The New Gotthelf Tracht

We played our Alphorns at Aaron and Clementine's Reception, and I got to wear my complete Gotthelf Tracht for the first time. It took almost 15 minutes to get dressed in it! This is the "winter" tract, since the blouse is wool and long-sleeved. There is a black crocheted collar, called a "Göller" that you wear around the neck. For single women, it is tied in front. Married women tuck it under the straps of the "Mieder" or bodice.

The Mieder is a cut velvet with black lace decoration. It has a little gathered "pouf" at the back waist. That, plus the boning in the Mieder, makes it a bit uncomfortable for sitting. The skirt is hooked to the Mieder at the back. The apron strings go under the Mieder, and the bow is tied on the left front, and tucked under the Mieder.

Another Wedding

Aaron Roemer (the brother of Rachelle, the Harp player) married Clementine, from France. In Switzerland, you have to be married in a civil ceremony before you can be married in the temple. Here they are after the civil ceremony.

This picture of them with the Best Man and Maid of Honor give you an idea of the setting in Biel, where the government office is located.

Another Cute Ad

Floralp Butter does the best ads. Here we have "Bandit Breads" in their breadbasket "Jail"

And here they have broken out and are carrying off the butter.

Burgergemeinde Bern Open House

On Saturday, the "Burgergemeinde" Bern opened a lot of their properties for visitors to walk through. The "Burgergemeinde" is what remains of the old aristocracy that used to rule Bern. Once popular government took over, the "Burgergemeinde" relinquished the governing part of what they did. They  kept their properties and maintained the cultural life of the city. They own the theater, several of the museums, and many other buildings including the "Casino." This isn't a gambling place at all, but a beautiful old building that houses a magnificent, ornate concert hall, a restaurant, and an assortment of meeting rooms. The Casino "Open House" interested us the most, as we could now see the concert hall without buying a ticket! It was too dark for many pictures, but a few are below.

Of course, anything that has to do with Bern has to have bears. This statue was outside one of the displays.

Human Musical "Memory" Game

What a fun idea this was! Forty opera singers, in two groups, each wearing a numbered vest, stood with their backs to the two contestants. (We were watching from the balcony that was facing the singers.) The contestant would choose a number from each group. The person wearing that number would turn around and sing about 4 measures of a famous opera song. (If you look carefully, you can see one of the singers has turned around and is singing.)

If the songs matched, the contestant won. The contestants had to know their operas! And it was fun to hear great singing, even if only four measures of it at a time! We even recognized some of the tunes.

Fencing Demonstration

If you had been lucky enough to go to the Open House at the Casino, you might have been able to try your hand at fencing, like these people. The instructor was having them practice parrying with each other, first on one side, then on the other.

Chimney Construction 1750

Can you see how the chimney twists on itself? This was so it would fit between the joists and the roof beams. It came up through the floor one way, but had to be turned 90 degrees before it went through the roof. Pretty impressive.

Sweet Creations

Not only do the Swiss do great things with bread dough, but take a look, if you can, at the candy pirate ship wrapped in cellophane. My teeth stick together just looking at it, but it is pretty fantastic, nonetheless.

Sunflower Bread

The Swiss make the most amazing things with bread dough. Can you figure out how they made this Sunflower? The eyes and mouth parts are covered with poppy seeds. And getting all 15 "petals" to come out so even is a real talent!

The Blacksmith's Guild

All the Guilds in Bern had displays set up in the Bundesplatz last Friday. The Blacksmith's Guild had a portable forge going.

They had samples of their work, as well, from a Halberd to a flower to a complete door latch.

Our Latest Clock

We found this cute little clock at a Brocki (2nd-hand store) for 10 francs ($12). They said it didn't run, but it will--it just needs to be cleaned, and to have a proper pendulum. It has a gong to chime the hour and half hour. Steve cleaned one of the weights--it is covered with a fairly thick brass "foil." We have no idea how old it is--probably at least 100 years old.

Moving Chairs

Sometimes the best way to get a seat on a train or in the station is to bring your own chair. Seriously, though, we were delivering chairs--two new kitchen chairs for one apartment, and a chair we repaired to another apartment.

August 1st Ad

August First is Swiss Independence Day. We got a big kick out of the picture of an Irish Wolfhound singing along with the Swiss National Anthem.

Athletic Cows

It says, "Milk, your natural fitness routine."

