One thing those of us living the USA do not really appreciate is “old”. I am not talking about people but of things. Sure we have our ancient Native American sites. We even have our old historic sites. Think of Jamestown. It goes back to 1607. I believe the oldest city in the US is St Augustine, Florida. It dates back to the mid 1500’s, 1560 I think. So we have physical remnants of US history going back not quite 500 years. I’ve been to Rome, and that puts things on a completely different time frame, but a lot of those are ruins. Julie and I are certainly going to Greece before we head home. I also want to hit Egypt, but I don’t think I can convince Julie that it will be safe to visit. Why do I bring this up?
Living over here, you start to get a different appreciation for old. This past weekend we went to the city of St Gallens. St Gallens is the home of The Abbey of St Gall. The Abbey started as a Hermitage about 613. The first part of the Abbey was started in 714. Think about it, that is almost 850 years BEFORE St Augustine, FL was settled. There was already a town here and a large enough church organization to begin building an Abbey. By the early 800’s this Abbey was one of the leading knowledge centers in Europe. The library at the Abbey still has one of the largest collections of medieval books in the world. There was one book on display that was written in 804. That is a very old book! I wish I could show you some pictures of the library, but they didn’t allow cameras. 🙁
If you click on the link it will take you to a google image search for the library.
This is what I mean by old. I am still fascinated when I think of how old a lot of these cultural sites are. The fact that they are still standing and still useful is even more amazing to me.
I apologize a little for the video, it is pretty quiet. I wanted to be respectful of the church, so I did not want to talk.
There was another large church in the town it is only about 75 yards from the Cathedral. The second church has a tower that Julie and I were going to climb, but it was closed. 🙁
Other than our day trip we have had a pretty quiet couple of weeks. German classes are still the daily chore. I still have got to figure out how to find someone to speak German with me. I keep kicking around the idea of taking out a Facebook ad, or something like that. Try and find someone that would meet me for a couple of hours a week, and help me talk. I am simply not getting enough language practice by going to the grocery store, or restaurants. I have a Rosetta Stone subscription, and every time I log on, they keep talking about a tutor from there, but it is very pricey.
My co-workers at the old school district always seemed to be a little perturbed with me, when I wouldn’t friend them on Social Media sites. I have always said Facebook is more personal for me so I had a policy of not friending co-workers. So after I left Winneconne, I have friended some of the teachers and other administrators. One of the teachers has a daughter studying in London this semester. I offered the young lady beds and breakfast for her and any friends that wanted to come see Switzerland during their semester. The young lady messaged me that she wanted to take Julie and I up on the offer. So hopefully we will have some visitors in the next few weeks. I like playing tour guide!
One final thought, if you ever have the chance to have a Klosterbräu Amber, buy it. You will love it! I have found a new favorite. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Leah and her friends are so excited to come! Thank you so much for your generous offer. I am so glad they will be able to see Zurich and have someone there who can show them around. She texted me yesterday telling me not to panic when I saw the credit card charge for all of their flights and that her friends would pay me back. I’m so glad they are coming. 😊
I am glad that they accepted the offer. Julie and I are glad to host them for a weekend.