From The Dubois County Daily Herald
Thursday, January 13, 1955
HARK THE HERALD
Switzerland , Its Alps, Lakes, Cities
by A. T. Rumbach
Perhaps I put the cart before the horse when I took you on our last trip to Pfaffenweiler. I must back-tract to October 13, 1954, when we got up early to be on our way to Switzerland. We made the trip in a small bus, owned and chauffeured by Herr Buehler of Emmendingen, starting at 8 A. M. sharp.
The morning was clear and crisp; the frosty air congealed the windows of the bus, obscuring the view of the Black Forest hills as we headed for the Swiss border. At any rate, we have seen most of this scenery on previous trips, and now we had our minds on the big league of the Scenery World, the Alps of Switzerland. This is no reflection on the Schwarzwald, which can not be beaten for variety of scenery and places of interest. And after all, more people see and enjoy the minor league, semi-pro and amateur games by far than the big leagues.
At 10 A. M., we were on the outskirts of Basel, gateway to Switzerland, going through customs. Upon entering Basel, the first thing that attracted our attention was the big muenster. So we paused to stretch our legs and to view the beautiful church. Like so many other large cathedrals of Central Europe, this one traces its origin to the eleventh century, going through different stages of construction and rebuilding during the 12 th to 15 th centuries. It passed to the control of Evangelical church when Basel was taken over by the Protestants after the Reformation. It contains many statues, paintings and stained-glass works of art by great artists of the Middle Ages and of modern times.
As we proceeded on our way, the landscape, which at first was rather flat, began to be dominated by rolling hills, the foot hills of the Alps; these grew in frequency and in stature as we went on and on to Lucerne, where the majestic hulk of the Pilatus and the Riggi tower skyward. These mountains seem to rise out of the mirror surface of beautiful Vier-waldstetter see, one of Switzerland’s largest and prettiest lakes, with the gem of Lucerne twining its branches of streets and the foliage of granite buildings around the mirror.
It is strange how persistent, demanding and punctual the desire for food is in the human body. We needed no clock to remind us that the noon hour had arrived – our appetite sharpened by the crisp afternoon air and the long ride from Reute, brought enough pressure to bear on our consciousness, obscured partly as it was the magic of the lake, the mountains and the city, to force a halt as we parked the bus at the Bahnhof Parkplatz (depot parking area)
We chose the Bahnhof restaurant, where we had an excellent dinner for about six Swiss francs (about $1.25), which included a stein of real Munencher Bier. I chose goulash served with steamed rice, a stuffed tomato with baby shrimp, Swiss chard, Swiss cheese and mocca (coffee) ice cream. Rejuvenated by this excellent fare, we set out on foot to “do the city”. We took the trail along the lake front, pausing to watch the graceful flight of sea-gulls, swans, geese of various breeds and other waterfowl under the protection of the law. We three morsels of bread into space and watched the gulls swoop down to catch them with their bills before the bread hit the water.
Our first concern was to change dollars and Deutsche marks into French francs. We then invaded a grocery store where, at the request of Klara, our ubiquitous guide, each of us purchased two pounds of “ Bohnenkaffee” (bean coffee), the limit allowed each traveler coming from Switzerland into Germany. (Coffee is much cheaper and more plentiful in Switzerland than it is in Germany.) After window shopping along the store windows on the boulevard, we crossed the picturesque wooden bridge across the upper end of the lake, looking at the pictures and inscriptions over the archways of each section of the bridge.