The party was a joyous event; even though German was the dominant language we managed to join the flow of the celebration. Andre was well aquainted with employees of the salon and many of the guests. I believe he did his apprenticeship at the Bern Gress salon. The gracious hospitality of the people in attendance provided an evening of memorable merriment. This evening continued into the wee hours of the morning. Sharing this experience all these years later (46 years to be exact) it seems unimaginable that we actually partied into the early AM. To give some perspective...as I write this now it is 7:00 AM on the first day of 2016, and my experience this New Year’s Eve: Dinner at 7:00 PM, in bed at 11:00 PM, and asleep at 11:30 PM.
We were pleased to have a midday check out after our all-night party. Next we were heading off to Zurich, Switzerland to meet up with Andre in his hometown. After arriving in Zurich we took a train to the small town where Andre grew up, the name of which escapes me at this moment. We were spending a couple of days and then off to the Matterhorn in Zermatt. After we arrived and were settled in our room, which was very pleasant, Andre suggested we go bowling. I’m thinking, “How is this going to work?”, I only saw one building that looked like a gas station/grocery store... and that was exactly where we were headed. The walk was only a half mile or so and it was a mild fall evening. As we entered the building it was clear that this was not a place to bowl. Andre engaged in a discussion with the woman in charge and after a brief conversation he signaled for us to follow...we headed down a narrow flight of stairs to a room that had two or three bowling lanes. The bowling balls were larger than a regular bowling ball and were made out of wood. Each ball, I think there may have only been two, had a flat spot that did not seem to interfere with its ability to roll. The pins were set by the person rolling the ball and that meant that after each turn you walked down to reset the pins. The bowling was fun, however the coolest part of the evening was ordering beer and food via a dumb waiter. There was an intercom which connected to the upstairs allowing us to place our order. The beer came in a bottle that was sealed with a cork and was brewed right there. The beer was fantastic ; the food was simple but quite tasty. The alcohol content of the beer was much higher than beer you might drink in the USA....after a few beers we were ready to call it a night. That was a really fun evening. The next morning, after a cup of coffee, we walked about a mile to a chairlift that took us up a mountain. The ride up was beautiful. Upon getting off the chairlift we were in a meadow, with some out buildings and a house where food and locally brewed wine could be purchased. After some food and excellent wine, we decided a short nap in the afternoon sun would be most appealing.
The next morning we boarded a train to Zermatt. The ride took only a couple of hours and was very interesting. The Swiss countryside was mostly just wooded land with an occasional pasture and a few houses scattered here and there. All the homes were very well maintained with a pristine appearance of proud ownership. We arrived in Zermatt early enough to get settled, then have enough time to take a long, but easy hike up to the base of the Matterhorn. We did not waste time getting back down, arriving at our Chalet as the sun was setting. We had dinner out and were happy to get to bed early after spending the day hiking the base of the mountain. Our next destination was Lake Lugano in the South of Switzerland…