Thun, Switzerland January 2003 | |
Asleep on the train from Gstaad to Thun. My head rests on a multicolored scarf that Jane knitted for me. My ski instructor Gabby had suggested Thun would make a lovely one day trip - mangeable medieval strolling. | |
Tiled open-faced sandwiches in a Thun shop window. | |
A large dolphin adorns this recycling box for milk jugs, plastic bottles, and batteries. | |
In the Migros, a popular mega-mart chain, a gently sloped escalator promises a rise and fall for people and shopping carts alike. | |
In the Frozen Fondue section of the supermarket, Jane points, wondering with me, "What is Fondue Chinoise?" - much like Japanese shabu-shabu as it turns out - waving raw beef through steaming soup mixture with vegetables. | |
Impartial conduct during some European wars has left much of Switzerland intact: medieval buildings unscarred by mortar fire. Here is ye olde looking streete in Thun; like many of the larger towns we visited it had a core "Old City" full of old buildings in its center. | |
Uneven rooftops of Thun, just below the castle on the fortified hill. | |
Next to a traditionally psychedlic red and black painted door, someone spraypainted "Just Want the $!" This was near the top of the fortified hill of Thun, where the current-day castle embattlements make a great place for Thun's teenagers to smoke hash and look out over the city. | |
A posted advertisement in the window of a catch-all thrift store - something, "Oldtimerfahrt." There were plenty of stores selling old things in Switzerland. Some sold oil paintings and artifacts. This store sold people's things - wooden tools, Swiss military uniforms, books in German. I bought a small gray/green canvas belt pouch. | |
Jane stands before Zorg's Tower, a delicious combination of wooden/plaster structure nestled into an old stone wall. Available for parties! Jane says she wants to have her 33rd birthday there. | |
Switzerland had many small shops selling implements of pagan idolatry. | |
For 90$ a night at the Hotel Emmenthal, you could have this view from your Ikea-furnished bedroom. We found very few queen/king sized beds in Switzerland. Two people, one room? Twin beds. Maybe we didn't know how to ask. | |
After a few days attending a conference, we were free to choose our own eating. It had been cheese for three meals a day - small buffets or room service, delicious salty sour smelly lovely cheese. But now that we were on our own, we were free to up our cheese consumption - this first solo dinner we had delicious Raclette and Fondue. | |
2003 Switzerland: Gstaad | Thun | Bern | Geneva |
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