[Magdalen] Fasching Time.

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

My best friend during medical school days and with whom I roomed at
the Episcopal Student Center, UW-Madison, has the health and  wealth
(he's a retired otolaryngologist) to continue to do a lot of  traveling.  
His
wife, Sarah, was a French major, and she and I took a lot of French  
language
classes together.  I stood up for their wedding in Decorah,  Iowa.
 
They have a lot of friends in the French speaking section of Switzerland,  
and
the latest Facebook photos show that they are currently celebrating  the
pre-Lenten "Fasching" (Carnival) season with their friends in  Lucerne.
 
Though I'm happy to get the pictures and that they are having a good  time,
it all just seems a bit silly with their costumes in the chilly Swiss  
winter 
weather.  Carnival in Rio this is not.
 
When I saw their pictures, I realized that I really had forgotten  about
Lucerne, and then, by coincidence, I saw a Burt Wolf travelogue about 
Lucerne this past week.  I was in that area initially on my first,  
exhausting
month long tour of Europe in 1966, and then more in depth coming back
from Italy with my family in 1968.  It was then that I did the covered  
bridge
and Mount Pilatus things.
 
I have had this totally unsubstantiated feeling that the Swiss are  just
a little too smug.  I therefore really only explored the Lausanne  and 
Geneva
areas well, and let the rest of Switzerland go.  This is, of course,  my 
own loss.
 
The closest I got to Germanic Fasching was when we lived in  Frankfurt/Main
where there is no parade, but they have Fasching parties in the  buildings
of the local Palmengarten.  In any case, with their emphasis on  imbibing
alcohol, it's probably a blessing in disguise.
 
 
David Strang.