Ever since I was about ten years of age, I had a desire to some day visit Switzerland, the home of my ancestors. My parents were native-born Swiss. Our home was a small farm in Ripley County, Indiana, in a neighborhood amid a sprinkling of Swiss who came to America during the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties of the last centuries.

Among the visitors coming to our place were relatives and friends from the village in Switzerland from which my parents came. Also Swiss traveling through our locality would make stops at our home. during their conversations they would speak of Switzerland, telling about the wonderful scenery of the Alps, the lakes and the forests. They told also about the early struggle of the Swiss to gain their independence, the story of William Tell greatly attracting my attention.

When I was about thirteen years old I noticed a booklet advertised with the title Engelhorn’s Wilhelm Tell. The price of the book with postage was about fifteen cents. It was more money than I had at that time, but when I had the required amount I sent for the booklet. As it was the first money I had ever sent through the mail, I was very proud upon the arrival of my purchase. It was written in German but as my mother had instructed me in that language, I was able to read it. It also had pictures, one of, which showed the three Confederated in the Ruthli with their right hands raised to heaven. Another showed William Tell with his bowgun to his shoulder, ready to shoot the apple from his son’s head. Another of William Tell in his escape from Gessler and his men on Lake Lucerne after he had steered the boat to the rocky shore on which he had sprung with his bowgun, the picture showing him shoving the boat with his foot to send it back into the swirling waters.

Later I had opportunities to read histories and other books on Switzerland which had been denied me in my boyhood days, and I became pretty well informed as to its history, geography and government and as I read I hoped t sometime visit Switzerland, which I sometimes mention to my wife after we moved to Santa Ana, Calif.

In the spring of 1923, I thought if I ever was going to make the trip, that was opportune time--I was in good health, able to travel and still had relatives living there, However, I knew my wife would object to this idea; she always said she did not desire to see the land on the other side of the Atlantic. A year or two after we came to California, our family and some friends made a trip to Catalina island about 25 miles off the coast from San Pedro. Some of our party prepared to stave off seasickness, to which, however, in spite of the precautions, all were vulnerable except my wife. And I was the most seasick of all in our small crowd. In regard to my visit to Switzerland, my wife said, "You surely remember how sick you were when we went to Catalina Island, now if some one would go with, then I would not care so much, but if you get as seasick as before, we don’t know what might happen to you if you traveled alone." After saying that I felt better, knowing I could overcome her opposition by finding a traveling companion. In discussing the matter with a friend he told me of a young man in Compton, who was going to visit his old home in Baden, Germany, and suggested that I try and make arrangements to travel with him. I got in touch with this young man who was going to start some time in May or June and learned it would be entirely satisfactory for us to travel together. This young man, Carl Spothelfer, and I consulted a steamship agent in Los Angeles to get reservations for us on the George Washington, formerly a German liner, which was to sail from Hoboken, June 23, 1923.

My next move was to get a passport, and as I was going to travel through Germany, it was necessary to have it visaed by a German Consul.

I had read some books on how to make preparations for an ocean trip and so I came to the conclusion that the best way o travel was as to travel as lightly as possible. I did not take an overabundance of anything, only the suit of clothes I wore, an extra pair of trousers, several shirts two towels, flash light, thermos bottle shaving apparatus, comb, toothbrush, and a few other small articles, including a small brush which I carried in my outside coat pocket. However, I stocked up well with underwear, socks and handkerchiefs, old as well as new ones which, when I found they had done their duty well, the old ones were discarded.

A friend of mine who had made the trip, told me to get some rubberized cloth and make a belt with compartments in which to carry my traveler’s checks and other papers and wear it next to my body. I used safety pins to make the adjustments.

I went to the County Clerk’s office to make an application for my passport. A young lady helped me fill out the necessary papers. I had to have some one to vouch for the day and year of my birth and also have witness who knew me for at least two years and vouch for my good citizenship or something to the effect. Uncle Sam also required that I have my picture taken and send three along with my application accompanied by a Post Office money order for ten dollars, payable to the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C.

