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Introduction Stories... |
August 3, 1986 on Victoria-Lauberhorn stationery in Wengen, Switzerland Dear Don and Sally,
It’s hard to believe that 2 days ago I was in Eugene, Oregon! Currently, it’s 9:15 p.m. and we just finished dinner in the Victoria-Lauberhorn restaurant. We are now back in our room and Jack is on the terrace “writing” on his computer, and I am sitting just inside the double doors to the terrace looking out over the pasture, town, and hills...backed up by the spectacular Jungfrau Mts. It has been an absolutely clear day, low humidity, and I would guess temperatures in the 80's. In fact now it’s pleasantly cool. If you’ll read Mountain Adventures: Destination II: Wengen, you’ll have a grasp of our day...except that it was even better than described. I usually manage to have high expectations and today I underestimated. In fact, we so fell in love with Wengen; we are staying another night. We arrived in Wengen about noon, secured our room and had lunch, and then took a 3-hour hike into the hills. Absolutely beautiful! Since it was Sunday, there were lots of day hikers and families. I think the Swiss must start hiking when they’re 2 and quit when they are 102! They look robust, healthy, and the women have very thick legs. The real Swiss have hiking boots on; the foreigners have jogging shoes; and Jack and I are inbetween with our Rockport Pro-Walkers. No one could tell our nationality. I had an interesting reaction when we stopped at Sachseln today. It was a very small village, but there was a bus full of tourists evidently interested in St. Nicholas of the Flue (whoever that was). The bus emptied and we were all walking down to the lake together and finally I turned to Jack and said, “All these women look like Mom” and they did with a few Aunt Dorothy’s thrown in. I think they were German but might have been Swiss. Most of the women were plump, pleasant (nice people-like) looking, looked like they had worked hard, and had on a “frock.” The couple that reminded me of Aunt Dorothy had their hard pulled back tight. Aunt Bernice escaped this group...maybe she’ll be in Austria. Lucern was nice by the way. Of course we were dog tired but the city reminded us much of Salzburg and I would go back later at a more leisurely pace. The flight here was hard...there is no easy way to get from the West Coast to central Europe in Economy Class without feeling like a cattle car. If only my pocketbook matched my first class desires! A comment on food. Have you ever had birchmuseli? It was my favorite food when I was in Europe in 1979. It’s a combination of nuts, fruit, and grains with mild or cream. Within 2 hours of arrival I had procured and eaten my first of many...I hope. My other food comment is that the Swiss make the “best” salad bar. The U.S. are amateurs at such things. I’ve had 2 so far and they are marvelous. That’s today’s Swiss report. Keep tuned. Love, Theresa P.S. the 250 gallon ziploc bags are working out marvelously. (Theresa had used a packing system that used ziploc bags to separate items in her 3-compartment suitcase.) |
