosta on the Italian side, toward Martigny on the Swiss side, through the Gran San Bernardo Pass - abbreviated as GSB on the green road signs, on the highways. Note that the Gran San Bernardo is different from the less taxing Bernardino Pass.

For the lesser San Bernardino, see ://www.planetware.com/switzerland/san-bernardino-pass-road-ch-gr-spr.htm/ That lower, and easier, San Bernardino Pass, has had its place in enabling ordinary people to cross over, but has not been pivotal in history, as has the Great Saint Bernard.

The Swiss-Liechtenstein border. Happy Talk. For some.

2009-11-04T18:48:00.001-05:00

Enjoyed your Alpine wonders in Switzerland, the bucolic views, the moos and cowbells at your car window when you stop in mountain farm areas off the tourist track. Enjoyed your myths of William Tell, and wallowing in Heidi. Now, to the real world in Liechtenstein, where the Zurich gnomes send their customers when the trail gets hot from other countries' IRS equivalents. Now we hear that Liechtenstein also is naming names, nonetheless, have some fun, according to your standards.

Coming soon to a post near you: closeups and a family joke with Dan leaping out of the car, still in Switzerland here, heading to the little red house ....

As long as you are enjoying yourself, and about to make some money across the border, who cares. Is that it? Is that so? Does it last? Does anyone care?

Maienfeld - Heidi, Grandather and Goats. Johanna Spyri's Book.

2009-10-20T02:16:00.001-04:00

Then, finally, from Altdorf, over the Klausen Pass, and then some, find Maienfeld. The place and people that inspired the Heidi story, by Johanna Spyri. (1807-1901). We were told that there was a real child whose life broadly was the pattern for Heidi. And she lived here. In this house, at this little farm, at this little hamlet. If that were so, we would have found some corroboration? So far, none.

There is a road just outside, and some outbuildings. Arrive by car across the pasture, park rather far away, walk a narrow path all the way across, with the views, wildflowers, smells, sounds, and you are there. Feeling very Heidi-ish.

Goats everywhere. This one will follow if you go Mnahhh mnnnnaahhh.

Maienfeld, Heidi House, Switzerland

Goats everywhere, Heidi House, Maienfeld, Switzerland

Also chickens. And some ducks.

Grandfather's and Heidi's House, Maienfeld, Switzerland (same goat - still following)

Grandfather's little house up the slope, is a good way up a mountainside, but not hard to walk, we heard. We were in the car. Walks are nice, but then walks require the walk back, and there goes the whole afternoon.

But road signs for cars are not helpful.

Most people seem to come by train, and take a taxi or a long walk up the mountain to the Heidi House, as it is called. By car, simply give up on the map, go to the railway station, and pretend you are walking. Follow those signs.

Museum,Grandfather's house, kitchen, Maienfeld, Switzerland

Shed, and 1930's caretakers' cottage beyond, Heidi House, Maienfeld, Switzerland

There is a sizable residence built in the 1930's and we understand it is for the caretakers - tending the animals, overseeing the museum and shop, and all that go with being famous. Just turn your head away and pretend it is not there.

The Necessary, Heidi's Grandfather's House, Maienfeld, Switzerland

Fave Goat. Heidi House, Maienfeld, Switzerland.

Mnaaaahhhh. Mmmmmnnnnaaaaah.

Johanna Spyri, the author of Heidi, remains largely a mystery. She died a widow, but ordered that all her correspondence be destroyed at her death. See http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive.html?siteSect=883&sid=742902&ty=st/. She had children, they died, as did her husband, and none of her other works attained the popularity of Heidi. She is buried in Zurich. See ://www.online-literature.com/spyri/

Maypole - Klausen Pass - Altdorf (William Tell) to Maienfeld (Heidi). MAYPOLE.

2009-10-19T18:18:00.049-04:00

Maypole, Klausen Pass, Switzerland

The route: Starting from Altdorf, aiming for Maienfeld. From William Tell on the lake (who wasn't) to Heidi in the Alps, whose story at least some say was inspired by the life of a real person.

And on the way toward the Klausen Pass was this Maypole.

This is the only one we saw in Switzerland. There had been many in Germany. See Germany Road Ways, Maypoles.

The series of passes from Altdorf to Maienfeld do take time - see the views at Passes: Brunigen, Susten, Sarnen, Klausen. Next time we would not rely on seeing Switzerland west to east, but north-south, like a cardiogram. We had to hurry at the end of the trip, using the autobahn, but would not have missed these views.

Important: Gas up.

Drive back down if you have to to find a station if you forget. There are automated gas stations occasionally, no attendant, just the pump and slots for money in the more remote areas. Until those are familiar, don't try them. Stop only if someone else is there to help the first time, just in case.

Kilometers vs. Miles Per Hour. Speed conversions.

2009-10-19T16:44:00.003-04:00

Speed conversions. Rules of the Road.

Take traffic rules seriously, and expect them to be enforced. See ://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/23345/foreign-traffic-lawsamerican-scofflaws.html/ Computers now make pursuit by mail likely, so they say.

There will always be something unknown, like Austria's law that cars must contain a reflector vest in case of accident, as the Rick Steves site says, but that will be no excuse.

Altdorf, Switzerland, speed trap (a mannequin trooper there, folks)

To avoid trouble, memorize for each country the speed limits applicable to every type of situation. There is radar there, just as here. Get accustomed to the mental changeover from 58 kmh to 38 mph or so.

Use the easy converters before you leave, as at ://www.calculateme.com/Speed/KilometersperHour/ToMilesperHour.htm/

You will find that the speeds are not so different from ours, even on the autobahns - although those seem to get ignored more. For example, 100 kmh on an autobahn is just 62 mph. Those whizzing by at what looks like 140 in kmh are getting more up there - 87.

Do not expect speeds to be posted. Do not expect the pay-kiosks to be easily visible, or even on that particular block side. Prepare to walk to look for it. Trust no apparent-freebie spot.

Altdorf and Burglen: William Tell Country

2009-10-13T19:34:00.003-04:00

William Tell: Apple on the Son's Head.

An Oppressor.

Fabulous Shot Splitting the Apple, Not the Son's Head.

Fiction or Fact?

William Tell & Son, sculptures, William Tell Museum, Burglen, Switzerland.

William Tell! Who dares question the story. His own town does. So: Get there. Up and back the switchbacks, higher, higher, pass the last snowfield, and melt-lake in the Alps.

Alpine snowfield, glacier, Switzerland

Pass another lovely chalet.

Chalet, Switzerland

See another beautiful Alpine village.