In due time my passport arrived. I then sent it to the German Consul in San Francisco to have it visaed, the cost which was ten dollars. Switzerland did not require a visa. I purchased a railroad ticket to new York and return, also transportation Bremen, Germany, and supplied my self with traveler’s checks. I purchased a notebook to be used as a journal on my trip and to which I shall often refer to in this writing.

On June 14, 1923, I bid my folks goodbye and at 5:50 A.M. left Santa over the Santa Fe to Los Angeles where I met my traveling companion, Carl Spothelfer at the Union Pacific depot where we started east at 10:50 A.M. We arrived in Salt Lake City the next day at about 2:00 P.M. We checked our baggage and took a short walk through the city, visiting the Mormon Tabernacle where we heard ‘the pin drop’. I had visited the Tabernacle at different times before when passing through Salt Lake City, at each time the guide demonstrated the perfect acoustics of the building by dropping a pin.

The same afternoon we left over the Denver and Rio Grande Western R. R. which has some wonderful scenery on its route. We passed through the Royal Gorge on an observation car. We had a tourist sleeper ticket as far as Kansas City. On account of a wreck on the Rock Island R.R. a short time previous, we left St. Louis fourteen hours behind our schedule. At St. Louis our ticket took us over the B.& O. R.R. On the morning of June 19, I left the train at Osgood, Indiana, to visit my old home and friends, Mr. Sporthelfer going on to visit relatives in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

  After visiting with friends and relatives, I boarded the same train in Osgood twenty-four hours later. While visiting a cousin, I decided to get along with less impedimenta and discarded one suitcase--I had started out with two.

I left Cincinnati shortly after noon June 20, over the B. & O. During the night President Harding’s train, illuminated and decorated, passed us as we were sidetracked somewhere east of Parkersburg, W. Va. The president was on his ill-fated trip to Alaska from which he never returned to Washington alive.

On June 21, I arrived in new York at 12:40 P.M., going directly to the New Keller Hotel, 385 West Street, where I secured a room for $1.50 per day. Then I took a walk and street car ride to another part of the town.

(From now on I will write in most part from my journal.)

June 22. It was pretty warm last night, but I managed to get some sleep. After breakfast I went to the Steamship office and had my ticket stamped. the officer in charge gave us different berths than those we had reserved. When I objected he said some ladies also had them reserved, but that under the new arrangement we would find everything satisfactory. In taking a stroll I saw Wall Street where some time before an explosion had taken place. The wall of the Treasury building had been repaired and all signs of the explosion removed. The Morgan building on the opposite side of the street still showed dents in the wall. I saw the Woolworth and several other noted buildings. As I was writing these notes it was 1:30 P.M. by standard time and 2:30 P.M. by New York City daylight savings time. I had set my watch an hour ahead at three different times since leaving California and am still an hour behind New York City daylight savings time Towards evening I went over to Hoboken, New Jersey, on a ferry and located the George Washington, the ship on which we are going to sail tomorrow.

June 23. About half past nine this morning I crossed over to Hoboken, I got on board of our ship where I found Mr. Spothelfer again. We now have a cabin with four berths all to ourselves. We sailed shortly after one o’clock this afternoon. Enjoyed a good dinner and supper.

June 24 Ate some breakfast but after that my appetite has failed me, and like the cases of many other passengers, my digestive organs, have gone in reverse. At noon our boat was in latitude 40:10 north, longitude 60:08 west, had traveled 353 miles since we left New York.

June 25. Have no desire to eat but make connections with every table at meal time. Feel bum. At noon we were at longitude 57:03, latitude 39:52, traveled 418 miles the last 23 hours.

June 26. Feeling better again. Latitude 39:32, Longitude 48:08, traveled 412 miles. The sky is overcast.

June 27. Traveled 404 miles. Sky still overcast. Some rain with southeast wind. Am on full feed again and feeling fine.

June 28. At noon we were in Latitude 45:24, Longitude 35:42, distance traveled the last 23 hours, 376 miles. This evening we had a dance on our deck from 8:30 to 10:30.

