Saturday to Geneva

We woke up this morning hearing unusual sounds coming from the town square below our room. When we looked out, we saw an open market being set up for the day. We went down as soon as we could and found that on Saturday mornings a market with organic produce, breads, cheeses, flowers, plants and other items takes over the square.

One young lady was tossing the most georgeous salad I had ever seen. It had all types of lettuce and greenery in it, plus several edible flowers. Of course I bought some. We also purchased some fresh cheese, a few slices of a delightful wheat bread, a tomato to add to my salad, and some sort of apple dessert. We rushed back upstairs to our room to store our "treasures" until it was time for lunch.

Today we explored the village church, which dates from 1300. There is an organ concert scheduled to be held in the church building tomorrow afternoon, and the organist was rehearsing when we went in, so while we were there we got a free organ concert. Yesterday alphorns, today organs!

Our next stop was the castle, which was built between 1180 and 1190. It is currently being used for a museum, but we went in mainly to see the building itself...the large hall, and of course the turrets in the corners. We climbed up in two of them and I took a photo of my prince charming looking out of one of the towers.

We returned to our room for our feast from the market, and it was all wonderful. We discussed our plans for the afternoon. After our ten-mile adventure yesterday, we wisely decided that today should not be so ambitious. We decided to take a train to Geneva, Switzerland. Our reasoning was that (1) riding a train is restful, (2) this would give us an opportunity to see another part of Switzerland, (3) and a train ride anywhere is covered in our rail pass, so it wouldn't cost us anything extra.

So, we boarded a train and headed to Geneva. We traveled past Swiss farmland with the Alps visible in the distance. We passed cornfields, vineyards, beautful Lake Geneva, and even a castle or two. On part of the trip we were looking at the mountains on the other side of Lake Geneva, which were in France. We got to see France's snow-covered Mont Blanc in the distance.

Once in Geneva, we didn't do much. The object of the trip was the trip itself, not the destination. However, we walked down to the lake, which had a huge fountain near the other side of the lake. There was a lovely promenade beside the lake, but walkers there must watch out for skateboarders, rollerbladers and senior citizens with hiking poles!

We took a different route back to Thun. This time the train ran through a valley with mountains on each side. We arrived back in Thun at dusk and some of the local guys were having some sort of contest on the river that runs through town. We were not sure of the rules, but each one had to stand on something that looked very much like a surfboard, and using a paddle, maneuver his craft around markers in the river. The one who finished first won. We watched them for several minutes before returning to the room.

Tomorrow is a terrible anniversary for all US citizens. We are thinking about our country and remembering the awful events of that day. We have no access to TV where we are staying, but we can only imagine what the news sources are saying in the US. It is so calm and peaceful here. We will be praying for calm and peace to be nationwide in our homeland tomorrow...and always.