Gimmelwald, Day 6 Munich/Switzerland 2024

Today was about doing nothing. No obligation to have to see or do anything. Just have the day unfold and experience it. It was a good day.

I woke up around 3:30am and wrote up my blog for the previous day. After chatting with Mike for a bit while the dog squeaked her toy pickle in the background I got out of bed and headed up the gondola to Mürren.

I wanted to pick up some groceries so I could make breakfast and lunch while I’m here. Gimmelwald doesn’t have but one place to eat and it’s only open at night so you have to plan ahead a little.

Mürren is a super resorty place that I think about staying in every once in a while but Gimmelwald is so much more down to earth. I’m glad I decide to stay here.

Groceries in hand I walked around a bit before heading back down the gondola. It started to snow a little which was really pretty.

I caught this video (below) going down the gondola. In the beginning of the video, in the lower part of the screen, you can spot a suspension bridge you can cross on foot. Glup. No thanks…:) You can also see the gondola heading up from the valley floor.

I made some breakfast and finally had some coffee. Fresh egg, alp cheese and sausage, raspberries and a croissant. Yum.

After breakfast I watched the snow come down. So pretty.

I’d been up and hadn’t really slept enough so I crashed for a long nap. When I woke up the snow had stopped so I walked over to a little perch where you can sit and watch the mountains. I grabbed a couple of timelapse videos and chatted with an Indonesian couple from Melbourne, Australia. I got a little cocky with the cold and stayed out a little too long without enough layers. It took a while for me to warm up again. Lesson learned. From now on I’m putting on my long underwear if I’m going to be out for a while.

Honestly, I can spend hours watching the mountains.

As I was warming up in my room the owner of Esther’s Guesthouse, Tobias, knocked on my door and asked if I’d like to grab a beer later on to catch up.

Mike and I first met Tobias when we came here in 2019. His wife was pregnant and they had just bought the Guesthouse. They were so genuinely warm and welcoming. My subsequent trips back I’ve brought their kid little Folkmanis puppets of animals native to the western United States. (This trip I brought a skunk, river otter, jackrabbit and spotted owl.) Tobias had called me several weeks ago and offered to let me stay an additional night if I’d like since it’s a very slow season for them. Very kind of him.

Later than evening we headed over to Hotel Pension Gimmelwald, a B&B with a bar and Honesty shop. We sat by a warm fire and I, with my sparkling water, and Tobias with his beer caught up on life and business and everything. It was fun to see him chat with the locals and the owner of the Pension. She has a sharp wit and runs the place with a slightly chaotic “Mrs. Weasley” like air. The 100 year old chalet is crowded with fun artifacts mixed with her children’s toys around the main room. This is such a small community and Tobias’ son and the son of the Pension owner are about 9 months apart in age and are therefore good friends. This week their school was teaching the kids how to ski. Tobias was telling me how important it is for children to know how to ski since everyone who lives here skis so it’s a a real way to be part of the community. If you are the odd one out who isn’t going skiing that could feel particularly lonely according to Tobias who grew up in the alps.

We talked about the puppet business and the B&B business. I asked if it was hard to find staff to help out since it’s such a small community. This led to a lovely story of how a Ukrainian refugee and her daughter came to this area. Tobias and his wife were instrumental in finding them a place to live. According to Tobias, a farmer had forgotten they’d built an apartment 30 years ago. They’d been using it for storage so they cleared it out and rented it to her. It had never been lived in so everything in the apartment was 30 years old but brand new. New Vintage! How the heck do you forget you have an apartment?! Tobias guessed they built it with the idea of renting it out but then likely decided they didn’t really need the money and/or didn’t want to deal with the hassle. Either way it helped secure a safe and comfortable place for the refugee and her daughter who is learning German (the common language spoken here) and fitting it well with the other children. Tobias and his family are helping her become a citizen which isn’t easy in Switzerland.

I fielded questions about being a puppeteer and was surprised to learn there is a puppeteer in town who uses puppets in therapy and, just a week ago, a puppeteer from New York who now lives in Basel came through town. I’m used to hearing, “you’re the first puppeteer I’ve ever met” so this was particularly unusual for me. Neat!

I booked dinner for the tomorrow night before I left. The menu, salad, Rosti with ham and egg and a vanilla custard for dessert. Dinner is at 7pm. (Those who are late do not get fruitcup.) I’m looking forward to it.

During this trip I had a few people I’ve met here ask if I travel to find inspiration or recharge my creative batteries. I answered something quippy like, “not intentionally but it certainly can’t hurt.” But it got me to thinking about the book “The Artist’sWay” and Artist Dates. In brief, an Artist’s Date is a specific time to go and do something fun or that “feeds the creative soul” to refocus and recharge. It’s supposed to be done by yourself.

This can be a little tricky for me to prioritize at home. When you run your own home based business there’s never a feeling of clocking off and being done with work. There is always more to do and everything that needs to be done is just a few steps away. I’m talking mainly about the non-creative part of being a puppeteer. The emails, paperwork, and coordination game of who has the puppet. (Rachel and I play this game all the time. “Do you have the Three Billy Goats Gruff puppets or do I?” “Oh crap, I have Tommy’s Space Adventure tomorrow and you have the puppets!”) All of that work plus the daily chores of living can lead to me feeling guilty if I’m at home not “doing” something. Taking a break to “feed my creative soul”? That really doesn’t seem that important when I’m in the midst of “doing.” But I think it is important.

My plan today was to do nothing. I literally planned it. Do nothing. Unless I wanted to, but no obligation to do anything. My brain likes to tell me that I’m “wasting the trip” if I’m not “doing” something. (It shouted this a lot in Munich.) My brain likes to make up lots of stupid rules based on nothing real and then enforce the rules by shaming me if I’m not following them. The more I ignore it and listen to my gut the better I seem to enjoy life.

So, yeah, staring at the mountains, doing nothing is recharging my batteries and helping me connect with that quiet creative intuition.

I look forward to more of the same tomorrow.

Thanks for following along.