Albert Anker House

Albert Anker is our favorite Swiss artist. He lived 1831-1910, and painted in a photographic style, so his paintings show a lot of what life was like during his time. We made a "pilgrimage" to his house in Ins (yes, that's a real place). His descendants still live there, and have preserved his attic studio for people to look at. The flowers in the garden were beautiful.

Eidgenossische (National) Jodlerfest in Davos

Every three years, all the musical groups in Switzerland gather for two full days of singing, alphorn playing and Fahnenschwingen or "flag throwing." This was the year, and the event was in Davos. Hitsch and Käthi Bolt,  Church Service missionaries in Brixen, Italy (where they still speak German) invited us at Senior Conference to come stay with them in Klosters for the Jodlerfest. Klosters is just a few kilometers away from Davos. Hitsch grew up in Klosters, and still has a place there, which he shares with his son. (His son's wife is the director of the Klosters Jodelklub.) We had a great time, listening to singers and alphorn players for hours, and also watching the flag throwers. (They make it look so easy.) This is the view we had from our bedroom in Klosters.

On Saturday evening, we were home early enough to see the sunset. Well, actually, we didn't see the sunset, but we saw how the light from the setting sun shone on the mountain across from us.

There was a long parade before the beginning of the opening ceremonies. These were the alphorns that were going to play as part of it. Lots of "sticks" in the air!

At the end of the parade, all the Cantonal flags were lined up. Since we were on the field, it was really hard to get a picture that would show how large the gathering was.

Here's the only shot I got of the airshow. You can't really see the white crosses on the belly of the red planes. But at least there is a Canton Obwalden flag at the bottom of the picture.

Creative Butter Ad

Floralp butter has all kinds of creative ads. I have posted the ones with the Grittibänz (dough boys) stealing the butter and carrying it away. This is the first time I've seen bread loaves or rolls posing as bandits. I especially like the "smiles" on their "faces" as they make off with the goods.

A Play on Words

When we saw this ad, we just had to chuckle. All Americans know the expression, "Houston, we have a problem." The verb for coughing in German is "husten", and it is pronounced a lot like the name of the city in English. This ad says, "Husten, we have a problem" and is an ad for cough syrup! In case you didn't get the joke, the guy that is coughing is dressed in a space suit (with the scarf added, because he has a cold), and has outer space behind him. We were kind of surprised that this American expression would be so well known in Switzerland that it would be used in an ad.

Lucerne's Hofkirche

As part of our "Mini" Senior Missionary Conference, we walked around Lucerne. I had seen this church in the distance earlier, but we got a chance to go inside and look around. It is the main church in Lucerne, which is a Catholic canton. We could get an idea of the statues and decoration that were probably in Bern's Münster before the Reformation. The two towers on the church really give it a distinctive appearance, and the iPhone's camera gives it a unique perspective.

Münster Bells

This chart shows all the bells at the Bern Münster (Cathedral), as well as the dates they were made, how heavy they are, and what note they sound. The hand-written notes at the top tell you at which level of the tower the bell is hung. If you add up their weights, it is a LOT. The big bell alone weighs over 10 tons, and the oldest bell, cast in 1403, weighs over 6 tons. (The Feuerglocke or Fire alarm bells, aren't used for playing.) There are different "bell ring sequences" for different times, for different worship services, and for different holidays. This is one way the townspeople could always keep track of what time it was, what day it was, and what was going on.

And this is the "Score"

It is certainly very pretty, but I really don't know how to read it. Each color represents one of the bells. That's pretty easy to figure out, because the colors are labeled at the left edge. The piece started out with just the "Grosse Glocke" or big bell, ringing alone, then one bell joined it, and then another. About 2/3 of the way through the piece, it was hard to tell which bells were ringing when, as the overtones were so strong. I cut off the last 3 minutes so the rest of the score would be larger and easier to read. Let me know if you can figure it out--or if you need to see the last three minutes!

Christmas Lights

One of the things that makes winter seem not quite so dreary are all the Christmas lights. This picture was taken at dusk, looking down Spitalgasse, past the Loeb department store. If you look carefully, you can see the outline of the Kafigturm (one of the old city gate towers) and its pointed roof at the end of the street.

Loeb

This is a large department store right near the Bern main train station. They have not one, not two, but three trees outside each window. And the picture can't show it, but the lights all twinkle. The church shrouded in the background is the Heiliggeist Kirche, where they are working on renewing the sandstone facade of the church. This picture was taken at 8:15AM, so you can see that the sun is not quite up yet!