Words from A Broad Abroad: What do you do with day #88 (out of 90) as your extended holiday winds down?

I have met the most amazing people while in CH. I hope they will be lifelong friends. My solo journey was greatly enhanced by these beautiful women and their families. They have all gone above and beyond to take time from their busy lives and invite me on an excursion to share their country with me. I owe them so much. If they ever come to America, it is my fervent wish that I may return the favors one hundred fold, at least.

They are: Angela (and Jakob) from Neuchatel; Helen (and Oskar and Natasha in Basel/Benningen); and Brigitta and Madlen from Aarau (close enough to call it that--I think). It will be my pleasure to introduce my family and friends to any of these gals that might make their way across the waters.

Two wild and crazy gals--and I mean that in the nicest way

Brigitta and Madlen when I first met them.

On a Standing Room Only train ride to Zermatt (to see the Matterhorn) back in September, I met two native Swiss gals who have been friends for over 40 years. Some wonderful hand of fate directed me to ask them if the seat next to them was "Frei?" (Free?) and when they nodded "Yes" a union of welcoming sharing and friendship was begun.

Brigitta (pronounced Bridget) and Madlen (like Madeline) are two of the warmest and open human beings I have ever met. Within minutes, I was invited to join them in their little snack feast on the train. Two beverages became one for me and one for them to share, while we enjoyed very flavorful slices summer sausages. Yum! At the end of the 1.25 hour train ride I was invited to join them on their hike "through fairy tale land" (as Brigitta described it).

At that time I declined, but we made a plan to meet again in the middle of October since both gals were in the process of moving. We exchanged phone numbers and went our separate ways.

As the middle of October arrived, I thought of my two friends. I wanted to see them again, but felt a little forward contacting them to invite myself to their homes. I didn't have anything to worry about. A few days later my phone rang and it was Brigitta. We made a plan to spend one of her next days off with her showing me the city of Aarau and then we would meet up with Madlen who had to work that day.

The city was beautiful, ned vor. (of course.) It was really interesting to see how the houses were built in a circle--as they formed one of the rings of the city wall (back in the olden days). Fascinating. I wondered how you would defend your home if the invaders decided to come through your house when they arrived to make their onslaught.

One really beautiful feature of Aarau that Brigitta pointed out to me is the artwork under the eaves of each of the buildings. Sadly, as it was a cloudy day, most of my pictures turned out too dark to see the elaborately decorated under-eaves. They were beautiful--all colors and all patterns imaginable.

Once again, it was a beautiful and quaint Swiss city with a lovely village feel, mixed with rising industry all around. Recently, they closed down the middle of the city to car traffic. Only pedestrians and city buses are allowed on the roads there nowadays.

We had a couple of minutes to spare before going to Madlen's office and we stopped by the office where Brigitta's daughter worked finding tuition money for students who could not pay at the university. Sadly, there are no programs to help out aging Americans who might want to also attend the university as a student.

After we picked up Madlen from her office, we found ourselves on the top of the very tall office building because it had such a beautiful view of the city.

Then....it was time for the girls to take me to my surprise.

The one last experience I really wanted, but knew it was unlikely I would be able to have

I have become accustomed to eating alone in restaurants. After all, if not alone, then not at all, yes? I have managed to enjoy almost all of the Swiss dishes during my 3-month stay, except one. Fondue is not a dish that can be served for just one. I knew it would be a longshot if I would be able to have it here.

Madlen and Brigitta decided to provide that experience to me. Madlen is personal friend to an owner of a very popular restaurant where fondue is a specialty. As a matter of fact, the place is booked solid every night due to its popularity. It's impossible for the average person off the street to come in and get a meal. Only because of Madlen were we able to get a table. I was so happy!

The girls made me decide on the type of fondue we would have for dinner. There are actually three kinds. Cheese, of course, and two other types of heated medium in which you dip your raw meat or veggies--boiling broth or boiling oil (the two types). You eat freshly cooked meat and vegetables with this type of fondue. Additionally, there is every kind of sauce for you to dip the cooked item in. (What about chocolate fondue you ask? It's actually an American invention from Manhattan.)

I chose the raw meat and veggies fondue and my reasoning was it would be easier to re-create the cheese fondue at home (which is what I planned for a later time, maybe back home in America). The waitress brought out an incredible spread. Incredible!

One of the rules of fondue is that if you drop anything off your fork into the pot, you have to kiss the nearest man (if you're a woman) or buy the next round of drinks (if you're a man). And no double dipping! Another really bad faux pas is to let your lips, teeth or tongue touch the fondue fork. Brigitta and Madlen said we didn't have to follow that rule since we were "family."

We ate and ate and ate until there was no room for any more. I was in heaven. Brigitta would not let me pay for any of it and fondue ain't cheap--that's all I'm going to say. Thank You, Brigitta and Thank You Madlen for wrapping up that last special wish of mine.

