May 1 to 3, 2006

2 Exhausted 2 Write
Quint-ennial Vacation

"Sometimes it's better to lose your map anyway
You may end up where you were going
Instead of where you thought you were" – kendall brown
I printed 42-page itineraries for Gramma, the twins, and Alan and I so everyone would know where we were going and where we had been. The first page was headlined with the above quote. When I told people about the itineraries I was pouring so many hours and effort into, I said I knew God was laughing as I laid our plans. What I didn't know was that the angels watching me over God's shoulder as I laid our plans were laughing so hard they wet themselves.
April 28 - April 30, 2006 | May 1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May 6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May 10 -11, 2006 | May 12, 2006 | May 13, 2006 | Mother's Day, May 14, 2006 | May 15, 2006 | May 16 -17, 2006
European Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe 2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
So here's how it went down from May 1 to May 3 (You don't have to read any of the words! You can just look at the pictures. There will be no test.) :
MONDAY MAY DAY
"If there is anything worse than the aching tedium of staring out of car windows, it is the irritation of getting tickets, packing, finding trains, lying in bouncing berths, washing without water, digging out passports, and fighting through customs. To live in Carlsbad is seemly and to loaf at San Remo healing to the soul, but to get from Carlsbad to San Remo is of the devil." – Sinclair Lewis
As stated, we spent the night in Bourges [BOOr zhu]. Trivia: Encouraged by his father to study law instead of theology, John Calvin (1509-1564) attended universities at Orléans and Bourges.
We left directly for St-Amand-en-Puisaye [yadda yadda PWEE ZAY]. Michel Guyot initiated the building site of Guédelon [GEYdaLOH] near yadda yadda PWEE ZAY, after doing an archaeological study about the medieval core of the castle of Saint-Fargeau. Why not build a castle strictly following medieval techniques? Thirty five craftsmen and women are building a medieval castle using 13th century techniques. And we got to watch them. The rural site in the middle of the forest provides them with all the building materials necessary: wood, water, stone, earth, sand and iron. The girls forgave the craftsmen for wearing 21st century safety goggles. I didn't! I'm not impressed by stonemasons who still have two eyes.
Take a look at the white lamb on the far left. It stayed there with that blissful expression the whole time I stood there watching. What contentment!
Heaven, to me, will be, besides reunions, lying next to The Lion and The Lamb and feeling as blissful as this lamb looked.
I just can't get over the bliss of that woolly face! But I suppose we must move on. . .
Kilory points out that the person at the reins of the wagon at the right is a girl, not a boy. She loved that no end.
Guédelon was totally cool. My only regret is I lost most of my print photos of the place.
That, and at nearby Saint-Fargeau they have the castle/village/farm running according to 19th century practices. You'd get to see the farm animals, the farmhouse, the tradesmen with demonstrations, etc. I didn't know about it until we got to Guédelon and by that time, we were out of time.
At the time, I thought we'd be going to L'Ecomusée D'Alsace between Mulhouse and Colmar which is sort of the same thing except Alsatian. I was looking forward to that as much as to Guédelon, but L'Ecomusée D'Alsace got kicked to the curb. *sigh*
However, we did get to see some smithing, stonecutting, rope-making, child-rearing techniques (at left), and basket-weaving. "Basket-weaving! Sissy stuff," you might laugh. In your face! It was a man creating baskets sturdy enough to hoist rock blocks to the next level of masonry using a rope and pulley. Gave you new respect for the rope-makers, too!
At the gates of Guédelon, with my help, Kilory discovered our first Geocache (I did not upload the spoiler image at this site! That was Alan's foul deed!) It was a micro-cache in a film canister that had a piece of paper upon which to write your name, origin, and date. It was hidden in the moss on the tree.
Geocaching Frequently Asked Questions.
By the way: With the exception of the photo above (by Nikki) and to the right (by Alan), and otherwise noted later on, these were Kilory's photos.
We then proceeded to get horrendously lost. "Look, Alan -- a[n open] gas station." More lost. "Look, Alan! A GAS station." More lost. "Look! ALAN! A GAS station!" More lost, and fuel gauge on "E." After a very long way after "E", we limped into Corbigny. There's a picture of Corbigny in the dictionary under "boondocks." It was early evening on a national holiday and raining. What open gas stations there had been, were now closed. The pay-at-pump gas stations in Corbigny refused our credit cards (each and every one of them) because there was no human to push the foreign button (I witnessed such a button). There were only the rural automated pumps which didn't like people without an international card. No gas, no motels, no way to seduce the automated pumps -- I tried. But there was a woman buying gas. I asked her if she could help us with the pump in case we were misunderstanding the directions. In perfect English she apologized that her English wasn't good. She wrestled with the automated pump and stated the above conclusion. I asked if we could trade 10€ cash for 10€ on her card. Yes, and go ahead and fill the tank. What would we have done without her? As Alan did so she asked where we were going and using what roads -- it was getting dark and it was rainy and she didn't want us on the small, twisted, hilly roads in the dark. She wanted us on the large main roads. She told me how to get to such roads for Dole. We thanked her profusely, nearly choking on how much gratitude we felt toward her, and headed out. We immediately got lost. We drove around and then pulled over to look at the map. A familiar car stopped across the street, she got out, and walked over. She'd followed us just in case. She pointed at the right direction and showed us such on the map. Alan said as we continued on, "Wow, she was like an angel." One of the girls said, "She WAS an angel." The other agreed. We never got her name, but I dubbed her "Angelique." The French are so rude, don't you think? Whenever I think of her, and I often do, I pray that others are being as good to her as she was to us.
We couldn't find the Formule 1s in Dijon, in the dark, in the rain. So we arrived at the Ave Du Maréchal De Lattre De Tassigny Formule 1 in Dole [doughL] after 10 p.m. But not before driving around in circles within the city limits. "Take the very first right...the first right...the FIRST RIGHT -- right here Right Here RIGHT THERE! Alan?! Why didn't you take the first right!?"
"I did."
"This is the second right."
"Well, why didn't you tell me?"
"I did!"
"I can't read your mind. You just have to tell me where to go."
I KID YOU NOT. I wanted to tell him where to go to but the kids and Gramma were present. Every trip has a theme. This scenario was one of them.
"Oh, look! A mini-van!" was another theme, as was "Where's Gramma?" and "Have we killed Gramma yet?" (We hauled her up and down an awful lot of steps...) And then there were the Smart cars...

