The big white bird drifted gently down through the misty dawn. Through sleepy eyes, the red field with the white cross was visible on the wing tips. If that were not enough, the Swiss Army knife artfully etched in the grass along the runway would remind us that we were arriving in the land our ancestors.
During my four years as head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Sultan Qaboos University, I had flown through Zurich countless times on trips between Wisconsin and Muscat, Oman. But only once had I taken a few days to view Switzerland beyond the Zurich airport.
I had long thought that I would like to view the land of my four grandparents in greater depth. I wanted to be with people who knew their way around that country, but a commercial cookie cutter tour was not my style.
But wait - the perfect occasion arose with a tour organized as part of Turner Hall of Monroe's Swiss Heritage series. Deb Krauss Smith, chair of Turner Hall's Heritage Programming Committee and director of the Monroe Swiss Singers, did the original promotion and communication. Hans Bernet, with the benefit of his family heritage and language fluency, augmented by his formal University of Wisconsin education in European history, planned the basic itinerary. His wife, Bobbie, aided in organization and planning of social activities. Greg Smith acted as "deal closer," and managed the finances.
This was the ideal team to plan, organize, and guide a group that has Swiss ancestry and/or interest in seeing and learning more about Switzerland.
As the sleepy passengers - traveling through the night against the direction of the sun makes for a short night - gaze through the mist, the big white bird lands smoothly, with precision of course. After all, this is Switzerland where precision has been honed to a high art form.
Those familiar with the vagaries of jet lag know that when flying overnight from west to east, you want to avoid sleeping during the day, even though your internal clock tells you it's time to sleep. Planners of our itinerary thoughtfully precluded our succumbing to that temptation. And besides, we were excited enough to be here that sleep was not necessary, for now anyway.
We gathered our gear, tossed it on the bus, and our driver, Urs, headed for Appenzell, a canton in the northeast of Switzerland where we would visit the Volkskunde-Museum in the town of Stein. The sky was overcast and a slight drizzle was falling. But even through the mist that created a sort of softness in the atmosphere, we could already see the green hillsides with cattle contentedly grazing, and the well-kept chalets and cattle sheds dotting the hills. These were scenes that would greet us continually over the next 12 days.
Appenzell, the name derived from Latin, Cell of the Abbot, referring to the Abbey of St. Gall, had been allied with Switzerland since 1411, and formally entered the Swiss confederation in 1514. The Reformation led to a split of Appenzell in 1537. The urban portion, known as "Innerrhoden," mainly the Village of Appenzell, remained Catholic. The rural portion, Ausserrhoden (outer) became Zwinglian (Protestant) after the reformer Huldrych Zwingli.
The canton was therefore split into half cantons. However, with the adoption of the new Swiss Constitution in 1999, the only effective difference between a full and a half canton is that a half canton has only one representative in the Swiss States Council where full cantons have two.
Arriving at the museum in Stein, we were surprised and pleased to be guests of Monroe natives, John and Martha Etter, who had been researching their great-great-grandfather's emigration from Appenzell to America. Upon reaching Green County, John Theodore Etter became the longest serving minister in the Swiss Church of New Glarus.
John and Martha had found and donated some relevant documents to the museum. They had recently attended the church in the nearby town of Buhler where yet two previous generations of Etters had served as minister, spanning years 1802 to 1858.
The museum was featuring a series on Swiss emigration to America, with emphasis on the Appenzellers. When I asked John if this was just coincidence that he was there when we arrived at the museum, he said it was sort of a "planned coincidence." He joined with his fellow docents to give us an interesting, informative tour of the museum. And since members of our tour had so many ancestors that had emigrated from Switzerland, this was a fitting beginning for our tour.
To further emphasize this confluence of events, the September 2013 issue of Appenzeller Magazine features emigration to America, focusing on Pennsylvania and Green County. Deb had earlier picked up the magazine and exclaimed, "Hey, recognize this house?"
Sure enough - on the cover of the magazine is St. Vic's Father Michael Klarer's house, with the Swiss and American flags flying and emblems of Switzerland and Appenzell prominently displayed. The feature article on Appenzeller emigration shows pictures of American farm scenes and of Green County's Ida, Pat, and Linda Faessler, Father Klarer, John Etter, and Tony Zgraggen, native of Canton Uri.
Although Father Klarer had once told me that his ancestors were from Canton Appenzell, it means more once one has been to the area.
Leaving the museum, we spent much of the afternoon exploring the village of Appenzell before arriving at our hotel in Herisau. A fine dinner, and a night of rather fitful sleep - even though tired, it's hard to sleep when your internal clock says you should be awake. But that would change soon enough.
