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| Watering hole exemplar. What's that in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a .... |
Our departure route took us by the stunning floating stage, world renowned for hosting the Bregenz Festival, along with opera and orchestral performances. Apparently, we had missed Carmen by just a few days. What I didn't realise at the time was that the stage is rebuilt every two years. These images give some idea of previous versions of this marvellous performing arts venue; below is my pic of the current performance space.
St Gallen was our destination for a night before moving on to the giddy heights of the Appenzeller region, from where I'm writing this, surrounded by the constant tinkling of cowbells. (Go, Mooloo!)
Back to St Gallen, or Sankt Gallen in German. This delightful town, founded by Irish monk Gallus circa 600AD, was also the recommendation of our dear friend and wise woman CEE who had made a memorable visit to the Abbey library some years ago. History (at least the Wikipedia version of it) is delightfully vague about what Gallus was doing so far from Ireland but it was here that he decided to establish his hermitage. Thankfully, he wasn't interested in building the world's first Irish-themed-pub-not-in-Ireland.
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| The man himself |
It was a long, hot haul up the road, which became alarmingly vertical after leaving the lake at Rorschach (without spotting a single inkblot, btw, disappointing!). With panniers on, our bikes are heavy enough without having to fight gravity as well. And it doesn't help that Tour Leader is part-mountain goat.
Hypnotized by his legs whirring away in front of me, I began considering having a meltdown, or throwing a wobbly. My body beat me to it though. Suddenly, I melted into a heap by the side of the road and my legs achieved wobbly status all by themselves.
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| There are other ways of climbing uphill. Just saying. |
But we eventually made it to Hotel Vadian, a stone's throw from the ancient, UNESCO World Heritage-protected Abbey.
At the time, I was just happy to stop fighting gravity.
With the perspective gained from an anniversary dinner and a good night's sleep in yet another feather duvet-encrusted Swiss bed, the ride to St Gallen took shape as something of a pilgrimage. I will explain.
But first, do admire this screenshot of that day's ride, courtesy of Strava. Thank you. Moving on...
It is difficult to convey the sense of awe experienced while touring the Abbey library. From the moment we donned our oversized felt slippers and shuffled into the vast baroque chamber, spoken words were superfluous. Here, the written word reigns. I could babble on for paragraphs about this most ancient, most holy and yet most relevant library - but other, wiser minds have done this already. If you feel you have any connection with the written word, as a reader or a writer, please investigate a little further. Here's a place to start.
Most relevant?
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The Editorial Committee, aka Tour Leader, has an agenda item, which I'm willing to pursue. He spends far too much time following US and world politics, and makes a point about the relationship between knowledge and leadership. "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it," said philosopher George Santayana, a quote borrowed by Churchill some decades later. Our pilgrimage to St Gallen reinforced, for me, the importance of acquiring knowledge, learning from history. Not necessarily a popular idea in modern educational circles, but there you go.
"Places like this library have a whole reservoir of knowledge, and yet the world's most powerful leader relies on lies, innuendo and a lack of critical thinking." - Bruce Richards, 2017
Not to mention the hubris, the bluster, the sheer insensitivity of the Don. Now there's a man in need of a pilgrimage.
Wonderful insightful blog, I do enjoy reading it. Jane
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about your wonderful adventures overseas. I am pleased to see that Bruce like David, is taken to visit libraries on holidays!
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