Farewell Dinner

Our last night in Switzerland I wanted to treat Walter and Helen to dinner as a "thank you" for their wonderful hospitality.  And I invited a friend, Niklaus, to join us.

If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you may remember the story of my genealogical research.  Back in 2010, I wrote a comment in the guestbook of Othmarsingen's website asking for information about my Swiss ancestors.  Niklaus, who at that time was one of the town's councilmen, responded to my query, did some research, and discovered that I had relatives still living in Othmarsingen.  It is thanks to him that I made contact with my Swiss cousins and have had so many wonderful experiences in Switzerland with them.  Every time that I return to Switzerland, I try to get together with him.

Walter and Helen live in Aarau, and Niklaus still lives in Othmarsingen, so Helen suggested that we meet in Lenzburg which is in between the two towns.  She made reservations for us at the garden restaurant of the Hotel Ochsen.  We were worried that it might rain that evening.  In fact, there were a few drops after we were seated, but the rain never materialized.  It was a lovely summer evening, with good food and even better company.

 

Up to the Castle

In the last post, I mentioned Lenzburg Castle, which is visible from the homes of my cousins Ruth and Andre.  It is located in the nearby town of Lenzburg, just two miles away from Othmarsingen.  It is one of the best preserved castles in Switzerland.  Ruth took us there for a visit.

Over the castle's thousand year history it has been added to and renovated frequently, and it has passed through numerous owners.  It began as a hilltop fortification.  The earliest written record of it is in 1077 when it belonged to the Count of Lenzburg.  In the 14th century it passed to the Hapsburg family.  They were to become the most powerful rulers of Europe as the emperors of Austria, but the family had its more humble origins in Switzerland not far from here.  In 1415, the city of Bern took over the region, and the castle became the residence of the Bernese bailiffs who were the overseers of Bern's authority over the area.  The castle continued to be the seat of the bailiffs until the invasion of Napoleon in 1798.  The property later had a series of private owners until it was purchased by the city of Lenzburg and the Canton of Aargau in 1956.  The castle was opened to the public as a museum.

The outer and inner gates of the castle

The courtyard of the castle

From the castle ramparts there are views of the city of Lenzburg and the surrounding countryside.

The Old Town of Lenzburg is directly beneath the castle.

Various rooms of the castle are furnished as they would have been during the period when the bailiffs of Bern lived here.  You can see how over the centuries the accommodations became more luxurious.

In 1893 the castle was purchased by Augustus Jessup, a wealthy American whose wife was related to the British royal family. (She was a great aunt of Queen Elizabeth II.) Jessup renovated the castle with the amenities of the era such as modern bathrooms, electricity and central heating.

Mrs. Jessup's rose garden

From the garden's terrace you can see Othmarsingen in the distance.  You can make out the crane at the construction site near cousin Ruth's house.

 

On to Vienna!

On Tuesday I had tickets to travel by train from Zurich to Vienna, Austria.  Instead of driving me to the train station in downtown Zurich, cousin Werner thought that it would be better for me to take a train from Lenzburg to the Zurich station.  Sometimes when there is an accident on the highway to Zurich, traffic can be delayed for hours.  So he drove me to the little Lenzburg station, he helped me buy my ticket from the machine, and we said farewell.

On the platform in Lenzburg

It was a direct train and within twenty minutes I was in the "Hauptbahnhof" (main train station) of Zurich.

I waited in a waiting room, and twenty minutes before departure, my train appeared on the board along with the track number.  

In typically punctual Swiss fashion, the train left right on time.  Although the train is called a "railjet", it was not a high speed train and it made many stops along the way.  In fact Vienna was not its final destination; it went on to Bratislava, Slovakia.  Because it was a long trip, almost eight hours, I had splurged and bought a first class ticket.

The journey was very comfortable, although the food in the dining car was nothing to write home about.  My major disappointment was with the weather.  The route went through some spectacular scenery, but it was dreary, rainy day.

We headed out along the shore of Lake Zurich.

By the time we reached the Austrian Alps, at least the rain had stopped, although it remained overcast.  I was able to take a few decent pictures.