Alpine village, Switzerland

And arrive at ... Altdorf. Think the William Tell Overture. Now - quick. Open your window so you can turn up the volume, and go toYoutube at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TOW_4TXJ2Q/ Got it? Turn up the volume even more. This is Rossini, folks. It's only 3 minutes. You can listen and watch that long. Riccardo Muti conducting.

And this is ... Altdorf!

Altdorf, Switzerland. William Tell and Son, statue, center square

Just up the road is Burglen, the smaller village that claims William Tell as its own.

Burglen, William Tell on church clock tower

Stay at the William Tell Hotel, but take your earplugs. This is the bell-tower and the view of it from our window. It gongs every quarter hour.

Burglen, Church Bell Tower at night, Switzerland. Bong.

See a live videotaping of the sport of flagging. These swirled about for a length of time. There is William Tell on the pedestal. Was this a holiday?

Burglen, Switzerland, flaggers flagging

Next to the church is a graveyard where people's occupations are carved instead of dull stone headstones.

Church graveyard, carved markers, Burglen, Switzerland

Wake up to the view.

Alpine view, Burglen, William Tell Hotel

The view changes every few minutes.

Burglen Alps view, from William Tell Hotel

Here, we are told, is the mother of little Boy Tell, and wife of William.

Sculpture, Mrs. William Tell, and son, pre-apple anxiety

And the museum that houses the documents (or copies? they looked original, but hard to tell) that have anything to do with William Tell and the story.

William Tell Museum, Burglen, Switzerland, old print

Reread the story, FN 1. The problem is, there is no documentation for it. There is nothing in any contemporary record of his birth, life, events, the arrow, the apple. There is no real William Tell.

What? No William Tell?? Burglen, Switzerland acknowledges.

It was only a century later that, given events at that later time, it became important to show roots of Swiss independence, of cantons banding together to oppose oppression (here by the Habsburgs of Austria who had moved south). William Tell evolved in the public consciousness as embodying all the virtues they needed, and wanted to believe had been really in one person.

Graveyard, Burglen, Switzerland. Individualized. Add some legends here ....

Back to the lovely graveyard. Sometimes people die, but the stories that people need to believe, live on or get created if they were not there to begin with.

William, you never were; but tell that to the angels. See http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/30/world/lausanne-journal-the-swiss-debunk-william-tell-and-all-that.html/. We want our overture. Read the story at ://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=baldwin&book=fifty&story=tell/ How can you not believe? Don't tell me about debunk. No way.

This is like Robin Hood. Go to Nottingham. There they do have record books, but with dozens, if not a hundred, Robin Hoods (the John Doe name of the time) for any unknown miscreant, whose exploits were eventually attributed to one RobinhoodRobinhoodRidingthroughtheglen ....

Back to Rossini.
Ba-da-bump, Ba-da-bump, Ba-da BUMP BUMP BUMP
__________________
FN 1. The William Tell Story, retold

Who was he? We all think we know.

We think apples on heads, oppression by invaders, a strong father who would not bow to the foreign ruler's hat up there on the pole. The penalty: shoot the apple off your son's head, with a crossbow. A distraught mother. The child at the tree, the bowshot, yes! the apple splits and the child lives!

It gets better. The Bailiff sees a second arrow in Tell's quiver. What is this second arrow, asks Gessler, the Bailiff of Uri, the foreign oppressor for the Habsburgs, Austrian variety.

It was for you if I had missed, hisses Tell.

Arrest him! They do.

They put him, tied, in a boat to go across the lake. Storm. Only William can save them. Untie him so he can help! They do, he does, and escapes, only to return another time and kill the evil Bailiff Gessler. Or mayor. Whatever. See ://www.1911encyclopedia.org/William_Tell/

Yes, say the Swiss, recalling. Independence, no bowing to foreign rule. We are Swiss. The cantons were stirred to band together with the story and the rest is history - the Swiss federation, the Confederation Helvetia (Helvetii, the original tribes), CH on the license plates, Switzerland.

Bern to Altdorf: Interior, Rural Cross-Country, Dicey Traverse W-E, Interior Ski Areas

2009-10-10T21:53:00.002-04:00

You can't get some places from where you are, easily.

A road may look fine at the outset, with a level area, but it will change to switchbacks and Alpine passes if you are going non-Autobahn.

Cross-country, Alpine road, lower pass

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If time matters, don't try going cross-country, no matter how inviting the first level area looks. Use the Autobahns and prepare to be bored. For speed plus dull, see FN 1

Our preference: If you want to see the country, set off cross-country. The problem is that Alps seem to go north to south, and if you are trying to go west to east, you will need time, patience, and care. But it is worth it.

Be prepared. Roads stop. They just stop. No more. Nada. Little yellow signs show where hikers may head, and how long it will take to get there (1 1/2 hours to this village or that); and there are separate biking signs for the wheeled. Cars? Turn back.

Alpine road, Switzerland; interior ski-hike community. Road stops.

Meanwhile, remember that you are very high up here, and weather will change fast. We had a rain-sun, cloud-clear day, and the odd part was looking up and seeing gray, then looking back as clouds scudded by and there is a huge mountain on top of you. Love it.

Dead end, Swiss Alpine road, ski-hike-bike area, interior rural. Go back.

Just beyond the sudden dead end was the area we had wanted to follow. The map did show the line stopping. We couldn't believe it. Believe it. If the map shows roads stopping, that is so.

Switzerland Alpine area. No road through.

So, there we were, trying to go from Bern, trying to get around Lucerne to get, from the southern end of the lake, up to Altdorf and Burglen and William Tell country. And we were stuck. There are intermittent level-ish areas, with farms and cowbells, but finding your way around and through takes time. Time well spent. Stop the car, open the window, hear the cowbells. Breathe. Aah. Inhale. Oops.

Alpine farm, Switzerland, cows. Not all are chalets.

Then another interior recreation settlement area - small houses, nothing like the big resorts with the flowery chalets and pubs. There are even modest apartments up here, very sensible, within reach - and all the signs for the hiking and biking. Everyman's Switzerland.
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Swiss ski area, interior, Everyman's Switzerland, modest homes, apartments

Down to one lane here.
Alpine ski-hike modest apartments area, Switzerland

Then, back on a more mainstream road, there will be a road house somewhere. These probably do not have gas, so watch the gauge and aim for a town fast.

Alpine road house, but no gas, Switzerland

Back up the switchbacks, another pass, up high enough and the rescue huts or perhaps these are for longer-term residents, we could not tell.

