The Alps

On my second Sunday in Europe, I attended the Mennonite church closest to Bienenberg, Mennonitengemeinde Schänzli. The service was attended by about 150 people and it was similar to many Mennonite services I have attended in North America. During the announcements time, the worship leader introduced me as the Mennonite pastor from Alaska and told the congregation that they were welcome to invite me to their homes for fondue or raclette or any other Swiss culinary delight. Yes, I had gotten to her before the service. She also introduced Adrian, who was sitting next to me. He is from British Columbia and is a new student at Bienenberg. A new program started this week so the number of students on campus has doubled and I no longer have the men's bathroom all to myself.

As soon as the service was over, I was greeted by an enthusiastic man wearing an 'Alaska' T-shirt. Thomas has been to Alaska twice and already has his third trip planned even though it is four to five years away. He also speaks English and said that they weren't having fondue, but if grilled wild boar was acceptable I could have lunch with them. So I spent the rest of the day with Thomas and Rebecca and their three daughters. After lunch, the girls went out to play and the adults went for a short drive and a hike. We couldn't see the Alps, but it was a very nice hike. With cows. Hiking is popular in Switzerland and there were many other people out walking. We stopped in at the farmer's on the way down. Many farmhouses double as restaurants, so it was crowded with local people enjoying the weekend. Go for a hike and then order a meal or dessert at any farm you pass.

After we reached the car, we drove about 40 minutes through the countryside to reach another farmhouse/restaurant that had, Thomas insisted, very good coffee. We sat outside and ordered coffee and
vermicelles, a Swiss seasonal dessert made from sweetened and puréed chestnuts. It was unique, good and rich. We were glad we only ordered two.

This restaurant was in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Switzerland has four official languages, German, French, Italian and Romansh, which is spoken by a tiny percentage of people who are descendants of Roman colonists. The fifth unofficial language is English, which most people have studied in school. If a Swiss person from the north meets a Swiss from the south, they are (I'm told) as likely to speak to one another in English as in French or German.

After dinner back at home, Thomas drove me back to Bienenberg, but not before making plans to see the Alps the next day. The students were beginning their two-week fall holidays and Thomas was also taking the
week off. Swiss workers get a minimum of four weeks vacation a year. Oh, and the drinking age for beer and wine is 16--18 for liquor. Just thought I'd throw that in. Also, there are very few drinking fountains
anywhere; they prefer their drinking water fizzy; and they never serve drinks with ice.

The next morning, Thomas, one of his daughters, the aforementioned Adrian and I began the three hour drive south to the Eggishorn. We drove over the Grimsel Pass, which looked much like Alaska, except
that we do not have hotels and power lines at the top of our mountain passes. Also, I kept expecting to see berries on those slopes, but found only grass. I did, however, catch a glimpse of what looked a great deal like fireweed as we were zipping down the other side of the pass.

The switchbacks coming down from Grimsel Pass are intense. They look like shoelaces keeping the mountain in place. You can see for yourself by clicking the link. Scroll left to see the top of the pass where my photos were taken. Once safely on the southern side of that range, we drove to Fiesch. To reach the top of the Eggishorn, you ride a gondola, or cable car, first to Fiescheralp, which is the ski resort halfway up the mountain. Then you get onto another gondola to take you all the way to the top of Eggishorn

From the Eggishorn, you have a panoramic view of 40 mountain peaks and the Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps. It was a warm sunny day, even at 9600 feet and the view was impressive. We could see Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and, well, about 38 other peaks. There was also a little restaurant at the top that offered some of the best outdoor seating I've experienced. The meal came with our ticket and the dish offered (there was only one) was Rösti with pork and gravy! Rösti is another dish from north Switzerland. It is grated and fried potatoes, rather like a huge hash brown. So I was able to check off two dishes from my culinary checklist in two days. After spending several hours on the mountain, including apple streudel and coffee back down in Fiescheralp, we began the drive home.

We elected to take another pass on the way home. If you look at the switchbacks again and follow the road to the east, you will come to the Furkapass. It was dark by the time we reached this, and when we reached the top, it was very foggy as well. We began descending this pass in the dark, with visibility limited to about 30 feet, back and forth on the edge of a mountain, with only darkness visible to the right. Hopefully this is as close to death as I come on this trip. After we reached flat land, the trip back was uneventful although we drove through miles and miles of tunnels. The Swiss have been doing some serious digging in the last century.

As a sidenote, Thomas' SUV ran on natural gas, which is much cheaper than gasoline. Not every station has natural gas, but he knows where they are. You fill up much like you do with unleaded gas: pull up to the pump, stick the nozzle in the car and squeeze the handle. While natural gas is used to power fleet vehicles, it would be nice to see this available for consumers, especially in Alaska where we have abundant natural gas and no way (yet) to get it to markets in the Lower 48. Why don't we just use it ourselves? And stop paying for the most expensive gasoline in the country?

But I digress. The trip was a lot of fun, the mountains are beautiful and Thomas and Rebekah were very gracious hosts. Tomorrow I leave for a couple days in Geneva and then I am off to Spain for two weeks. I
also had a good day trip to Zürich which I will relate later. I hope you are all well. You can check out the photos below. They will describe the Alps better than I can. Tchüß!

Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8287&l=bf6bf&id=1036732070

Links
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicelles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aletsch_Glacier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggishorn