In this reflection ESR MDiv student Anne M. Hutchinson shares about her recent visit to Switzerland:
It’s
hard to conceive of Switzerland without thinking of chalets, cheese, chocolate,
cleanliness, and clocks. There are indeed chalets with their wide roofs and
elaborate exterior wood carvings. However, La Chaux-de-Fonds, the
town in which I stayed, is famous for its Art Nouveau architecture and design. Cheese
was plentiful, and is essential for traditional dishes including raclette and
fondue. Switzerland is a chocolate lover’s dream: grocery stores offered every
kind and flavor of it. And then, cleanliness. An acquaintance once told me that
her mother instructed her to clean the house as if Jesus were to visit. Whether
the Swiss believed the same or not, homes were impeccably clean and tidy and
subject to regular dusting and arranging. Messiness was simply unimaginable. If
cleanliness is next to godliness, the Swiss meet the criteria.
And
as for clocks: When I spent two weeks with a friend in that historic
watchmaking town, it was well-nigh impossible to not be conscious of time.
Clocks were everywhere, on public buildings, in the window displays of watch
shops. The museum of horlogerie showcases a dazzling display of all kinds of
timepieces: miniature painted pocket watches, an outdoor carillon clock, talking
clocks, a Turk on a flying carpet clock, and numerous other timekeeping
devices. Several of the large timepieces featured the figure of the Grim
Reaper, a memento mori of the
ephemeral nature of life. At one time, the three churches in the town center
all rang their steeple bells on the hour and the quarter hours, but they did
not ring in synchronicity. One church’s bells would stop only for the second to
begin ringing, and the second barely ceased before the third began. It was a
real challenge for anyone in the neighborhood around them to sleep amid that
joyous cacophony.
