September 6, 2019
This morning when I looked out my bedroom window, the view reminded me of Carl Sandburg's poem Fog.
The fog comes on little cat feet.
It sits looking over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
When I taught fourth grade, I used to have my students memorize this poem when we studied metaphors.
I had a leisurely breakfast as I was meeting up with Fränzi for lunch in Thun. She lives in Bern so she thought Thun would be half way for each of us to travel.
At breakfast, Jacques asked if he could join me at my table as we were both alone. Some of our conversation centered around cats as he is a cat person, too. Twisty, the nineteen year of cat of the guest house, was in the breakfast room and immediately took a liking to him. Twisty jumped upon Jacques lap and settled in for a short nap. I did get emotional when Jacques told the story of his cat waiting until he came to the vet's office before it died in his arms.
Naturally, the ICE train coming from Berlin to Interlaken was 13 minutes late. Luckily for me, I wasn't going in that direction. It usually arrives on track number one. Since it was late, they moved the arrival to track number two. Two people came up to me and asked what was happening. Now, this was strange to me as there were two people from the tourist office at the train station helping people with questions. They even had their blue jackets with the "white i" on it.There are many people in town as the Jungfrau Marathon is tomorrow. Here is why I think it is strange. I wore black clothes today. Black seems to be the color Europeans like to wear. I didn't have bright vivid colors on nor did I have my UCLA sweatshirt one.
So begins the day of questions.
When I got on the train to Thun, I walked past a couple trying to decide which side to sit on as she wanted to see the lake. She didn't want to get up when the train was moving as she was afraid of falling. So, she asked me which side would be the lake side.
Fränzi and I had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant by the river. It was cold and damp so we sat inside. We both had one of the specials. We started with an arugula salad topped with shavings of Parmesan cheese. The entree was gnocchi with korbis and a mushroom sauce. Korbis is German for pumpkin. This month I will eat many things made of korbis. We both remarked we couldn't really taste the pumpkin. It was still delicious. Dessert was included, too. Can't explain what it was but it was tasty. I love eating in Europe. You are not rushed. In fact, it was a delightful two hour lunch. We talked and talked while sipping our tea and eating the biscuit (we call them cookies back home). It is always so nice to be in her company.
Forgot to take pictures of the meal but I asked Fränzi to hold up the empty plate.
She brought me some biscuits she made yesterday when she taught a class at Kambly.
Once back in Interlaken, I wanted to attend today's children's events. While walking over to the event, a car from Germany stopped and asked for directions to the boat going to Brienz.
While walking along the main street, three people asked for directions to the start line.
I had to chuckle to myself when a TV camera person asked where the start line was for tomorrow's marathon.
Today in town they held the sprints and mini run for children. There were age and gender categories. They take running seriously! Each child had a number with an attached timer. They had a data truck collecting and publishing the running times. Very professional!
The run was also filmed. They will show it on the local station. There were TV stations as well as newspaper people covering the event.
I assume this man was in charge of the event.
Michael, I have lens envy.
Michael, did I say I had lens envy? Now, I can actually say I am a photographer. Want to know how I know? They get all set to take a shot and then they realize they forgot to turn the camera on. I only see the humor in that!
Each runner received a medal, a bag filled with goodies and a water bottle.
They put on a sprint at the end. Competitive!!
There were wheelchair events, too.
Handicapped runners participated, too.
The medals for the handicapped runners were different.
The younger children ran with a parent.
Loved this age group.
If you were registered early enough, you had your first name printed under your number.
The goody bag is almost as big as he.
Yes, the times were posted.
This girl came in first. She ran all around the way around the park.
They have a "sweep" bringing up the end. Tomorrow's event will have the guy with an actual broom.
Another day comes to a close.