All right, let's bring it home!
On Saturday, May 6, 2023, we checked out of our AirBnB near Interlaken and drove towards Bern.
Sienna had been wanting to see a castle, so we took a detour through the town of Thun (on the west end of Lake Thun, which is one of the two Interlaken lakes). There we filled up with gas across the street from the Thun Castle. It was built around 1200.
Jared noticed that this truck was spewing manure, which made it aromatic as we drove down the highway.
At that point, the canyon widened a bit and we had a paved trail to walk along. For a little while we tried to bust a move to catch a train that would be heading back the other way, but we soon realized we weren't going to make it, so we just took our time.
The Bern Temple was dedicated in 1955. It was the 9th temple dedicated (not counting those before St. George) and the first in Europe. It was called the "Swiss Temple" until we started getting more specific in the 1990s.
Here are a couple pictures of my grandparents at the "Swiss Temple" in May, 1962. That was 61 years ago, when the temple was just 7 years old.
We enjoyed doing an endowment session in there. We listened in English on a headset while the session took place in French. I smiled when the English said, "...in this manner" and the French said, "Voilà!"
It was cool that we could all do endowments.
While there, we talked to a couple who were from Guatemala. They had a great conversation. (Linette, Jared and Katelyn all served Spanish-speaking missions, so they would have a better idea of what was going on in that conversation. Sienna is about to serve in Mexico, so she'll have it down as well).
(It was fun when we happened to see these same people the next morning at church in Geneva. They were coming out of the Spanish ward just as we were going in to the English one.)
The purple flowers out front were beautiful.
After all the fun touristy stuff, it was nice to do something a bit more spiritual.
The kids were all up for saving money on lunch, but didn't want to do another grocery store sandwich. We tried going to one place, but it was closed. Then we tried another, but its grill was closed, too. Then we noticed I had left my water bottle on a little table in front of the first place we went, so we drove back around there. When we got stuck in traffic for a second, Katelyn jumped out, ran down the street and up to where the table was, came down the other side (as we started to move in traffic), and jumped in when we got to the red light. It was very well executed, like you might see in an action movie.
Finally, we decided to just do McDonalds. It was reasonable and hit the spot.
Next we drove to the hotel where the kids would be staying that night. Along the way, we saw some more of those awesome yellow fields.
The kids stayed at a hotel called the "Beach In" in the tiny town of Ins. As we checked them in, the lady told us that it was primarily a sports center, with a few rooms added onto the top floor.
Sure enough, there were people downstairs playing beach volleyball in this huge room.
Maria had told us about a great hike called the Gorges de l'Areuse that had a gorge, stone bridge and woods along a river. That sounded great, so we started driving there. The clouds looked pretty ominous, though.
The magic heads-up display guided us along.
At one point, however, the road was blocked off for construction, and we had to take quite a detour up through winding mountain roads to get to our destination. It gave us some nice views of Lake Neuchâtel, though. (That kept reminding me of Neufchâtel, the cream cheese variant).
Soon it was pouring rain, and we wondered what in the world we were doing. But we had no other plans, so we pressed forward.
To our great delight, the weather was perfect when we got to where the hike started in the little town of Noiraigue.
At first, we hiked along with the Areuse River on one side and railroad tracks on the other side.
At one point the electric train zoomed by. It was loud when it was right by us, but got quiet quickly as it sped away. Here's a little video of the train zooming by, followed by walking across the bridge and looking down to where Linette and Sienna were checking out the river below.
This seemed like a serious water pipe.
Linette loved this mossy oak tree.
Katelyn and Jared stopped for lots of pictures.
There were spillways at several points along the way.
It really was a beautiful hike, and the weather held for us.
There were a couple of bridges as the sides of the canyon got steeper.
Before too long, we arrived at the gorge itself.
There was a charming stone bridge at the end of the gorge. Here's Sienna posing for us.
They had to carve some paths into the side of the rock in order to have a place to get through.
Here's Jared standing above the stone bridge, about to take a picture of me and Linette.
Here we're looking back up at Jared and Katelyn from downstream.
Eventually, we came upon the tiny little village of Champ-du-Moulin, which had a train stop up the hill a ways.
Since we had some time before the next train came, we checked out the little cafe there at the Hôtel de la Truite.
