Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

It was so fun to just walk through the streets.  There are flower boxes and window boxes everywhere with gorgeous flowers in their full glory.  There are water fountains with flowers decorating.  There are flowers over doors and passages and in pots by doors.  It was all so charming and quaint.  We went to several town squares, almost one on each block.  We walked by chocolate shops and bakeries.  The buildings are amazing.  Each unique, with ornamentation.  Switzerland, gratefully, was not bombed, so these are all the original old beautiful buildings.

Then we visited the Franziskanerkirche (Franciscan) built around 1250, more of a medieval type, Gothic structure that’s famous for the most elaborately ornamented pulpit (carved wood) in Switzerland (from the Baroque period).

I absolutely LOVE the wood carving.

The detail and artistry here is incredible.  It’s hard not to photograph every beautiful thing I see.  I can hardly contain myself.

We went to see the sad/dying Lion monument carved out of a stone wall, honoring the Swiss soldiers to lost their lives in France.  For 300 years they were recruited as mercenaries to fight in France between the 15th and 18th centuries.  More than 500,000 served, 60% never returned home.  That ended in 1792.

A church service was being held here, in this next beautiful church.

After church there were drinks and cookies for all.

Heading back now to our hotel.

Our room was the top right corner room.  So lovely.

Time to move on to Interlaken!

We arrived in Lucerne this evening as it was getting dark.  We had no hotel reservations or ideas about where to stay.  We made a call to Marriott to see if there might be a place we could stay tonight and we found a room at a lovely Marriott Renaissance Hotel in the heart of town.

We arrived just in time to watch the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference in our room on our laptop.  Our timing was perfect and the conference talks were inspiring.

After the 2 hour session, we went out for a wander.  We were close to the waterfront and we were hungry.  Told that all the restaurants were across bridge, we went looking.

Lucerne’s landmark is considered to be Europe’s oldest covered bridge. It was built in the 1300s and was originally a part of the city fortifications. There are pictorial panels, added in the 17th century, that have scenes of Swiss history and Lucerne’s history.  But most spectacular of all were the flower boxes with begonias and trailing geraniums.

We decided we weren’t up to paying a lot of money for a big meal, so we walked back to the huge Bahnhof, looking for food in that area.  There was an underground mall below the train station with shops of all kinds and grocery stores.  We almost bought some cheese and bread, but decided to look for food trucks by the Ferris Wheel we saw across the way.

We found exactly what we were craving–traditional Swiss Raclette (John) and a noodle dish that I got called Alpermagronen (Alpine Mac & Cheese). It was Delicious!! Oh, my, it was so good. It was made hot and fresh right before our eyes.

The macaroni was boiled and in one big pot. The gal scooped some into another wok like pot over a fire and then stirred in chopped ham and bacon and fried onion, then she added some herbs (including a touch of nutmeg) and cream and stirred it all together, then filled a bowl and put grated Gruyere cheese on top. It was SO DELICIOUS.

Here is a link to a recipe I found.  I will definitely be learning to make this:

Älplermagronen (Swiss Alpine Macaroni and Cheese)

We returned to our hotel room for the next session of Conference that began at 10:00 p.m.  Here’s a mural of Lucerne on our hotel wall.

And here’s where we were located:

We heard 20 more temples announced this evening and went to bed feeling Very Happy!

Today as we drove out of Wintertur, John wanted to see the current LDS church building, then the building where he attended church here 50 years ago.  Our friend, Ernst Bosshard, is a 5th generation member of the Church here in Wintertur.  He knew right where to send us to see the former manor house that was once a meeting place.  Today is serves as a school.

Here is the former church building:

I’ve loved watching old memories flow into John’s heart and mind as we’ve driven the streets he walked as a missionary long ago.

We had another lovely day in Wintertur with our friends.  This morning John showed them the article we recently worked on about the Swiss youth activity that involved more than 300 youth here a few weeks ago.  Our friends loved seeing their grandchildren in the group.

Here’s a link to the article and videos about this Medieval Festival for these kids:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saint-youth-switzerland-experience-middle-ages-medieval-festival

Then Ernst pulled out a family treasure he wanted to show us.  This is his Family Bible that was published in 1691!  It’s been in his family for a long long time.

The inside page is inscribed by his ancestor who asked that the Bible always stay in the family.  Wow.

After a nice morning, our friends wanted to take us on a hike to a nearby lookout point up on a mountain called Schauenberg.  We drove a short way, then started hiking up a mountainside.

Once a lookout tower stood on this hill.  Now there are just some remains and foundation stones.

