Gallus and I spent two days hiking into the base of Half Dome from Tuolumne Meadows and climbing it early in the morning. Along the way, we talked a lot. He said he had a son, Stephan, age 7, but was divorced, his x-wife taking custody of Stephan. He was heartbroken, he loved his son but did not see him enough. Gallus is a warm, sensitive man who dreamed of a large, loving, close knit family like he grew up in. He was in the U.S. on business and to sort through his life while traveling across the U.S., from Florida to California. After Half Dome, he camped with us a few more nights before we parted, he back to Switzerland, his vacation and business finished and us to more hiking. We told him we were hoping to come to Europe the next year and would love to visit his home. He was excited at the prospect.
We toured Europe by rail the next summer and spent a delightful extended weekend with him. We did not get a chance to meet his son, it was not his visitation weekend and his former wife would not give him up.
It has been six years, but when planning this trip we contacted Gallus about the possibility of getting together again. He was excited about our visit, so we planned to visit him. He told us that 5 years ago, totally by surprise he received custody of Stephan. Gallus was thrilled, and changed nearly all aspects of his life; his job, his home and relationships to bring his beloved Stephan into his life. He also found a life partner in Claudia since we last saw him. Needless to say, we were excited to meet his son and Claudia and reconnect with this happy, laughing and kind man.
Today our ride was short, just ten miles to Friedrichhausen, where a ferry would take us across the Bodensee (Lake Constance) to Romanshorn where Gallus would pick us up in his car after we had secured our bikes in storage. Friedrichhausen is the home to the Zepplin, in particular the Hindenburg and other ridged frame airships (blimps) of that era. There is a museum in town that chronicles the history of these massive airships that we hoped to visit before crossing the lake. The short ride was pleasant and we were in Friedrichhausen before noon, having slept in a bit and not started our ride until 8:30 am this morning.
Locking our bikes outside the museum, we spent two hours learning about the Zepplins. The pier for our ferry was right next to the museum. We purchased our tickets and boarded the 1:40 pm ferry. The 45 minute cruise across the lake was delightful. The breeze was cool and the views stunning, although haze in the air clouded the views of the surrounding mountains. The city of Friedrichhausen now owns the zeppelin works and Zepplins fly from the city daily for tourist flights. We saw one traveling over the lake as we cruised across.
Once in Romanshorn we looked for a place to store our bikes, such as the storage facility in Lucernce. We learned there was none here, but St. Gallen, a half an hour by rail did have such a facility.
We had arrange for Gallus to pick us up in Romanshorn, but, luckily, we had delayed contacting him until our bikes were secure. We contacted him, and told him he could pick us up in St. Galen instead, a much shorter drive for him. The tickets for our bikes and us ran $50, an unexpected cost, but 40 minutes later we were on the platform in St. Gallen and meeting Gallus and Stephan. We had to wait until we walked to his car to meet Claudia. Gallus had parked in a forbidden zone and she was guarding the car while they went to find us in the station.
Stephan spoke a little English, that which he had learned in school and Claudia spoke none. Gallus speaks English well, although he had not used it for the past five years since changing jobs. We caught up a bit on the way to his house and got to know Stephan, a bright eyed happy 13 year old who skipped a weekend with his mother to meet "the Americans". Stephan told us stories in his broken English, aided by his dad, and we soon got to know him better. I felt badly for Claudia as the conversation was in English and she was left out. But, Gallus would fill her in periodically so she wasn't totally out of the picture.
The language barrier meant it took us longer to get to know Claudia, but as the afternoon and evening progressed we learned what a kind, talented, fun and warm person she is. I was thrilled to see Gallus and her so happy together. They obviously adore each other and snuggle, laugh and work together. The three of them are very settled and happy.
Claudia is an exquisite cook and baker, having grown up in the farmland hills above Alpenzell. We had raclette for dinner. Raclette is made at the table by each diner. You take a small metal pan, put a slice of raclette cheese in it, add onions and mushrooms and slide it into a oven in the center of the table. The cheese melts, then you use a spatula to scrape it onto your plate, then eat it with a fork. Delicious. You also add nectarines and pineapple to the cheese to be melted, also delightful. On top of the oven pork was fried and new potatoes had been boiled and served. It was a great dinner. We spent over an hour making and eating our food while catching up and learning more about Claudia and Stephan.
Right after dinner, the hot day (90° is hot for Switzerland!), the thunder and lightning began, followed by three hours of torrential rains. We were very happy to be sleeping inside Gallus and Claudia's home rather than our tent.
Tired, we slipped off to bed about 10:00 pm, happy to see Gallus so content with his son and new life partner.
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