I'm not in Kansas anymore!

I decided I needed to "get involved" with something worthwhile here in the "big city", so I contacted Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County, Inc. Now I delivered for Brownwood Meals on Wheels for quite a few years before I left and figured I knew all about it.

W R O N G !

This is a major organization (note the Inc. after their name) with quite a few paid employees, a large building and an enormous kitchen where their 4,000 meals are prepared daily. No Brownwood Regional Hospital meals for them.

During the hour and a half meeting, I took notes and will share the factual differences with you.

Brownwood has 4 routes, Early has one or two (not sure) and the Lake has one or two also. Tarrant County has 197 routes currently delivering. Tarrant county includes Ft. Worth, Arlington and all the suburbs around such as Saginaw, Bedford, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, etc. The delivering is done by individuals, not teams (unless the person driving finds a partner and gets that person "approved"). By approved, I mean, background check, orientation, etc. They endeavor to schedule volunteers to deliver in their immediate neighborhood, which makes me a little more comfortable doing this.

The 19 people who attended orientation today will be put on the substitute list, since all the current routes are "taken".

Brownwood's meals cost just over $3.00 (the last time I heard) while the T C meals cost $5 each. T.C. delivers a "shelf stable" breakfast each day for the next day and some clients receive frozen meals on Friday to tide them over the weekend. Not everyone, just certain recipients. Not sure who or why.

One hundred fifty new clients are approved each month with approval being granted by M. on W. case managers who visit with clients every 3 months. In Brownwood, approval comes from the client's doctor.

In 2009, over 4,000 people volunteered for M on W, Tarrant County, Inc. In Brownwood, 12 people deliver each week, with the same people delivering every 7-9 weeks.

In Bwd, all volunteers congregate at the hospital to pick up the meals for their routes. T C has 6 vans that deliver meals to 43 pick-up sites throughout the area.

One other interesting difference, in Bwd, we delivered on all the major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc) Tarrant County doesn't deliver then and sometimes for a day before or after a holiday--they do, however, provide a frozen meal before the holiday so that the client does not go without.

Bwd's M on W is supported solely by donations from individuals and churches with administration provided by the Red Cross. T C's M on W is supported by Federal funds, Grants by the Dept of Agriculture, and groups to assist the Aged, and donations.

I will be called this week sometime to "ride along" with a volunteer who is working a route in my neighborhood. Once that is accomplished, I'll be on the substitute list.

As I was telling N the differences between the two programs, she said "Well, Mom, you're not in Kansas anymore"!

Miscellaneous Switzerland info

Just thought I'd add some miscellaneous info that didn't seem to fit into any of my previous posts.

Roads/ travel
*Speed limit on highways- 90 mph
*“Round-abouts” (traffic circles)- are magic.—No need for stoplights and delays, whenever a vehicle has entered the circle, it has the right of way. Kurt said he’d never seen a wreck at a round-about—and he drives for a living.
*Traffic lights a little different—yellow (caution) is between red and green, not like ours between green and red.
*Young people do not get driver’s license until 18 years of age.

Shopping
Chocolate, Swiss Army knives, linens

Food
*Unusual tea bags, have a little cardboard hook on them to attach to tea pot
*Menus have lots of sausage, cheese, ham, potatoes and green salad.
*Each hotel has about the same breakfast buffet consisting of various breads, cereals, fruit, cold sliced meats, undercooked bacon, sausage and unappetizing looking scrambled eggs.
*Most milk is "whole milk" and very few places had "sweetners". All had white sugar and some had brown sugar for sweeting coffee, tea or cereal.
*Coffee- depending on how it was made, my traveling companions either liked the coffee, or disliked it immensely. Some was made with a powder, while other was made in a Bunn type machine.


