Dad

My dad is on his sabbatical, which he'd already planned before we knew we were moving to Switzerland. He spent a few weeks touring sites relevant to the life of John Wesley in England, then to the Martin Luther trail in Germany, passing through our village last weekend on his way down through Switzerland to see the Alps and other Reformation and Zwingli sites.

Last weekend A. and I joined him to see Zurich. It's only 45 minutes away by car or train, but we rarely go because it's expensive to get there and expensive to do anything there ($20 for a movie ticket, $25 for a single plate of food). We just strolled around photographing things, toured the Grosse Munster church, had lunch at McDonald's and then took a short train ride up a nearby hillside to look down over the city and Lake Zurich at sunset. Standing on that hill, it was an amazing experience to hear the entire city begin to reverberate with what sounded like hundreds of church bells at 7 p.m.

Sunday, we took a quick afternoon drive to Appenzell, the traditional heart of Switzerland, and strolled around the village snapping photos of the painted window shutter and building designs unique to that area, trying a locally made pastry (Biber) with coffee and trying not to gag at the strong smell of pungent cheese wafting out the doors of several cheese shops.

Tomorrow night we take the train to join Dad in Geneva to see more Reformation sites associated with John Calvin, then on to see Chateau de Chillon on the tip of Lake Geneva. From there we'll drive over to the Matterhorn for a couple of days and then back home. At that point I'll meet up with a friend who's coming over for a week and the two of us will make our way through the heart of Switzerland again.

It's going to be a great weekend and week!