Thoughts of Spring - Wagner

Fifteen years ago this spring I was a Junior in high school - it's hard to believe that but it's true - and I was preparing for the adventure of my young life. My humanities class was taking a trip to Europe that July, embarking on a month-long tour of countries beginning in England, weaving through France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and even a portion of North Africa. It was the first time I had left the country (not counting Canada), I was without my parents and hanging with my friends, and I was very excited.

My classmates and I spent the spring of 1996 making payments, attending meetings, learning about the places we would visit, and generally getting WORKED UP!!!! about our summer trip. I remember buying my money belt and passport holder, getting new clothes that would help me look "less" like a tourist, brushing up on my German (the only language I know at all other than English - Guten Tag), and making all kinds of other frantic preparations. I even had a small white board in my room on which I marked down the DTE or "Days to Europe."

Last week as I was reading this book about the life of Richard Wagner and his family, and I was suddenly rushed back to 1996 (cut to Wayne's World flashback/dissolving sequence). At the beginning of the book, the author describes the idyllic life of the Wagners (Cosima, Richard, and their children) home in Tribschen on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. The house was the scene of some of their happiest days where the family was able to bask in the bucolic splendor of the Swiss countryside and enjoy their time together, far from the prying eyes of the European public.

For me, it's a lovely spot and it marked the halfway point on our European journey. Cramming all of Western Europe (sorry Portugal) into one month required an almost breakneck pace but we were able to carve out a beautiful day in Lucerne. We visited the house (see photo above - I actually took that one), bought bread and cheese from a local market, sat by the lake and generally had a very lazy day in this lovely little town nestled in the Swiss Alps.

Later that evening we went swimming in Lake Lucerne. As it turns out glacial lakes are very cold and one of my most vivid memories was swimming from shore to a dock about 30 feet into the lake. I remember diving into the water and getting my breath taken away by the cold, swimming to the dock and then standing on it, shivering, and watching the sun go down behind the mountains. It was breathtaking - or maybe it was just the cold water. I do remember how small I felt at that moment and how enormous our world was.