Arbon District

Our first full day, most of us had very disrupted sleep as we adjust to long travel days and the time change. But it's all so worth it as we awaken to sunshine, and hit the ground running.

With typical Swiss precision, our cousins Migg & Bernadette have furnished us with the exact times and trains to meet up with them in Rorschach this morning. A sleek train glides us smoothly along, and we can get our first proper look at rolling hills, distant alps, and cows dotting the landscape.

Migg and Bernadette meet us easily. It's such a genuine pleasure to see them, Migg with compact quiet style, and so many mannerisms that evoke our Dad to us. Bernadette has what I might call panache, aging elegantly, and is charmingly engaging, where her speech and stories are accompanied by gestures, sounds, and facial expressions. They have not seen Micheal in 40 years and have not met Barb before. So yet another element that makes this trip so very special.

Migg is a skilled and experienced guide on this family history tour, and we swiftly head out to the shores of Lake Constance. The sun is bright on the colorful spring flowers bursting out everywhere. Our first stop is the big pink building with apartments above a bakery, our Dads first home.

Then a short train just down the road to Arbon, where Dad served his apprenticeship from 1948 to 1952 at Saurer. This lakeside museum ends up being the highlight of our day. The Saurer company manufactured textile machines for embroidery as well as trucks and busses. It seems a curious juxtaposition. But the delicate beauty of the lace embroidery is achieved here with amazingly complex machines, looms and lathes. Its actually fascinating to admire the mathematical complexity of the lace patterns alongside the graceful curves of shining classic trucks. The occasional whiff of machine oil carries along with it whispers of a past active, clanging, hot noisy workshop. We admire the unique flooring, which appears to be 4x4 posts embedded vertically. These would soak up vast amounts of oil, and are still gleaming with thousands of tiny metal scraps embedded.

A walk through the lovely medieval Arbon brings us to the bus station, where a 45 minute ride to St. Gallen gives us a needed rest.

In St Gallen we walk to the school that Migg attended, which is alongside the cathedral. He tells us how the boys would watch from the windows as the girls walked demurely to church from their own separate school, and Bernadette tells us how the girls were taught to walk with their eyes downcast beside boys, to not make eye contact. The girls would attend the cathedral daily or weekly, but boys were only permitted at Christmas.

There is a particular distinctive beauty to this cathedral. The baroque style is shown to absolute best advantage here, with a cream and green refreshing color and a perfect contrast to gilt trims. We are treated to the sounds of the vast organ echoing through before we leave.

And finally we stroll through cobblestone streets, winding our way down the famed Speisergasse. This famous shopping street is where our mothers family Spanische Weinhall was located in the late 1800s, where 2 branches of the family had joined to create an import business. It was sold sometime in the 1920s, to my grandfather's lifelong chagrin.

We are more than ready to feast on traditional St Gallen bratwurst for dinner. We have a wonderfully convivial meal, and walk together to the train station at the end of the evening to head back home in our separate directions.Read more