A Swiss Memory

When I was growing up we lived in Germany for two of Dad's tours in the Army. The second time we were in Germany and our first summer back we decided to camp in the Black Forest of Germany. This was a region that we really hadn't ever been in before and we were really quite excited about going. Dad set the tent up in a light drizzle and then it rained and rained and rained. It rained so bad that even though Dad had trenched the tent properly, underneath the tent, it was so muddy it was like walking through several inches of mud but your feet stayed dry. Mom and Dad were concerned we might rupture the floor so we had to stay on the cots unless absolutely necessary. The final straw was Dad dropped a paring knife on the floor of the tent. Then every time someone walked there was a little fountain of water squirting up! Dad looked at us and said, "Does everyone have their passport?" We all did and he had his so we packed up our soaking wet tent and loaded up our white Ford Comet Station wagon (I think it was a 1961 and this was 1969 - we called it Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and we headed for Switzerland.

This is the summer we found the camping spot in Interlocken Switzerland that we would stay at every time we went back from then on. It was just at the base of the Jungfrau mountain and it was beautiful. The owners spoke broken English but it was the German part of Switzerland so we got along quite well. The owners took us into their family to the point that they even invited us into their home for home cooked cheese fondue (truly the best cheese fondue I have ever tasted and it was all from scratch - Marianne and I helped make it). They got us tickets to the "William Tell Pageant" an outdoor panorama of the retelling of how William Tell freed the Swiss and told us the sites to see. From then on - whenever we had any free time Switzerland was our choice to and this was the campsite we stayed at.

The next summer Bob had gone back to the States to work on our uncles farm. Marianne and I read in the tent and shopped at the little store for fresh brotchen and grape juice (or whatever fresh juice she had that day) and fresh cheese for our lunch. She also had some fresh goodies for our dessert. That was the summer I read REBECCA by Daphen DuMaurier and was so caught up in that book. It was a fun summer. Mom and Dad were able to go the temple several times because the Temple in Bern wasn't that far away. I am not sure what Marianne read but in the afternoons when Mom and Dad came back, we would go hiking and wandering around the area. That was also the year that Dad took us up the the Jungfrau. I laid on the side of mountain for over and hour and watched avalanches falling from this side of the Jungfrau. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

One of our other favorite destinations was Trummelbach Falls. This is truly indescribable. They are so fast and furious that they have cut deep into the side of the mountain. A tree that gets caught up in the falls at the top is ground to nothing by the time it hits the bottom. You would think there would be debris and twigs at the bottom of the falls where it meets the river - there is nothing - just a fast moving river. It is an amazing and truly breathtaking site.

What brought back this memory. I watched a PBS special on the trains of Switzerland. The one the other day was the one of the Jungfrau. I envy my sister, Marianne, because she and her husband were able to go back this last year and see some of our favorite sites. Switzerland will always have a soft spot in our hearts. Maybe it is because our 'Brugger' ancestors came from Switzerland.