Then up again, seeing beyond the forage and trees.
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Alps, Mountain View, from interior ski area

One lane paved road - that becomes a one land dirt road soon after. Go back. No lay-bys. Generally, on one lane roads, there will be periodic broader areas so cars can pass. The one closest to the lay-by is supposed to back back into it, and stop while the other goes by. On switchbacks and other tight turns, usually there is a little broader area right at the turn. Strategy: sneak, peak, little beep, and go.

Interior hike and ski settlement, Switzerland: one lane, no turnaround. Back up. Now.

Now: GPS for getting out of places. Our GPS, that we took for the first time, did not work because the rental car connection in the lighter had been worn out by the boor before us, who apparently did not report it to Hertz, or Hertz just doesn't check those things. A GPS would help, but then again, when it did work, it just chose the boring roads. We would take a GPS again, though, because Swiss signs often are for the next nearest town, or pass, much of the time. We would want to plug in our ultimate destination instead.

So, study your map and decide if you want to go over and through the passes, because those roads will be narrow and slow for novice Alp drivers: two lanes where you are lucky, but 1 1/2 lanes much of the time, and the switchbacks go on and on. Up to summits way beyond treelines, to sheer rockface.

...................................................................................

FN 1 For speed, take the Autobahn from major city to major city, if you must; and you will have level, multi-lane megalithic roadways with people whizzing past at far more than 100km per hour - more like 140 km per hour, we estimated. On six lane roads: speeds say slow lane, converted to mph, might be 30-40 mph. Middle lane might be 60 mph. Fast lane might be 85-90. Does that sound right? We saw no Autobahn accidents, even where people were going over 140 km and that might be 110 mph. Roads built for speed, people self-select how fast to go. See someone on your tail, move over. We avoided all Autobahns, or Autostrasses, unless we also needed to make time, as at the end of the trip, not at the beginning.

Bern - Alpine Horns; and Cathedral Drama: the Munster Imp.

2009-10-09T02:13:00.002-04:00

1. Alpine horns at Bern's Clock Tower, Gate. Really big. Great sound. Slow. Measured. Toss a shiny franc in the young man's hat.

Alpine Horns, Clock tower and gate, Bern, Switzerland

Note the frescoes on buildings.

And what do you call, in architecture, those corner catch-all-viewing places, the sitting areas at the building second floor area? In Philadelphia, find the Philadelphia Busybody, an arrangement of mirrors that someone could affix to the outside of a second story window did the same thing. See up, down, around, without disturbing the curtain. Similar purpose.

The old clock, figures go round each hour. See ://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/bern/zytglogge.html/

Close-up, Alpine Horn group, Bern, Switzerland; frescoes
/
The Alpine Horn group has a website, but until I find this particular one, here is another, with more horns, and an older group: ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6qy8RVo4v4&feature=PlayList&p=173EBB938420F48F&playnext=1&index=9; or at :// www.travelistic.com/video/show/2934/Alpine-Horn-Performance-at-Lucerne-Restaurant/

2. Now, on to the Cathedral. Blame Rick Steves for this one. He alerted us to the front, the facade, the archway with lovely painted figures sculpted inside the framing, with the usual heaven and earth lessons... but

Bern Cathedral, Munster, Facade, Painted Figures

Closeup, Facade, Bern Cathedral, The Compulsory Abbreviation

There is the group going to hell, up there on the right. Get closer. Squint. No! Yes! An imp up there with nippers is about to make the gentleman next in line less of a one. Honest. That is what is going on.
See http://www.stonemfg.net/stone.htm/
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From a distance, can't tell a thing. And, we listened in when we could, and guides didn't point it out either. Look at the fun that groups miss.

Even the angels look sad.

Munster means Church or Cathedral, we understand, thus Bernmunster. Or the Munster of Bern. This site notes the scene, but calls it "harassing" - see ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/bern-cathedral.htm/ Can't we call a spade a spade?

NYT Archives: The Times' articles on travel are worth looking up, even after years, because they are so clear. No clutter. Go to "What's Doing in Bern" from Sunday, March 9, 1980, and find bits. Bern means bear and is named that at its founding in 1191 by Berthold V of Behringen, Germany area. The name reflects the first animal seen on a hunt. It became a free city in 1218, and joined the Swiss Confederation (CH now, for Confederation of Helveticans) in1353. Then came a terrible fire in 1405, buring the wooden buildings; the rebuilt ones are of local sandstone. Big time administration: 50 territories, then reduced by Napoleon's administrators. Next time we will see the Paul Klee collection.

The Moor Motif in Switzerland - Origins. The Blackamoor. And Saint Maurice.

2009-10-07T12:10:00.014-04:00

Black and white. Not unusual in itself as a motif for coats of arms, but we are interested in the extension of it to the Moor motif we saw in several places in Switzerland. Our conclusion so far is that the Blackamoors in Switzerland related to St. Maurice, a man of dark skin, but not possibly a Moor because he lived in the 3rd Century, and Mohammed did not arrive until the 600's. There were no "Moors" in Maurice's time. Nonetheless, Maurice morphed into a Moor, possibly as the slave trade demanded that blacks be shown in servitudinous garb. He had been in a higher role, serving as patron to various trades, but without the Moor garb. Follow as we try to figure things out.

Summary of issue: St. Maurice lived in the 3d Century, leading a Theban Legion (Thebes, Egypt, Africa, black?) under a Roman Commander. The Commander ordered an attack against an enemy, we understand, that had Christians in it. Maurice (Moritz, Morris) was Christian, as was the Legion of some 6000+ soldiers, apparently from Thebes, and all black or Egyptian dark perhaps?

Maurice refused to kill Christians, the Commander insisted, and perhaps began to decimate the Legion (kill one of ten), and ended up killing them all for refusal to fight against Christians. Is that really martydrom, or just disobedience of military orders, discipline, also in there.

The point is that none of these Legions or Maurice himself were Moors - Mohammed was not born until the 7th century. How could Maurice be a Moor when Muslims did not evolve until three hundred years later?

History. A mess. Illogical, but beliefs persist. So we have Maurice now portrayed as a Moor, perhaps a result of the post-medieval slave trade, where blacks were to be in their place. Is that so?
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St. Maurice (St. Moritz) (St. Mauritius) (St. Morris) in stylized form, Bern. The Blackamoor; Patron to Weavers and others. Is that so? How so a Moor, when Maurice lived 300 years before Mohammed.

And retain your own option to choose what to believe. As a Third Century soldier-saint, for example, Maurice as a Black Moor would not have worn this outfit, but the Blackamoor is dubbed with it, perhaps influenced by the Renaissance-Reformation era form of slave trade and monarchies obsessing about roles and threats. Symbolism and cultural fancy win over fact every time, even in theology.
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So, see black and white 1) as a pattern, and also, 2) in human form, as The Blackamoor. Find Saint Maurice; and other roots leading possibly to a) Prester John (of legend, but also some fact rootings); b) Roman Catholics vs. Reformists; and c) back to the Bern cloth guild's use of the Blackamoor as a patron saint of a weaver or clothmaker guild. Then go back further to d) Sardinia and Corsica. See their coats of arms; with a Black figure head, and different traditions from the Blackamoor. The roots here are spread.

