Lazy, Hazy, Hot, and Humid Day

It was a lazy, hazy, hot, and humid day!!!! Temperature reached 85 degrees with 87 percent humidity. This is what they call the dog days of summer.

Michael's vacation doesn't officially start for another 2 weeks. So, he worked today while I went exploring around Interlaken to see what changes have taken place since we were last here.

Well, I actually went to a place we have walked by for years, but we never explored.

I visited the Interlaken Monastery and Castle Church. "The Interlaken Monastery was a convent of the Augustinian Canons Regular from about 1133 until 1528."

"The provost of the Monastery was first mentioned in 1133 when Holy Roman emperor Lothair took the Monastery, founded by Baron Seliger of Oberhofen, under his protection. The Monastery was part of the diocese of Lausanne. According to the deed of 1133, the members of the Monastery were allowed to choose their own provost and kastvogt or bailiff over a religious institution. During the 12th century the provosts were confirmed by the bishop as well as by the pope. By 1247, there were also women at the Monastery. During the 12th century the kastvogt office came to the von Eschenbach family. However, in 1308, Walther von Eschenbach helped John Parricida murder John's uncle King Albert I. In 1318, the family lost their position at Interlaken when Albert's son, Duke Leopold I was elected kastvogt. When he died in 1325, the provost and ggeneral chapter transferred the office to his brother Albert II. However, the Monastery remained able to choose their own provost and kastvogt. Starting in the 15th century Bern tried to become the patron of the monastery but did not succeed until 1472."

"During the 13th century the Monastery's influence spread throughout the neighboring area and into the Aare and Gürbe Valleys. They eventually had authority over two dozen churches along with a number of villages and farms and became the largest religious landholder in the region. The greatest density of the estates were held on the eastern end of Lake Thun, around Lake Brienz and in the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. During the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century the Monastery grew and prospered. However, in 1350 a period of crises and conflicts led to a decline in the number of monks and nuns and increasing debt. A document from 1310, indicates that there were 30 priests, 20 lay brothers and 350 women at the Monastery. In contrast, in 1472 there were only the provost, the prior, nine ordinary canons, seven novices and 27 nuns. At this time, the Monastery also had problems with its tenants and neighbors. In 1348, the people of Grindelwald and Wilderswil joined a mutual defense league with Unterwalden. Bern responded with a military expedition to the Bernese Oberland, which ended in defeat for Unterwalden and its allies. In 1445, the Evil League (Böser Bund) rose up in the Oberland near Interlaken and fought against Bernese military service and taxes following the Old Zürich War."

This is the first time for me in this church so I made a special wish.

"During the 14th century the canons and nuns stopped following most of the monastic rules. In 1472, a violent dispute between the men and the women's convents resulted in two visitations by the Bishop of Lausanne who noted serious deficiencies. The provost was arrested and some of the canons were replaced by canons from other convents. Despite the reform measures the nun's convent was closed in 1484 and its property transferred to the newly founded monastery of St. Vincent in Bern."

"During the Protestant Reformation, the Monastery was secularized in 1528. The canons received a financial settlement and the properties were now managed by a Bernese bailiff. The tenants of the Monastery who had expected the abolition of all owed interest, responded by rioting, which was suppressed by Bern."

"After the Reformation, Bern created the Interlaken bailiwick from the Monastery lands. Part of the Monastery building was used as the headquarters of the district administration, while the rest was used as an indigent hospital. In 1562-63 Bern converted the Monastery church's choir into a granary and a wine cellar. In 1746-50 the west wing was demolished and Governor Samuel Tillier built the so-called new castle. It has remained the center of administration for the Interlaken district since that time."

Water spout looks like a fish

I was happy I walked behind the church as I came across a beautiful cemetery. What a serene place to sit and pray. A couple tended to one of the graves, a older gentleman stood by a grave with his head bowed, and another gentleman sat quietly on one of the benches.

It is so nice that a watering can is left for people to use.

Nice to see graves adorned with flowers.

You can even purchase flowers to decorate the grave.

Edelweiss, edelweiss...

Edelweiss and blue enzian

What a special treat to have a lily pond in the cemetery. I love photographing lily ponds. When I think of lily ponds I am reminded of Monet's paintings. Monet's Water Lilies is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artistic production during the last thirty years of his life. Many of the works were painted while Monet suffered from cataracts.

There were two dragon flies flying around the pond. Whenever I see a dragon fly, I am reminded of our friend Roger. I think they came by to say hello from him. I wished the dragon flies had just rested on a leaf so I could take a picture but they were quick moving and in constant motion. If you look closely you can spot them.

"The Church of the Holy Spirit is the Roman Catholic parish church of Interlaken . The church, along with the rectory and the Beatushaus, is classified in the cantonal building inventory as a "protected object".

