Marcel (a Swiss English student I met in New Zealand) was again our intrepid driver and guide and took us first to Ballenberg, an open-air museum of rural culture divided into 13 architectural groups which include typical examples of farmhouses from all over Switzerland. All the houses are furnished in Swiss country-style and there are numerous demonstrations of traditional trades and crafts, such as hat-making, sawing, spinning, lace-making, etc. There are also farm animals: ducks, turkeys, chickens, cows and pigs. The European varieties were different than what I've seen before.
One of the staff said it would take a couple of days to wander around and see everything. We only had a few hours to spare and saw a good portion. Not only were the exhibits interesting, the setting of this "village" is spectacular. Everything is green, green, green and the very steep cliffs surrounding the valley have numerous waterfalls spilling downward. We really enjoyed just meandering around and would highly recommend Ballenberg to others.
Half-timbered building
Miles and Marcel in front of a farmhouse typical from the Bern region
Vest and hat with flowers
Painted wooden wardrobe
Gigantic cow bells
Swiss cows DO wear cowbells!
I never knew turkeys could have such beautiful feathers
The Swiss really know how to stack their wood. I loved the roof with the little planted trees.
This is what we saw when leaving BallenbergOur next venture was to drive through mountain passes just to see the magnificent mountains up close and personal. This is something we wanted to do at least a month ago on our trip to southern Switzerland, but because of the long winter and rainy spring, there was way too much snow and the passes were closed until very recently.
You may be thinking, "Oh no. More mountains." But pictures can't capture their majesty. We just love, love, love mountains (and coastlines--you remember our other pictures!)
Well, it sure was worth the wait! Our first was Grimsel Pass:
Grimsel Pass
Grimsel Pass--still LOTS of snow up here!
Nufenen Pass-1
Nufenen Pass -2
Gotthard Pass
Beckenried
You may be thinking, "Oh no. More mountains." But pictures can't capture their majesty. We just love, love, love mountains (and coastlines--you remember our other pictures!)
Well, it sure was worth the wait! Our first was Grimsel Pass:
Grimsel Pass
Grimsel Pass--still LOTS of snow up here!
Nufenen Pass-1
Nufenen Pass -2
Gotthard PassOn the way home we stopped for coffee along Lake Lucerne.
Beckenried
Thanks for a wonderful 4 months, Switzerland!
No comments:
Post a Comment