September 24, 2012

Greetings everyone and happy fall. It is BEAUTIFUL outside. Since I last wrote, a month of classes has zoomed by and I have traveled to Switzerland and Pennsylvania. Matt and I also celebrated mom’s birthday in early September. I want to share some of these recent adventures while they are still fresh in my mind. The Swiss trip was an adventure shared with Dad and Scott. Dad developed a close friendship with the Kosts, a German family long ago when he was in the army. He has maintained this relationship for decades. This trip coincided with a family reunion at a Swiss chalet. I was thrilled to meet some of the people I have heard so much about for years. I was also very grateful for the opportunity to get outside and breathe some fresh air for a few days. The trip did not disappoint. I got to eat lots of great cheese and chocolate, drink wine, hike among meadows, mountains and cows, and practice my German for a full week.

Dad, Scott and I met up in Geneva. After a long flight, I was a little bit loopy but very excited not only to see my own family but also to meet the Kosts. We took a train up to Sion, which is in the Valais region of Switzerland, which is just south of the route I took hiking across Switzerland 10 years ago.

Gitte and Stoffel, the organizers of the trip, met us at the train station and transported us up up up to the chalet where we would spend the next seven days. The landscape was beautiful and much as I remembered it. The first night was relatively peaceful. We Crowleys had the chalet to ourselves and Gitte and Stoffel stayed in their trusty all terrain recreational vehicle that has taken them all over the world. The remaining days became increasingly more social as additional family members arrived.

Gitte and Stoffel did a most excellent job planning a week of adventures for us. For the most part, our days were filled with hiking up and down mountainsides. Our first full day in Switzerland we took a ski funicular up the slopes from Veysonnaz (the town near our chalet). The ride was stellar. Scott and I were then left to our own devices to hike. The others stayed behind with little cousins Mark and Schnecke. On the way back, we stopped in Veysonnaz at a little pub and enjoyed a few local beers and caught up on everything we haven’t known about each other for the past 8 months. It was great. Our second day was devoted to a family picnic. We went up to a pass called AlpenMoos, which is east of Sion. It was lovely. Rain came just as we were finishing up with the feast. We quickly packed and headed down the mountain. However, we had time to stop at the “Panorama Restaurant”, which was closed but very picturesque. We ate our dessert and enjoyed the venue’s flowers and stunning views.

Our third day took us on a hike along the Bietschbock River, where a train once ran. Short tunnels were regularly blasted into the metamorphic hillside. I loved it. We kept walking in and out of darkness. Scott and I even explored down into a little hole that wound up being another tunnel. The area reminded me very much of both Colorado and California. It was dry, hot and sunny. There were lovely trees and flowers and views. It felt GREAT to stretch my legs. At the end of the walk, Scott and I grabbed a tasty Apfelmost (Cider). Then we headed down to Raron, the town below the trail. Raron has two churches – one on top of an impressive rock outcrop, the other within. We didn’t get to check out the historic church on top of the rock but we did visit the church inside the rock. Everything about it screamed 1970’s including the wood, the stained glass, and the carpet. Definitely a unique venue.

Midweek we had rain so instead of hiking we visited the Fondation Pierre Gianadda art museum in Martigny. Dad, Scott and I escaped the rather claustrophobic main building and found ourselves in a soggy but lovely sculpture garden. We then found our way to a building that was devoted entirely to Leonardo DaVinci. We got to see facsimiles of flying machines, war machines, chronometric machines, bridges, and anatomy, and models that were based on his sketches. I enjoyed this immensely. We also got the opportunity to look at some very neat early cars. The oldest models really reminded me of carriages or stagecoaches. Dinner was a unique Swiss specialty – melted Raclette cheese with potatoes and pickled vegetables. The meal was both tasty and interesting. A half wheel of the cheese is placed in a specially designed cradle and the top is broiled under a hot coil. Then a thin layer of the cheese is deftly wiped onto an empty plate, veggies are added, and voila, it’s dinnertime. The house smelled like Raclette for at least 48 hours after we made this meal.

