Greetings one and all.
Hope this edition of our Blog finds you all enjoying life and that you had a great Easter with Friends and Family. Commiseration's to those of you who had to work. I fully understand after doing about 30 Easters working / people minding at Deep Creek. Nice to have passed THAT baton on. Although I must admit, that most of the time it was great watching people with families enjoying a great time.
Our Easter began with a beautiful dusting of snow on Good Friday which turned the hills a brilliant white and watching the big flakes gently fall was just the most wonderful sight. This was a first for me, I have never had a "White Easter" before. It didn't last long and next day the sun came out and melted off most of the snow except for the higher hills about the village. The nearby mountains looked absolutely stunning with their fresh mantle of snow when the sun shone onto the peaks.
On Easter Sunday at 7am, the Church bells in the village and those nearby all combined to echo across the hills and through the valley for about 15 minutes which let everyone know that Easter was here and THIS is what it is about. So much so, that we also went to mass, which for me was a novelty. I hadn't been to a church service since the Seventh Day Adventist service in the highlands of Papua New Guinea back in 2009. Religion isn't my thing, but the cultural aspects associated with it does fascinate me as did this mass. Hearing a mass in Schweiz Deutsch (Swiss German), with a smattering of Latin, a Scottish accent singing the hymns in English along side of me, all accompanied to much baroque organ music certainly was different!
The 1st thing that hit me (apart from the lady in front of me with the very short and very tight dress) was how Spartan the village church was. The usual Catholic bling was non existent (Fransicans? They usually frown upon the bling). Next was the lack of my perceived Germanic blond hair and blue eyed people. Most of this mob were dark haired and had skin tones not in keeping with Germanic / Nordic stereo types. OK - we are relatively close to Italy, but this seemed so out of place. Not sure what skin tones the original Helvetic Celts of this area were, but it suggested anything but my perception of Germanic / Nordic people. Maybe it was the result of a couple of hundred years of Roman occupation back in the day.
One thing was for certain though - there were a lot of very pious and devout Catholics that had came down from the hills / mountains and it was obvious that the church still plays a significant role in maintaining the cultural aspects of the people in this area. The congregation were of all ages and the well practiced verses along with the associated traditional ceremonial things that make up a mass (and are a total mystery to me) are still very strongly adhered to and ingrained into the young. A big portion of followers were in their late teens and early 20's some with very young children, which was a bit of a surprise and as said - the well practiced words and ceremony certainly didn't indicate they were once a year Catholics trying to wipe the slate clean.
Easter Monday saw us heading to a concert by the Ugandian Children's Choir in the village. Now this was advertised as Gospel and Traditional Music so it sounded like it would be interesting and so it was. Turned out it was a full on Pentecostal / Revivalist session. I subsequently found out that "I've got a friend in Jesus", "Jesus loves me" and "Jesus will light my path" (without a torch apparently). Also, that if I waved my hands in the air a lot I may be able to jump the cue to heaven because it attracted Jesus's attention better or something like that??
The kids were great though and went through their slick moves and songs with much fervour that even got one or two of the staid Swiss out of their chairs yelling "Hallelujah mien Brudders und Schwiesters". This was exactly the same stuff I saw on many occasions in Papua New Guinea at the Port Morseby Friday sessions. The previously said staid audience were actually tapping their feet and politely clapping when required and joining in english to the chorus, but when the group switched to the traditional stuff the whole auditorium went crazy.
Now that was great to see.The drummers pounded away for all they were worth and the children were just wonderful as they danced about the small stage. It was very obvious that this stuff stirred their blood and the small crowd of all white country folk appreciated what they were seeing as they got up out of their chairs and danced and clapped along with the hypnotic beat that reverberated through the building and up the main street.
Phil's knee was on the improve, so we did a few walks about the local area through the forests and the meadows which was absolutely great. The trees are now in full foliage and the flowers are in their full spring bloom creating a wonderfully scented experience along the wander-wegs that criss cross the area.
On Thursday we got up at 0600 and did a day trip heading down to Lausanne by train, then a 2 hour trip on Lake Geneva to Montreux on a beautiful 1910 paddle steamer. How good was that? Snow covered peaks rose steeply from across the lake in Evian, France on the opposite shore casting "magnifique reflexions" across the silky smooth water. Just stunning! This part of Switzerland is in the French speaking part, which can be a bit confusing. There is no official border as such, but the signs just change from Swiss German to French without any warning. One minute it is Gruezi, Tschuss und Danke the next it is Bon Jour, Aurevoir et Merci.
In Montreux, famous for it's Jazz Festivals and burning casino's (Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple circa 1970's) we joined the locals and visitors from all nations, walking around the "Promenade de Fleurs" along the shores of Lake Geneva revelling in the atmosphere. We also did the obligatory photo session with the statue of Freddy Mercury - Queen, (who loved the place and lived here), purchased a Swiss Army knife and drank coffee on the lake shore as one must.
Phil worked in Montreux back in the early 80's and her brother Peter worked in Glion high above Montreux for more than decade in his late teens and twenties. This place holds a lot of wonderful memories. So up we went on the funicular - a very, very steep cable car to Glion where the sweeping view of Lake Geneva, the French Alps and Montreux is truly one of those sights to inspire - we were so inspired that we had a beer at the Buffet de la Gare.
The trip back "home" was via the Golden Pass Panorama train that takes a very circuitous route up over and through awesome snow covered peaks and through the town of Gstadd at about 2,000m ASL. I could go on and on, but by now I'm sure you're well and truly over the ongoing, repetitive expletives, so I won't OK! We staggered back in the door just after midnight, 18 hours later rather stuffed from our big day out, but the head and camera was full of wonderful memories and photos.
To finish off the week we did our ANZAC Australian tribute by wandering up to the local forest park with a few snags, a coupla coldies, lit a barby and to remember those who didn't come back from the wars and those who put it up there for Australia instead of talking about it. On ya troops. "Lest we forget"!
Happy Birthday Naomi.
Best wishes and lotsa love to you all.
Philomena & Volker
xxx
