Miracle on the Street

While Julie and I were in Switzerland, our good friends, Steve and Jill Clark, house sat and took care of our dogs and fish. They have effected what I can only describe as a miracle which even Archbishop Rowan (Atkinson?) would count beatific.

Katie, our Corgi dog, doesn't bark at passing cars on her walks anymore. Apparently Steve effectuated the transformation by taking her on two walks each day -- one in the morning and another at the end of the day. He told me that when a car approached on a walk he would hold Katie and talk in a comforting voice. Well, I did that before I left, but Katie would still snarl and spin when a vehicle got close. But I only walked her once a day, and honestly, sometimes not that frequently. But with two walks, she looks away when the cars come and sometimes she just lies down and waits for the car to pass before resuming her little short-legged gait.

Ollie seems to be slowing down a bit. I take her on one walk in the morning. She can barely struggle along sometimes. Her legs are becoming weaker and she seems startled while walking and nearly falls over. She still eats well and seems to enjoy life at the ripe ol' age of 16.

Arrived Home

Julie and I arrived home late Saturday evening without incident thankfully. I always get a little nervous when on the late flights out of New York, but there were no problems.

It's going to take a couple of couple days I imagine to get used to staying up in the evenings. We couldn't even finish watching the Cowboys game Sunday night we were so zapped. Julie was up at 6:15 am and ready to go. That's some kind of record I think for voluntarily getting out of bed. I mean the alarm hadn't even gone off yet.

We had some friends from Cedar Hill house-sit and take care of the pets while we were gone. Thanks to Steve and Jill. I don't know what they did, but Katie is so much more calm. Believe it or not, she hasn't barked since we've been home.

So we're back into the routine today and hoping we can make it up past 8:30.

Day 6 Zurich

Our last full day in Switzerland found us in Zurich where we took another hour or so driving around trying to find a place to park. We took a ride in a water taxi along the Limmat River and a little way out onto Lake Zurich.


Lots of churches and clocks in spires.


Some of the world's best shopping, too.

Fountains built centuries ago fill the squares where roads converged in the old town.

Day 5 - Geneva

The hardest part proved to be finding a place to park. These ancient towns are jammed to the rafters with people and cars. We finally found a spot and headed to see John Calvin's church. This is the front door. Right next door to the Catholic church today, the stark contrast between the pomp and ceremony of the Romanists and the simplicity of the Presbyterians couldn't be more visible.


Calvin taught from this chair behind the communion table. The site was originally a chapel but burned in the 12th century. The burial slab on the floor under the chair and table is the only remnant from that ancient church. John Knox preached here and took presbyterianism and Calvinism to the English-speaking world, ultimately to influence Cramner and the English reformers.


Services are still held here. You can see the organ in the front left.


We went to the Reformation Museum near the church. I decided to have a little fun. Hopefully Calvin wouldn't disapprove.

Switzerland is sooooo expensive!

It's really unbelievable how much things cost here. I guess it's a combination of the weak dollar and the European economy. A Swiss Franc is worth about a dollar. A bottle of Coke costs 5 Swisss francs; an average lunch of salad and drinks will set you back 45 Swiss francs. Hotel rooms (probably 2 and 3 star) are over $250 a night. We throw Swiss francs around here like we use quarters back in the States.

I am not exaggerating. For an American to come here would be like someone from the economy of Guatemala to spend a week in New York City. Of course, living here as a tourist is what runs up the cost. The average Swiss makes about 50,000 Swiss francs per year. They don't eat out. They don't stay at hotels here. We went to a little grocery in Geneva today and bought a can of Diet Coke for 1.80 Swiss francs. Expensive yes, but not the price gouging we've experienced this past week.

It's a wonderful place to live but it sure is hard to visit here.

Day 4 Brienz

Everybody knows Mom collects nativity sets. Some of the most famous and highly artistic nativity sets in Switzerland are made in the little town of Brienz nestled in the Alps (see the mountains in the background).


The company is called Huggler. Here Mom can't wait to see the nativity sets in their showroom.


Brienz is filled with woodcarvers working in walnut.


I've never seen lakes the color of these -- a beautiful aquamarine (blue-green) in color. Julie and I enjoy the scenery of Brienz after completing our purchase of the nativity set. We were excited to find something free in Switzerland -- the beauty.