"From the 12th century until the Reformation, Interlaken had an Augustinian monastery and a women's monastery, which was closed in 1484. The monastery was founded in 1330 by Baron Seliger von Oberhofen and, according to the promise made in Basel on November 8, 1133, was under the patronage of the German Emperor Lothar III. In 1224 the monastery came under the protection of the city of Bern. After 1528 the monastery buildings known today as "Interlaken Castle" became a bailiff of Bern. The church was profaned and used as a storage room. The Reformed parish acquired the former monastery church in 1909 and added a new nave to the existing choirplant. Since then, the castle church has served the reformed parish of Interlaken-Matten as a parish church.  On July 24, 1842, for the first time since the Reformation, a Catholic service was held in the former monastery chapel, today's castle chapel. During the summer months, masses were held there in the following years. From 1864 there was room for the Roman Catholic worship in the former nave of the castle church. The English Church Society used the choir, which was separated by a wall.  The priestly services were carried out by a pastor sent by Bern, since Interlaken and the entire Oberland were under canon law under the Bern parish. In 1895, the newly established parish received Karl Peter (1869–1944), who was professor at the Schwyz College, as its first pastor. The recognition of the parish was resolved by the Grand Council of Bern on 5 March 1939. Pastor Peter immediately started planning a rectory and his own church. The Kultusverein acquired the site of the former prison next to the castle church. In 1901 the pastor moved into the new rectory built there. The architect Wilhelm Hector was commissioned to build the church. The church in neo-Gothic style was consecrated on August 23, 1908 by Bishop Jakob Stammler. The shape of the building with the hexagonal nave and the central column supporting the vault was criticized from the start. The heavy construction debt allowed neither the purchase of the planned tower clock nor the purchase of a bell, as well as an organ. A donation made it possible to buy three bells in 1925 and an organ was also built in 1934.  According to the rules of the Second Vatican Council , the choir room had to be redesigned in 1965 and another radical renovation followed in 1977–1978.  According to the prevailing opinion at the time, the neo-Gothic style was wrong and no longer desired. According to the plans of the architect André Ernst Bosshard from Zurich, the interior was completely changed. The central column and the rib vault were removed after a cantilevered ceiling had been installed and a wooden ceiling was installed instead. The gallery resting on four columns with neo-Gothic design elements was replaced by a self-supporting reinforced concrete construction. Among other things, the pulpit and the carved larch pews were torn down and replaced by simpler ones, windows were bricked up and a clay slab floor was laid. Bishop Anton Hänggi consecrated the altar of the converted church on November 10, 1968.  After the warm-air heating system installed in 1967 became unusable, it was redesigned again in 1990. After installing the floor heating, the organ damaged by the damp room climate was replaced by a new instrument. The artist Thomas Birve from Wilen redesigned the choir room with new sacred furniture. The bricked up windows were exposed again and new stained glass windows were created by Walter Loosli .  Building description The basic orientation of the exposed quarry stone masonry is neo-Gothic, but this is limited to only a few components. The west gable has a wide window with pointed arches above the subsequently added canopy and above it a round ox eye. The window frames on the tower and on the walls of the nave are also in Gothic forms. The stone gargoyles on the bell tower attached to the northwest emphasize the historical reference to the Gothic. The choir is an octagonal apse on the hexagonal main building added to the west gable with the same ridge height. The south and north sides of the nave are designed as gable walls analogous to the west side. The rectory, which was built in 1901, is attached to the south of the choir with an intermediate building. The adjacent «Beatushaus» was built in 1956 to complement the rectory."

Lit candles for a very special person, wrote a page prayer intention, and spent quite some time in quiet meditation and prayer.

An addition is being built onto the back of the house next door.

"In the 16th century, life in Interlaken revolved around its monastery. The monastery was rich and powerful, central to both government and spirit. Here lived clever men and scholars, known for their kindness, who provided wisdom and protection. When the Interlaken monastery was at the height of its power, abundance and opulence had however become the motto of its monks. With that, the fame of piety that this monastery enjoyed throughout the country also passed away and when a new provost, Leonardus, was sent from Rome strange things happened. Leonardus was extremely strict and harsh; he strictly forbade the other monks to assist the poor or to assist and teach the local children. His tyrant way of doing things quickly made him unpopular with the other monks and the people who started calling him Harder because of his stern and unsympathetic rules.

Meanwhile in the neighboring town of Ringgenberg lived a local fisherman with his wife and their daughter Martha, a pretty and devout girl who regularly attended the Interlaken monastery to pay homage to the nature spirits and God. Harder first saw Marta during a Mass and was immediately in awe of this special girl. Despite his usual coldness he spoke very tenderly to her and soon won the trust of the innocent child. One day, Martha set out to collect wood on the side of the mountain, and the monk slyly followed her. She did not suspect a thing until Harder dashed from the trees and leapt upon her! Martha struggled and broke free, running down the mountain with the crazed man right behind her. In a panic, she veered left and right from the path and found herself at the edge of a steep cliff. As Harder approached, she saw no way out and plunged to her death. It is said that God himself condemned the wicked man and immediately turned him to stone. The monk was thus turned to stone by the heavenly judge of earthly crimes, and cursed to look down unredeemed for thousands of years at the scene of his crime. Now his face is chiseled forever into the mountain and it became locally known as the Harder Kulm mountain. The rockside face of the Harderman or Hardermannli is a constant reminder that Interlaken is only for those who are kind and pure…."

Looks like the Harderman is going to swallow the paraglider.

Oh, to be a bee in Interlaken. The flowers around Interlaken are beautiful but I can see the heat has taken its toll on them.

It isn't often I get to see straw flowers.

Cat's whiskers

So fragrant!!! Wonder what this variety of roses are!

What type bee is this black one?

Spent some time watching the paragliders landing in the Höhematte. There was a nice cool breeze.

Colorful canopies

The wind picked up and I could hear lots of screaming as some of the gliders corkscrewed down. Wasn't sure to use the word canopies or gliders. I will have to ask some of our paraglider friends.

Stopped by Città Vecchia to make dinner reservations for tomorrow evening. Stopped by the Woodpecker shop to say hello to Gabriela who was carving a heart onto a cross. She is such a talented woodcarver! Went by tourist information to find the date of the Alpabzug in Unterseen. This evening, Jen, our friend who visited us in May, came by. As you can read, there is plenty to do to keep me busy when Michael is working.

Until tomorrow.....