Hotels-
We stayed at 4 hotels on our 10 day adventure- all hotels had “European style bedding---Bottom sheet, no top sheet and a duvet (comforter)
1. St Gotthard- a very comfortable older inner city hotel in Zurich. Had the most space of any of the hotels. Within walking distance of lots of shopping and the really interesting train station with many shops
2. Bad Horn Resort- - View from the window was an amazing vista of Lake Constance. Very nice bathroom with separate shower. Maybe the smallest room we had. Reception staff really helpful. I bought my 3 hrs of internet here and used all but 13 min throughout the rest of the trip.
3. Linder Grand Hotel Beau Rivage- (in Interlocken)—very attractive facility, nothing spectacular, but quite comfortable. Within walking distance of a really good restaurant, which I couldn’t pronounce and didn’t write down, so I can’t spell it either.
4. Raddison Blu- attached to airport in Zurich is ultra modern, convenient and had free WiFi. My favorite of the 4, but inconvenient for touring because it is at the airport.
All but # 2, the resort, had the really deep style of bath tubs which I dread. I have broken a toe on one of these tubs on a different trip, so I am very cautions and tried to be sure I didn't slip.

Money Prices—
We had 3 coffees and a tea at one tea shop and the cost was $19
At one place, 2 soups, a salad, 2 coffees and water= $43
In interlocken complete meals with salad for 3 =$120
The currency I dealt with (very comparable to US dollars)
– paper money--100 Swiss francs, 50 franc, 10 francs
– coins- 5 franc,, 2 franc, 1 franc, ½ franc,
– coins-Rappen (like pennies)- 20, 10, 5

Sights
*Flowers everywhere n yards and in window boxes

*Houses looked freshly painted, didn’t see many shabby ones.

*Fields looked manicured--very little scrub brush anywhere.

*We continued noticing that people take their dogs to the top of mountains, to shop, just waling around, and as previously mentioned, to eat dinner in 5 star hotels. B said that next time he comes, he'll need to rent a dog to fit in with the everyday folks

Words- I collected interesting words just because of their look or sound.
Bahnhofstrasse- major street in Zurich
Fraumunster- convent (women’s monastery)
Achtung, kinder!—Careful, children
Krankenhaus- hospital
Backerie- bakery
Rhinefalbecken- the falls on the Rhine river
Naturschauspiel--- no clue, I was just collecting long words when I saw this.
Einfahrt- entrance
Exfahrt- exit
One of the longest words I saw--stresseninspektorat

Stories

Some previous clients of our guide were always late. They had $20,000 watches, but never seemed to care about what time it was or what they might miss because they were not on time to leave for a tour. He seemed pleased that we were prompt.

Cow fights- an entertainment in the farming areas of Switzerland. The cows “butt heads” until one quits—natural activity for them, they aren’t prepared or coached. Farmer with the strongest cow can brag all year.

Heard in the Atlanta airport—Child “No, no, not the train! Don’t make me!!
I went on my merry way trying to find my gate, so I don’t know whether she was put on the train or not.

The trip home

Why is it when you find a really wonderful hotel, you have to be up and out really, really early. The Radisson Blu was wonderfully comfortable and convenient and had FREE WI FI.
We were again met at the airport by Swiss Safari's owner Carmen who again, had gifts for us. She helped us navigate the checkin process and helped us out however was needed.

I was frisked after going thru security because the zipper on my coat set off the alarm. When we finally found our gate we had some waiting to do, but all airports are alike in this- hurry up and wait. The plane was rather empty again (I wonder if they can pay for fuel and salaries with so few paying customers onboard).

There were movies again, and we were instructed how to fill out the US customs forms and we settled in for a long day of sitting.. I had the three center seats to myself, so I tried to nap, and probably slept a little, but finished one book and was 2/3 through another one when we touched down in Atlanta.

We had to get our checked bags, go thru customs, go back through security (this time the jacket came off) and head off to find individual gates for the trip from Atlanta , home.

Sweet Billy met me at the DFW baggage claim and took me home. I'll probably post miscellaneous stuff this afternoon or tomorrow and the blog about Switzerland will be done.

Waterfall and Wine tower

Tuesday—Last day in Switzerland

Since yesterday’s trip to the top of the mountain was so overcast and foggy, our guide decided on another try. This time we went on Mt. Grendelwald. We spent 30 minutes in a cable car getting to the top of the mountain.


