It felt strange to be in Switzerland and for it to be so warm. It was a rough night because of the heat. Went to sleep with a wet towel on me, woke up at 3 am feeling like I couldn’t breathe – opened the windows which helped some.
Colin has had a sore throat which isn’t much fun and Graeme’s back is not great from hauling heavy bags around.
We got up and headed out. G&B had a rough morning = broke a glass bottle of foundation in the bathroom, sore back, lack of sleep. We went to Lidl and got pastries and coffee. We headed to the big Glockenspiel for 10 to see the mechanism – it was a wee bit disappointing. We wandered around Old Town and made our way to the Munster. The 4 of us and Becky climbed to the top – it was amazing. Incredible views. It’s interesting to go into all the different types of churches – Catholic, reformed Swiss, Segrada. We went and hung out at a park nearby = it was very cool because it had a lot of built in activities – table tennis, trampolines, spinners, sand boxes – Münsterplattform .
We made our way to the Bern Bears and even managed to see them. We rode the World’s Shortest Funicular down to the river and sat for quite a while with our feet in the river – amazing! The color of the water is brilliant turquoise blue. We met some Palestinian Muslims from Glasgow with a son named Zayn – they were driving to Serbia. So cool to chat to them, what an interesting background. The father told us about the meaning of the name Zayn. We then took a tram back to the City center and got picnic supplies for the Gurten which is the mountain/park that overlooks the city. Took a tram/bus to the funicular and rode up. There was a bit of rain, but we sheltered under a tree and had a lovely picnic. We explored the park a bit, found another tower to climb and enjoyed more views.
We sat around for a while and just talked and laughed. it was good for the boys to have some physical time = they did box jumps, wrestling, jumping. We all spelled out EUROPE on some rock stands. Graeme squashed a stink bug on his face, he tried to clean it off, when Becky smelled it, she sounded like a horse. We laughed so hard. I loaned Graeme a sanitizing wipe, when he was done with it, he tried to give it back to me. More laughter. I share these jokes, not because I think anyone else will think they are funny, but because they have become the shared history and language of this journey and this friendship. As we were heading back to the funicular, we passed another water fountain and had a grand water fight.
We headed back down the mountain and into town. We went back to the big clock since we had missed a bit the first time = it still wasn’t very impressive. Back to the hotel for a wee rest before heading out for kebabs again. We went back to the first place and the guy was super nice = he gave us a discount since he couldn’t serve us the first night. We took it to another park, Kleine Schanze, the first one we saw. It was lovely just hanging out. The park was full of people chatting and having dinner. We finally drank our Italian spritz, Aperol Spritz = it was very odd – super sweet at the start and bitter at the end – not our fav.
After dinner, Graeme decided to head back and have a sauna to try and sort his back out. The rest of us hopped on the first tram that came along and rode to the end of the line. We ended up at a place called Westside – an area and a mall. We got out and went to the mall in hopes of getting a drink, but almost everything was closed. The ride had taken us thru slightly less fancy areas, more real people areas, but it still felt quite safe and clean. We got back on the tram and headed back to our hotel.
We managed to get some fans, opened the windows early, so it was a bit cooler. It took me some time to get to sleep because I had some thoughts I needed to write down. So I sat at the window in the dark and wrote what I needed to before getting to bed around 1 am.
Thursday, June 22, 2023 1220 am
There is no doubt that this journey is very stressful on so many levels – physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally. We are having an adventure, not a vacation. Every 2-3 days we are entering a new culture and often a new language. We are navigating timetables and accommodation, we are hauling around 3 weeks worth of stuff. We are making major and minor decisions constantly. Where to spend our time and money at each place we go. What to eat, when to eat. Trying to stay hydrated and healthy. We are juggling different tastes, desires and needs within our group. We are all dealing with varying levels of physical discomfort from major illness to significant injury to minor bumps, bruises, sunburns and bug bites.
At the same time we are giving and receiving lots of grace when things go pear shaped or we have a bad attitude or make a bad decision. We are recalling and creating memories from moment to moment. We’re laughing so much – at ourselves, at each other, at our situations, at parts of the cultures that we find amusing. We make immature jokes and move into discussions about our hopes, our dreams and our heartbreaks. We’ve given and received generosity, wisdom, encouragement, and correction.
Each city that we have been in has felt like a different holiday, a different trip. Things in each place have been difficult and beautiful. We’ve realized that we can’t do everything, see everything , eat everything, we just have to experience what we can in the time we have. We also need to rest every now and then.
We’re halfway thru, having done 4 cities (5 if you count Vatican City, and we do) with 4 to go. I am constantly aware that this is a dream, an honor and a privilege that most people in the world will never get to experience. Help us to make the most of it, to soak it in, to create lasting memories. Thank you for these traveling companions. Thank you for this adventure.
Lamppostings 