As I was using the restroom there, the lid of the toilet slammed down with a really loud noise that made me yelp, and another guy in there started laughing. We talked as we left and he started in French, could tell I wasn't getting it, and said "Dutch? English?" and I said, "English." So we started talking in English.
When I asked where he was from, he said it was "complicated", but that he had lived in England for 10 years before moving near this place. He said that he and his wife were just sitting down to order and asked if we'd like to join them. It actually would have been really fun, but I told him there were 5 of us, and he grimaced like, "Oh yeah, that won't work."
We didn't really have time to eat there, so we settled for some ice cream. The waitress didn't speak any English, but we could point out ice cream bars from the poster and say a number, and that did it. I've never let a language barrier stand between me and ice cream.
The same guy came outside after a minute and said that a lady in there had heard us speaking English, and said that she wanted to learn. She asked if there was any chance that I would want to learn French from her while she learned English from me. The guy said, "I have no idea what your situation is, but I just thought I'd ask."
I told him that the main reason I had tried to learn French over the last three months was to come on this vacation, and that we were going home in two days. But it was really fun to talk with him for some reason, and I wish I had gotten his contact info.
After ice cream, it was time for swings.
From the bridge over the Areuse River, I could see them on the swings by the hotel.
Throughout Switzerland, there are yellow signs indicating how far it is to hike to various destinations. It said it was 1 hour and 20 minutes to Noiraigue, where we had come from; and 617 meters to the Champ du Moulin railway station.
The full hike is more like 7 miles, but there were several train stops along the way. The trains only came every hour or so (even less in the evening), so we decided to take a train back to where we started.
I loved how woodsy this area was.
There was something wonderful about discovering this cafe in the middle of the woods, where the waitress spoke absolutely no English. I think we had been in places with so many tourists that it was fun to find a place where foreigners were a novelty and things were more real.
There was a pedestrian tunnel that went under the railroad tracks.
As we waited for the train, a friendly little local dog came trotting over for snuggles.
Finally, the train came, right on time.
It had been a gorgeous hike (literally), and it was nice to relax in a train on the way back.
As we drove back towards Bern, we saw a beautiful farm scene, with the sun setting over a meadow.
We pulled over, and some of the cows wandered over towards us.
Sienna kind of made friends with this one.
Here's a little video of the cows, with their cow bells jingling, and Sienna interacting with her new friend.
We enjoyed our little "en-cow-nter."
(Did you seriously just say that?)
The clouds were getting hints of pink as we again looked down on Lake Neuchâtel. (Which is not made of cream cheese...)
Finally, we arrived back at the Beach In in the town of Ins. (The "Beach In" Inn in Ins).
Jared made an interesting comment after we had been traveling around together for a little while. He said that it was fun and exciting to be on their own, seeing what they wanted, finding their own way, and making things happen. But when he got with us, he said it was actually a relief to finally have someone to look out for them. They didn't have to worry quite as much about how to get around and what to do.
But that was all over now. We were abandoning them once again! Linette and I were driving back to Geneva that night to stay with Kelly & Maria Stotts again for the last two nights, and the kids were staying here Saturday night and in Zurich Sunday night before flying out of Zurich on Monday.
They pretended to be a mix of ok and distraught as we left them there. Katelyn appeared to be the glue holding things together.
They had fun during their last couple of days.
After we left, Jared and Katelyn did a little sand volleyball, as shown in this video.
Zurich
The next day, the kids took a train to Zurich. Here to tell us about that leg of their trip is our foreign correspondent, Sienna "CJ" Wilson—>
Okayyyyy, let's go. I took none of these pictures but I was technically close by when they were taken so I'm probably qualified for this.
We arrived at the train station early afternoon and eventually figured out the city pass that would allow us to get to our hotel and the airport the next morning. Luckily we bought the right one because no one ever checked it.
After checking in to our "budget hotel", we hit the city and wandered up and down old town which had this amazing river in the middle. Here is a stranger sitting by it.
No wandering is complete without gelato and brats so we made sure to get both (brats not pictured).
We wanted to go to church that morning, but after discovering it would take close to $50 and several hours to get to the closest building which would be meeting in German at 9 am, we decided to just do "Come, Follow Me" together outside of this church.