The sun was shining and the mountain was stunning.





It was colder than “who'd a’ thought it”, but not as cold as yesterday. There wasn’t much to DO on top of this mountain except look and take pictures, so we headed back down after spending just a while on top.

We then drove to Trumnelbachfalle which is a huge waterfall INSIDE a mountain. Actually here 10 glacier fed waterfalls meet and carve out the center of the mountain. It carries 20,000 liters of water per second. I tried to get video of this, but I’m not sure I was able to get much because the lighting was so dim. We’ll see .............




Later we stopped at the monument for William Tell. Our guide told us the story we have heard most of our lives, and then at the end said, “But it is not true, just a story told to children”.



I’ve been collecting unusual words in German to share with you, but I’ll have to go back thru all my notes, so that'll probably happen on the LONG trip back or Thursday, my recuperation day.

After being delivered to the Radisson Blue which is attached to the airport, we settled in. We figured how to use our electrical adapters, because this hotel has different outlets than any we’ve seen so far in Switzerland.

We walked around to scope out where to go in the morning to check in for our flight, and then decided we were hungry. Back at the Raddison, we ate at a frou-frou place where the waiter exchanged one fork for another, because of what was ordered. And both forks looked alike to me.

The main attraction in the lobby of the hotel, which was open to our restaurant was a 40 foot high wine tower. Bottles of wine were stored, on their sides, all the way up, with the most expensive wines at the top. A pretty young woman in a skimpy costume and a “flying” harness was dispatched to fly up to the level where the wine you ordered was and pluck it out of the storage unit (all this behind glass, with flashing colored lights). It was entertaining to watch, but we did not purchase any, so she did not bring any to our table.
After a good and entertaining meal, we headed back upstairs. The alarm will go off at 5, breakfast is at 6, we check in with the airline at 7 and then don’t do anything but wait until 9:30 or so (2:30 am Texas time)

I’ll finish this in a day or two with pictures and added information about words, food, hotels, dogs, stories, etc. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Interlacken- up on the mountain--BRRRR

Monday, October 18, 2010

Our next to the last day in Switzerland, after driving 45 minutes, we came to a train on which cars (with occupants) travel “ferry style” through a mountain (Loetschberg Is the mountain’s name with an umlaut over the o) As we rode in the car through an unlit tunnel, it was a swaying feeling like a train, but just really strange. The tunnel has 2 sets of tracks, one running each way with at least 20 cars to a train. Not sure why it wouldn’t be more efficient to just let cars go thru tunnel without the train, but perhaps parking at the destination is one reason. Oh Well.....

Our plan A for today’s adventure was scrapped because of the weather, some of the higher passes were closed because of snow. Plan B was to visit the “Little Matterhorn”, a smaller version of the more famous mountain, but road construction to that area cancelled plan B. On to plan C, which we enjoyed very much. Plan C included the train/ferry, a railroad ride up Gornergrat mountain, where there is an observation post to see mountains.


The building there offers a restaurant and a serve-yourself eating place and it also has chairs outside on an observation deck.



Some children are well dressed for the cold and (of coure) some just have on jeans and a sweatsirt. This little boy is READY for the cold.


Do I need to mention that the temperature outside was -2 degrees Celsius ( about 26 degrees Fahrenheit) and we were walking around in snow??? It was lovely and crisp and bracing, but we couldn’t see any mountains because of the fog/overcast skies. The soupy air was so thick, that when we trudged up the hill, it was hard to see even the top of it.


My camera's snow setting--which I never figured would be used much,-- is really quite good. even though we had a difficult time seeing very far, the camera did just fine.



I thought I was in fairly good shape, but after that climb (rather steep, but really not far), I was gasping for breath. Yes, I know air is thinner at 10,132 feet, but I guess I need to really work on stamina and breathing when I get back.

Through out this region the roads are “switchback” with 180 degree turns at the end of each length.

The view on the way down from the mountain.


