View from our accomodations (Kander Lodge) looking toward the new chalet (left) and the old chalet (right). The old chalet houses staff and "pinkies."
Daddy left early this morning to head to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, the iconic mountain of Switzerland. It is a 7 hour round-trip by train, and we decided the scenery would be lost on the girls, so I would stay in Kandersteg with them and explore on foot.
From the scout camp back to the town there are only 12 buses a day, once an hour. We just missed one, so we'll walk into town, which takes 30 minutes on foot.
Walking into the little town of Kandersteg.
It didn't take the girls long to locate the town school, and do playground inspection.
Behind the school was the local pool. One peek through the fence and the girls wanted to go in, however our swim things were back at camp.
Waiting for the bus back to camp so we can go get our swimsuits. It is getting hot.
Just off the bus -- quick photo -- OK, let's run get our suits and towels and get back out to the bus stop on the opposite side of the road. We have 10 minutes while it does its U-turn at the end of the valley. GO!
We made it! I decided to send the girls into the pool together while I hiked through the town. While waiting in line to go in I noticed other children arriving by bicycle, walking up to the window to pay, and going in without parents, so I decided to let the girls exercise some independence as well.
There was a big slide, activity pool, and plenty to keep them entertained.
This water tunnel connected one of the pools to the main building where the locker rooms were.
The girls loved that you could swim right into the building!
While the girls swam I walked through town, up and down nearly every street. The streets were deserted, I hardly saw any people. Where was everyone? I knew that some were at the pool, but mostly there were lots of tourists and scout groups at the pool.
I especially enjoyed peering into people's gardens. This was the first summer in almost 20 years that I wasn't growing a vegetable garden, so I had to admire and get inspiration from others instead.
It was haying season, so tractors and balers were a common sight.
The town of Kandersteg is in a valley, and high up the hillsides hay is harvested for winter. The slopes are so steep that often the grass is cut by hand with a scythe. See all those people up on the hill? Closer in I could see entire families working together: children, grandparents, teenagers. All hands were put to use. That's where all the townspeople were who weren't at the pool.
A beautiful hotel in town.
Most buildings in Switzerland, including private homes, have the date they were built carved or painted above the highest window. This home was built in 1556!
A new home under construction. This house will display the year 2012, and will be 456 years younger than the house in the previous photo. Looking at the window wells, you can see how thick the walls are, and how well insulated the house will be. Building codes are much better in Europe than the in the US.
The town's Catholic church was built of stone in 1510.
After 2 hours I lured the girls out of the pool with a promise of ice cream.
It was getting pretty hot, and as we sat outside of the town hall, we watched people and animals alike stopping for a drink at the public fountain.
It was Mittwoch (Wednesday afternoon), so nearly everything except the small grocery store was closed.
Underneath the city hall, hidden away in a dark basement, there is a room with Scouting artifacts going back 100 years. We were able to get someone from the tourist information office to let us in to look around. It is locked and opened by request for scouts.
Around 16:00 we headed back to camp. In the photo above you can see one of the "pinkies" (staff) roped up on the roof, cleaning windows.
We had some time to pass before dinner, so we walked the trails around camp.
Technically the river was off-limits to Scouts, but we found this quiet spot near a trail and the girls wanted to play in the mud, so I let them.
I figured as long as they were away from the actual river bank, they would be fine, and they were.
We went back to the chalet to wash up, and explored some of the common rooms. Here the girls stretch to see photos on the wall. They love to look at everything and attempt to translate that which they cannot read. In just a week, the girls have picked up quite a few Swiss German words.
Soon it was time for dinner. No sign of Daddy, and I had no cell phone for him to call me on, so we just went ahead and ate dinner. As I suspected, he picked up dinner for himself along the way home from Zermatt.
This was tonight's dinner. Overcooked stew meat, pasta, overcooked broccoli, salad consisting of diced bell peppers and cucumbers, whole fruit, coffee, and pudding. Not great tasting, but for camp food, it'll do.
Daddy returned back to camp after we finished dinner and went straight to bed, exhausted. The girls and I walked back into town for "Swiss Culture Night" arranged by the local tourist board, and held in one of the large hotels.
The half hour walk into town was feeling shorter and shorter each time we made it.
We were not alone on our walk, either. In addition to Swiss Culture Night, there was an International Scout Disco going on at the skating rink near the train station. We'd check that out after the Swiss Culture Night.
We sat in the ballroom of one of the grand old hotels in town and watched Swiss Folk Dancing. In addition to scouts and tourists, there were a number of older townspeople in the audience enjoying an evening out.
It was really fun to watch. I was amazed at how long they danced, and with such energy. Many of the women had very dark forearms, suggesting that earlier in the day they might have been up on those hillsides harvesting hay.
As is often the case, there were more women than men, but there was a nice range in ages of the women, from teenagers to the elderly. After 45 minutes of dancing, they were going to do a last dance and called for volunteers from the audience to join in. I encouraged the girls, but they were too shy. Almost immediately, of course, they regretted not participating, but it was too late, the 12 volunteers had been chosen.
An alphorn player was supposed to perform as well, but couldn't make it. The last act of the evening was Fahnenschwingen, or flag throwing. Dating back to the middle ages, flag throwers twirl a flag on a short staff in rhythmic motions (there are 50 different moves), tossing it up into the air and catching it without dropping it. It was quite mesmerizing to watch, and every time the flag was tossed into the air you could hear the audience gasp and hold their breath until the flag was safely back in the flag thrower's hand.
After the performance we thanked the dancers and flag thrower and walked over to check out the International Scout Disco. Outside the building a line of Scouts and "pinkies" stood smoking. Inside, alcohol was flowing (you'd never find alcohol served at an American Scout event!), and although only those over 18 could buy drinks, there was a lot of mixing and sharing going on from what I could see. I was never into the club scene when I was younger, and I wasn't ready to see my daughters dive in, either. (I heard from other Scout Leaders the next morning that there were a number of intoxicated teens, with some passing out and needing to be carried back to camp. Glad we didn't stay!) We watched from the doorway for a few minutes, not going in, then walked the half hour in the darkness back to camp and went to bed.
NEXT: Day 35 -- Part 2 -- Zermatt and the Matterhorn -- Wednesday, July 18th
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