Postcards from Europe — Ten Years Later (Part Three: Switzerland and France)
As I reread my Postcards From Europe book for its special tenth anniversary edition, it was fun to consider how the lives of its real-life cast of characters and their hometowns have changed since 1999.
Here’s the latest from Switzerland and France:
Up in Switzerland’s Alps, my favorite village of Gimmelwald has gone through some tough times. The only real restaurant closed, resulting in a big hit to the town’s commercial metabolism. Locals pulled together with creative ways to parlay the products of a humble alpine village into sustenance for visitors, and thankfully, the restaurant seems to have new and energetic owners. Petra’s youth hostel is stronger than ever, and the talents of her handy husband, Wally, complement her own. And Walter is more and more the eccentric and generally lovable old man of the town — with two new hips, he still shuffles around, refusing to retire and still feeding his hungry hikers. Olle and Maria still share the village’s only teaching position. Every time I visit I remember how Gimmelwald was the scene of our Swiss Alps Christmas show for public television. Olle helped heroically — he cranked up the town’s traditional charm, and turned the entire village into bit players as we filmed a traditional Christmas under a delightful blanket of new snow.
In Paris, Rue Cler is more Rue Rick Steves than ever — busy with my readers but still a delight. My friend, Marie-Alice (for whom cheese smells like “zee feet of angels”) is mad at me because I gave her hotel a bad write-up, so we no longer communicate. It’s complicated maintaining objectivity while also trying to maintain friendships for people who — when you get right down to it — sometimes see you more as a source of free advertising than as a friend.
Daniel Roth, my musical hero, still welcomes visitors into his St. Sulpice Cathedral loft to enjoy the finest pipe organ experience in Europe up close and intimate. He performs with an elegance that creates a glorious little interlude just for you, where there is no kitschy, shrill, garish, frustrated, rag-tag, mind-numbing world out there. While in Daniel Roth’s loft, your world is simply ivory keys, inlaid stops, and a timeless heritage of great music powering worship, appreciated by silent and humble pilgrims contained in a Gothic box lovingly carved of stone in centuries past.