TUESDAY MAY 2

"Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will-whatever we may think." -- Lawrence Durrell

An important Gallic center, Besançon later became (1st century BC) a Roman military outpost. It is the birthplace of the writer Victor Hugo.

Besançon, to me, will be the place where we ate breakfast in a dandelion garden (Pictured at left -- May 2 photos are by Alice Cummings). I loved it! Besançon is also the place where the great "I [car photo] Paris"-billboard battle began between Nikki and Kilory. But more about that later.

Not long after, we were in Switzerland. I'd forgotten that one knows one is in Switzerland the moment one crosses the border: the aroma of cow manure is everywhere. Ah, Switzerland -- smell the dairy air!

We'd come to this area of Switzerland specifically to see the birthplaces of my circa 1800s Luthy/Luthi ancestors:

Henri Lucien Luthi*, who was born in 1836 in Corgémont [core-zhah-MOHn], Switzerland, married Charlotte Perrit-Gentil(sp?)** (b. 1834) of Sainte-Suzanne, France. They are Nikki and Kilory's great-great-great-great-grandparents on their maternal grandmother's side.
*AH-ree . LUCY-eh . LOO-tee
**SHARlot . PAIR-ee . ZHAHN-tee Their son,

Their son, Albert "Frenchie" Luthy born in 1862 Corgémont, Switzerland, married Ellen Elizabeth Bean (b. 1872) of Statford, London.They are Nikki and Kilory's great-great-great-grandparents on their maternal grandmother's side.

No sooner had we arrived in La Chaux-de-Fonds (or was it Le Locle?) than we saw this "Luthy Machines" sign. OK, big whoop. But Gramma was pretty excited. And it was just a wee* bit cool. : )

*Dinna ye ken, on the Morrison and Cummings sides I'm Scotch-Irish? Aye.

In Corgémont, the 1866 church is still standing. It would have been the church that Albert would have attended before moving to Idaho at age 19. Charlotte Perret-Gentil(sp?) Luthy moved at some time. Albert built a small log house for her near his own on his farm (which is still being worked to this day by Luthys). Charlotte later went to live with her son, William, in Preston, Idaho, where she died in 1910. (Read about his daughter and his life in America as "that crazy Frenchman".) Albert died in Archer, ID.

Gramma was disappointed not to find any old Luthy gravestones. Space is at such a premium in Europe, that unless you were of great importance, after a few years your dust and old gravestone have to make way for someone-else-soon-to-be-dust and a new gravestone. But we did find Johann Luthi (1892-1972).

Between Corgémont and Sonceboz, we took a Luthy-Noakes-etc. family photo next to the Corgémont town Welcome sign, complete with flower box. I didn't realize until working with the photos at home, that the welcome sign is in French, not German. The website is in French (if you look at the pictures on the village page, you can see an emu in front of "new construction"). The official town sign is in French: Bienvenue. This doesn't make me part French or German. It makes me part Swiss! But it seems I come from the French part of Switzerland. This is a point in Alan's Family, as you'll see if you continue on to May 4.

