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.
1 comment:
that library looks like Hogwarts.
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