Wikipedia, that overall orienting source, lists the origins of St. Maurice as the Black Moor, see ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Maurice/ Apparently there is a carving at the Cathedral at Magdeburg, Germany, from 1240 showing St. Maurice as a Moor. See also Maurice as Egyptian.
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Black and white, coat of arms, motif, Switzerland

A. So far, we have found these depictions of Moors in Switzerland:

A.1. Bern.

In Bern, there is a statue of a Moor, installed as other statues in the street, at the second story level of the buildings. The Moor represented the cloth guild. See Statue, Moor, Bern. Bern is in the German-speaking area of Switzerland.

Bern, Moor, statue, cloth guild

See St. Maurice (St. Moritz) discussion below - is this really St. Maurice. Note the spear in the Moor's right hand the Holy Lance of Vienna, one of the relics said to have pierced Christ's side? See that at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Maurice/. With Wiki, reliability depends on the contributor, but what else is that spear?

Demotion to a cloth merchant?? Not necessarily. As a patron saint of many things, including soldiers, armies, swordsmiths, dyers, and so weavers are just one of many, including against menstrual cramps, says Wikipedia at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Maurice/ A man of many trades.

Or is it the Spear of Destiny that St. Maurice carried into battle. See same Wikipedia site.

A.2. Avenches.

We also saw a Black figure, a face and head, in Avenches, a Roman-origin town in the French-speaking area.

Look to the right. There is a banner, and there were many of those banners around, showing a different figure from the cloth guild, but Black, and it even looks like a slave. Or is it? There is a headband. We asked a waitress about it, and she had no idea.
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Avenches, Moor, motif, associated with banner: liberte et patrie, Switzerland
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Avenches, close-up, Blackamoor motif, Switzerland

This looks like the Sardinian-Corsican form, see below. If the pattern goes through the cloth, then from the other side, the face would (obviously) be reversed, and look like the Corsican one.
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A.3. At Chillon Castle, Montreux:

There is what appears to be a Moorish motif on the ceiling, religious figures perhaps, on a coat of arms, camera slipped.
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Moor, motif, closeup near ceiling, Montreux, Chillon Castle. Switzerland

Moor, motif, in context, Montreux, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

B. We looked up The Blackamoor in Heraldry.

B.1 Familiar to us already is the "Blackamoor" idea, as in Othello.
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The Moor in Renaissance literature is highly intelligent, a full participant in the society. Look up this source: Many coats of arms showed a Blackamoor motif in the 13th-15th Centuries in Europe. See Frontline, Sigillum Secretum (Secret Seal) on the Image of the Blackamoor in European Heraldry, at://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/ssecretum.html/. The author is Mario de Valdes y Cocom. This is a site with all the positives of the traditions of the Blackamoor.
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B.2 Blackamoor in Avenches.

Look back at the Avenches banner with the Black man's head, and the white angled headband. It resembles the Corsican-Sardinian Moor, not the Shakespearean Othello or other Blackamoor. Should we distinguish from Moor and Blackamoor?
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B.3 Blackamoor in Sardinia. says the site. That same head, in reverse, appears on a coat of arms from the island of Sardinia, and in four separate quadrants, with a cross separating them. Here is Sardinia's symbolism with the four Blackamoors.

This fair use from ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Sardinia

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There are traditional explanations, serving the interests of the white Christians, and then there are ones emerging historically. Read some at the Wikipedia site. Then keep going. For example, a traditional white explanation is that the four heads represent four emirs, muslim leaders, defeated by a king of Aragon, Spain, in the 11th Century. From this idea grew another: that the figureheads represent evil, the things to be overcome. Beginnings of racism, perhaps.

Blackamoor in Corsica: See this one - from the mid 18th Century, see ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Corsica/

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B.4 The Blackamoor himself: Was it St. Maurice. St. Moritz.

Is St. Maurice Roman Catholic, or Coptic? Does it matter?? His story was laid out by one St. Eucher. He was Bishop of Lyons, France, in 494 AD. See site ://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/maurice.html
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The historical research, however, suggests that the head is not a negative precursor of racism, but represents a saint, a Christian saint, Saint Maurice. Maurice was the patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th Century, a "soldier saint." Apparently he chose martyrdom, retaining his faithfulness to Christ, and refusing to kill Christians as Emperor Maximian demanded. He died along with a (isn't this a highly symbolic, magic number? *) number, 6666, of his fellows, Christians from Upper Egypt, see ://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/maurice.html - his "Theban Legion". PBS says they were Ethopian. Thebes is Egypt or Ethopia? Where were boundaries then? Either way, the race symbolized Christ's universality. St. Maurice, the soldier, the armed warrior.

The massacre of them all occurred at St. Maurice, Switzerland, then known as Aquanum. If that is St. Moritz,Maurice in the German name way rather than the French tilt, then it is the ski resort.

Read at the Coptic site the names and circumstances, including these: There is an altar at St. Peters' for St. Maurice, many churches bear his name (he was new to us) and St. Maurice's lance (see a lance in the Blackamoor's hand, Bern) was bargained in exchange for a Swiss canton. Also read about his sword. There are not separate iconography in the Coptic Church, except in Canada. Maurice is venerated in the Roman Catholic. For 500 years, a service with chant called Tasbeha has been performed at St. Maurice in Switzerland for 24/7, without stop.

Yes. Without stop, 24/7 for 500 years, says ://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/maurice.html/ site. So, Maurice and Switzerland. Clear connects.

Maurice later symbolized the authority of the old Roman church against the reformers.
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C. Then we looked up other uses or symbolisms related to Black and White

Black and White and Reformation / Counter-Reformation.
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The symbolism of black and white developed in important ways for the Germans, and for the Pope. Reformation vs. Counter-Reformation. The concept of the black and the white came to represent the old order versus the reformers. Luther, Calvin et al.

Reformers - Farel, Calvin, Beza, Knox: Geneva, Switzerland

So, look back at the symbolism on the coat of arms here, at the top, with half the lion rampant in white, and half in black. Reformation, Counter-Reformation. Is that so? All this about black and white representing those two forces is from the PBS Frontline site above.

