We manage to keep ourselves busy these days. As I reported in the last blog, we had a wonderful trip to the south to visit Carpeneto in the middle of August. At the end of August we took another trip. This one turned out to be longer and farther away. Our new friend Marco wanted to visit the Bern Switzerland Temple so we made arrangements to travel with him so that we could be with him as he visited the temple for the first time.
Train tickets in August from Milan to Bern were quite expensive so we opted to drive. We are only allowed to have missionaries in our car so we ended up taking Marco's car. He has a car which is very fuel efficient, but it is small. Between the three of us and our luggage, we had a full load.
As we mapped out our trip using Google Maps it appeared that each of the three main recommendations would take between 4 to 5 hours to travel from Milan to Zollikofen (a suburb of the City of Bern) where the Bern Switzerland temple is located. We settled on a route, and we were off!
About mid journey when we arrived in Airolo we found that the 35 mile long tunnel (the Gotthard Stassestunnel) through the mountain was closed for construction so we ended up going over the mountain across St. Gotthard Pass traversing many mountain switchbacks, cut and cover tunnels, and bridges. Traveling through this tunnel would have been amazing; however, I absolutely loved the drive over the mountain and was once again amazed with the engineering and Swiss roadbuilding ingenuity of the route. Unfortunately, Marco and Jodie didn't share my zeal for windy mountain roads, cliffs, tunnels of which neither could fully appreciate the wonders of the Swiss engineers on display. Due to the unexpected route change, we arrived in Zollikofen several hours later than planned (ultimately about an 8 to 9 hour drive).
The Swiss temple and temple grounds are immaculately cared for and provide for a beautiful and peaceful experience. The beauty and peacefulness of the temple grounds were therapeutic for Marco and Jodie after the traumatic trip up and over the Alps.
Because we had an appointment in the temple, we were fortunate to stay in the Temple Hostel just across the road from the temple. Accommodations in the hostel are modest but comfortable. They are also free for the patrons in the temple. There is a computer room, kitchen area, and sleeping quarters.
In preparation for our baptismal appointment the next morning, we stayed up late helping Marco transfer information about his family from My Heritage to Family Search. We had 8 male names and 7 female names from Marco's family ready to go so we added two of Jodie's family male names. Jodie was able to print the cards on the printer in the hostel computer room the next morning.
Our temple appointment was at 9:00am so we were to be checked in at the front desk by 8:30am. The experience at this temple and the temple hostel was truly international. We were greeted at the front desk in French, the baptistry workers also spoke French, the Temple President who greeted us spoke German but also spoke English. An Italian father with his three daughters didn't speak French, German or English, so Marco was able to translate from English to Italian for the Temple President. I performed baptisms in English. Marco performed baptisms in English and Italian. I then performed confirmations in both English and Italian. With so many languages, the temple workers just take it all in stride and make everyone feel welcomed. To sum it up, we had a wonderful temple experience. As my Rindlisbacher ancestors come from the Bern Canton in Switzerland, I've always dreamed of visiting and worshiping in the temple in Bern. What a blessing for us to experience this with Marco. The peace and beauty of the temple grounds and exterior were in every way matched and exceeded inside the temple. We felt the love of our Savior and felt a connection with the individuals for whom we performed sacred ordinances, as proxy in behalf of.
We left to return home around 11:30am. We decided to stop in Bern and get some breakfast/lunch on our way. For lunch we found a nice restaurant in downtown Bern that was recommended to us by the visitor's center. We decided to have a real Swiss experience, so we ordered fondue. It was a two-cheese fondue with pickles, potatoes, onions, pears and bread. It was absolutely delicious. We ate, and ate, and ate, and it was soooo good.
After lunch we walked around Bern and enjoyed visiting the city. A few photos from our walk ...
