The Events of Tuesday, July 19, 2011

            This morning was a bright and beautiful morning. Below a clear blue sky, the sun shone on the green grass beneath our section of a quaint, rustic farmhouse. From our windows, we could clearly see the nearest mountain looming in the distance high above the valley floor, where only yesterday it was shrouded in mist and mystery. Yet the weather was forecast to be wet and rainy all day. We could not decide what to believe – the sky or the weatherman? Knowing that we are in no way experts in the field of weather, we dressed in warm layers, packing both shorts and umbrellas, just in case.

            As we set off towards Brienz, Mom informed us about our destination. The tourist attraction’s full name is the “Swiss Open-Air Museum of Vernacular Architecture, Country Life, and Crafts in the Berner Oberland”, but it is also known as the Swiss Open-Air Folk Museum at Ballenberg, or just Ballenberg for short. Over one hundred traditional and historic buildings have been relocated to the grounds of this folk park to represent each region of this interesting and diverse country. Each historic house is carefully furnished in the most authentic way. The museum is even laid out roughly in a vast map of Switzerland, with French Swiss culture represented in the west, Italian Swiss culture in the south, and so on.

            Our helpful Gypsies quickly led us to Ballenberg, where we parked and strolled towards the West Entrance. After purchasing our tickets, we ambled uphill to the first house. While the exterior exhibited beautifully intricate wooden décor, the interior was just as spectacular. On the ground floor, we wandered through a typical house set-up, before proceeding up the first of eight flights of stairs. This particular house exhibited objects applying to the theme of folk music, dance, and dress. We watched video clips of traditional folk dancers in regional garb, explored displays of various costume styles, and even had the opportunity to try our hand at playing traditional percussion instruments like wooden spoons.

            The next house down the road was like a miniature supermarket, selling cheese, meat, and bread made in the Ballenberg Open Air Museum. Choosing not to make any purchases, we next proceeded to the bakery.

            There, we watched, fascinated, as the baker rolled lumps of dough into some semblance of bread before thunking it down on a wooden board covered in white linen. When all the lumps had found their place on the board, she reached into a gigantic electric-mixer-looking thing, pulled out a huge hunk of dough and tossed it effortlessly across the small room to a wooden counter. I was in awe.

            Next, this wonder woman sliced off a chunk of dough, placed it on a scale, added a few smaller chunks, and then hurled it onto the floured counter. After watching her repeat this action two dozen times, we finally comprehended that she was grouping the dough into lumps of about one kilogram. After all the dough had been carefully weighed and set out, she rolled each one by hand before setting it out on the same board.

            We had watched a full cycle of this baker’s work, so we decided to depart. Moving on, we house-hopped all across Switzerland in this fifty-acre park. Each house’s ground floor had authentic furnishings, and floors above that displayed museums of various sorts. One such miniature museum was a deathbed scene. The entire house was set up as if people actually lived there, and in a small bedroom lay a white-faced child mannequin in a bed covered in flowers. Everything in the room was draped in lace, as celebration of the belief the Swiss held long ago that, when children die, they go to heaven and become angels. On one such lace-covered bureau sat many candles and crucifixes and the like. It was a beautiful little picture.

            Another house-museum regarded forestry. A boring adult exhibit filled the second and third floors, while the ground floor housed a very kid-friendly exhibit about the “Enchanted Forest”. Lindsey, Abby, and I all opted for the child’s play area over dreary forestry facts. The crawl-through exhibit was brightly and happily painted with greenery and colorful animals of the forest. The walls displayed various educational plaques, but it was all in German and French, so we skipped that bit. After crawling through three tunnels, we stumbled upon a matching game involving forest animals and their food. We played with that educational amusement for awhile, turned a corner, climbed a ladder, rounded another corner, and found ourselves in the kitchen of the historic house.