June 29. About noon today we passed a ship traveling in the same direction we were going. Lat. 47:40, Long. 23:28. Distance traveled the last 23 hours, 400 miles. Wrote some cards and mailed them, and as this is an U. S. ship the postage is the same as in the U. S. Saw many ships this afternoon.

July 1. Sunday. Land was in sight early this morning, many seagulls following our ship, sometimes gliding along without moving a wing. At Plymouth, England, we stopped long enough to land some passengers and their baggage, and a mountain of mailbags, then continuing our way through the English Channel. We arrived at Cherbourg, France, where a like stop and landing were repeated. At both places a small ship came up alongside the George Washington to take off the passengers, baggage and mail.

Our trip so far has been uneventful but pleasant. We have met many passengers, some from the first and second decks who came down to our deck who said they liked the sociability and friendliness of our crowd. The passengers are mostly from the north and from the eastern parts of the United States. A colored man, a student from the University of Illinois was going to Germany to study. He was well versed in German; he told us that by conversing with a German he could tell from what part of Germany he was from. We had Swedes, Germans, Slavs and others from the eastern part of Europe, many of them now citizens of the U. S., going to visit their native homes. Many of the passengers, I among them, rented steamer chairs on the deck for a dollar and half on which to lounge, visit, or nap. Whenever a passenger spied a school of fish, whale other sight, most of the other passengers tried to locate it also.

Although the George Washington is an American ship, the sailors, stewards and other personnel were nearly all Germans. We had nine stowaways, all boys from 15 to 19 years of age, being returned to Bremen. They were found on the George Washington on the last trip to America, but were not allowed to land. although they had to do lot of scrubbing and other work, I think they enjoyed their plight. We often saw them going about barefooted, bareheaded and smiling; no doubt they were well fed.

We are traveling third class, food, berths and entertainment are better than I expected. We had a German with us who had been in the U. S. over 40 years who was on his first visit back to his old home. In New York he was enticed to change some of his dollars into German marks. On the ship he learned that they were depreciating in value every day but he did not seem to be worried at this, no doubt, made only a small dent in his bank roll.

July 2. We are now in the North Sea.

July 3. This morning found us in bremen haven. We lift our ship about 11:00 A.M., then we went by train to bremen. At the custom house or baggage was examined for dutiable goods. It took an officer about 30 seconds to decide that I did not have anything in my suitcase on whoch to collect duty. He put one or two hieroglyphics in chalk on the end of my suitcase and that completed his investigation. In Bremen I had three dollars changes into German marks. For two--onedollar bills I received 300,000 marks, for a silver dollar only 100,000 marks--they preferred paper money to silver. From Bremen we traveled on to Hanover reaching there at about 5 o’clock with no train leaving until after midnight. Mr Spothelfer and i took a long walk in the city which took us quite a distance from the R. R. depot. While standing at a corner looking in all directions for an electric car an old man noticed us and said, "Haben Sie sich verlaufen?" ( Have you lost your way?) Mr. Spothelfer who speaks German fluently told him that we had taken a walk and were looking for an electric car to take us back to the depot. The old man said that would cost about 1000 marks. In normal times a German mark was worth about 23 cents in U. S. money. He further said if we walked briskly we could reach our destination in about a half hour. However, we took the street car which cost us about 2/3 cents in U. S. money. Then we ate, my bill amounting to 17 cents, which included a glass of wine. To kill time, we went to a movie, with the same results I often experience when I attend church on a warm day.