Right on time at 8:30 PM we arrived at Vienna's "Hauptbahnhof".  The multilevel train station is brand new.  It is like a city onto itself.  In additional to trains, it is a hub for the U-Bahn (subway) and several tram lines, and it has over ninety stores and restaurants.

My hotel is right across the street from the train station so I could simply wheel my luggage to the hotel.  (Fortunately it was not raining.)  The only problem was figuring out which exit out of the station I should use.  I went outside, and there was a street map, and I was able to get my bearings.

My hotel, the Ibis, is brand new just like the train station.  In fact the whole neighborhood seems new with more buildings under construction.

The price was quite economical... under $100... but my room is exceptionally spacious for a European hotel.  There is plenty of space to move around in this room.  As I work on the blog at the desk, I can look out the window and see the trains coming and going.

I suppose the price is reasonable because the hotel is not located in the heart of Old Vienna.  But it is only three subway stops to the very center of the city.  I think I will be quite happy being here for eight nights.

The Castle on the Hill

Although I am now in Vienna, Austria, I still have some stories and photos from Switzerland to share with you...

On Sunday morning I still had a few hours to kill before my cousin Werner was coming to pick us up.  I had visited Lenzburg Castle on my first trip to Switzerland, but I decided to burn a few calories and climb up to the castle again.  The footpath going up the hill is a combination of steps and paved pathway.  Before long I was high above the city.

Before me loomed Lenzburg Castle, one of the best preserved and most important castles in Switzerland.

The castle was built in the 11th century and was the fortress of the Counts of Lenzburg.  It later was passed on to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarrosa and then the Counts of Kyborg.  Through marriage the castle then passed to the Hapsburg family in the 1300s.  Then in the 1400s the city of Berne pushed the Hapsburgs out of the region, and the castle became the seat of the Bernese bailiffs for more than three centuries.  The bailiffs administrated the Lenzburg area in the interest of the Bernese state and collected revenues.

Here we are approaching the outer gate of the castle which was added in 1628.

Over the gate is the coat of arms of the bailiff at that time.

Then a flight of steps leads to the inner gate.

Passing through the inner gate, you enter the castle courtyard which is surrounded by buildings built during different periods of the castle's long history.

The Knights' Hall was built during the Hapsburg era.

Rooms in the castle are furnished to reflect the different eras when the bailiffs of Berne resided here...

from the late Middle Ages...

… to the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

In the 1800s the castle was privately owned.  In 1893 it was purchased by a wealthy American, Edward Jessup, whose wife was related to the British royal family.  Several rooms are furnished as they were during their residence.

The western end of the compound is now filled with a flower garden.

From the ramparts there is a fine view of Lenzburg with the "Old Town" directly below the hill.

Lenzburg on a Sunday Morning

On Sunday Werner was going to pick us up at our hotel at 1:30 P.M. to take us to a family get together at the home of yet another cousin.  I had the morning free, and it was a beautiful, sunny day, so I did some exploring in the "Altstadt" or "Old Town" of Lenzburg.  Although it only consists of a few city blocks, the "Altstadt" is very picturesque.  Many of the buildings were built at the end of the 15th century after a fire devastated the town.  

I headed first to the "Stadtkirche"... City Church... which dates back to 1667.  

Sunday morning services had not yet begun, so I was able to peek inside.

Lenzburg definitely believes in ringing its church bells on a Sunday morning.  Listen to the video below.  The bells continue like that for a solid fifteen minutes before service.  Add to that the bells of the city hall clock tower which chime daily every quarter hour.  I have not needed to unpack my travel alarm clock, because city hall wakes me up each day at 6:00 A.M.

The clock tower of the old city hall

I spent some time just wandering around the Old Town.  It was somewhat cluttered with the  food stalls and the performance stages for the festival, but it was still quaint.

Scattered throughout the Old Town are fountains which provided the town with drinking water.  You can still drink the water from them.

This is the most elaborate of the fountains.  It dates back to 1572.

Another feature of the neighborhood which harkens back to olden days are the ornate signs which are often pictorial representations of the name of the business or of the building.

I still had several hours before Werner was coming to pick us up, so I lifted my eyes up to the castle on the hill, and decided that I would visit it once again.