Good weather returned after just one day of rain. Our last few days were spent exploring the slopes above a vineyard in Tschangerang, which is just above the town of Salgesch, and taking a massive hike in the area of Jeizinen/ Gampel. On our vineyard day, we first walked along a road winding through the vineyard and ate as many tasty grapes as possible. Several of us then walked up the mountain above the vineyards. I had thought that this would be a short hike. Not so. It took us three hours to hike up the hillside and back down again. We passed through several different vegetation types including oak forest and pine forest. Each had its own feel. There were numerous overlooks with stunning views. On the way down, we walked along a bisse, which is a small, diverted stream for agriculture that runs in a roughly horizontal path along a hillside. We actually walked along several of these during our many jaunts. Their relatively flat topography and shade from streamside trees made them very welcoming. We rejoined the rest of the group, returned home and celebrated Spitzmaus’ birthday. It was great. Lots of cake, good Spanish cheese from Scott, a little Frizenet and magic from Dad. All in all a lovely day followed by an excellent evening.

Our last day as a group involved a pretty major hike. We took a funicular to Jeizinen, which is just above Gampel (on the French Swiss/German Swiss border). We got off the funicular, had time to pee, and then started walking up the hill through town. We hiked up up up and finally reached a little village, which I believe is called Underi Fäsilalpu. We scavenged through our packs and consumed a bit of chocolate, pistachios, and dried fruit. I took a little nap in the sun and then we headed down down down. At one point as we were walking down a steep pasture hill (which I suspect may be a ski course in the winter) we discovered that we were being followed by a herd of galloping cows. We quickly made our way over a nearby electrical fence and then watched the cows come by. They were big muscular cows with very big bells belted to their necks. When they called to each other they didn’t moo – they bellowed! Apparently these are the cows that lock horns and battle each other in the local kuhkampf competitions. That’s something that might be worth watching. Then we left the cows behind and walked down through some dappled forest back to Jeizinen. As we arrived in town, I was pleased. I was a bit tired and thirsty (we had been hiking for 3 hours) and I was ready to take the funicular down the mountain. But the group continued on, without a backward glance, down the mountain trail. No funicular for me. About 70 minutes and 3,000 vertical feet later, we arrived at the valley floor. Now that was not the day I was expecting but it certainly was memorable!

And then it was time to pack up and say goodbye. I unfortunately managed to delete my photos off of my camera drive five minutes before we all parted ways, which made me that rather emotional. Luckily, Jonas, Gitte and Stoffel’s son, was able to retrieve the vast majority of my photos later that day. Nevertheless, I endured a few hours of feeling rather low. Dad, Scott and I were slated to all take a train back to Geneva together. Rather than spend a few hours together in Geneva, which is expensive and perhaps not so exciting, we decided to spend a few hours in Sion. What a charming little town, and I had no idea! It boasts some old narrow winding streets and stairs that embody much of what I like most about Europe. We hiked up what seemed like alleys and backyards to the Castle Château De Valère, which sits above the town on a rocky outcrop. The views were superb and the exploring free. The chapel boasts the oldest playable pipe organ in the world and at least 100 years of graffiti. We bought some bread, cheese, peppers and beer at a local discount store, and then consumed our feast sitting on a shady wall on a quiet street. All too soon it was time to catch the train to Geneva. Jonas and his wife Sabina came to see us off and deliver my retrieved photos. After this, my spirits were a bit higher. I spent a night at Heathrow (sleeping in the Hilton rather than on the floor) and eventually made my way back to Cincinnati.

I had enough time to catch up on some work in Cincinnati and then Matt and I headed out of town again to attend a wedding near Philadelphia. We had a fantastic weekend. First we visited Matt’s brother, Dan, in Wilmington Delaware. Dan showed us a great time. We got to see a bit of his neighborhood, enjoy some live music and tasty food at the eclectic Bellefonte Café. The motto of the restaurant is “slow food”. So we enjoyed some drinks and music and spent a couple of hours awaiting our meal (which was excellent). The wedding was in Willow Grove, PA. This was a most delightful function. I got to meet some of Matt’s old friends while drinking some marvelous local beer at a 100-year-old hunting club. The weather was perfect. Today we spent a few hours in Philadelphia before returning home. We had a tough time deciding on exactly what to see in the amount of time allotted. The Eastern State Penitentiary won. We made the right decision. This has to be close to the perfect thing to do for a few hours on a fall afternoon. I learned a tremendous amount about the early penitentiary systems in the US and very much enjoyed wandering through the decaying buildings and thinking about what life would have been like as an inmate. I highly recommend a visit.

And so ends this round of adventures. The rest of the fall should be less eventful. I am giving a number of guest lectures and will hopefully be in the Bay Area in December for a conference, but otherwise, I shouldn’t be straying too far from home. I wish you all a very lovely fall.

Brooke