July 4. Left Hanover at 2:00 A. M. on a train going south. We passed through Frankfort and Mannheim. This is haying time in Germany. We saw whole families out in the fields. Some places cows were hitched to the wagons. This being after the war, the Germans are experiencing very hard times. They are short of livestock and almost of everything else. Mr. Spothelfer left the train at a station I think names Hochdorf to try in some way to get to this former home yet today. For the balance of the afternoon I had a man traveling in the seat with me who said it would be best for us to get off at Horb and look for lodging for the night. Lately the trains had not run on a regular schedule due to French occupation and further on the line where the train would stop during the night, accommodations might be hard to find. My new acquaintance and I got off at Horb but the first hotel was unable to care for more guests. At the second, we were successful. Before I left home my wife told me she thought, as we had been at war with Germany a short time before, I would be charged exorbitant prices there, and as my acquaintance had introduced me to the landlord as ‘an American who wanted supper lodging’ I thought perhaps I should retreat. However, I did not. I had a big roll of German marks in my coat pocket. I asked to be shown my room which was on the second floor. The bed had two feather beds, the sheets and pillows were white and clean. I said everything was satisfactory. As I am writing this twenty years later I don’t remember what I had to eat, but at that time Germany was very short on provisions. I noticed some of the guests there were very frugal but they supplemented their meal by resorting to their pockets or paper bags.

I couldn’t find out what time my train would leave in the morning. In fact, no one knew at that time, one man’s guess was as good as another’s. I imagined that about 5:00 A.M. would be the time. Before I retired I asked the landlord for my bill so I would not have to bother with it in the morning. I told the landlord that I had landed at Bremen two days before and would like a bath. he said there was no bath connected to my room but would see that there was a tub of hot water brought to my room.

His charges were: Room and government tax, 15,000 marks

Supper 25,000 marks

Total 40,000 marks

The landlord explained everything was high in price and he had to charge accordingly. My friend who I met on the train, asked if I would give any trinkgeld(tip) so I added 5,000 marks to the bill. When I got to my room, by doing some calculation, I found I paid a fraction less than 30 cents in U. S. money for my room and supper.

July 5. At the restaurant where I had my breakfast, I noticed a very tall man, whom I recognized as having traveled on our train the day before. I had a short conversation with him and learned he was 9 feet and, 5 inches tall and was a Hollander and able to speak several languages. My train did not come along until 10:00 A. M. I had an old German for a companion in my seat. During our conversation, he said he had a nephew in the American army who was killed in the was and as this man and his two sisters, all living in Germany, were the only legal heirs the nephew had, they were drawing his insurance money. He was on the way to Freiburg to have a check cashed which he showed me. It was a $5.00 check from Uncle Sam. I asked him what he was going to do with so much money. With a smile he said he could find use for it as he had grandchildren whom he could help.

Our train arrived in Basel at 3:00 P.M. Basel is on the Swiss and German frontier. The Germans again examined my baggage to see if I was taking anything out of Germany that I had bought there. At that time they were collecting export duty on some certain goods. Then the Swiss took me in hand and like the Germans, paid little attention to the few things I had. As soon as I arrived in Switzerland, I heard the people speaking in the Swiss dialect. I had expected to arrive in Brienz today but my train did not leave Basel until 7:00 P.M. and arrived in the city of Bern two hours later. In Bern I went to three hotels before I found a lodging place. I stopped at Hotel Post and had Rm. No. 39, for which the clerk taxed me as follows: Lodgment 4.00 francs

Baggage .50 "

10% Service(tip) .45 "