D. Other uses of the Blackamoor in Contemporary Heraldry

D.1. Pope Benedict XVI has the Blackamoor, Crowned, on his coat of arms:

This includes the Blackamoor, but a crowned one (allusion to the perhaps not so mythical Prester John? Or to Saint Maurice?). This depiction was first on the coat of arms of Otto of Friesing. See ://www.erzbistum-muenchen-und-freising.de/EMF207/EMF020624.asp/, This is a site of the Archdiocese of Munich.

Here is a fair use copy of the Pope's coat of arms, with the Blackamoor, crowned. It also has on it the (Bern?) Bear, it looks like; bearing (pun) the burden of office; and the traditional Pilgrim's Scallop shell. It is called "The Friesing Moor" at the site. The "Head of the Ethiopian" is also used on other coats of arms.

D.2. Friesing.

The Head of the Ethiopian is also on the coat of arms of the German district of Friesing, fair use of it here, see ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freising_%28district%29 /
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That site, only as reliable as the people putting stuff in, says the head could be saints traditionally known as Moors: St. Mauritius (Maurice?), St. Sigismund of Burgundy (no connection that we can see, except he was involved with starting the abbey at Aguanum, see ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Maurice), or St. Zeno of Verona, who may have been from North Africa, Mauritania; even St. Corbinian who is associated at the Pope Benedict site with the bear, but the Wikipedia site says the only reason they bring Corbinian up in the context of the Moor idea is that Corbinian's face could have darkened over time. Lame.

Maurice: add spellings Moritz, and Morris, and Mauritius. See://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Maurice/ Wikipedia's contributors so far call the Theban Legion "legendary." From legend, or so find that their stuff is worthy of legend? Wiki?
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E. Ideas.

Now, if the black symbolized the old Roman church and its teachings; and the white symbolized the reformers, no wonder the reformers were offended at the prominence given St. Maurice, as the PBS site says. Is that why, in Bern, then, in Protestant Bern, the figure appears as a mere cloth guild "union member" symbol. Religion idea expunged. That would be so if the representation did not mean "patron saint of". Is that is?

So, the practicalities of the marketplace take over 1) if the use of the Saint not as just a Corsican style head as seen in Avenches is rejected; and on purpose, to demean him perhaps, he is shown in Bern as 2) the nearly naked Blackamoor kind. Protestant Bern and commerce, with a religious dig. Avenches, in the Catholic French-speaking area, retained it as St. Maurice.

St. Maurice, the Town: Switzerland's connection. St. Maurice of Theba/. See Coptic Church site, at ://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/maurice.html/ So - Maurice was Coptic. That is its own research into earliest Christianity. No time here.

If it is the same as St. Moritz, the resort, we intentionally passed it by. Enough of resorts, but we'll go next time to see the Abbey.
Either way, all considered, Switzerland clearly has close ties with St. Maurice. Look again at the town named for him, the contemporary use of the banner.

St. Moritz-St.Maurice is just past Martigny where the Grand San Bernardino Pass leaves us off, after coming from Italy and Aosta. Famous pass. Historic road. See it at http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&sa=N&tab=li&q=st.+maurice+switzerland/. It is right there, on the road to Montreux. At the southern end, it goes to Rome. We must have passed it because we went across that pass (so did Napoleon) coming from Italy back to Switzerland. That site says 6600 of his soldiers died with him. Not the fateful 6666. Read the Golden Legend about him at ://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden277.htm

F. PRESTER JOHN.

Fancy flying. There could be another connection. Prester John was ruler of Ethiopia (legend, or with which facts, as these do not appear to have been checked out much - go back to the East, not just to Ethiopia, as some sites are doing now), and was both priest and king. ruling wisely and in a land that prospered under him. He came to symbolize, as a Black figure with crown, the ideal state. See ://www.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/prester_john.html/
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Is he legend, partial legend, real, what is what. How impossible is it and was it for White Europe to imagine a Black revered head of state. We are supposed to look up the coat of arms of the see of Friesing to see the motif of the Black crowned king. It is later on the same site.

St. Maurice and his Legion became associated with Prester John, the ideal, and - here we go, white Christians, the only ones who could claim a bloodline with Jesus because they descended from Solomon. This gets beyond my ken, so go to the site and read. Only Prester John had the right to carry the cross, the crucifix. Look at the earring on the Blackamoor - a symbol of that privilege. Blackness as an allusion to God. To Wisdom.

This gets beyond a mere tourist in Switzerland noting themes. FN 1

And all rounds back to the Sardinian heraldry. And now, we see, Corsican as well. FN 2.

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FN 1 For your own research:

The PBS site continues with many possible connections, tracing the tradition of the earring, with the legitimacy of the line from Solomon, and the Black Madonna, noting the earliest stories of the Grail being in Ethopia (story still strong), the Black Wise Man of the Epiphany, Balthazar (later treated as a King), and ultimately the symbolism of sun, moon and six-pointed stars on mythical heraldry developed for the Wise Men. And the black St. Dismas, thief on the cross who recognized Jesus. These are Christian allusions, Biblical, but they stem not from a religious bent here, but on research about who the Blackamoor in Switzerland represents through these many centuries. Also find the Black double-headed Eagle of Justice,

Jumping ahead, is that connection between the traditions of St. Maurice, and Balthazar, and Prester John and all, an explanation why there is the six-pointed star, the hexagram, "Solomon's Seal", "Star of David", on the roof tiles as a pattern on the church in the medieval city of Murten, also in Switzerland? Experts, on your marks.

Church tiled roof, hexagram, Solomon's Seal, Star of David, Murten, Switzerland

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FN 2. More on the symbolism. There are also negative allusions to Blackamoors, but these appear to be uses of the term as a reaction, to denigrate, intentionally, regardless of historical roots. See literature at a cursory site, ://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blackamoor/

A Blackamoor also appears in Scots heraldry, with varying explanations, one being the killing of a black man (like the Sardinian coat of arms once said to represent the conquest of the four emirs); and a reference to Sardinia's originally showing blindfolded figures (at PBS that meant a symbol of justice, not captivity), and later the blindfold is moved up to become a headband, see ://wapedia.mo/en/Blackamoors_%28decorative_arts%29?t=2/.

The Maur, or Maure: This is a term for the single head. See ://wapedia.mobi/en/Maure/. Does that not sound like Maurice, as in St. Maurice in the PBS account? But why the Greek and Phoenician origins suggested, without supporting information.

Corsican coat of arms shows the Maure. "U Moru". But it was a female, blindfolded. Much more there. Clearly, the Moor is not anywhere by accident, but has meanings that by now blend and evade.

Now, after all the fair use thumbnails, meet the man in the public domain: at ://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hochstift_Freising_coat_of_arms.png

See of Friesing, Crowned Moor, Coat of Arms

Bern - Fountains, Statues, and Street Scenes, Einstein House.

