Coiffeur

One of the first places where my papa worked as a barber in Münsingen. He worked here for about a year before he went to New Zealand. When he came to visit before he passed, he said the house looks very much the same as it did when he worked there, some 60 years ago.

Medieval clocks and churches

Bern is truly a medieval town. It quite extraordinary to see the houses and fountains and clocks that have been here for centuries.

A church built about the same time as the Notre Dame in Paris.

Where Einstein lived in Bern. Unfortunately the museum there is closed for renovation so we saw only the exterior.

A beautiful walk near a castle and church where a wedding is going on. Quite a princess castle I think. I should love to get married here. These pictures unfortunately do not really do it justice.

Church near the castle

Double Rainbow

I cannot believe I already am leaving in a week. Although it will be so nice to be back at home, I should be very sad to leave. Last night, we enjoyed a lovely dinner on the terrace, enjoyed some laughs and talked about everything from religion, to the occupations of Werner's brothers and sisters, and about the huge extended family we have here (Werner is one of 10 children and his parents each had about the same amount of siblings)--And then we saw it...yep, a double rainbow. At first we just saw the single from, nearly from beginning to end (except for a tall tree blocking the middle of it) and then I saw the faintest image of another one just above it. It is very faint so I am not quite sure you can even see it in the picture, but it was definitely there.


The double rainbow

A beautiful little church in Schwarzenegg (no -er at the end) where we took a nice Sunday walk before lunch.

At the Beau Rivage, the owner always puts some nice flowers on the table for us as Catherine and Werner have been coming there for years. I tried to capture the nice intricate little green and pink one, which unfortunately did not come out quite as well as I hoped.

Lake Thun

Goethe

All of these photos I took while walking just through the fields outside the house.






über allen Gipfeln
ist Ruh,
in allen Wipfeln
spürest du
kaum einen Hauch.
Die Vögel schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
ruhest du auch.
--Goethe

(On all hilltops
There is peace,
In all treetops
You will hear
Hardly a breath.
Birds in the woods are silent.
Just wait, soon
You too will rest.)

'The purpose of poetry is not to dazzle us with an astonishing thought, but to make one moment of existence unforgettable and worthy of unbearable nostalgia.'
--Milan Kundera, Immortality

Another beautiful meal at the Beau Rivage, Catherine and Werner's favorite restaurant in Thun, and one of the best meals I have ever had. I really must remember to take my camera if we are to go again (which I am sure we will as we have gone three times already), for the food is always as beautiful as it is delicious, and the owner always places nice flowers on the table since Catherine and Werner have been going there since the restaurant opened 10 years ago.

Yesterday we had delicious beef with mushrooms and asparagus with a goat cheese cream sauce accompanied by a delectably sinful risotto and preceded by grilled shrimp. For dessert was a symphony of little bites of everything, creme brulee and chocolate mousse and ice cream and truffles galore, and followed by the requisite espresso and limoncello. The waitstaff is so friendly here and reminds me very much of my time in Italy a few years back.

Today Werner joked with me more: he told me that when one of the waiters says 'How do you do?', I am to say (I cannot remember the words in German) that he can spank my bottom. He had quite a laugh hearing me repeat the words--although I repeated them only to him, not the waiter of course. Afterwards, a man who looked like the now infamous Dominique Strauss-Kahn entered the restaurant and Werner told me to draw nearer to him if he happens to pass our table.
I so love being here. Even just driving through the little villages in the rain brought me such joy.



One of the oldest houses in Bern.

The gorgeous blue-green Thunersee ('See' meaning 'lake' in German, just a bit confusing for the English speaker)

I watched Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina for the first time a couple days ago and upon its conclusion (or even at its beginning) I could not believe that I had never seen it before. It is a most beautiful story, with just the right amount of predictability and suspense and the most extraordinary of characters. I should very much like to feel like Sabrina--a willful stubborness that gives way to a graceful sophistication and yet never lacking in imagination and a desire to always aspire to more than mediocrity.

On learning German

The path behind the farm where Uncle Werner and my papa used to take frequent walks.

From a walk near another beautifully bright castle.

I spent an afternoon with my Onkel Werner while Tante Catherine was at the doctor and we took a few nice walks, near castles and around the small farm school where he and my papa used to take walks when Werner was a child. We spoke an odd hybrid of German and English and with my handy pocket German dictionary (thank you Alex for giving this to me!), we were able to talk a bit of my papa and their family. Although my German is quite terrible to say the least, it was so nice to be able to talk with my Uncle. He was quite a bit younger than my grandfather, his brother, (about 15 years) so they were not particularly close but we spoke a bit about my grandfather and about their father, my great-grandfather, who was a furniture salesman and a very hard worker, Werner asserted. Our conversation even got so far that Werner imparted to me a piece of advice (ein Ratschlage), that I should not get married too young (for life is very long), unless I find a millionaire, he joked. But most important, he said was that I am independent before I get married, which I find to be excellent advice.

How important it is to know the language of another, I have realized. How much we glean and learn of another from the way in which they use their words. I do hope that I improve my German more during my stay here and particularly when I return for I should very much like to enjoy more conversation with my uncle. He is a very smart, humble and loyal man, with the Heimberg humor and suave nature which I believe he inherited from his father. I hope especially to better my German if only so that I may not appear so dull on receipt of his many jokes.