Oensingen & Regula "Queen of the Mountains"

Regula and Thomas
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I arrived in Oensignen to visit with my friend Regula (her name means Queen of the Mountains and now I know why) and her family over the Swiss Day (August 1) holiday.  Oensignen is a town about 1 hour outside Zurich and is home to a traditional swiss castle with it's very own GHOST!  I was also assured that you can view the Bernese Alps from the balcony of their home, but the clouds obscured my view the entire 5 days.

Regula had made a traditional swiss favorite Raclette for dinner with Thomas, her boyfriend and his friend Stefan.  Raclette is basically melted cheese - gotta love that - which you put with potatoes, or pickels, or onions, it was all good...very good although I must admit I did have a few lactose intolerant moments in the following days due to my overindulgence.  After dinner we climbed up the mountain to the castle, but the GHOST eluded us by locking the doors...

OH MY GOD, the whole Gnome world is having a convention in this guy's basement!

Ballenburg and making cheese the old fashioned way
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Regula, Thomas, and I took off the next day to do some hiking, although the weather foiled our plans, we went to Ballenburg which is an living outdoor museum dedicated to representing the traditional housing, buildings and activities from the past.  Each of the 100 buildings were in danger of being destroyed in their original locations, so they were dismantled and reconstructed here.  It is an amazing way to exhibit and view Swiss culture and of course there was food involved...we observed cheese being made in a traditional kettle over an open fire and sampled some soup from the Alp region.  On our way home we stopped by a few beautiful lakes and went to a cave that was formed by a melting glacier.

Not the best day for hiking...good thing we are going to the caves
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Regula and I decide to go hiking in an area of Mount Golzern.  Regula's grandmother grew up in the town of Golzern and she summered in these mountains as a child.  The area near the hiking trails was wiped out last year by a landslide that came down the river on August 25, 2005.  It is incredible the size of the boulders that the water carried and more amazing how they have rebuilt the paths, Gondola, etc in such a short time and mostly over the winter.  There is a large billboard at the gondola station which shows the devastation and it is hard to believe that only 2 people were killed.  One of Regula's cousins was in a digger attempting to clear some debris from the river to save an area from flooding, but the water took away the land under him along with his machine just as a helicopter plucked him to safety.

Straight from the glacier
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As we begin our walk, we quickly discover that some of the old path will never be able to be reconstructed and we are detoured to what Regula tells me is a much harder route...great!  It is truly stunning scenery and although we climb for over 5 hours and up over 1500 metres, it really was not so bad, yes, I admit, not so bad...maybe Morocco won't kill me...  At the end of our hike we were treated to a swim in Lake Golzern which is probably the only glacier fed lake I will ever swim in, but we were desperately hot and the temperature was a balmy 20 degrees in the water and 30 outside.

Regula and Thomas
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The next day I visited Regula at work in Solothurn which is a very picturesque town on the Aare River.  This town originated in the Baroque period and has had many cultural influences shape it's present day landscape.  The creators of Solothurn seem to have been obsessed with the number 11 as it reoccurs throughout the town buildings, there are 11 churches, 3 sets of 11 steps to the cathedral, 11 fountains, etc.  It also has a clock tower which rivals the one Emily and I saw in Prague in that at the hour of 12 noon, a devil and skeleton chime off the bongs of the bells.

Can you see the elephant face?
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That night we travel with Sonia, Regula's sister to Biel to watch the fireworks.  I cannot believe the number of people who have showed up to watch.  The waterfront of Lake Biel is crammed and there are bars and restaurants and fair rides, it is crazy busy, but a lot of fun and the fireworks were plentiful.

On August 1, the Swiss National Day Sonia, Regula and I head to Luzern to walk around the old town. It is the tourist capital of Switzerland and offers traditional swiss views of magnificent mountains and 14th century Kapellbrucke, which are wooden covered bridges decorated with historical swiss scenes.  Upon our return home, Regula's mother Eliyabeth, has prepared a feast and her brother and uncle and aunt and cousins are all coming over.  We have an excellent BBQ care of Regula's dad Urs.  From their home although we cannot see the alps we can certainly see the hundreds of fireworks which are set off throughout the valley.  It is a wonderful night and really reminds me of my family dinners that I am missing...

Beautiful lakes and mountains
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The next day we go for a 3 hour bike ride along the Aare River and through the countryside.  Regula sets me up with an awesome Fulley Bicycle which I completely love as it has double suspension and saves my backside and back a bit.  It actually made me a better rider...again it is all about having the right equipment, but I am now ruined for riding anything else.  On our ride, Regula decided to show me a home where they have lots of garden gnomes as I had shown her a picture that I had taken of some Gnomes in a garden in Interlaken.  As we were laughing at the dramatic display the owner came out and said oh I have some more for you to see if you want.  Regula said sure and he starts going into his house.  Sonia grabs my arm and is fearful that he is luring us into his den of Gnomes and we will be taken prisoner, but I assure her that the 3 of us can take him if it comes to that.  He leads us into the basement...ok now I am getting suspicious...to an area that is a laundry room, but again suitably gnomofied and shows us these little kitchens that he has made for sale...ok now this is making sense, he wants us to buy one, but oh no, he opens a curtain that he is standing in front of and OH MY GOD, the whole Gnome world is having a convention in this guy's basement!  Apparently he had to quit smoking 10 years ago and needed a hobby so he began collecting and displaying garden Gnomes.  He has over 700 however I believe that is a very conservative estimate, although he does have a catalogue of all of their names and numbers.  I had to include a picture as you cannot fully appreciate this man's obsession without it.

Regula and I hiking Golzern
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It is unfortunately time to leave Switzerland.  I loved this country and had the best time with Regula and her family.  What a treat for me to be made so welcome in their home.  I look forward to returning the hospitality one day soon.