Switzerland Journal: Friday May 18th

Day Three: Friday May 18th. It is very confusing to travel overnight and lose a day. Or so it seemed. We left Houston on Wednesday morning, and arrived in Switzerland on Thursday, but my mind was still thinking it was Wednesday. Even as I go to blog this, I am thinking these pictures would be from day two, but instead they are from the third day of our vacation.
We slept in a bit, and when we awoke the rain had cleared and it was gorgeous outside. Kate called for me to climb up on the roof top to see St. Gallen in the morning light while I was still in my pajamas. I slipped on some shoes and climbed up the ladder and enjoyed the bells tolling and the birds singing gloriously.

Some delicious coffee from Kate's new espresso maker, yummy Swiss yogurt and bread made a perfect breakfast to enjoy in the living room while we planned our day. Since it was so beautiful outside, Kate suggested we take a guided tour of St. Gallen.

Kate has perfected an old pants pattern from a famous designer (Kate, help me out here, who was it again?) The pants are cut out in one piece, with a zipper in the back and no outside leg seams. Pants, hat, and jacket trim are all Kate's creations. Isn't she terrific? And isn't the color orange just growing on you?
We hadn't walked far when this fountain captured our eyes.

MERMAIDS!

Daughter LauraRN LOVES mermaids!
We HAVE to take a picture for her.

Baby mermaids! They are just the best!

We then headed over to the train station to make arrangements for our trip to Milan scheduled for the very next day. It was to be a holiday weekend in Switzerland, Ascension Sunday, and the trains were likely to be very full of travelers, so we wanted to make sure we could reserve four seats on the train together.
While Bernie and Kate managed that task, I wandered about the station, admiring the iron work in the door windows. St. Gallen is most noted for lace production, and lacy motifs were found in many places.

I even looked up and spotted this lacy design captured in the ceiling plaster.

There was a "Horse Parade" in town. A bit of history about that: Years ago when Laura was in college she and a friend dashed to New York City for a fast weekend. This was back in the year 2000 or so. They came across a large cow sculpture painted with a wild and amusing design standing on a street corner. They thought that was pretty cool, but were surprised to find another cow around the next corner, then another, and another...It was the NYC "Cow Parade"!

Cities bid to have a "Cow Parade", where white cows standing or sitting or laying down, life sized, are made available to organizations to decorate (frequently with puns as a themes, or inside local humor.) The organizations pay for the privilege. The cows, usually around 500, are place around the city, on sidewalks and inside public buildings and in parks. After the "parade" is over (usually about six weeks time) the cows are auctioned off, and the money is given to charity.

Laura came home with picture after pictures of the silly cows in NYC. I wished I could have seen them.
Imagine my delight when a few months later HOUSTON won the right to host a Cow Parade! The cows arrived just before 9/11, and how uplifting it was to go see the cows and try to figure out the inside jokes and puns. Since then the idea has expanded. There have been buffalo parades, pelican parades and bear parades. We and Laura seem to manage to roll into towns that are having a "parade" of one kind or another.
In St. Gallen, it was a "Horse Parade"

We headed through town to the tourism office, where we began our tour. Below is a fountain sculpture portraying a length of fabric.
I wouldn't have guessed what it was unless the guide explained that the huge fountain celebrated the textile industry that put St. Gallen "on the map" for several centuries.

Time to grab a bit to eat. St. Gallen sausage is the best "fast food" in Switzerland, or a least that is what the locals say. We did see St. Gallen sausage for sale in grocery stores around Switzerland, so I guess it is quite well known. You get in line (yes, in line, it is that popular) at a little store windows on the street and order the sausage and "brot." It is served in a bag, without any mustard or catsup. Just sausage and bread and YUM!

The hardest part is waiting for it to cool enough to eat. It just smells so wonderful you have to control yourself or you will burn your mouth if you give in and take a bite too soon.

We sat outside and enjoyed our lunch.

And this view.

Black and white stripes. Hmmm.

We were waiting for Kate's husband Sherm to join us, and also for the shop owner to return. It isn't polite to eat at outside tables of establishment unless you have purchased consumables from the establishment. In this case, Sherm assured us, it didn't matter, as he was planning to buy something from this shop, just as soon as the owner returned.

As we soon learned, this shop specialized in Port wine. Upon the shop owners return, we were invited to enter his Port wine cellar for a wine tasting.

The owner spoke some English but mostly German. He and Sherm are getting to be friends.

The selection for tasting was wonderful, and the old dusty bottles laying on their sides reminded me of a wine library.

Now there's a thought: Port Wine Librarian.

Naw.

Check out the age of this bottle of port: Made in 1845!

