My Bahá'í Pilgrimage During a Crazy Global Pandemic
February 28, 2020
Post 3: Majestic Mountains and Party Balloons
[Post 2] [Post 4]
When we drew back the curtains the next morning, the fog had lifted, and the white peaks of the Swiss Alps glowed in the blue sky like thick, pointed clouds. My jaw dropped.
“Oh, right. We’re in Switzerland!” I remembered. My exhaustion vanished, and I roused Katie. Travis and Dad were relieved that we were finally awake. As early birds, they were ready to go the moment the sun rose over the peaks. Katie and I are night owls. Not today, though. We scarfed down breakfast and were out the door before 11:00.
First, we took a drive up the road along Lake Thun. The water sparkled like a sapphire in the sun, and the mountains just kept getting bigger and brighter. Dad pulled over to admire the view and let cars behind us pass. Even in our sporty rental car, he didn’t like to rush. Neither did we. Why would anyone rush through all this breathtaking beauty? Our eyes were glued to the windows in utter awe.
Lauterbrunnen has 72 waterfalls! We felt like we had stumbled into a J.R.R Tolkien novel.
After we reached a dead end (which was also picture-perfect), we turned around and headed to Lauterbrunnen. This village was even more mesmerizing. It’s nestled between smooth stone cliffs that glow pale gold in the morning sun. Cascading from the cliffs are misty waterfalls. Even when the tiniest piece of melting ice breaks off and tumbles down the cliff, it ricochets and sounds like fireworks in slow motion. We felt like we’d stepped into another world.
But it somehow got even better when we took a gondola lift up the mountain to the tiny village of Gimmelwald.
Gimmelwald has a population of around 130 farmers, and most of them are related!
Tucked high in the peaks, we were blanketed in bright quiet. The only thing we could hear was the crunch of clean snow beneath our boots, the dripping of melting icicles on cabin roofs, and the calm ding of distant cow bells. Paragliders soared like giant, colorful kites above us. There were more cows, goats, and horses than there were people. A friendly cat even came to greet us. And all the while, we were surrounded by the majesty of the mountains.
Paragliding in Switzerland is now on my bucket list.
“We’re in heaven,” I decided.
As we hiked up the path to the next village, I thought of Shoghi Effendi, the Bahá’í leader who traveled here as a young man. I understood now why he came here to recover after having the weight of the world placed on his shoulders. I imagined him hiking those slopes, a lone man striving to reach the peak of inner peace. With the coronavirus creeping to every corner of the world, I felt like we were preparing ourselves for something here, too. My spirit felt strengthened, being so high up and so close to the clear, clean sky.
Shoghi Effendi retreated to the mountains of Switzerland after his grandfather's passing to gain “health, strength, self-confidence and spiritual energy.”
When we descended the mountain later that day, we were refreshed, happy, and starving. We decided to go to an Italian restaurant near our Airbnb for dinner.
The street was dark and mostly empty when we arrived. A man with a yellow mask and a woman dressed in a nun costume chatted outside the restaurant door.
The man exuberantly said something to us in another language. When we didn’t respond, he boomed in English, “Hey, do you speak German or English?” Then he pointed at us and theatrically demanded, “Do YOU have the coronavirus?”
We noticed “coronavirus” was written on his mask—he was dressed up as the virus. “We hope not!” we laughed, and we exchanged bewildered glances. Were we at the right place???
He must have realized he was kind of freaking us out, because he laughed and warmly ushered us toward the door. “Come, friends! You are welcome here!” he assured us. He said that he was from Brazil and came to eat here almost every day. We couldn’t hear what else he said when he opened the door, because loud Italian music burst through. The little restaurant was decorated with balloons and streamers, and everyone else was wearing costumes, too!
Our waitress, a young Italian woman who had painted her face to look like a cat, seated us in a back room. She explained that they were celebrating Carnival, a huge festival held in Italy and many other parts of the world. The coronavirus had stopped people from gathering in large numbers, so they decided to have a party of their own. “We like to have fun,” she said with a grin. When we asked for advice on what food to order, she said, “All of it. My mother makes it all good.”
A Carnival party and authentic food? We hadn’t been able to go to Italy—but Italy came to us! We couldn’t believe our luck. Katie, who had yearned to show us around Italy, was especially pleased. I searched for ways we could throw together some costumes. I debated using Katie’s red lipstick to draw a design on my face—like maybe a heart or something—but then decided it would probably end up looking like I had face-planted in my spaghetti. I contented myself with folding a napkin into a flimsy party hat and bestowing it on Travis, who wore it with playful pride for the three seconds it stayed atop his head.
The food was delicious and the live band was crazy talented. We eventually emerged from the back room to watch people dance. Katie, who has been dubbed “the photographer” of my family, began documenting the occasion. (Unfortunately, the pics turned out pretty blurry with all the disco lights and commotion.)
The Brazilian guy waved us onto the dance floor. “Come on, guys!” he shouted. Our waitress joined in. Dad, Travis, Katie, and I grinned at each other. We didn’t need much encouragement. We love to dance.
The impromptu dance floor was lively and cramped. Our waitress loudly introduced us as “friends from the United States,” and we were greeted with applause and cheers. The musicians burst into song, and we all exploded into movement. Travis and I know some Latin dances, so we did the salsa while Katie filmed us, laughing. Dad busted his own moves on the floor and cheered us on.
“Salsa!” the Brazilian guy exclaimed. He seemed impressed that we knew a Latin dance. Our waitress insisted on a dance-off. Travis, who is renowned for breaking into dramatic dances at any hour of the day, didn’t hesitate to accept the challenge. He began spinning me around and around until I was dizzy. Then we reversed roles, and he swooned back into my arms. Everyone got a kick out of that. Then I handed him over to Katie, who was an equal match for his fabulous flair.
When we bid everyone farewell and stepped back out into the quiet Swiss night, we felt like we had just emerged from an alternate reality.
“I think we chose well,” Dad decided. I couldn’t have agreed more. Our luck seemed to be turning around!
Travel84 Europe32 Determination38 Family121 Mountains13 Nature174 Dancing12 Discover552 Cultures141 Pandemic23