Regina and her twin sister, Gita.  They are half Israeli and half Romanian.  The word in German for identical twin is “Eineiige,” which means “one egg.”  These two are a hoot!

The views from the top were pretty amazing.  This land is filled with farms and wooded areas.  It’s a beautiful patchwork.

And there are always cows and cowbells accenting the views and sounds.

We took a different path down, straight down.  Yikes!

After this outing, it was time to say goodbye to our friends in Wintertur.  What a great time we’ve had here!

Each of the Senior missionaries here is asked to help with some sort of job or project in our Zone.  We have about 30 Senior missionaries serving in the Area Office.   Many of the jobs are service related, some are social like planning get-togethers for the missionaries like potluck dinners or farewell meetings for those leaving.  In addition to zone jobs, we all serve in different wards and branches.

I’ve been asked to join the committee that publishes the monthly newsletter called the Wegweiser.  I’m happy about that.  Here’s my first article.

Der Wegweiser

We have many guideposts in our lives to help us stay on the right path. They point the way, they instruct, they give warnings, they name destinations, some even provide helpful information about the path. The German word for guide post or path advisor is Wegweiser (pronounced vek vi zer). Weg means way or path. Weiser means a sage or a wise guide.

Our Senior Missionary Newsletter, called Wegweiser, is a source of guidance and information. Did you know that another Wegweiser newsletter was published in Germany in the early 20th century? This fore-runner of “Der Stern” and later, the “Liahona,” was important to the members of the Church in Germany at that time.

This issue of “Der Wegweiser,” collected by Elder and Sister Irving as part of their Church History mission was dated April/May 1934. Already in its 8th year of publication, it must have begun in 1926. A translation of the title page is:

The Way-Finder (or path advisor)

A magazine for young and old Number 2 April/May 1934 8th Year

Official Organ of the Priesthood and Auxiliaries

in the Swiss-German and German-Austrian

Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Every day we see and read signs and posts directing us which way to go. They are on every road we travel, and every path we take. We can choose to heed what they say or not. In Iceland, a vegvísir is a magical stave intended to help the bearer find their way through rough weather. We not only need earthly advice and help to find and navigate our way, we also need spiritual guidance and direction.

We have just listened to General Conference. Our Prophet and Church leaders are also Wegweisers, directing, advising and pointing us to paths that will keep us save, happy and focused on Jesus Christ.

“His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.”

–The Living Christ

After about 25 or more years of visits from Katharina, Racko and now Franz in Utah, we are finally here visiting Them!  Oh, happy day!!    We drove about an hour from Wintertur to Rapperswil-Jona by the Zurich See (lake).  This countryside is breathtaking.

Katharina and Franz welcomed us with open arms into their beautiful home overlooking the lake.

Katharina and I are both cancer survivors in the last year.  She had a spot removed from her head and it’s healing well now.  We are both showing off our graying hair!

What a beautiful refuge from any storm.  We loved their home and the beautiful views.

Katharina brings me Läckerlei from Switzerland every time she visits because she knows how much I love these little Swiss cookies with dried fruits and raisins.  They remind me of my Grandma’s baking.

We planned an outing and our first stop was the big Migros grocery store to find some Läckerlei.  Of course, John went straight to the Swiss chocolate aisle to look for his favorites.  We were both happy!

In Swiss and German grocery stores, the chocolate and yogurt aisles are large and full.

The cold cereal aisle??  Not so much.  This is all they offer here (this is more than we usually see).

Then Katrina took us on a walking tour of the Old City of Rapperswil.  We walked to the peninsula

Rapperswil is on the northern shore of Lake Zürich at the point where the lake is cut in two by an isthmus.  Part of the old town, the castle and monastery are situated on the peninsula where we went walking.

In the old town we saw the Rapperswil Castle that dates back to the 1200s. There is also a monastery from 1606 at the end of the peninsula.

The views were spectacular.  Does anyone ever tire of this??

The little roofs!

Now this is important.  See the 2 yellow cranes across the way?  That’s where Roger Federer is building his home.

Here’s a photo I found in an online Swiss newspaper that shows Roger’s construction area from the other side.  You can see the peninsula where we walked across the water.

This is at the monastery:

Thing I never tire of:  cobblestone patterns, flower boxes and interesting fountains.

When we returned home, Franz had the dinner Katharina prepared earlier ready and waiting.  It was delicious!

After dinner we settled in to watch General Conference.  What a perfect day.  And it wasn’t over yet.  After a good visit discussing what we learned from the speakers, we drove back to Wintertur in time for the Saturday afternoon session (on at 10 p.m. here).  Then we headed to bed, full and fed in oh, so many ways!