            Reuniting with our family, we proceeded through other houses before finding one about hairdressing. One room displayed a historic men’s barbershop, the other a women’s old-fashioned beauty parlor. Another fascinating piece of hair history on display was a crazy hair curling (and hair-raising!) contraption. We saw a picture of a lady getting her hair done with one of these, and it did NOT look pretty. Two additional rooms on the floor exhibited head mannequins and slideshow presentations demonstrating how European hairstyles have evolved over time. We sisters found this fascinating. Each funky hairdo was so unique, so very “WOW!” It was hard to leave that exhibit.

            Across a country lane from the hairdresser’s, we found a washerwoman’s workplace on the ground floor, and then a schoolroom on the second floor. I do not think that was the precise location of the schoolroom in reality, but it was an interesting set-up nonetheless. Seating ourselves in the tiny desks, we skimmed German schoolbooks for awhile, and then proceeded to the mills. Here, we saw both vertical and horizontal water wheels, as well as an extraordinarily wide variety of uses for the mills, from cutting wood, to grinding flour, to extracting oil. The Swiss were, and still are, very innovative with their use of water and waterwheels.

            Among these houses and museums, we found a deceitfully old-fashioned-looking house with an extremely modern interior. The kitchen was sleek, functional, and decorated with modern art. Two bedrooms were furnished for teenage boys in a very modern, functional style, somewhat like what we’ve experienced in a few of our more modern accommodations. The master bedroom followed the same theme. It was almost like a real estate show. The house’s interior had a nice appearance, though it didn’t feel very lived-in. There was even a fully-stocked bathroom, a washing machine in the basement, and a reading room, with only one chair and a bookshelf full of German classics. I thought the whole house was absolutely awesome and interesting. However, Lindsey walked out of the house shaking her head and asking, “Why?”

            After exploring the modern Swiss farmhouse with an ancient-looking exterior, we headed to a nearby picnic table for lunch. However, this was no ordinary picnic lunch. Ballenberg provides free firewood to its visitors to encourage them to purchase their sausages and cook them over a wood fire. We took advantage of these special circumstances and heated our bread, meat, and cheese over an open wood fire. Mom said it was the best picnic lunch she has had in a very long time, and Abby said it gave her Gouda cheese a lovely smoky flavor. Ben even tried grilling his red pepper on the fire! For dessert, we had some typical sandwich cookies, but Daddy heated his, Abby’s, and Ben’s over the fire. This melted the cookies’ fillings and made for a delicious mess.

            Not long after lunch, we made our way to the chocolate shop at the far end of the folk park. After drooling over the display windows for much longer than necessary, we finally purchased some of this famous Swiss chocolate and then walked back through the park, each of us quietly lost in our individual chocolate heaven.

            Soon, it began to sprinkle, and then the light showers turned to rain. We still progressed from house to house, trying to enjoy it for all it was worth. However, the whole thing was becoming rather tiresome. We decided to just hit a few more buildings and then call it a day, and that’s what we did. The last few buildings housed a somewhat interesting display of a historic pharmacy, with an impressive assortment of ground spices and medical mixtures in various glass dishes, earthenware jars, and porcelain drawers. Finally, we headed back to the car and left Ballenberg.

            From there, we drove to the Tourist Information Office in Spiez, where we turned in a guest registration card and reaped a whole bunch of free benefits. We helped ourselves to the contents of a glass dish full of Starburst-like candy before taking advantage of fifteen minutes of free Internet access. Mom and Dad also each received free souvenir shot glasses of cheap white wine (which Dad drank), as well as a smidgen of chocolate – for Mom, of course. Abby and Lindsey colored postcards, Ben browsed brochures, Mom and I checked email and updated our website, and Dad drank two glasses of wine. OK, two shot glasses. It was a very rewarding visit.

            On the drive back to our accommodations, we discussed possibly changing some family rules and routines a bit when we return to “normal life”. After arriving at our temporary home, we enjoyed a dinner of pasta and a dessert of Belgian waffles. Subsequently, we packed breakfast and lunch for tomorrow, as well as plenty of warm layers. Tomorrow, we will wake up extremely early to drive to the Lauterbrunnen train station, catch the first train to Kleine Sheidegg, ride another train to Jungfraujoch, and take in a spectacular view in below-freezing weather before hiking back down the mountain. Doesn’t that just sound like so much fun?