Journeys for Knowledge

After a good night’s sleep, we got to a slow start with some lazy but filling breakfast. Since it was poor weather for hiking, we decided to instead visit some local towns, including one of the many castles in the region. While these castles are not the behemoths you might expect, they were still functional fortresses for minor nobility.

As the skies cleared we continued onward to a glacial lake in the valley, which was truly breathing taking. The water is so clean and pure it is an entirely different color compared to normal waters, let alone the dark dirty water of the river Cam. It was so clean I even decided to take a dip, albeit a very shallow one. This lake had a rather interesting feature, a lone church tower rising out of the water, the only remnant of the village that was relocated to higher ground when the lake was flooded for a dam. Heritage and tradition are important in Europe, no matter how far back it stretches.

To hammer this point home, after our day out, and some home cooked pasta alla funghi, we walked over to the local festival to see how things were. One thing I learned is that non-alcoholic beer is nowhere near as enjoyable as root beer, for a teetotaller like me. It was an interesting mix of old and new, with many people in traditional alpine clothing, but cover bands playing modern music. I cannot think of a finer moment to symbolize this than the time a man played Tequila on an alpine horn. It was a wonderful festival and a very long day, but we still sat around admiring the stars and the faint street lights before going to bed.

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