2009-10-06T16:09:00.007-04:00

Old cities.

Here: Three sides of People in Bern, past and present. Bern - Berna - Barn - Berne. People and History, On the Street, Thinking up Relativity.
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1. Bern's layout, statues and fountains and history
2. Bern's (and other places in Switzerland) street hazards. And a Bern shopjoker.
3. Einstein's house - Relativity here
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1. Bern's layouts, statues and fountains.

Some Old Cities have unique layouts. Here is Bern. Instead of one large, main Old Town square, Bern sports a centrally located clock tower, and broad streets radiating off, lined with arcaded shops, and below-street shops. Find water delivery service by means of fountains up and down in the middle of the street. Each subject statue has its own meaning.

Zahringer, or Bear Statue (fountain), Bern, Switzerland

The bear represents the founder of Bern, one Berchtold von Zahringer. The Zytglogge, or Clock Tower, is in the background. Try to learn the real language names. This one can be remembered because you can zit while you 'av your glog.

Close-up, Bear Fountain, Bern, Switzerland

See the bear in full armor, a little bearlet at his feet. Good close-ups of the fountains are at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_of_Bern/.

Vennerbrunnen, or Banneret Fountain, Knight, with City's Bear Flag

Bern's fountains are practical. Each major street off the Clock Tower, has several, well-spaced down the broad road. Do your medieval washing, water the dogs and horses, slop the gunk away. We understand the water is safe for drinking still.

Shopping. Arcades - medieval in origin, to keep the shoppers dry. Still there. A Bern architectural marketing tool. Come out and socialize. See who's eligible. Discuss who's philandering, if that was an issue or interest. See ://bern-1914.org/thomas_cook/nyc_text.html/ The old Cook's Tour books, this one from 1914, are a solid source of historical connections modern guides consider boring. Not for us.

Look up on the Kramgasse, to the facades of buildings, not the fountains this time; and see larger than life figures on pedestals - many representing the town's old craft guilds. The Moor, here, stands for the clothworkers. These are very high up.

Moor, representing Clothworker Guild, Bern, Switzerland
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They are also detailed. Six-pack abs here. Why the Moor as the symbol? We are checking. There is a recurrent motif of Moors, one on banners at Avenches, others on walls at Chillon Castle, Montreux, for example. Are they all cloth guild symbols?

Closeup, Moor, Cloth Guild, Fountain, Bern, Switzerland

There is an ape, for the stonemasons and bricklayers;

Close-up, Ape Statue, Stonemasons and Bricklayer Guilds, Bern, Switzerland

Clearly a macho occupation.

This must be a tanner, or leather worker? What are those tools?

Closeup, Tanner or even a blacksmith? Bern statue, Switzerland

And Samson.

Closeup, Samson statue, Bern, Switzerland

We did not photograph all of them. There is a fearsome fellow with the axe is for the carpenters. See ://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/bern/easternoldtown.html/

Don't forget the blindfolded Lady Justice is showing a bit of leg here (old persuasion?);

Bern statue, blindfolded Lady Justice, showing a bit of leg

She has what looks like a shield over her backside.

Bern statue, Lady Justice, and CYA

Lady Justice in Bern, CHA.

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2. Street hazards.

Hazard alert. A tortish place, so change your mindset. You are not being looked after. You trip, you fall, ha. You lose.

Watch out for precipitous as well as subtle drop-offs.

Here, an effective rain gutter runs below street level down the middle. Fall right in. The main streets here are not for autos, except for deliveries, or the main intersections, so the exposed drain probably doesn't trap many car wheels, despite the lack of neon cones anywhere. People are expected to watch out for normal or remotely visible hazards on their own. There are shifts in levels on sidewalks and unmarked sudden drops from walkway to street, no yellow highlighting, to make a tort lawyer cheer. Seriously. Watch your step. Ridges, height changes, no markings in particular. No big neon cones. Tort alert.
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Below-level drainage, gutter, mid-street, Bern, Switzerland

Watch out for yourself for other reasons. What is this wet patch in the middle of the street?

Mystery street soak, Bern, Switzerland

Unsuspecting ladies shop by.

Passersby get the squirt, Bern, Switzerland

Then splash-splat comes the water jet from on high, nearly right on their heads, if the secret shop-hidden jetter is lucky. It is only a hidden shopkeeper, out to get a a little attention here. Go ahead. Look up.

Creative shower marketing, Bern, Switzerland

What the? Then a laugh. We take life so seriously here. Don't dare get a walker wet! Not there. Enjoy.

Or look down. The Arcades house shops at street level, and below.

Shops below the Arcades, Bern, Switzerland

Is this one where the shower originated?

4. Albert Einstein, Kramgasse No. 49 (a main street, clock tower at one end)

He lived in a house down from the Clock Tower, a modest home, and there he developed the Theory of Relativity. He and his wife rented an apartment, the second floor, from 1903-1905. That is a short time, but Relativity happened here. It may be that there are chinks in the armor of the Theory of Relativity, see ://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427314.400-rethinking-relativity-is-time-out-of-joint.html; but that does not detract from its scope and impact. It works over the span of single galaxies, apparently, but perhaps not so well at cosmic scale distances greater than that. The idea is that gravity warps space-time as light goes by, such as the sun's gravitational field distorting passing starlight as it passes. Beyond that, it is Greek to us, but the article is helpful. And so are the exhibits.

Here he is from one of the exhibits at the house. See Einsteinhaus at ://www.einstein-bern.ch/index.php?lang=en/

At the Albert Einstein House, Kramgasse No. 49, Bern, Switzerland

The materials call him a physicist and humanist. Excellent combination. The "Annus Mirabilis", associated with Einstein the "miracle year", is 1905, with many advances in Physics for Einstein as well as others. He came to the United States in 1933. He was married twice, had two children, son lived in California, daughter not mentioned after early childhood - died? Lieserl. Einstein died in 1955.

Avenches - The Phone Booth Lives

2009-10-04T04:22:00.000-04:00

Phone booths once dotted city and rural landscapes. The red British-type ones, sometimes standing isolated at a roadside, were especially friendly. See the disappearing British telephone box saga at ://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27455972/ Here, in Switzerland, we found some survivors of the beloved red type. Here is a red, French-door design phone both, just asking for a franc.

Phoning without an international cell phone (we don't bother) is useless, however. Too many coins, too many numbers to dial, time zone differences, cut-offs. Even phone cards only work in some places and the companies change and become incompatible, like relationships anywhere. Rick Steves lays out instructions, but who has the time. See ://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/9907/rick_steves_telephones_in_europe.shtml/

We use the internet as we find it - email home as proof of ongoing life and thrivery, outline general next steps, and remind about the watering.