4.95

July 6. This morning after breakfast I took a short walk in the city. I went to Baren Gruben (Bear Pit) and then to the railroad station, buying a third class railroad ticket to Interlacken for 5.95 francs. Interlacken is located where Lake Thun and Lake Brienz almost join, the water of the Aar River runs through both lakes. I took the small steamer that plies between Interlacken and Brienz, my destination. Brienz is on the east end and Interlaken on the west end of Lake Brienz. Our steamer made several stops along the way. Four young girls were passengers on the boat and were speaking English. I asked them if they were not a long ways from home. They replied that they were from England and were taking a vacation in Switzerland. they were fitted out like real tourists, had rucksacks, heavy hobnailed shoes and had an Alpenstock for mountain climbing. I showed them some of my German money which was the first of it they had seen. I asked them how traveling in Switzerland was compared to traveling in England as far as the financial part was concerned. they said in Switzerland it was much cheaper. At the Biess Bach Falls, a noted resort for tourists, they left the boat. This resort is very near to Brienz, the town where my ancestors have lived for many centuries. From the boat I located several land marks about which I hear the Swiss of my old home in Indiana speak of. I pointed out the Milli Bach, the church Ballenberg, and one or two other places to the sailors and asked them if I was correct. They said I was and were astonished, asking me if I ever had been to Brienz before. One of the sailors told me how to find Cousin John Micel’s house. A boy who overheard our conversation said he would show me where my cousin lived. I found cousin John’s wife and some of the children at home where I intend making my headquarters. I will introduce them: John Michel, my cousin; Emma Michel, nee Stall, his wife: Marie,the eldest daughter; Margaret; Emma (Mrs. Alfred Muller, they have a son Alfred); Hannah, the youngest daughter who is a very pretty girl. In fact they are all nice and well-behaved girls. Then there were two sons, John, and Adolph, the youngest of the family. Marie was sick in bed when I got there, recovering from a case of appendicitis. Margaret was working up on the Ax Alp in a hotel. she came down that evening to see how her sister was getting along. Later in the evening cousin John came home from up on the Roth Horn Mountain where he had been working helping reside some land. The same afternoon I saw Cousin Anna Eggler, a widow. I also went to see Jacob Kehrli who had been in the States and who had at one time worked in a furniture factory in Batesville, Indiana, where I had first met him. I am going to lodge at Kehrli’s for the present time and take my meals at Cousin John’s.

July 7. John pointed out the Grat up in the mountains south across the lake. Some of our early ancestors owned a tract of land there. In the afternoon John, Adolf and I crossed the lake in a row boat to the Giess Bach Falls. The falls are a fine sight, making seven leaps before they reach the lake. Today I bought a pair of heavy shoes with hobnails in the soles. They cost 35 Swiss franc’s or about seven dollars in U. S. Money. The shoe store was located near Rudolph Stahli’s, (an old friend of mine) old home. John told the merchant that I was well acquainted with Rudolph. To be convinced, he got one of Rudolph’s photographs and asked me if that was the same man we both knew.

This morning I had a traveler’s check cashed at the bank. The cashier told that Peter Eggler, near Morris Indiana, whom I knew well, was his uncle and that he had a brother-in-law in Santa Monica, California, named Herman Michel, who was in the dairy business.

July 8. This morning I tried on my ironclad shoes. Here almost everybody wears them. I went with John to Schwanden to see his mother and his sister Margaret who is a widow. His mother is 92 years old is still very well and has hardly any gray hair. Robert Mader Margaret’s son, is a widower and he and his family live with them. We had dinner there and later visited a married daughter of Cousin Margaret’s. Margaret’s daughter’s husband, John Gander, is a wood carver like many others in that locality. He showed us

some of his work. On returning, we stopped at the Baren Hotel and had some refreshments. Mr. Werren the landlord came and visited with us. Later his daughter, Lena, and I had a nice chat in English.

July 9. I am still stopping at Kehrli’s at night. Mr. Kehrli and I spend many pleasant hours talking of Indiana and of the Swiss where I used to live. His wife often joined us in the conversation. One time when Mr. Kehrli and I were talking about snakes, Mr. Kehrli told of a big black snake he saw in a cornfield while he was in Indiana. Mrs. Kehrli was very much alarmed and raised her arms in horror, saying she never, never wanted to see America.

Today I went to Meiringen, walking there in my ironcladshoes. I went east, up the narrow Aar River valley. I passed the Kienheltz, d’Rissiten, a wash or slide on the mountain side, and past der Olsche Bach, a stream that flows over the side of a mountain. I passed many people working the hay and stopped to look at a one-horse mower. The owner said he had a McCormick before but it had been too light and did not last long. I got to Meiringen at about 9:45 A.M..

