Our Trip to Visit Family History Sites and to Look for Distant Cousins

For the past 2o years, Mom and I have said, "Someday, let's go to Switzerland to see where our ancestors were born." Well, Someday --- is here!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Events of the Day...
Today was a wonderful day.

Spence arrived today. We ran into him in the lobby of the hotel as we were leaving for church. He had been up all night and so he went to sleep for a while and spent the day on his own. It was really fun to see him. Amazing that a few email and presto, he meets us in Switzerland.

We attended church at the Winterthur Ward. It is a lovely ward with strong people serving with all their heart. The Sunday School teacher taught in German but every 5 minutes or so he would give us a quick summary in English.

I sent their bishop a letter asking about the Schaufelberger and Meier Lines. He gave the letter to the ward geneologist. She was watching for us to come to church. It was fun to share a little. We got several invitations to dinner during the week. Great experience.

The rest of the day reminded me of looking at the ocean in Capastrano CA on our family trip. Lots of squeals and pointing. We were trying to drive 30 minutes to Heiler to meet the geneologist that has been doing research for me. As the true American, I know nothing about the meter system. So, when the directions said 230 Meters, I read KM. We passed the turn by about 1 hour and that forced us around Zurich Lake the very long way.
So we were about 4 hours late meeting my friend. But, we had a blast. Totally lost we drove from Village to Village seeing the fabulous things in Switzerland / green fields, darling homes with shutters and flowers in each window sill, cows grazing on hillsides each with their own cow bell, the Alps in the background / so much beauty. Mom loved it.
We finally met up with Bernadette and Grobert. They are researchers who have helped me prepare for this trip. They found the address where Emil Hurler grew up. We had dinner, a great talk and became friends.

Tonight the jet lag has hit me. I must go to bed / more tomorrow.

PS. Did you know there is a different keyboard in Switzerland. There are few keys I just cannot find like the dash and the exclaimation point.