Now we see that there are internet phone booths around, see ://studenttravel.about.com/od/findwifihotspots/qt/wifi_phone_boot.htm/. None revealed themselves, however. Internet street kiosks. Great idea.

An alternative is, in a pinch (your friend is waiting at her house and you can't find it in this new place), offer some francs to a nice person and ask if they could call her and get directions from where you are. We did that in Italy. People are helpful.

Avenches - Romans

2009-09-29T15:01:00.001-04:00

Avenches was the old Roman city, Aventicum. Come here for your sports, gladiators, wild animals, and then relax in the baths with heating by pipes under the floor. See ://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/old-swiss-capital-aventicum.html/ There is a fine Hostel here, but it takes a GPS to find it. That is the difficulty with Hostels and other specific locations. How to get there without wasting time. We did stay at the Hostel here because our GPS worked that one day, but otherwise took whatever little spot we could find near the center of the Old City wherever.

Avenches, Switzerland

A working town. And no chalets of note - yet.

Chateau, Avenches, Switzerland

Roman amphitheater, Avenches, Switzerland

Entry and gateways, Roman Amphitheater, Avenches, Switzerland

Town and enclave, Roman Amphitheater, Avenches, Switzerland

Underground, Roman Amphitheater, Avenches, Switzerland

Staging and tower area, Roman Amphitheater, Avenches, Switzerland

Fribourg - Ramparts and Doner Kebabs.

2009-09-29T14:14:00.003-04:00

First, the ramparts.

As in "O'er the ramparts we watched ...."

Fribourg was established in the early 1100's. Its Old Town is full of fountains, churches, other 12th-17th Century structures - and at the ramparts, the University of Fribourg. The city is the capital of the canton also named Fribourg. Its medieval fortifications are among the largest in Switzerland, some 2 km of ramparts, 14 towers, and a bulwark. See ://www.economicexpert.com/a/Fribourg:Switzerland.htm/. Fine overview at ://www.jakobsweg.ch/en/way-james/amsoldingen-romont/city-of-fribourg.html/

The medieval town here runs from cobbled streets and squares, then up to the fortress area, where the fine university is now located. See ://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/mittelland/fribourg.html/ It is an easy ride from arrival in Geneva, and after seeing Lausanne and Lucens.

Ramparts and Bulwark, Fribourg, Switzerland

Ramparts above Fortress wall, Fribourg

Steps to Wall and Ramparts, Fribourg, Switzerland

Climb to ramparts, Fribourg, Switzerland

Now, the food. The doner kebabs.

Doner kebeb shop, Fribourg, Switzerland

Doner kebabs: These are Turkish, a compressed revolving angled cylinder of meat, always at the heat source, with the shopkeeper shaving off what is needed for a crusty sandwich platter with tomato, onion, lettuce and fries and sauce.

This ultimate fast food is now worldwide, and is called donair in Canada. See ://www.middleeastexplorer.com/Turkey/Doner-kebab-in-the-world/ Excellent for late afternoon (order one for two), taking the edge off so when time for dinner comes, a more economical dish will satisfy. In Greek, with the pita, a gyro. All with variations.

Hear and see some made in ethnically correct settings at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ0dw-fKFUo/ or ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8d087ZTZo&NR=1/

Find more (any country probably has them) in Italy competing with the pasta, at Italy Road Ways, Turin Doner Kebab, Global Fast Food.

Our lady did not sing.

Lucens, Castle, Sherlock Holmes Museum

2009-09-26T16:24:00.000-04:00

Lucens, Switzerland

Lucens Castle, Lucens, Switzerland

Many towns are crowned by a chateau or castle. Lucens, between Lausanne and Fribourg, also boasts a Sherlock Holmes connection. There is a museum here (closed, sadly, on our day) that recreates the spirit of the sleuth, see ://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/Two_Sherlock_Holmes_museums_in_Switzerland_Elementary.html?siteSect=22121&sid=781152&cKey=1251704158000&ty=st&rs=yes/.
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Arthur Conan Doyle's son set it up in the 1960's, the castle then became private, and only recently has a museum reopened in a little house down the road from it. The memorabilia is again public. Highlights: Doyle the writer, and a recreation of his drawing room at 221B Baker Street, London. It claims to be more authentic than other museums, with items actually belonging to Doyle, and the castle there was a favorite of Doyle's as a child. See also ://www.lake-geneva-region.ch/en/page.cfm/excursionsnature/withfamily/Childrenmuseums/SherlockHolmesMuseum/

Lucens ancient real estate, below road, Lucens, Switzerland

Sherlock Holmes Museum, :The Red House", Lucens, Switzerland

Lausanne - Major Davel, Chateau St. Marie

2009-09-21T14:44:00.000-04:00

The Thirty Years' War. Switzerland was able, by uniting within its borders rather than strictly along confessional lines, to forge a unity despite religious difference, ultimately. But before that happened, there were incursions of one group against the other as elsewhere in Europe. See ://www.swissworld.org/en/history/the_17th_century/the_30_years_war/Fortunes of Catholics vs. Protestants - back and forth. In this episode, Protestant Bern had annexed the canton of Vaud, where Lausanne is located.

Major Davel, Chateau St. Marie, Lausanne, Switzerland

One Major Davel, full name Major Jean Daniel Abraham Davel, was a Catholic who tried to lead a revolt against the Bernese Protestants, and lost - his head, literally, in being executed in 1723. Here it looks as though the flying lady nearby is either reaching out for it, or to catch it. It is in three dimensions. She does not have wings. Perhaps she is blessing the effort.

The chateau was built in the 1500's, and became the residence of the Bernese bailiff. See

Lausanne - Cathedrale Notre-Dame (Protestant since Reformation)

2009-09-21T13:17:00.002-04:00

Lausanne Cathedral, pipe organ as design

Designs of great pipe organs in great cathedrals - too often lost in the focus forward. Here is the organ at Lausanne's Cathedrale Notre-Dame, the Notre Dame of Lausanne. The green color appears also at www. posted.post-gazette.com/. Others show more whiteness. Exposures vary.

The pipe organ is American-made, by Boston's Fisk Company, and is new - installed in 2003. Cost? Four point two million dollars, says the Post-Gazette site.

The Cathedral itself was built (of course) as a Roman Catholic building, was consecrated by Pope Gregory X in 1275; then converted when the Protestant Bernese took over this French area during the Reformation. See this view of a mooning - it would date from the original construction.

Whether the mooning here it is reverent or not (was the mason a believer?), depends on the beholder.

