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Berneck to Stetten
From Berneck to Stetten |
Wem Gott will rechte Gust erweisen, dem drückt er Hundert Stei i'd Hand, und schickt'ne vierzäh Tag uf Reise, is liebi, schöni Schwyzerland. (When God wants to favour someone, he puts 100 bucks in his hand and sends him on a fortnight trip through beautiful Switzerland.) This was our opening song for every concert. If you ask me - God should have taken inflation into consideration! |
It was when the church bells suddenly started ringing in all their glory that it really hit me! They called the inhabitants of Berneck, a lovely small town in a wine growing region of the Rhine Valley, to come and listen to our concert. The months of rehearsals were over, it was SHOW TIME for the Swiss Singing Society Harmonie from Los Angeles. |
The singers, some spouses and friends had arrived individually in Switzerland and met two days earlier at Zürich airport. There it was, a double decker bus from Marti Travel with a hooked up trailer and tons of luggage. 56 persons, 30 of them singers carrying trachts, warm clothes and umbrellas, because in Switzerland - you never know! |
A short hour later we arrived at our first hotel in Stein am Rhein where we would spend four nights and have ample time to discover the lovely medieval town center with its restaurants and shops and enjoy the view of the rhine river, still very wide as it emptied out of the lake Constance. From our "base camp" we traveled the first day to the island of Mainau, Meersburg and the shores of lake Constance, and the next day, to Appenzell with more time to admire the Landsgemeindeplatz and the brightly painted houses. From here we continued to above mentioned Berneck. Did I mention that we had bright sunshine? People were hot! My husband kept saying "I hope that we have at least 3-4 days of sunshine because the first impression is very important". The next day saw us in Schaffhausen. In the evening we gave another concert in Stetten, a small town near by. |
Written by Wal Baur |