Both on the way up to the mountain and on the way down, we stopped in Zermatt, Switzerland to do some looking around and shopping. It is a neat little town of 1000 during the off season, but which swells during skiing season. While in Zermatt, we stopped in a tea room. I had hot chocolate, How long has it been since you have had hot chocolate made with hot frothy milk? We just stirred some choc. powder into the milk and it was wonderful. There is a cemetery dedicated to those who lost their lives on the Matterhorn. Some date way way back. No cars are permitted in Zermatt, but there are electric vehicles which are used as delivery trucks and taxis.


While up on the mountain we saw two kinds of artificial snow machines. One is called a snow cannon and it looks like a cannon, not quite sure how it would make snow. The other machines look like electrical line poles which have water put in them and then the temp is just right, the water is sprayed out making snow. So it is actual snow, just produced artificially.

In some of my shopping, I looked at precious Swiss costume dresses in size 1 ½ for Lily, but almost choked when I saw the prices. I haven’t mentioned much about the money yet, it is comparable to American currency with a few pennies fluctuation up or down, depending…… Food is extremely expensive---at the observation serve-yourself place today I had a bowl of very good soup and a serving of apple strudel which cost $16 (soup $9, dessert $7)
Back to the dress, the cost of the cutest dress (I have very good taste) was $154. Needless to say Lily will have to do without---or I might make her one for Christmas. I did buy Swatches (remember them) as gifts and they were less expensive than in the US.

After an equally long ride back to the hotel we walked around Interlacken a bit and then are getting ready for our last day by repacking suitcases and sorting through dirty clothes.

Traveling Sunday

Sunday- rain
We did a great deal of traveling today to get from the Bad Horn resort near St Gallen to Interlacken. We saw amazing countryside of green fields, some rather flat and manicured looking and others, at a 45 degree slope. The animals (cows, sheep and goats) seemed to handle the slant as if it weren’t there.



We saw apple trees loaded with fruit, squash plants that still had produce on them and raps plants, lovely yellow stalks, from which a cooking oil is made.
Some places in Switzerland the changing of the leaves was already finished, but this bit of forest was glorious.


We traveled along Lake Constance until it became one river which turned into the Rhine. We crossed the Rhine into Germany for about 10 minutes because that is the way the road went.

Some additional Switzerland facts :
Gasoline costs 10% less in Switzerland than in Germany, so many from Germany fill up across their border.
We saw a Bernina factory. I’m sure these are very good sewing machines, although I’ve never used one.
Switzerland is not a part of the EU, because that would mean a loss of autonomy for the individual who is used to voting on everything. They do have reciprocal agreements with their neighboring countries concerning border crossings.
In this part of the country, farm houses have different roof lines with a very high roof and eaves close to the ground. Think A frame, but not quite that drastic. The farmhouses seem larger because many of them have a stable/barn attached, making them look much deeper.

We stopped at the Rhinefals—a wild waterfall with a visitor center, gift shop and boats that took folks around the falls.



After another drive we came to Emmental which houses a famous cheese factory. One of the old outbuildings has old fashioned cheese producing equipment, showing how cheese was made in the mid 1700’s. Interestingly, the ceilings and door waysof this original building were really short. Kurt andI could stand up comfortably, but B and Marion couldn’t.
We moved to the modern facility which is sterile and computerized. We saw cheeses in different stages of completion. We were told that 100 kilos of good milk can produce 20 kilos of cheese.

After watching for awhile, we went to the restaurant and enjoyed cheese soup. It was thick and a little salty, but yummy. One man sitting down the table from us had a fluffy white plate full of food that looked like a pile of whipped cream. Turns out it was a meringue (pavlova). Really looked light and fluffy –not sure what was in the middle of the fluff.

After more driving, we stopped in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. We walked around a bit, saw a fancy clock tower and the shopping arcade. When our guide mentioned an arcade, all my mind could conjure up was a game arcade, but this was a very nice covered area with lots of shops—all closed because it is Sunday.

I noticed one bit of graphitti which said “Fight the Police” there has been graphitti all along, but since the words are in German, nothing caught my eye til this. On the way back to the car, Kurt bought us some roasted chestnuts which were delicious.