When I left California I had a one way ticket across the Atlantic as I was undecided at that time as to what steamship line I would return on. I came to Meiringen to see a steamship agent and to make arrangements for a ticket and reservations on a ship back to New York. About the last of August or the first of September all ships are crowded with tourists going back to the States and it is wise to make reservations early. I told the agent that I came through Germany and wanted to return through France, take a ship from Cherbourg, the latter part of August. He named two or three ships that would sail about that time. After I had lunch I went to see the Aar Gorge. The charge to pass through was one franc. It is a wonderful Greek of nature, the mountain is split in two, some places the rent is apparently not over one or two yards wide. The raging Aar River passes through this gorge; the rent is many times wider below than above. It took me about 25 minutes to go the full length through the mountain by taking my time. It is bridged shelf-like along the winding stone wall and some places it is tunneled. It is a sight worth seeing.

On returning, as I was passing through Meiringen, I heard some one calling my name with Swiss accent but as there are as many Michel’s In Brienz and Meiringen as Smiths in the States, I at first did not pay much attention. When the name was repeated, I stopped and looked back. A man was coming toward me at a brisk gait. As he reached me he asked in English, "Are you Mr. Michel?" I told him I was. He had also been to see the agent to see about transportation to new York for himself and wife. He told me his name was Mr.Mathyer and said he wanted for me to travel with them. They were sailing on the Hansa from Hamburg August 30. I went back to the agent and cancelled my former orders and told him that I would travel with the Mathyers. Mr. Mathyer told me that in coming to Switzerland they had traveled through France and had suffered indignities and exploitations there. My reason to travel through Germany again was to have company, at no time thinking I would get a raw deal if I went through France.

On our ship, coming to Europe, we had men who had been ‘taken in’ in New York City. One man had paid $4.50 per night for a bed which was full of bed bugs, another had paid ten dollars to have a steamer trunk moved a short distance when there should have been no charges.

Mr. Mathyer and I visited a church in Meiringen where men at work were reinforcing the foundation and had found that the church was built over an old stone church which seems to have been covered by earth and rocks many hundred years ago when a large mountain stream got out of its channel. Some of the debris had been removed which exposed some of the old building. Everything was of stone even the altar and confessional.

I returned to Brienz by train

July 11. Cousin John, his son, Adolf, and I wen up on the Ax Alp today. One of the cheese makers gave us some boiled cheese milk to drink. On returning we stopped at the two hotels on the Ax alp and had some refreshments. Continuing our journey home, we met three men with heavy burden on their backs and a pack mule loaded with goods. nearly all transportation of goods to and from the hotels is done in this way. At the lake we waited for the steamer to take us across to Brienz.

July 12. After writing some letters, I went with cousin John to eat some cherries from one of his cherry trees. John owns the tree but it stands on another man’s land. I never heard of anything like that in the states. The Giesbach Falls across the lake were illuminated tonight.

July 13. I visited the Wild Park up on the Fluhberg above Brienz where they have a number of chamois and an ibex (Stein Bok). The latter is very tame. They also have some gier-eagles in large cages. While I was here one night some one killed three of the chamois.

I went to visit Fritz Buhlman, a near neighbor of John’s. He is a second cousin of mine, his grandfather, Johann Michel, and my grandfather were brothers. There is another family near named Miescher. Mrs. Miescher is also a second cousin of mine. her grandfather’s name was Jacob Michel. Mr. and Mrs. Miescher (Will and Anna) have both been to New York and can speak English.

July 20. Cousin John and I intend to climb the Roth Horn, a mountain whose foot is on one side of Lake Brienz. I went over to Schwanden to see if John’s nephew, Robert Mader, would go with us but he was too busy making hay. On my way back to Brienz I met some men mowing hay. A Swiss scythe has no resemblance to the kind we have in America. I asked one of the men if I could try his scythe. During our conversation I learned that he had been in Ripley county, Indiana and visited Benedict Michel in Napoleon, Indiana. This man’s name was John Stahli.

July 21. Saturday. this morning at 5:30, John and I started on our hike to the top of the Roth Horn. We followed a mountain path and at about 8 o’clock we got up on the Planalp where we took a rest and ate some lunch. We were near the hamlet, Husstadt, which is built near a precipice. A stream, the Millibach, that drains the Planalp, makes a 1000-foot leap here and continues down grade till its waters enter Lake Brienz. During the flood season it runs a sawmill near the lake. from where we ate our lunch we had a good view of the lake below and the mountains beyond.