We were intending to go inside one or two churches to worship but they were all closed on Sunday and we couldn't find anything about when mass was. There was an orchestra rehearsing inside the church though so we had a wonderful discussion while listening to them practice. We also admired this sculpture of a saint that was to be auctioned off to raise money for climate change action. It did say it was going to be auctioned off in 2019 though so... maybe not. Ironically it appeared like some of the trash from the sculpture had flown off and been littered around the town.
While we were running around in the rain, our family did our weekly zoom call so we hopped on there but eventually went back inside the hotel to actually chat.
Katelyn really wanted to bring her family some new flavors of Lindt chocolate, but when we went to book the chocolate tour at the factory in Zurich it was sold out. Luckily we found some fun ones at the airport before we left. Yay providence!
We made it through the 11 hour flight from Zurich to San Francisco and were about to find our gate when they moved it. And then moved it again. And then delayed it. And then delayed it again. The plane we were supposed to do got delayed and then needed maintenance so it was up in the air (lol) when we would be able to go.
At this point we were pretty bummed because we hadn't planned on eating until we got home but Katelyn and Jared are amazing and found out we could get meal vouchers because of the delay. So we ate some burgers, took a nap on the floor (it felt like 2 am at that point), and waited until they found us a new plane.
We eventually got on and made it home where Katelyn's dad was kind enough to pick us up at 12:30 am instead of 9:30 pm.
Well that takes us back home so I guess we might as well check back with the parents and see what shenanigannery they got into. Back to you Dad!
....Thanks CJ!
Geneva
We arrived in Geneva after 11pm, and had fun catching up with Kelly & Maria on the events of the week.
Sunday morning, we walked the 1.2km (3/4 of a mile) to church, first down their long driveway...
...and then through the glowing green park.
Along the way, we saw a girl who asked if we were going to church. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, too, and walked with us the rest of the way. She was originally from Thailand, but was there as an au pair (nanny) for someone just over the border in France, and decided to try attending the English ward in Geneva. By the time we got to church, we had made a new friend.
While we were waiting for church to start, we talked with a Brother and Sister Holdaway who were sitting in front of us. I assumed we were probably related, since my grandmother's maiden name was Holdaway and was a member of the church from Utah.
Sure enough, he was descended from Shadrach Holdaway, the brother of David Oscar Holdaway, who was the father of my great-grandpa, Thomas Teancum Holdaway. So we were probably fourth cousins or so.
There was giant chess going on in the park there. I posted a picture of this for my "BeReal" that day, and Jared said it was funny, because they were passing by giant chess in Zurich right at that moment.
There is a big wall in Geneva dedicated to the Reformers, who were great religious leaders. Switzerland broke with the Catholic church and supported the reformation before finally allowing both.
Some of their quotes are included on the walls, which were inspiring.
My grandparents visited there in May 1976.
Speaking of religious progress, I thought it was nice of them to have a statue of Joseph Smith there, too! (Just kidding--this is Pictet de Rochemont, who prepared the declaration of Switzerland's permanent neutrality. After pushing through that important mission with complete success, he returned to his sheep and maize fields for the rest of his life.
This bench apparently holds the Guinness World Record for the world's longest bench.
There were some cool cannons and armor in "The Old Arsenal" (L'ancien arsenal).
Kelly & Maria took us into the Maison Tavel House Museum for a quick look. I loved the model of old Geneva that shows the fortifications, canals and streets.
I loved this bassinet that looked like a little boat.
Sienna really likes doors, so we thought of her in this room of fancy doors. (It also reminded me of Monsters, Inc.)
Turrets in the corners of buildings tend to let in a lot of light.
And here is the Maison Tavel House (and one of its turrets) from the outside.
We also visited the Cathedral of St. Pierre. (I forgot to take a picture of the outside, so this one is by Toby Jorgensen, as found on Wikipedia). There has been a cathedral here since the 300s A.D., but this building was built in the 1100s.
In the 1400s, the Reformation swept through Geneva, and the cathedral was stripped of all decorative works except the stained glass. The architecture is still stunning, though.
The choir seats had a bit of ornate carving on them.
This appears to be a duck dragon?
I liked the carvings of the apostles along the back.
There was one room in the chapel, however, that was decked out. It was the "Maccabee Chapel", built in the early 1400s as a cardinal's tomb. It was used to store salt and gunpowder during the Reformation, and in the 1600s was used for lectures by professors of philosophy. In the 1800s, it was repaired and restored to its former glory.