After our sampling and sending Sherm back to work with a bottle of wine to look forward to in the evening, Kate, Bernie and I dashed across town to catch the city tour.

Our tour guide spoke the tour in German and English. Notice her jaunty scarf! I really enjoyed seeing how the European women used scaves to accent their outfits.

First stop: Textile Museum.

Isn't Bernie being a good sport? He actually enjoyed seeing the textiles. (Notice the guy in the orange coat next to us. Orange. It was everywhere.)

We entered the building and there was a slide show playing of the designer from St. Gallen's fashion collection. Beyond that was a room filled with the "up and coming" fabrics, most likely to be put into the stores in two years.

Bernie wasn't the only guy after all.

A century of fashion, created with St. Gallen fabrics.

As an example of this years fashions. I was surprised to see panniers, padding at the hips, and only upon a later visit realized that the padding actually were pockets!

This rose red dress made of lace daisy brought back memories of the late 1960's. Be sure to enlarge the photo; the daisies are just scrumptious.

Along the base of the fashion history display there were examples of the St. Gallen lace used in bras and panties. I think if there was ever an argument for wearing a bra as an outer garment, these lacy designs justify the idea.

The small jewels in this fabric are adorable. The "lace" design is actually stitchery done on a fine mesh fabric, a more recent form of lace making.

Here's an example of much older lace.

Isn't this simply amazing?

I trust you are clicking on these pictures to see every detail....

These fine hankies obviously were too good to actually be used. I can understand that. I just can't believe the hand work that went into making them, and the fact that the bird wing is so delicate.

When I was a little child, the term "dotted Swiss" meant a fine fabric with little dots sewn regularly upon the fabric. As an older child and a teen, dotted Swiss changed from being dots sewn with thread to velvety pile dots stuck onto the fabric. Some of my earliest sewing projects were made in dotted Swiss with "fake" dots, and the back ground fabric was pink with printed flowers and autumn colored plaids with dark colored dots.
Awhile ago I mentioned the term "dotted Swiss" to a young twenty-something fashion minded young lady who worked at a very trendy woman's clothing store.

She had never even heard the term "dotted Swiss."

I tried to explain it, but her puzzled look never lessened as I spoke, so I gave up.
What a pity to never have worn a dotted Swiss dress in the summer!
What an utter joy to see the REAL thing, in Switzerland!

The Textile Museum also houses a design school, and a library. The library houses samples of the laces produced by one company, and also houses the books with drawings and examples of current designs.

This book was under the table with lots of old lace. We were not allowed to take pictures, lest we "steal" the current designs, but Kate was able to take this one shot.
Imagine having the job of designing lace. Imagine having your designs milled! Imagine researching a bit of lace, seeking to date it, using a library going back to the early 1800's, paging through each year's sample book of laces.
(Swoon)
Yeah, I'm sure it could get boring, but I'd like to try it some time.

Outside there were several architectural pieces that honored the weaving and textile arts. The building below included five sculptures of women, the first being a young girl lifting a thread, the second a young woman with an infant by her side, then a woman looking directly out, with a thread held high over her head with strong arms and grace. The next woman is aging, and begining to bend down, and the final woman is lowing the thread, with a skull by her side.

The symbolism of the golden cord of life and the phases of life is so beautifully illustrated, yet I am sure people walk by the building and never even notice the message.

The young woman.

The mother.

The older woman.

And about to cut the golden cord at the end of life.

This building had Mercury pointing to the West...that would be the United States, who was St. Gallen's biggest customer.

There was such a boom before the Great Depression, which virtually wiped out the luxury fabric market.

In the early years the houses were built of stone, which was a sign of wealth. Once some one really made his fortune, it was popular to add an Orial window to your home, so you could sit over the street below and watch what was going on. St. Gallen is also famous for its 111 Orial windows. Most of them are works of art! And a lot of them tell a story. And no, I didn't photograph all 111 windows.

This is a street with only a tiny Orial window.

This one really stood out. The people and the goose flying, and the fact that it was two stories...talk about flaunting your wealth! In fact, if you enlarge this picture, you will see that the faces have their tongues sticking out...and yes, that was a deliberate message to all who would pass by: I'm rich, and you are not!

Nay nay nahy nay!

To see more of the windows, click on this link.

The streets of Old town St. Gallen are closed to cars after about 11 am. The people crowd in, especially on this warm spring like day. Children and dogs, bikes and strollers are every where. For a moment I felt like I was at Disneyland!