We drove a little farther to see a working dairy. We saw cows coming into the milking barn, being hooked up to the machinery, saw the amount of milk come into a glass vat which was connected by a pipe to the milk trailer outside. A very well run and interesting farm. I also made friends with the two barn cats.

We finally arrived at Interlacken to check into our hotel. It is a nice place which has the same name as a hotel and Casino in Mississippi. Not sure if they are connected or not.

Had a lovely supper at an unpronounceable place and are back in the room for the night.
Tomorrow the glacier—we’ll have to have double layers of clothing, especially socks .

I was sorry not to be able to go with the Thompsons and Nick to the Texas State Fair today ,but I can’t be two places at once.

Everyone have a great Monday.

Last Anderau day

As we were waiting to be picked up to go to lunch, we sat in the hotel lobby. We watched a family of 10 adults, 2 children and a large black dog, go into the restaurant at this 4-star resort. It seems strange that we have seen people everywhere with dogs—really large dogs. But in a hotel dining room? And he was not a "service" dog, just a pet.

Our ride came and we drove to the Hagenwil castle which has been in the same family since the Crusades.

The Castle is now a restaurant as well as the family’s home. We had a lovely meal with Viktor, his wife Eoma, his son Glenn, and his daughter Fiona accompanied by Viktor’s sister Felicity. It was a fantastic family dinner with some folks having chateau briand, others, veal cordon bleu, or venison, or a Swiss pork dish. The presentation of each plate was very artistic. We started with salad and or soup (pumpkin) The meal ended with some having sorbet and coffee.

Viktor took the picture, so he's not shown. Thanks to all the Anderaus for the lovely experience.

We looked around the castle taking pictures and talking in the rain.


Our next stop was the fair at St. Gallen. This is a large gathering and we had trouble finding a place to park. The fair had every booth imaginable from candies, to sausages, and gingerbread. There was more than one booth selling "western" items such as large belt buckles, cowboy hats and (of all things) American license plates. We found one woman whose name was Anderau selling a special gingerbread. We knew this because of the name printed on the pink sacks she used to sell the bread and cousin Viktor talked to her and introduced us as "Anderaus from America".



I mentioned that parking was at a premium –we finally ended up in a parking garage with several levels and my friends who know about my car, will not be surprised to know that when I saw a specially marked place for Smart Cars to park, I had to have a picture.


The Swiss use every possible inch of space, since space is at a premium here in this small country.

After the fair, we again went to see Agnes Anderau, Otto’s wife, in the hospital/ nursing home. This time the entire family, her son, daughter, daughter-in-law and grandchildren also went and it was really a little over whelming for her.



We talked for about 45 min and set out for Otto’s house. She did not remember our visit from yesterday, but we did not expect that she would.

The group sat in Otto’s living room looking at picture albums and talking.
Otto kept offering us something to eat, but after the enormous lunch we really weren’t hungry. Let me mention that I have never gotten used to drinking mineral water, which most Europeans prefer.. I really like plain 'ole un-fizzy water.

Otto got tired about 9 and we said our goodbyes, with the Swiss Anderaus promising to come to Texas for a visit..

Thus ends a wonderful chapter of this adventure.

Tomorrow --on to Interlacken

Adventures with Viktor Anderau

We had several recommendations from Otto for spending the day. He did not feel like joining us and he had health care workers coming, so we headed out with Viktor.
First we visited the church records depository where we saw Anderau records from years past. The records showed births and baptisms for our Grandfather who emigrated to America as well as his brothers and sisters.



We visited the church in the village and it is the same as it was in the 1400’s Very ornate and quite lovely. Church is in background--I hesitate to take pictures in a church where people are worshiping.


Having accomplished this task, we headed out to see 4 very special houses where Anderaus had lived in the general area. We would drive up to a house, pile out of the car, line up and take pictures of the house and each other in front of each house.