We ate a very late lunch on the steps of the neighboring Sonceboz church; got lost going through Biel; got lost in Bern; and were too late to get an Etap room (slightly nicer than a Formule 1), too late to get an Ibis room (nicer than an Etap), and had to stay at a Novotel (nicer than an Ibis or anything else I've ever stayed in) across from the fair park. All three were slap up next to each other and shared the same parking lot. Our window looked right out into an illuminated Ferris wheel. It was cool. Alan spent so much time repeatedly warning everyone not to touch anything in the minibar or perhaps even the TV or the teabags, that Nikki wished for a Formule 1: "Our hotel room scares me." Kilory was thrilled that near the elevators there was a shoe shine machine. Once settled, we ate in a Scottish restaurant within view of the Novotel. If I ever return to Scotland, I'll look for a fondue restaurant. :)

WEDNESDAY MAY 3

"You appear dissatisfied with me because you do not know where you are. For all you know, you may be just where you want to be."
– Jerome K. Jerome

I woke up, looked in the mirror, and discovered my first grey hair. And my second one. And my third one. As we ate our lunch near the Bern clock tower I said I wasn't going to pluck a single one. Sharon Leach has been salt and pepper all the time I've known her. Her mother, Frances Hardwick, has been white-haired since I first saw her. I've always found both of them to be beautiful. I said I planned to age with the same dignity they had, and to act like a lady, and behave myself, and show the world how beautiful not-kidding-yourself hair can be. Gramma scoffed. "You?! Behave yourself?!" I told her in no uncertain terms that Sharon and her mother are nice, and kind, and don't make trouble for others. They behave themselves and still manage to be a hoot and a half. And if they can do it, I can do it! Without roots showing. So there! Hoot hoot!

Bern or Berne, named after a bear, is the capital of Switzerland. The old battlements of the city, converted into promenades, command a magnificent view of the surrounding alpine scenery.

The bear is the heraldic emblem of Bern, and a bear pit, maintained since 1513, is one of the notable sights of the city. I got in trouble with Michael and Veronique when they found out I'd been to Bern before but hadn't visited the bear pit. They said one can't can't can't go to Bern without seeing the bear pit. On the contrary, I had managed just that. But I knew I wouldn't get away with it this time.

I didn't notice alpine scenery, but the very clear Aare River, when viewed at an angle is that crazy blue one gets from glacial silt. Like at Lake Moraine or Lake Louise in Canada.

The Bern cathedral had many interesting oddments in it and on it.

One, on the outside, was this dog that looks like our Chia, or Aunt Sally's Hunny, who was the reason I picked Chia out from all the other shelter adoptables. To the left of Bern Cathedral Chia-Hunny was another dog chewing on a bone.

Another "oddment" I noticed was an hourglass at the pulpit, which I think should be incorporated into every church!

I never even saw the pew carvings until I perused Kilory's photos to put on this page.

Another oddment, the debate over which still rages, was a knight peering out of his helmet as a carved decoration on the inside of the church. Gramma, and some others insist it is a bear. I know of which I saw and photographed. It is a knight. Aunt Sally said "Looks like daylight to me."

In any case it was a rather amusing decoration to find inside a church.

Once we left Bern, we headed toward the other section of Switzerland from which my family hails.

On the way to Rüderswil [ROOO-ders-veel] and Lauperswill [lowpers-veel] was Utzigen. I'm telling you, this area spoke to my heart! Cows decked out in musical bells as they munch amidst dandelions, with snow-crested Alps in the distance. Oh my!

The narrow right-and-left, up-and-down roads didn't appear to be taking us to Rüderswil and Lauperswill in the manner in which we expected. We appeared to be LOST in a Swiss fantasy wonderland.

To my continuing astonishment, three out of our fellowship of five voted to return to Bern and take a well-mapped out, but ordinary efficient freeway straight to Colmar, France and skip Rüderswil and Lauperswill.

Visiting Rüderswil and Lauperswill was one of our main objectives in making the trip, hence my continuing apoplectic astonishment.

We were so close, that I can only imagine that the landscape of Rüderswil and Lauperswill would resemble these images of the Utzigen area.

Christian Louis Luethi* born in 1747 in Lauperswil, Switzerland, married Maria Elisabeth Redard (b. 1756) of La Brevine, Neuchatel, Switzerland. They are Nikki and Kilory Weis's great-great-great-great-great-grandparents on their maternal grandmother's side.
*KREEs-tee-ah Lwee Loo-TEE

Ulrich Luthi born in 1698 in Rüderswil, Switzerland, married Anna Schneider (b.1702) of Romainmotier, Switzerland. They are Nikki and Kilory Weis's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents on their maternal grandmother's side.

Mathias Luthi [mat-TEE-ass loo-TEE] born in1639 in Lauperswill, Switzerland, married Christina Hertzig [Heht-tseeg] (b. 1639) of Lauperswill. They are Nikki and Kilory Weis's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents on their maternal grandmother's side.

The icky, ordinary freeway (with very high, concrete, sound barrier walls) sped us right through the cities of Basel and Mulhouse to Colmar. To 36 Route De Strasbourg, in fact.

Visible from our Formule 1 window was a three-or-four-storey-tall replica of the "Statue of Liberty." But to find out why it was there, you must continue to May 4. . .

April 28 - April 30, 2006 | May 1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May 6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May 10 -11, 2006 | May 12, 2006 | May 13, 2006 | Mother's Day, May 14, 2006 | May 15, 2006 | May 16 -17, 2006
European Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe 2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive

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