On my second day, I ventured to the two towns outside Zurich where my paternal ancestors lived prior to immigrating to the States, Weinfelden and Winterthur. Weinfelden is a quaint, small town about an hour northeast of Zurich, toward the German border. I wandered down the street where my ancestors lived, feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the sense of history. I found a store selling orthopedic shoes that bore our family name, but I had no way to confirm if it was indeed run by distant relatives. Next I took the train to Winterthur, which is about half way between Weinfelden and Zurich. Winterthur is a much larger industrial town, and I focused my time on the old town sector. Unlike with Weinfelden, I didn't have any specific streets to seek out. In both cases, it was difficult to picture how things would have looked in the early 1900s, because although all of the old buildings are still there, the ground floor of nearly every one of them now houses a shiny, modern store or restaurant. Still, reconnecting with my family roots was a unique experience, and I'm now convinced that my travels must take me to Poland, the home of my maternal ancestors.
I returned to Zurich for the night and decided to check out the Zurich Film Festival, which coincidentally started the day I arrived. Rather than seeing an American film that I could see in New York, I opted for a German language film with English subtitles called Snowman's Land. It is in the running for best German language film at the festival. The festival itself is a big deal red carpet affair, complete with VIP tents and lots of important Swiss people I didn't know.
The movie was good, and I have to say that the theater, much like everything else I've seen in Switzerland so far, was immaculately clean yet still comfortable. The director and four of the five main actors were in attendance (little did I know one was sitting right in front of me). After the movie there was a question and answer session, which I'm sure would have been great if I could have understood a word they were saying.
Today I left Zurich and headed to Luzern, a picturesque town in central Switzerland. The day was a bit dampered by incessant, heavy rain, and I went through two changes of clothing, which are currently strewn all about my hotel room to dry. The town is very old and quite beautiful. But what has struck me more than anything else is how friendly the people are. From the Irish bar that I ducked into to escape the rain to the traditional Swiss restaurant that I went to for dinner, people were eager to talk to me about everything from American politics to books I should read to advice on which Luzern grocery stores have the best prices. An old man from Belfast bought me a beer and I was surprisingly given a free salad with dinner (both of which I appreciate greatly, as this country is uber expensive). Perhaps it was karma making up for all the rain. Here's hoping for drier days ahead.
One final note - the one thing about Switzerland that I was completely not expecting is that everyone speaks German to me. Apparently I can easily pass for a local, and everyone just assumes I speak German. Random people will just come up to me on the street and start talking to me, and then laugh when they see the blank look on my face. This is in stark contrast to all of my previous travels - I have always been pegged as an American from a mile away. It is quite a refreshing change. Now if only I could actually speak German...
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