Forest & Farm Village – October 2019
During our month in Switzerland we stayed most nights in the village of Gimel, which is between the Lausanne and Geneva areas in the southwest corner of the country. David, Jerry’s college friend, was gracious enough to let us stay in an apartment in his old farmhouse.
View from the sitting room
The charming village, with just over 2,000 residents, includes a small supermarket; tiny office supply store; a pharmacy; a couple of churches; a dairy store that sells cheese, milk, and ice cream made from milk of local farmers; two restaurants; and a patisserie. Yes, we ate some of the chocolate sweets and healthful breads from the patisserie. Each village, town, and city in Switzerland appears to have a coat of arms. Twin boys, Gules, Twins Argent, are featured on Gimel’s coat of arms and we were not able to learn much about the meaning of this official symbol. It may represent Gemini, which is similar to the village name.
Public water fountains can be found throughout Switzerland and serve as a source of free drinking water in villages, cities, and towns. Before homes and business had inside plumbing, the fountains were also a social hub as folks obtained their daily supply of water while exchanging news, views, and information. And lower basins often provided water for thirsty animals. Gimel includes 7 fountains, all of which feature colorful flower boxes. One warm afternoon we watched two happy children playing with their toys in the basins.
We often walked on roads north of Gimel that wound through farmlands. The views of the snowy mountains were spectacular! And the sheep and cows, outfitted with bells around their necks, seemed unperturbed when we walked past.
For longer walks we continued past the farms and ventured along forest trails. A few of the areas in which we wanted to walk were marked with “keep out” signs. Even though we weren’t completely sure of the reasons for the restrictions or if they were only in effect some of the time, we avoided the areas anyway.
David took us on a four-mile adventure through the forest to find Glacier de Saint-George. Walking through the trees with yellow, orange, and red leaves and seeing the carved bear statue reminded us so much of Oregon and Washington. The ursine artwork stood along the side of a forest road and the accompanying sign described how a hunter on horseback encountered a gigantic bear in the area in 1772.
Instead of a chunk of ice above ground, the glacier is in a cave underground. The entrance is partly concealed by brush and trees, so it’s good that a fence, even though it’s not-so-sturdy, surrounds the deep hole. Jerry and David climbed down into the cave, but did not see any water or ice because of all the rocks and branches at the bottom of the hole.
During our forest walks we saw parts of small logging operations. Felled trees were cut into 1 meter lengths, then baled, and finally stacked by the road to be transported out of the forest.
One cloudy afternoon we went on a hunt for edible mushrooms with David and his six year old son. We didn’t find any that were safe to eat, but we did see quite a few colorful, poisonous ones.