The tour continued to the St. Gallen Cathedral. St. Gallen was an Irish monk who came to the area in the sixth century, as a missionary from Ireland. Legend has it that he met a bear, which somehow was a sign to him that he should make a hermitage in this location. The Catholic monk was soon joined by others, and the area was a center of education due to their presences. Later the Protestants would strip the town of its Catholic trappings, and build a Protestant church. The town was divided by a wall at one point in time, now the Protestant church and the Catholic Cathedral sit essentially side by side. The Cathedral was re-done in a Baroque style later on, and it is very light and airy, except for the ceiling. The ceiling is to represent heaven, which we on earth are said to "view dimly." It is possible to see the saints and Biblical personalities, and perched on his knees just on the edge of heaven is St. Gallen, one foot still dangling in three dimension, back toward the earth.

St. Gallus is right above the second golden decoration from your right.

This little angel was caught my eye; I like how chubby his little legs were, and the expression on his face.

For such a large space, the feeling inside was fresh and uplifting.

The little baby face on this confessional reminded me of how my son looked as a toddler, and I wondered if it was a carved representation of one of the church's benefactor's child, from years and years ago.

I really enjoyed looking at all the art. Modern churches, some of which meet in plain office spaces with little decore beyond a potted palm strikes me as the other end of the spectrum. The arguments that money should be spent "in the field" helping people rather than decorating a building rings true to me. But I have to wonder: What will generations from now have to say about our places of worship?

The front of the church, with all it's golden splendor, and one person wearing orange.
Kate pointed out the bell that St. Gallen brought to St. Gallen, which hangs in the front of the church, one of the five oldest bells in Europe.
We then went across the courtyard to the Abby Library, the Shiftsbibliothek, where I sat and sat, and observed the library. People can check out books, and scholars may use the books that were written in 600.
Our tour over, we headed for a treat. Kate suggested chocolate covered orange slices.

These little hedgehogs were too cute not to photography, even though we didn't purchase them.

It had really gotten quite warm, so we joined the throng of people eating in the late day shadows outside. I ordered gellato, and enjoyed both it and seeing my husband looking rather handsome and European.

May I just say Mango gellato is delicious? And that I will be dieting when I get back home?

Kate suggested we do a little shopping. I "bought" this hair clip only visually, via camera. Isn't it pretty? I know I'd never wear it, so just seeing the picture is "ownership" enough.

We wandered through the Swiss version of the department store. Orange bedding anyone?

How about orange and hot pink patio dishes?

Orial windows sure looked elegant by comparison. I kept snapping pictures of them when ever I noticed another one.

We eventually caught up with Bernie again, in front of "Bernie's", naturally

We wander around a bit more, then headed over to meet up with "Esq." my nickname for Sherm. He is a bit of a Man for All Seasons, having served in the Navy in Viet Nam, acquired a Phd in a life science field, dissertion on elephant seal's digestion, and a few years ago becoming a Patent Attorney, first in Houston and now is in practice in Switzerland.

We pulled him away from his office, and went down for a quick drink, meeting a few of the Pernia's friends before we went dinner.

How about those orange light fixtures?

And aren't these an interesting way to create a flower arrangement?

Benedikt's was simply divine. Each and every bite was delictable. This was fine dining at it's best!

I believe the white dessert was rhubarb sherbet. The creme brulee was to die for, and all the other little lovelies were equally delicious. We each took a bite or two to enjoy...really, after the fine wines, breads and main courses, a small taste was all there was room for!

What a day! The four of us walked home on the old cobblestones in the cool dark, greeting people who likewise were dining or simple enjoying the evening. The Pernia's do not own a car, there is no need. All they need is in walking distance, and beyond that, it is possible to walk to the station and catch a train.

We found ourselves very envious of that simplicity, and wondered if the time would ever come when we could live without a car, and walk to all that we needed.

It was a very long and very full day.

Writing this up has taken me back to that day, a second round of vacation if you will, and also caused me to celebrate this day as well. Today, June first, marks the first anniversary of my blog. What a year it has been! When I wrote my first blog I simply wanted to play with writing, I didn't even know how to upload a picture to add to my writings! I began my blog acknowledging my friends who encouraged me to write, who said they loved my writing, and savored my emails and travel logs. But it was Kate that open the door of blogging to me. She was blogging her European life, and encourage me to get a blog as well.

A year later I've learned that my friends who "love" my writing never read my blog! New friends, fellow bloggers read my writing and I read theirs, relishing new relationship with people I have never met, while wondering how life long friends can chose not to read my writings from time to time.

Oh well.

I began the blog knowing ultimately this blog was for me, a journal and an expression that needed not to be justified.

If you are reading this, you must be one of those people that I know I would call a friend.

Anyone who would slog throught this long post is a friend indeed!

And I am happy you are sharing in my Swiss travels vicariously.

You've got to admit it...for a trip to Switzerland, you can't bet this price!