How I got to CH (Switzerland) part 2

04 February 2006
How I got to CH (Switzerland) part 2

After my return from CH and my meeting Herr K, I could not stop thinking and talking about this country that had shown me so much in a month's time. Some months after this, someone tossed a Redbook magazine in my lap, and said, "You can't stop talking about the country, so this looks like a good way to get back".

There was a small blurb on one page about some outfit in PA that would get you to CH, rent you an apartment and train pass, and let you go on your own. There was a phone number and address of a company called Idyll Untours. Well, I gave them a call. A lady answered and said, "Oh, you need to talk with my husband, and he's in the back yard, hold on". The husband arrived, and I told him of my CH interest. He explained that the apartments were in private homes. Having lived only in Zurich, I did not know then that most homes in CH have at least one apartment in addition to the family's living quarters. I was unsure just how much I would like to live in someone else's house. When he said the terms were for three weeks, I told him that three weeks might not work. He then told me that if I came in May or late September that I could have a place for two weeks. This sounded better, so I said Ok for me and my family. It turns out that the man that I was speaking with was Hal Taussig, the originator and owner of Idyll. The lady was his wife, Norma, and they were running the company off the dining room table!

So, the next May, wife, me, and two kids all fly over to Zurich to begin our Swiss adventure. We were met at the airport by this man, Hal, who had a sack of cheese pies that he passed out. There might have been eight in out group. He rode us into town on a bus (no trains went to the Zurich airport then, as they do today). In Zurich, we got a train south to Luzern, where we changed to a train going to our villages. At each stop, Hal would get the people who were going to live in a particular village, jump off with them, introduce them to a landlady, and hop back on. Our village was named Sachseln. We met our landlady, Frau B, who spoke no English but smiled a lot. She took us to our home for two week which turned out to be above the quarters of her family but was very nice. It even had a balcony looking out over some majestic mountain scenes.

Hal had given a time for us to meet him for orientation. We did this the next day in an adjacent village, and he was helpful with ideas for hikes, etc. He also had the whole group sit down around a table and learn how to use the train schedules. We also agreed to meet a week later to share experiences in a local hotel stube. In later years, this meeting became known as an Idyll party.

After about two days, I was regretful that we hadn't signed up for the three weeks, but that would come later. Suffice it to say that we all had a grand time with hikes, city trips, museums, and trips to high places like Pilatus, the Jungfraujoch, and the Matterhorn. When our time was over, we all wanted to stay longer. Our landlady took us to the train station and gave us a goodbye bouquet of flowers. We did know that we could come back again and stay longer. This turned out to be an understatement.

More in part 3.