From Montreux to Fribourg

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Monday was a lovely, long, lingering day in Dmitri’s home high above Lake Geneva. I had already been writing for almost three hours when we sat down for breakfast. Dmitri was so very kind to take me in on short notice despite the fact he was in the midst of many projects. He gave me the run of the house as he tended to business and I spent the rest of the morning writing from every view – the patio, the garden, the balcony. We lunched together then spent the afternoon working side by side at the dual internet connections in the study. He was a wonderfully gracious host and a fascinating person. Indeed, I felt privileged to have this time to spend in his company. At four his sweet Magdalene, one of his three house keepers who cooks marvelously and continuously chattered to me in French despite the fact I can’t understand a word, drove me down to the train station to catch my train to Fribourg and meet my next host.

Monday was a lovely, long, lingering day in Dmitri’s home high above Lake Geneva.

Mirjam is a bright, perky, vibrant woman – a few years younger than me with lovely short brown hair tossed about in exuberant curls that match her personality. She is the only person I’ve ever met who can talk with the same exhaustive vibrancy that I can. Being with her is often a bit scarily like looking into a mirror. I am her first couch surfer and she could barely contain her excitement though tinged with twittering apprehension. Generally I won’t stay with people who haven’t hosted before, but there was something in her profile that made me think we could relate well to each other and indeed we do. She met me at the train station and we walked the few blocks to her house as she chattered happily about couchsurfing and Fribourg and school, her work in the past with the Red Cross and the interesting places she has lived including Africa She is a naturally skilled linguist, speaking perfect English with a lovely (though inexplicable) Irish brogue. She also speaks fluent French and German and can read equally well in all three – a notable skill, trust me. Italian she picked up on a short vacation and she speaks it perfectly without the hint of an accent. She even speaks sign language! (That sentence doesn’t make sense, does it?) Within two hours, after dropping my things off and taking a walk through town, we were settled in at a café overlooking Fribourg talking deeply and personally about ourselves and our lives, the kinds of things you share with lifelong friends not new acquaintances. Our life paths have paralleled in many ways giving us a unique base from which to relate as we talked and watched the sunset over Fribourg below.

Fribourg is quaint and quiet. Situated, like most medieval towns, on a hill that rises above the river, it has done a nice job of blending the old with the new and keeping both clean, well-appointed, and well cared for. Even the area near the train station, though modern, is simply but attractively designed with decent architecture and inviting shops. The houses along the river that we could look down upon from the bar are charmingly Swiss with the characteristic high pitched roofs and dormer windows and little baby chimneys randomly protruding here and there. We sat for hours talking before setting back off to walk down to the river. The hill back into town was steep leaving me to gasp for breath as I chattered on about couchsurfing and why I believe so much in its underlying philosophy.

It was after 10pm when we returned to the house to fix dinner – a light spring salad with beets and tomatoes, potato walnut bread, Gruyere cheese, made near here, and apple slices; a healthy and wonderfully delicious accompaniment to our continuing conversation. It was well after midnight when we finally decided we had to quit talking if I was going to do any sight seeing tomorrow. Tuesday morning when I awoke, Mirjam fixed us a wonderful breakfast spread then drew me the most precious map of Bern and all the sights she suggested I see – something I will put in a photo album and keep forever. When I returned that night she had written out all the information for a hike she had suggested I do and gathered information on other places I had talked about going. She even drew a little decorated map of how to get to the nail salon to give my poor destroyed feet a little loving and a much needed pedicure. I am delighted I took the chance on a “virgin” host and have had the chance to meet Mirjam. I will be staying here a few days as I day trip out to the surrounding areas in search of my memories of Heidi!