Day 5

Well, after an amazing night at the Schwendimann party we woke up and had another great breakfast at Fritz’s.  (and probably another 20 packets of hot chocolate!)

Today our plan was to finish up in Niederstocken, see a few other cities, then head to Wilderswil, just south of Interlaken, which is where we would be staying for a couple of nights at a bed and breakfast.  We loved walking around the small town.  One thing I love is all of the woodwork of the homes and buildings and of course all the flowers!  This is a picture of the bus stop in Niederstocken!  It even has flower boxes!  These two signs are on the fire station building in town. 

After going through all of the family history information after the party the night before, we had a few questions for Susi who lived next door to Fritz.  Susi lived in the same home that my great grandfather was born in and lived in for some time in Niederstocken. Below is a picture of a picture that Susi brought to the party.  That home was destroyed in a fire in 1999.  We found out from Susi that it was an electrical fire.  Susi was in another town and came home to see the firemen dousing the home.  There was too much structural damage and water damage that the home had to be torn down and she rebuilt a beautiful home on the same lot.  Here is Susi with my Dad.  It was fun to hear them chat in German all about the old house and her life.  She married Eduard who is the son of Eduard who is the son of Friedrich who is a brother to my Great-great Grandfather Samuel.  Make sense?  Good.  One other thing we for sure wanted to see were the original drawings of Abraham Schwendimann and Maria Anna Eggen that have stayed in the home all these years.

  
Here’s a good look at the beautiful woodwork of the Switzerland homes.  That’s Susi up there!  We had a great time talking with Susi and finding out more about her family and her life!

This is the side of Susi’s house that faces Fritz’s.

Here are some other photos from around Niederstocken.

After talking with Susi, we found out about the homes that the family had lived in, and also about their old school house.  We saw a few old pictures and decided that we would try to “recreate” the photo and find out where they were.  Oh, boy, was that an outing.  Julie was bound and determined to find that exact spot.

My great great grandfather Samuel was a wheelwright so we had fun pretending that maybe he made this wheel!!

 

Just look at all the photos I took for Julie, trying to get an idea if these were the old homes and school house. . .

See those tiny little figures down there?  That’s Julie with Lisa and the laptop with the original photo trying to map it all out.  We had a great laugh about that one.  Heidi actually pulled up in the van, dropped them off, and said, “once you get back in this car, we are NOT talking about this ANYMORE!” . . .and she was serious.

 

These are a few pictures from Oberstocken.  My great grandfather had written in his journal that they lived in this home, that now is the post office in Oberstocken.  There was some argument as to whether they lived in that home or the one next door, so we took photos of both.

 

Another place we wanted to be able to find was the river and waterfall that feeds the river where our ancestors were baptized.  We knew from the journals that it was called the Wissenbach falls and our great grandfather had taken some photos as well.  We asked Fritz and he pointed us in the right direction!

This picture looks almost exactly like the one my great grandfather had taken.  They said in the journals that they hiked from Niederstocken about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to an area where the water had pooled enough that they could have the baptism.  There were obviously several areas that had be altered by logs and cement to change the flow of the river, so we aren’t exactly sure where they were baptized.  It was more important to us to just be there.  What an experience!

This was a small little resting spot just on the path from the waterfall to town. . .SEE!  A flower box!

Here is a look at Niederstocken from the spot where the little bench was. 

We stopped back at Fritz’s to say our goodbyes and pack up our things.  What a great little place they have, and we were so thankful to them for all of their hospitality toward us!

We headed out of town and honked and waved to several of our RELATIVES! we saw on our way.  We made our way toward Wilderswil (or in the German accent. . .Vildersvil!).  It was rainy but a beautiful drive.  Here’s a photo of the bed and breakfast where we stayed.  It’s a beautiful old hotel, full of antiques and a gorgeous lobby area!

 

Checking email and playing cards by candlelight, with hot cocoa anyone? 

The B&B owners also had this sweet old Bernese Mountain Dog that hung out in the lobby.

We drove down into the town for dinner. . .here’s a couple of big laughs from the trip.  We were looking over the menu, and trying to decide what to get.  One of the options was “consumme wit Pfannkuckenstriefen”.  Here’s where we put Dad’s German language skills to the test. . .Ok, Dad, what is that?  He said, “well, it must be like a broth with sliced pancakes.”  What?  Well, that’s what it says. . .so we finally discover another menu on the table with the English menu and it says, “Beef broth with sliced pancakes.”  Seriously!  Dad WINS!  So, of course we had to order it. . .and yep, it is what it is.

We all tried it and I can confidently say that should you ever eat at “Mr. Chicken” in Wilderswil, I do not recommend the “consumme with Pfannkuckenstriefen”.  However, I had some amazing Raclette, and ate it so fast I didn’t get a picture. . .sorry.