Two particular houses are of special interest. One, which has been there for hundreds of years.has the name Anderau and various dates, and other cryptic initials, written on the very top of the point of the eave,






The second of the special interest houses was hard to find. There is no road and we trekked up a very high, muddy hill to finally see it.


I was thankful that I decided to wear my Sketchers tennis shoes for the trek today. The incline of our march up the hill was at times about 30 degrees (I am guessing, but I felt a little like a mountain goat—and M said she thought she was going up one of the Alps) This house which we finally found was the oldest dating (Viktor thought) from the 1400’s.



A couple of thoughts about cousin Viktor—he is a champion car backer and driver through narrow streets. At one house he said “let me go in and inform the residents why we are here”—rather than “let me go ask permission to take pictures of your house”. This is a very proprietary way of thinking of houses that had once been in the family. As if they were still ours. He takes millions of pictures and as a result is rarely in a picture. A pity.

We visited Viktor’s mother Agnes in a “hospital” (nursing home). Bill and Marion were kind enough to bring her a lap robe with Texas Bluebonnets woven into it. She is a sweet little lady with Alzheimer’s disease who seemed very alert and pleased to have visitors, even tho she had no clue who we were. Again, no English, so Viktor translated. She seemed more impressed that we were from America than that we were relatives of her husband. We stayed for awhile and will probably go back tomorrow.

After lunch we visited St. Gallen’s Old Town with its narrow streets and wonderfully ornate church.



Viktor had attended school here and took us straight to the magnificent library, where we had to wear slippers to protect the inlaid wooden floor.
It is an amazingly beautifully place.


Do I need to mention that these are post cards? If I had been allowed to take pictures, they would not have been this good.


His story is that a monk, named Gallus, from Ireland felt called by God to establish this church in this area of Switzerland. Hence the name St. Gallen. Back to the library—it is an active library with books being used, not just showcased. The shelves are amazingly ornate and the ceiling is covered with enormous fresco paintings. Of course no photography was allowed, but I found a postcard or two. In the library was a detailed floor plan of an Abbey and an unusual large globe of the known world in the 1500’s. The library contains books from as early as 895 AD

The cathedral in Old Town is rather famous and really beautiful. There was a huge pipe organ in the back


The library and church area closed and we looked around Old Town, found a tea shop and stopped for refreshment.



After finishing, we shopped around a little more with M finding a lace/embroidered table cloth

Viktor delivered us back to our hotel named Bad Horn--which means something other than Bad Horn, in German--it is a resort on Lake Constance.

Otto Anderau

The major reason for this trip was to visit my Dad’s first cousin, Otto. He is in his mid 80’s and in poor health. We arrived at his house and could hear him, so we went in. He lives on the second floor of his house, the first being mostly storage and garage. He has trouble getting around having had a hip replacement about a year ago, but he also has some very serious heart and lung problems. When he first saw and hugged Bill and me, he cried. I didn’t expect to be this emotional about meeting him, but I was touched by his emotion. His English is limited and our German is non existent, so we had a bit of trouble communicating until his son Viktor got there. Viktor’s English is quite adequate, although he has some trouble understanding Texas accents.



Otto is a genealogist and has book after book he has put together about the Anderaus. He has traced some back to the 1330’s. He has records of the first mention of the name Anderau in public records in Switzerland. He delighted in showing us his books, in German and B and M showed him photos of our part of the Anderau family which they brought for him to keep.


Otto’s daughter Felicity and her husband Joe came and we enjoyed some canapés that Viktor had put together and a plum tart that Felicity brought. I was especially taken with the decorative way Viktor had “sliced” the cheese. He showed me the device and I hope I can find one. The finished “sliced” cheese looks ruffled and very feathery. He told me that a semi-hard cheese is needed for this effect.. Who knows, some of you may enjoy some feathery cheese, or some of you may already know about this device. Anyway, it was tasty and pretty.
We toasted with apple cider/ wine and enjoyed talking about life in this area of Switzerland.

We left about 8—Otto was getting tired—and made plans for an excursion in the morning.

