Yesterday it was rainy so we visited the Ital Reding manor in Schwyz. For 500 years (pre-19th centuries) Schwyz was a mercenary recruiting and training region. Providing mercenaries was a profitable business and the men wo supplied them built lavish manors in Schwyz. This manor with the long attached barn was built by Ital Reding in 1609.
Interior ceiling in the "great room"
The tile furnace for heating
Windows on the barn near the manor entrance
In those earlier centuries, Switzerland was a poor country and many of the young men were recruited as mercenaries for foreign kings and war lords. They were paid well for their service and were known as loyal and fierce fighters and defenders. The famous lion sculpture memorial in Lucerne commememorates the Swiss mercenaries that were killed in service of the king during the French Revolution. It is a story worth a Google search
Before returning to the farm, we took a 10 mile drive up a valley to the village of Muotathal and passed this mountainside water cascade Falls like this are almost "routine" in the Alps regions.
A miscellaneous note: Schwyz is where the Swiss pocket knife was invented
For dinner last night, my favorite chef (Barb) fixe raclette (potatoes with Emmental cheese) and stir fried veggies served with some Apfelsprudel (carbonated apple juice). A quiet little dinner in the farm house apt is as good as the best restaurant in Schwyz. :-)
Okay, now I will give you a chance to roll your eyes. Yes, we really did stay on a real Swiss farm. Yes, there really were cows grazing outside of our kitchen window Yes, there was an old barn and cats and flies (not too many) and barn smells (not in the house) and green meadows and steep hill sides and, yes, cow recyled hay.
The cows in the old barn
Cow recycled hay
Our hostess Frau Fassbind (about 80) raking hay on the hillside
(much steeper than the picture shows - the camera was tilted up)
An older barn on the hillside above the farm
(it took some huffing and puffing on our part to get to it)
This shows a little better how steep the hillside was
Sunset from the farm house balcony
Today we will leave the farm in Schwyz and travel to Trin, a small village near Chur in eastern Switzerland
