Follow the Ringenberg Road: Exploring Our Roots

October 15, 2015

Exploring Our Roots

Train Station at Luzern

Today was spent mostly in Ringgenberg, Switzerland. We left Luzern in the morning and took the train to Interlaken. Even though it has been cold, rainy and foggy all day, the train trip was gorgeous. It followed along the lakes and went over a mountain pass. The fall colors are still beautiful, even with the rain. The flowers are blooming and vegetable gardens are still producing. All the gardens are green and neatly manicured. This area is a hot tourist destination for adventure travel and the lakes. We can see why. It’s gorgeous!

Scenery on the way to Interlaken

When we arrived in Interlaken, we took a bus to Ringgenberg where we found and explored the church and old castle ruins and the beautiful cemetery, right on Lake Brienz. The setting for it all was breathtaking. We felt like we were walking through a calendar of Switzerland with the prettiest pictures being shown. It was stunning!

Evangelical Reformed Church in Ringgenberg

After we had climbed up into the Ringgenberg castle ruins and had taken way too many pictures, we hopped another bus and headed back to Interlaken. We bought some food at the local COOP and then got on another train and headed to Leissigen, from where most of Roger’s “Ringenberg” ancestors came. It is located on the shores of Lake Thun, which is on the opposite side of Interlaken. It’s small, like Ringgenberg, but we found the church and explored the cemetery where we found many headstones with the names Ringgenberg, Klopfenstein, Schumacher and Steuri. The gravesites in both towns are beautifully kept with flowers.

Registration book inside the Church

When we first arrived in Leissigen, we found the home where we are staying but there was a miscommunication on my part with the host, so we were unable to get into the room. No problem. We left our bags at the house and walked to the church and along the lake and when we returned, everything was worked out. This place is very contemporary and sleek.

Hopefully, we will be able to get some laundry done tonight because it’s getting slim-pickens at this point. That’s what happens when you travel for more than a week out of a carry-on. Luckily, the last few days have been cold and rainy, not hot and humid.

Tomorrow ends our time in Switzerland and we head down to Milan via train to start our two weeks in Italy. Switzerland is a clean, beautiful and well organized country with growing diversity. We’ve enjoyed our time here.