Day of tours

To lake Constance—
More facts about Switzerland—50% of church going people are Protestant, 40% Catholic and the others are Jewish, Muslim, etc.
Swiss people voted against having minarets in their country. Another of their initiatives on which they vote. This vote upset their European neighbors fearing reprisals.
Their army is like our National Guard. Service is compulsory for men of a certain age—they go to training camp, for 5 months but after that their service is 3 weeks per year until the age of 35.
Many cattle here do not have horns, having been burned off at birth.
Diesel fuel prices vary, but one pump showed $1.91 per liter.
The state (country?) pays for all burial and or cremation for every citizen.


We stopped on our travels to buy stamps for post cards. The ones we got had 2 men’s pictures on them. Henri Durant (founder of the Red Cross) and Gustave Moyner, who was a member of the organizing committee of the Red Cross, but who ousted the founder over control and power issues. Our Guide mentioned that it was strange to haave the two men on the same stamp. He recommended a book MEMORIES ON SOLFRIENO as a good book about Durant and his Red Cross. By the way stamps to send postcards to the USA were $1.90 each.

Again, driving through the countryside, we see green fields, animals and lots of trees. Some of the fields seem to be straight up and down.



Our private tour at the Maestrani chocolate factory was set for 10:30 and we arrived in plenty of time. Our guide met us at the entrance with baskets of wrapped chocolates of all different types to be tasted. I suppose anytime is the right time for a taste of chocolate. Sadly, no photos were allowed in the factory, so I can’t show you the process, but needless to say it was interesting.
This factory has 150 employees and produces 4,000 tons of chocolate per year.
Their varieties of products are chocolate sticks which sell the most—milk chocolate with white coating, “ladybugs”, bees, organic chocolate bars, and regular chocolate bars with flavorings or plain. They produce milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark choc. We were told about the difference in ingredients that are mixed to produce each. My favorite was the chocolate banana. I at first thought they were dipping bananas in choc and shipping them and that sounded really disgusting. But the reality is that they use a banana powder and the final preduct is like banana flavored marshmallow covered w/ choc. And yes, they are good, not disgusting at all.

The Swiss eat the most choc. per person of any country in the world—11.7 kilos per person per year. Second being Germany at 11.4 kilos
As part of the tour we were given the opportunity to see and experience cocoa beans, cocoa powder and choc solid, before it is processed. And all are bitter. It is the processing and mixing that make the choc. that we buy. Approx 50 cocoa beans are used for one choc. bar. Today (mid-Oct) they were producing chocolate Easter Eggs, having already done all their chocolate for Christmas sales.

No liquid is used to clean the machinery in the factory, only pressurized air and paper. Whatever choc is declared “waste”, (much is remelted if it is still “clean”) it is fed to pigs.
The employees must wear uniforms with no pockets supplied by the factory- washed every day- and also are prohibited from using nail polish and from having piercings.

After visiting the museum (and tasting and tasting and tasting) we had lunch—just soup/ and salad.

The textile museum is the only place that has been a disappointment so far. I think we were expecting a working textile mill that produced embroidery, but instead it was strictly a museum of various fabrics (some very strange) and embroidery. Our guide explained well, but we were not particularly impressed. We did learn that St Gallen at one time, produced ½ of the world’s embroidery. Machine embroidery ( like a hand driven loom) has been done since 1100 AD. We did see the princess Eugenie of France’s dress which took 36 women over 1 and a half years to embroider. They have a swatch of fabric (from St Gallen) from Mrs. Obama's inaugural dress
We saw a strange knitted tunic thing which was one woman’s “travel diary” of her trek through the mountains—she changed colors of thread depending on the altitude at which she climbed.

After this muserm, we checked into our hotel whose name is "Bad Horn". It is right on Lake Constance and has a lovely view of the water, even though we did not spend much time there.


As we walked through the lobby we encountered a mirror with an unusual suggestion etched into it.


After getting settled in our hotel, our guide Kurt delivered us to Otto Anderau’s house. That will be the next story.