Copy and past at your long address bar to get to the site and see the picture. We do not know how to reduce it to a thumbnail so we could use it.

Ask Mr. Routard, at ://www.routard.com/photos/suisse/71251-insolite_ou_diabolique.htm/. God did show his hind parts to Moses, so there is scriptural support - see Martin Luther's Stove, Foggy Texts. We did not happen to see that item on our visit.

Pope Gregory X, who consecrated the Cathedral, admirably debunked the accusation du jour that Jews ate Christian babies, and declared that Christians not be believed against Jews in this matter unless the Jew was caught in the act, see Letter on Jews at ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/g10-jews.html

Lausanne Cathedral, South Portal (The Painted Portal)

Here is the side portal of Lausanne's Cathedral, known as the Painted Portal (look closely). It is being repaired, and is described in a google book, Gothic Architecture, at ://books.google.com/books?id=_6p4tE3aDVMC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=Cathedral+Lausanne+side+portal&source=bl&ots=P8XhM3pxXT&sig=qrp67teuATFkiRI17mBzsZOJWmw&hl=en&ei=Uau3SoO_NsrQ8QbixbGTDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=Cathedral%20Lausanne%20side%20portal&f=false/.

Doors. Keep you out, let you in. Look at both sides. Here, a Cathedral door from the outside, weatherworn, with its panels and decoration:

Lausanne Cathedral, Paneled Door From Outside

From the inside, just as interesting with locks and security: Blogger, what happened to the photo upload symbol?

Passes: Brunigen, Susten, Sarnen, Klausen, Saanen

2009-09-18T13:40:00.006-04:00

Getting There

There are always the autobahns between major hub cities, much like a tinkertoy setup. The passes here are not autobahn routes - these are cross-country, switchbacks, sometimes one lane, or 1 1/2 lanes, with a lay-by for passing.

I. Brunigen, Susten and Sarnen Passes

These will take you roughly from Bern to Altdorf, where resides the legend of William Tell.

Susten Pass, Switzerland

Even on a level place, do not expect to make time. In fog, listen for the cowbells.

Susten Pass, refuge hut; or monitor hut; or a herder's summer home? at top

There is often a tiny community of little houses built into the mountainside at the tops of most serious passes.

Tops of Swiss passes: weather changes fast

These are passes that can accommodate two-lane traffic most of the time, if everyone goes slow, and creeps around the corners. The sharpest corners may have an extended part of paving at that corner.

Where the pass is one-lane, there will be a reasonable lay-by in view, most of the time, where one of you will tuck in while the other slides by. Be prepared for mirrors to click.

Find these if you go the route from Lucerne to Altdorf that travels down from the west side of Lake Lucerne. The safer route is down the east side, but you will not know that until you are committed - the main road just stops on the west side, leaving you to maneuver about. Not to worry. We learned to believe the map - if the line stops, it stops. Susten Pass: The Stein Glacier is up there, and a lake called the Steinsee.

2. Klausen Pass:

The Klausen Pass will take you from Altdorf (William Tell) to Maienfeld (Heidi)

Do a Bing topographical search for Klausen Pass and see what this is like.

A mere road map will not do. Start at Altdorf there, and then scroll over the vast expanse to Maienfeld, north of Chur. Better yet, search for Maienfeld, and then expand outward until Altdorf shows. All switchbacks, mountaintops, then a flat valley and D.C. al fine. :||.

Refuge, rescue or herder's hut? Klausen Pass, Switzerland

Community, monitor or herders' huts, perhaps refuge, Klausen Pass, Switzerland

At roadside, steep, cows by car window, Klausen Pass, Switzerland

Stop the car and hear the cowbells. Longer.

View down, Klausen Pass, Switzerland

Huts at top, Klausen Pass, Switzerland

Valley, Klausen Pass, Switzerland

3. Saanen Pass.

A somewhat lower pass or series of passes takes you from Montreux to Interlaken, with a lovely valley at Gstaad - famous ski resort. Looking for the name of the pass. The town of Saanen is there.

For an idea of the terrain, read this 1867 account of Saanen (the pass could be the Saanen Col or Saanen Pass, partially) to Sion, an end-point more to the south.

Go to A Handbook for Travellers In Switzerland at page 138, Route 41, by John Murray, who went by horse. See this Google book at http://books.google.com/books?id=NwANAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA138&lpg=RA1-PA138&dq=Saanen+pass&source=bl&ots=aFyKRhoDFf&sig=dgxVO6wNi7VyVnhdlcJJOmfqL_g&hl=en&ei=F0HdSozCC4ri8Aapy7xi&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Saanen%20pass&f=false.

Scroll to the next page for Route 42 and see what looks like ours exactly: his Thun to Vevay, our Montreux (next to Vevey) to Thun, north of Interlaken. This book, at least in excerpts, is a must-read, a time capsule of travel 150 years ago: horseback, by foot, on or with mules, chairs with bearers (keep reading for a few pages further), carriage with 6-9 seats takes 9 hours Vevey to Thun. Inns, mineral waters, cheeses.

Byron called this route "as beautiful as a dream." See the Murray book at 141.

Saanen Pass, high pasture, Switzerland

Is it true that the uphill legs of Alpine cows are shorter than the downhill?

Roofs nestle into hillsides, Saanen Pass, Switzerland

This possibly is part of the Klausen, not the Saanen. This looks milder, so we think Saanen.

John Murray calls the mountainnat the Montreux or Vevey end of the route, by the French, the Dent de Jaman. Would that be Tooth of Jaman? The profile of the mountain looks like the view from Montreux or Vevey looking east. See ://www.randonnee-pedestre.ch/index.php?marche=dent-de-jaman&site=montagne/

Ask, and the Airline May Give: The Missing Luggage

2009-09-18T12:56:00.000-04:00

Ask nicely and it may be done.

Missing something? It may not be too late after all. Airways can be nice, and - if not holding a flight, not rushing the door shut either.

Here, we were suddenly missing the bigger carryon - that we put the two little carry-ons in, for the plane. Quick! Call the tour limousine driver on his way home. There it is, on the floor in the back, and with maps in it.

Fast - plane leaving, there the nice lady in the uniform runs, bag in hand, in quick, toss it back, out, shut the door and we're off. Air Canada, Hartford to Montreal, and then to Geneva. The lady said if we had huffed and insisted, they would not have gone out of their way. Manners, manners. Civility and calm. Works for effective legislators and hapless travelers. Thanks, Air Canada.

If you Russian doll-up the carry-ons, you end up with more useful sacks when we get there. Handy for junk in the trunk, and tucking away the foul weather gear and extras.