More from Mt. Rigi

This hotel was at 5262 feet of elevation.

Day 3 - On Top of Mt. Rigi

On the way back to our hotel, the ferry boat makes a stop in Vitznau where we road this train about 6,000 feet up the side of one of the mountains.


It was fogged in on the summit. Here's a house beside the track. You can see the snow on the roof.


Took these photos on the way back down. Isn't it just glorious?

Day 3 - Lucerne by Ferry Boat

We hopped aboard (well not literally or the Swiss would really think we were crazy) one of the ferries that connects all the little towns around this huge inland sea. It took two hours to sail from Brunner to Lucerne. I think we made 8-9 stops. Now that's what I call hopping.


Mom really liked Lucerne. Here's the famous bridge and water tower that dates from the 13 century. The bridge burned in the early 1990's and they lost a lot of the original artwork that was designed to fit inside the trusses of the bridge as you walk from one end to the other.

After taking a bus tour of the city and walking around a bit, we got back on the ferry boat. Here the captain guides the steam-driven paddle wheeler into port.


Here's a window through which we could watch the paddle wheel.

Day 2 - Luzern

The weather is still drizzly and cold. So we drove to Luzern, about 30 minutes around the lake. We went to the Swiss Transportation
Museum where they had lots of old trains and planes and cars.


I'm not sure what this thing was.


Julie points to a wall of hub caps (funny people, these Swiss).


Nice day for indoor stuff.

Day 1 - Brunnen

We met our man in Switzerland, Franz Albisser, for lunch in our hotel in Brunnen. Unfortunately our hotel has ultra-slow Internet access. So I have to drive a couple of miles up the mountain to the hotel where I stayed for our conference in order to purchase high-speed Internet access.


It was good to see our Finland dealer, Kim Koskinen (on the right) with his new salesperson, Johanni Koskinen (center) -- no relation to Kim. In Finland, Koskinen is like the name Jones. We need to pray for Kim that God would heal him and lead him in a difficult time.


Brunnen is a small town located on a great lake here in Central Swizterland. It's a place where Swiss people come for vacation. Not many Enlgish speakers, however, so that's a bit of a challenge.


They do eat healthy here.

Arrived Zurich

It was a cloudy, gloomy day on Friday when I got to Zurich. Low hanging clouds all but obscured the mountains from the hotel where I'm staying.


We ate dinner at this Gasthouse Friday evening. Looks like it was built in 1740.


We were in the town of Brunnen about 100 km south of Zurich in what is considered the most beautiful part of Switzerland. Now, if I could see it through the clouds.

Julie Receives a Permanent Transfer

For those who may not have heard, it became official yesterday (although we knew of it a week or so ago) that Julie has been permanently assigned to the Social Security office in Fort Worth.  She had been given a temporary transfer but there was always the possibility that she might have to return to east Dallas.  But she is securely ensconced in the office closest to where we live. It's about a 35 minute drive, not much different than her commute from Cedar Hill to Pleasant Grove (her previous office). This is a wonderful answer to prayer.  We appreciate the prayers of those who interceded with us on Julie's behalf.

 

An Afternoon at Pecan Plantation

On Labor Day we drove to a part of Granbury we've heard a lot about but had never visited. Located on the opposite end of the city is a communicated called Pecan Plantation. It used to be the largest pecan orchard in the world, I think, or may just the US. You can see in this picture a group of deer feeding on the pecans in a empty lot. Pecan Plantation is now it's a large housing addition that boasts a world class golf course, marina, and a private airport.


In fact, the streets near the runway are actually taxi ways.


Houses in that part of the community have airplane hangers in addition to garages. Everyone ziups around in golf carts within the gated community. It was definitely up-scale and a very posh place.

Impressionists from Chicago

Julie and I spent Saturday afternoon at the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth where we saw a large collection of impressionistic paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago. We really enjoyed seeing works by Monet and Manet (I can't keep those two guys straight), Van Gogh (the Dutch pronounce his name "van goff"), Toulouse LaTrec, and lots of others. We rented those players you hold to your year to tell you what to look for and some historical background. You could just tell that the art snobs were looking down their nose at those of us who were so stupid that we had to use the things.


Wiggling the iPhone camera creates its own impressionistic technique, don't ya' think?