April 10, 2009
“Luzern, Lucerne, Luzerno”
There you have it in a nutshell. Switzerland. Everything is written in three languages, German, French and Italian, necessarily and by decree. I understand better why now as I’ve travelled a few thousand kilometers in total around this fine country over the past month. As a linguist-lover, nothing could be finer, but if only the three languages were German, Japanese, and English I’d be set. It’s just too bad that I can’t speak enough French or Italian to have even an unintelligent conversation, that would change a bit over the weekend, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I awoke on the first day of the Easter weekend and caught a bus 5 minutes to the main train station in Bern (Hauptbahnhof, that’s an important German word to know, but I don’t know if it would help you in the French or Italian sectors of Switzerland). The short one hour train ride to Luzern, my first semi-crosscountry train trip since arriving, was pleasant, with a mix of Germans & French quietly enjoying the morning scenery of green fields and mountains buzzing by in this “Chocolate Box” landscape.
As the train slowed into Luzern I caught a glimpse of Chateu Gütsch, which I thought was a castle but later learned was just a very, very expensive hotel and restaurant overlooking the city. Luzern is surrounded by what is commonly called Lake Luzern, but is actually Vierwaldstättersee, a huge body of water with everything from tour boats to paddle boats, looking very inviting on this bright sunny warm spring day. This was the scene that greeted me as I walked out of the train station with our friend Ihsan who lives in a nearby town.
Ihsan and I would spend the day together in Luzern, doing the walking-cappucino-walking tour thing for a few hours before heading to a Good Friday Fish Fry that I’ll not soon forget, followed by dinner with his wife at home, where I would be summoned to cook a fillet of Kenai River Red Salmon! (Salmon photo is out of sequence, we ate it for dinner, but it made more sense somehow to put it here…)
Luzern was really charming, with the lake, the surprisingly clear and clean looking river, the snow capped mountains all around, and the beautiful old buildings and ships.
After touring the city we headed to the Good Friday (Karfreitag) Fish Fry, where dozens of Swiss families from the local area, up on the hillsides above Luzern, had gathered to celebrate Good Friday with a good some good old fashioned pond fishing for Rainbows & Dollies, some trout smoking, some beer drinking, some Yodeling, and even some guitar playing…Summertime in Alaska, Jason Mraz I’m Your’s, Proud Mary, Margaritaville, and the like. Near as I could tell, the event wasn’t a fund raiser, just a fishing party, getting kids fishing much like we do back home. No real agenda, just fun, and food, and the weather was perfect which put everyone in a really really good mood.
It was a great time with some very friendly folks. The impromptu Yodelers, who were lead by Monica (who is the sister of my alpine ski partner Andy from a few weeks ago if you’ve been reading) were really spectacular. Andy & Monica’s Mom was there, 77 years old, and made the whole thing happen as a special welcome to Switzerland treat for the foreign guy. Who me? Foreign? I feel one moment like I’m part of the fabric of Switzerland, in the family, with close friends and in another moment I feel like a total alien that just landed in a SnowmobileSpaceShip CHChch. Go figure. It’s great though, really great.
The real Swiss Yodelers, above, with Monica on the left, and Andy below with his son Ian smoking trout for everyone’s lunch!
Lunch time!
Desert Time, tasty homemade cakes and streudels from some of the familys!
The next day, Saturday, we’d head early in the morning for northern Italy, to visit more fishing friends who we first met back home in Alaska. Coffee time!
