24 Sept Zurich to Berne

Another beautiful day greeted us (although the mist was again over the lake and mountains) as we packed up and set off on the train for the City. We found platform 17 with no difficulty and awaited our train for Berne. It was a lovely journey through the Swiss countryside and the 130 km were eaten up in under an hour.

And there was Markus! What a joy to see him after 25 years. 

I think we managed to bridge those years in the first half hour, catching up on so much. We deposited our luggage in the car, then walked to the old part of town where we saw again the quaint alleyways and old tall houses so close. This area has never been affected by war so the buildings are hundreds of years old. The state church is the Reformierte Kirche which apparently can mean anything theologically- there are some evangelical and reformed congregations in this denomination, including the one where the Funks are members. The main church - the 'Münster' - is a massive, gothic style building.

We walked down to one of the old bridges across the River Aare, from where you can also see the enclosure with a couple of Russian bears, a gift from the Premier of that country. Bern means 'bears.'

Back to the car, an enormous Merc diesel wagon, and Markus drove us up to the bottom of the Gurten Mountain (864m above s.l.), from where we boarded a cable car and ascended several hundred metres to a park where hundreds of people were enjoying the glorious, sunny afternoon. We enjoyed a meal at the cafe - Marcus had the muesli and yoghurt, but we enjoyed röste, a traditional dish made from grated potato, topped with cheese, spinach and garnish. Very tasty!

One more thing to show you, said our host, and so we walked up another hill to discover a glorious vista - spread out across the horizon were the soaring peaks of the Alps, capped with snow, and bathed with the late afternoon sunshine. 

Many other folk were there, just soaking up the view. There sprang to mind the opening words of Psalm 121: 'I lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.' The grandeur of the mountains is momentous and our God who is greater made them.

Driving home then to Jegenstorf, we had a joyful meeting with Cordula, Katharina, Salome, Theodore, and Valentine. The girls have a little English, and the boys none so it was hilarious playing games with them while they explained everything to us in German and were sure we understood! So I was saved from a Monopoly type game by the arrival of Markus' brother and his wife and 3 children who are cycling across Switzerland. What an achievement. Thomas and Jennifer, Lydia, Christopher, and Esther are from Iowa in the US. So what a big family we were and yet Cordula made it seem easy as we all sat around their massive table for dinner. We'd taken Luna the dog who is a black poodle for a long walk through the woods and surrounding farmland (maize and sugar beet) before dinner so it was a lovely opportunity to chat to everyone. The cousins are having a great time together playing the Swiss against the Americans - of course! Not sure how the game works (dad: actually it's table soccer - foosball) but it involves a lot of yelling!

The saga of the Swiss plug has continued with us being unable to find the small bit we need for Dad's shaver. Mentioning this to Thomas, he said, Oh I just use a wire! Don't ask....but I will say our hair is still not curly and there is no smoke coming out our ears - yet!!

We enjoyed lovely evening chats, with Markus having lit their fire! It's not cold but how lovely to have the ambience it gave. The Funk's home is really beautiful and large. The US Funks are downstairs in a massive room, where there is also a small safe room.. .houses were required to be built with such rooms up until 15 years ago in case of invasion! The US Funks are enamoured with Ken Ham and were quite amazed to hear our connections with him and Dad's involvement with Creation Science in the early days. 

 We have been greatly honoured by Markus and Cordula. It is obvious they have gone to a lot of trouble for us including putting us in their own room! We did sleep better - maybe the glass of wine before bed helped!