A fine breakfast with choices of fruit, cereal, and several tasty varieties of yogurt would start the next day - a civilized way to live, we all agreed.
Next week: Hans, where are the mountains?
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
During my four years as head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Sultan Qaboos University, I had flown through Zurich countless times on trips between Wisconsin and Muscat, Oman. But only once had I taken a few days to view Switzerland beyond the Zurich airport.
I had long thought that I would like to view the land of my four grandparents in greater depth. I wanted to be with people who knew their way around that country, but a commercial cookie cutter tour was not my style.
But wait - the perfect occasion arose with a tour organized as part of Turner Hall of Monroe's Swiss Heritage series. Deb Krauss Smith, chair of Turner Hall's Heritage Programming Committee and director of the Monroe Swiss Singers, did the original promotion and communication. Hans Bernet, with the benefit of his family heritage and language fluency, augmented by his formal University of Wisconsin education in European history, planned the basic itinerary. His wife, Bobbie, aided in organization and planning of social activities. Greg Smith acted as "deal closer," and managed the finances.
This was the ideal team to plan, organize, and guide a group that has Swiss ancestry and/or interest in seeing and learning more about Switzerland.
As the sleepy passengers - traveling through the night against the direction of the sun makes for a short night - gaze through the mist, the big white bird lands smoothly, with precision of course. After all, this is Switzerland where precision has been honed to a high art form.
Those familiar with the vagaries of jet lag know that when flying overnight from west to east, you want to avoid sleeping during the day, even though your internal clock tells you it's time to sleep. Planners of our itinerary thoughtfully precluded our succumbing to that temptation. And besides, we were excited enough to be here that sleep was not necessary, for now anyway.
We gathered our gear, tossed it on the bus, and our driver, Urs, headed for Appenzell, a canton in the northeast of Switzerland where we would visit the Volkskunde-Museum in the town of Stein. The sky was overcast and a slight drizzle was falling. But even through the mist that created a sort of softness in the atmosphere, we could already see the green hillsides with cattle contentedly grazing, and the well-kept chalets and cattle sheds dotting the hills. These were scenes that would greet us continually over the next 12 days.
Appenzell, the name derived from Latin, Cell of the Abbot, referring to the Abbey of St. Gall, had been allied with Switzerland since 1411, and formally entered the Swiss confederation in 1514. The Reformation led to a split of Appenzell in 1537. The urban portion, known as "Innerrhoden," mainly the Village of Appenzell, remained Catholic. The rural portion, Ausserrhoden (outer) became Zwinglian (Protestant) after the reformer Huldrych Zwingli.
The canton was therefore split into half cantons. However, with the adoption of the new Swiss Constitution in 1999, the only effective difference between a full and a half canton is that a half canton has only one representative in the Swiss States Council where full cantons have two.
Arriving at the museum in Stein, we were surprised and pleased to be guests of Monroe natives, John and Martha Etter, who had been researching their great-great-grandfather's emigration from Appenzell to America. Upon reaching Green County, John Theodore Etter became the longest serving minister in the Swiss Church of New Glarus.
John and Martha had found and donated some relevant documents to the museum. They had recently attended the church in the nearby town of Buhler where yet two previous generations of Etters had served as minister, spanning years 1802 to 1858.
The museum was featuring a series on Swiss emigration to America, with emphasis on the Appenzellers. When I asked John if this was just coincidence that he was there when we arrived at the museum, he said it was sort of a "planned coincidence." He joined with his fellow docents to give us an interesting, informative tour of the museum. And since members of our tour had so many ancestors that had emigrated from Switzerland, this was a fitting beginning for our tour.
To further emphasize this confluence of events, the September 2013 issue of Appenzeller Magazine features emigration to America, focusing on Pennsylvania and Green County. Deb had earlier picked up the magazine and exclaimed, "Hey, recognize this house?"
Sure enough - on the cover of the magazine is St. Vic's Father Michael Klarer's house, with the Swiss and American flags flying and emblems of Switzerland and Appenzell prominently displayed. The feature article on Appenzeller emigration shows pictures of American farm scenes and of Green County's Ida, Pat, and Linda Faessler, Father Klarer, John Etter, and Tony Zgraggen, native of Canton Uri.
Although Father Klarer had once told me that his ancestors were from Canton Appenzell, it means more once one has been to the area.
Leaving the museum, we spent much of the afternoon exploring the village of Appenzell before arriving at our hotel in Herisau. A fine dinner, and a night of rather fitful sleep - even though tired, it's hard to sleep when your internal clock says you should be awake. But that would change soon enough.
A fine breakfast with choices of fruit, cereal, and several tasty varieties of yogurt would start the next day - a civilized way to live, we all agreed.
Next week: Hans, where are the mountains?
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