It is so vibrant and colorful!
I liked this stained glass depiction of the Last Supper.
This is the back of the cathedral (I think it might be that Chapel of the Maccabees).
As we wandered Geneva, if we got lost, we could look at Maria's umbrella.
Fortunately it only rained part of the time.
There was a marathon in town that day, and one of the main streets by the lake was still closed off for it.
The Jet d'Eau is always impressive.
When the wind blows, it can go quite a ways!
It rained on us a bit more as we waited for the bus.
After taking the bus towards home, we had a little ways to walk. We got to go under this beautiful flower tunnel.
That evening we made Korean pulkogi ("fire-meat") for dinner. Maria had picked up the ingredients while we were gone that week. Here I am doing the traditional step of mixing the spicy gochu-jjang (red pepper paste) in with the meat by hand. That's how the old lady in Korea taught us you had to do it.
Linette cut the onions and we pretended it was really sad.
I always like when there's more than will fit in one pan.
The Stotts had an excellent assortment of beverages ready for the occasion.
The missionaries joined us for dinner as well, and we had a wonderful feast. I taught them that in Korea, when you're full you can say "Pe puroyo", meaning, "My stomach sings."
That evening as we were reminiscing about our college days, we decided to call Layne & Denise Virgin. They were surprised to get our call, and we had a great chat.
Later we had our weekly call with our kids. It was 10pm Swiss time, 4pm for Kelsi & Chase, and 2pm for Adam and Erika & Kyle. Sienna, Jared and Katelyn joined from Zurich.
Later people started being upside-down and stuff so it got kind of confusing. (I think Kelsi's video is upside-down; and Jared and Erika really are upside-down but with their video upside-down, too, making them look right-side-up. Even Linette is kind of upside-down.)
My new phone came with an app that apparently is designed to tell you every day that you didn't walk far enough to "close your ring." However, if we look at this calendar, we can see that I closed my ring every day from April 25, when we arrived in Switzerland, to May 7, with the exception of one day when we drove 6 hours. Most days I doubled or even tripled my goal (which I don't remember setting). Apparently, being on vacation is important for my health.
On Monday, May 8, 2023, it was finally time to head home. Kelly & Maria live so close to the airport that they sometimes walk to it in order to avoid having to park their car. But this time they took us on a longer route in order to see a few things along the way.
Here's a picture taken by my grandfather, Dr. Malcolm Merrill, as he attended a meeting of the World Health Organization in May, 1962.
In this view, you can see little placards with the names of countries for the various representatives. Malcolm is on the second row back, second from the right.
Here he is speaking to the assembly. ("Etats-Unis d'Amerique" is "United States of America" in French).
Here are Malcolm and Thelma Merrill greeting dignitaries.
During their May 1962 trip, there was a ceremony where the cornerstone was laid for the new W.H.O. building.
This is the new World Health Organization building, and I felt a little connection with my grandpa as I stood there.
We also drove by the world headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
And, finally, we passed by the Korean "Mission" (a "mission" is a United Nations member organization).
Finally, Maria and Kelly dropped us off at the airport.
They were such wonderful hosts, sharing their home, their car, and their time with us. It was so fun to spend time with them. And I just have to say that they are both "awesome"!
We flew to JFK Airport in New York City, and then across the country to Utah. Since the sun never set, we just stayed awake most of the time and watched movies as much as we could stand.
It was 9pm as we approached Salt Lake City.
Here we are at 10 p.m., which is 6 a.m. Switzerland time. It was a 32-hour day!
Jet lag kicked in and I was up at 3:30 am the night after that, and then added an hour each night for a few days.
What an amazing trip! I can see why everyone's eyes seem to light up when you mention Switzerland. The steep snowy mountains; gondolas and trams; glowing green valleys; pure free-flowing water; charming architecture; beautiful lakes; and clean, well-maintained roads all make it a delight. I also really appreciated our kind hosts in Geneva, and it was fun to connect with a distant cousin in Weiach. I kept thinking of my grandparents as we traveled around, too. Having the kids along for part of the trip added some fun energy as well.
I found when I got home that I looked at our own mountains a bit more closely, and realized that they're pretty amazing, too, when you don't take them for granted (must...avoid...granite...joke...)
Thanks for joining us on the tale of this journey!
Auf Wiedersehen and Adieu!