Many hundred years ago an avalanche of earth, rock and timber swept over the Planalp and the precipice and carried the hamlet Husstadt with it. Some of the debris was carried into Lake Brines. A day or two later a male child was found floating in the lake in a trough-like cradle. All the people of Husstadt had lost their lives in the avalanche but this boy. Of course, the people knew from where the child came, but they did not know his name so they named him AbPlanalp. "Ab’ in the dialect of that locality means off or from--off Planalp. At the present time there are still Abplanalps in Brienz and other places, including America. One of my grandfather’s name was Abplanalp. He and his family emigrated to America in the Spring of 1834.

After our rest and lunch, we continued on and upward. There is a large hotel on this alp name Hotel Planalp. The Planalp is a pasture land where many cows are kept during the growing season and where much cheese is made. The time I passed over it, the pasture was rank with grass, re clover and glowers. the cows were rolling fat and in perfect condition. Many of them had Swiss cow bells on which tinkled pleasantly. We stopped at a hut where they made cheese. They were boiling the cheese milk, the curds having been removed, and were making ziger(sapsago). They offered us some of the milk. John took ziger milch. I took schotten(whey).

That morning the weather was nice and cool and at 11 o’clock the cows were still grazing, otherwise, in the warmer weather, at about 10o’clock the cows have to be taken to the stables on account of horse flies as we call them in America, and towards evening they are let out to graze again. As we got farther up we lost sight of the cows and huts.

A railroad used to run from Brienz via the Hotel Planalp to the hotel near the summit of the Roth Horn, but it was not in use when I was there on account of the recent World War. The track was still there--narrow gauge with a third rail in the center with cogs and having steel crossties. We left the path and followed the railroad track, going through several tunnels. At one place the rails and ties were washed away. We saw lots of snow from the winter before that had gathered in hollows and had not all melted. (Some years later when tourists again arrived in larger numbers, the railroad was repaired and put into running order.) We arrived at the hotel at about 11:50 A.M. A few people were there. The hotel had been idle since the beginning of the war. Just a day before some men started to do business again there but it was mostly on the strong drink order. I was going to order some coffee for John but they said they were yet unprepared to furnish coffee but could make us some soup, which I ordered. After it was dished out we got some eats from our rucksack and we ate our dinner. The evening before I had bought some bread, cheese and sausage to bring along. We also had a bottle of wine and some milk chocolate. the bill was 60 centimes for a plate of soup, 1 franc, 20 centimes for two.

From there we started to the summit of the Roth Horn. John was carrying the rucksack and suddenly pulled it off, telling me to carry it. We were only about four or five hundred yards to the top but I was afraid John would not be able to make it. He sat down many times and rested. He said the thin air affected his heart. I did not experience anything of the sort as the weather was nice and cool. On the top of the mountain there were seats from which we had a good view all around us. The mountains to the south at that time were partly hidden by clouds. I picked a few flowers on the summit. We did not stay very long as John had left home without wearing a coat and it was rather cool. After we got down a few hundred yards, John was himself again and I had trouble to keep up with him. In fact, I was in no hurry and often stopped to enjoy the scenery. We made the return trip along a different route. the descent is almost as hard work as going up. It doesn’t take as much wind but it surely tells on a person’s legs. Everybody uses walking canes in the mountains.

I was carrying the rucksack as we went down. I felt some thing trickling down my back and legs and after John investigated, as I thought, learned that cork had come out of the wine bottle. John said it was poor quality of wine anyway. I had bought it in Meiringen some days before and to my taste it was much better than any I had in Brienz. I asked John if he wasn’t on good terms with people in Meiringen as he did not like their wine. John answered saying any person that was a judge of wine would tell me it was poor stuff. I did not want to argue the case and told him probably he was right as he drank wine nearly every day while I drank it about every five years so he ought to be the better judge. We had Prohibition in the United States then.