Ship, Train, Cable Car

I went out at 7:30 to post my blog and the foot traffic on the street was like rush hour on I-20. People were bumper to bumper and the buses were full. Starbucks, however, was almost empty, guess the crowd got there before I did.

Have seen quite a few Smart Cars and a dealership. Most of them have logos for businesses.

On our hour drive to Lucerne, we learned a little about the Swiss govt. They have a senate, and a house of representatives, but no president. The governing body is a council of ministers (7) each of which is the chair person for awhile. We heard about initiatives brought before the people for a vote—if voted down, the proposal is dead. An example would be bringing Casinos to an area. This is a local matter for voting. The Representatives have no decision making in this sort of matter.
We learned that 70% of their power is hydroelectric while a portion is solar and wind generated.
Lucerne (Luzern) has 60,000 residents most of whom are Catholic.

A story:
The Swiss were considered in the middle ages to be very fierce fighters and became some of the most highly prized mercenaries around. The origin of this belief comes from a time when the knights from Hapsburg announced in 1315 that they were going to attack. The Swiss decided to fight to the death rather than be vanquished. When the Knights came to fight, there were no Swiss knights to fight and they lived under a code of chivalry that they could only fight equals, so they did not fight and were slaughtered by Swiss farmers and merchants. Their reputation spread and they later fought to protect various foreign rulers and to this day there is a Swiss guard for the Pope. We saw a carving in a rock wall of a sad Lion which is a memorial commemorating all the Swiss soldiers who gave their lives protecting foreign royalty. It was designed by the Danish sculptor, Thorvaldson. Their flag is a white cross on a red field which these soldiers wore on their uniforms to let the enemy soldiers know whom they were fighting and to keep them from killing other Swiss soldiers who might be in the employ of the enemy.




As we traveled through the countryside, the grass was a lush green with rolling fields populated with cows and sheep.

This is a day for varied types of transportation. Early I walked, then we drove to Lucerne, after that we walked again, then took a cable car up the mountain (actually 2- a small one, then a larger one—where personal space was forgotten) then we walked around atop the mountain. The atmosphere had been really cloudy (foggy) in Lucerne, but we rose above the fog (6000 ft) to find the top of the mountain refreshingly sunny. So sunny in fact, that I’m not sure my pictures will be very good. We’ll see when I download them. After visiting the top of the mountain, we descended on the steepest cogwheel train in the world. The angle of decent was 48% in some places. After the train, we took a boat ride on Lake Lucerne. We had lunch on the boat, I had sausages and bread, while the others had tomato soup. It was served rather elegantly. I was surprised to find the boat almost empty. Kurt explained that the Swiss who visit the top of the mountain, like to stay in the sun as long as possible and come down as it is getting dark. We had places to go and things to do, so we left the mountain early.



Brother Bill and Marion on the mountain




The mountain we visited is called Pilatus--so named because legend has it that Pontius Pilate was buried here- the Roman Christians, not wanting him buried in their countries.








During the day, we visited two churches. The Hofkierhe had the largest pipe organ in Europe with 6,000 pipes. We did not hear it played. The other was a Jesuit church with absolutely ornate decoration. Nothing like we saw in Spain, but unique in its own way. And of course, no photos allowed. I do understand this prohibition, but I'll have to try to scan my postcards.

On our return to Lucerne, we walked around the old town using two wooden bridges. Interestingly enough the bridges are named. We walked down the “Dance of the Dead” bridge which has ghoulish paintings to frighten people, although I was not a bit afraid.
The other bridge is called the Chapel Bridge which was covered with baskets of flowers on the outside.



This is where we heard 2 different musicians- a cellist and an accordion player playing for donations. Old town Lucerne is also where we saw the “Needle Dam” which helps regulate the water levels between the river and the lake.
We did a little shopping in Lucerne- postcards for B and M’s grandchildren and friends and I bought a couple of things for special people. I bought me a belt, also, cuz the jeans I brought were stretching and I didn’t want to loose them and embarrass everyone.

Tomorrow we leave Lucerne for Lake Constance and the visit with relatives.
I am collecting interesting and strange words which I will group together in one post later on.