Sadly, at the end of the evening, Brigitta was finding it hard to catch her breath. She had been coughing all week from a cold which had settled into her lungs and Madlen did not like the sound of her cough after dinner. So we drove right to the Klinik (also called a Krankenhaus--for hospital) and they decided to keep Brigitta to give her some strong antibiotics to help clear up the infection in her lungs.

The plan was for me to go home with Madlen and spend the night. I met some very lovely reptiles that lived right next to my bed. On purpose. Madlen's daughter loves them and is currently doing a study on them for her internship. I felt right at home. A little bit of desert in Switzerland.

How many do you count? 4? 5?

The next morning, I went to the supermarket with Madlen and when we came out, it was snowing! Oct. 27 it snowed all day long. (And all night long too.) Of course I'm acting like a goofball--totally thrilled. Then Madlen made me a breakfast fit for a queen.

Madlen is absolutely wonderful and loads of fun. She speaks Swiss German as her native language, and only a tiny bit of English (because it makes her uncomfortable). So how did we communicate? In Spanish! Madlen speaks very good Spanish because she lived in Spain for a while. And I know enough Spanish to be dangerous, so we had so much fun trying to speak Spanish. Hilarious.

We went to see Brigitta at the Krankenhaus (wonder if that's where "cranky" comes from?) and she was doing and sounding so much better that we were quite relieved.

A few days later, I called Brigitta to check up on her recovery only to discover that Madlen had been admitted to the Krankenhaus the very next day with an emergency procedure of her own! Now I had two very sweet friends who were off work recuperating and I asked if I could come by and see them.

An impromptu party was planned. I asked if I could pick up something and bring it for dinner. All of the sudden a great idea was born. We would have a cheese fondue party at Brigitta's house. Madlen has a special blend of cheeses that she gets and we were thrilled to taste it. There are many recipes for cheese fondue, but Madlen's was really yummy.

The secret is to twirl your bread in a figure eight pattern as you are dipping. So said my Swiss experts. We had tremendous fun giggling and eating fondue. And then we played a card game that they have played for years--every Monday night--Skipbo! I had not played that for a very long time so I am sad to say I was a bit slow. Their pace is amazing.

You might think that two very fun fondue nights were all that are required when entertaining a guest from America. I hoped to return the favor and invite them to my apartment for a version of something American that I could make for them. It didn't work out, but we are planning that evening some time IN America. Save your Swiss Francs, girls!

A final "Howdy" from the top of Rigi Klum, where Mark Twain tramped abroad

As I entered my last week in Switzerland, Brigitta wanted to know which day we could get together one last time since her day off was Wednesday. She discovered that I had not done "the Rigi" yet and that became our plan.

The day began as a hazy one, but the weatherman assured us the foggy haze would burn off and clear up. Planning a trip to go to the top of a mountain to see the view makes a hazy weather report a factor to consider. We forged ahead, hopeful.

As we rode the boat across Lake Luzerne (the scenery was spectacular--check out the reflection of the castle on the water) to catch the tram up to the summit, the haze persisted, even though we could see the blue sky peeking through in a few spots. Brigitta's doubts that we would be able to see anything were worrying her.

But, hey, we were there already, might as well head up the mountain and see just what was visible. Were we in for a surprise.

As the tram climbed up the 1797 meter summit slowly, the fog was lightly swirling around us. It was beautiful, but hazy. All of the sudden we noticed that we were in bright sunlight. We looked around and discovered that the tram had climbed out of the fog and was riding through the clearest blue sky you have ever seen. A gorgeous blue-sky day. We couldn't believe our eyes.

To add to the magic of the moment, as we looked downward behind us where the tram had come, there was a carpet of white clouds (our"fog") blanketing the valley below. It was quite ethereal and took our breath away. We had a combination of very clear day and very hazy day too. Only in Switzerland!

From the tram, we hiked all the way up to the top since this is a very famous view of Switzerland. On one side of the peak you look down and see the "flachtland" (Swiss German for flat land). Flat by their standards.

On the other side of the peak you see the alps mountainous side. It's an amazing comparison. Mark Twain wrote about it, "The Rigi-Klum is an imposing Alpine mass, 6,000 feet high, which stands by itself, and commands a mighty prospect of blue lakes, green valleys, and snowy mountains--a compact and magnificent picture 300 miles in circumference."

It was every bit that. Simply amazing.

I have another thrill to thank Brigitta for

As I was riding home from lunch with Helen in Basel on Monday of my final week (departing for USA on Friday), I wanted to get one really good last look of the Swiss countryside that I have so come to love. I wanted to find some place to go that was about a 3-4 hour train ride and I could have one final extended gaze at the landscapes I had been enjoying on a daily basis. Brigitta, who works for the Swiss railway system, knew exactly the place.

"You got to go to Lugano." She insisted that it was absolutely beautiful nestled in the alps right on the bottom of Switzerland, across the lake from Italy. She was right. The three-hour train ride gave me the calm survey of the "landscape of the angels" (from the song "I Must be in Switzerland" by Bellamy Bros & Gola). And I was thrilled to have the quiet time to ponder and think about something and nothing and see beauty wing by outside.