The highlights:
• I think craftsmen were more talented in the previous centuries. The Cathedral was breath taking.
• I love the street markets. Fresh foods, cheeses, and lots of flower.
• The art museum was...er....interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I decided that I hadn't slept-in in weeks and today was the day. This also meant a short trip. St. Gallen is only a 20 minute train ride and appeared to have some things of interest. The first thing I did was grab a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, and then I headed to the Cathedral. The Cathedral complex is huge! The first stop was the Stiftsbiblothek aka the Abbey Library. No pictures allow. Actually I had to lock my bag, cell phone, and coat in a locker. The picture below is borrowed from the internet. The Abbey Library is hundreds of years old as are the books themself. The ceiling is fully painted with scenes from Christ's life. The woodwork is exquisite. I even had to don slippers over my shoes to walk on the wooden floor. Everything was in German, so I can’t tell you why, but there was a mummy in a glass case in the corner. It seemed a little random for an Abbey library.
Then I walked around the complex to get the grand view of the towers. Then I entered the sanctuary. I can now understand why most churches do not allow you to take pictures in the church. The sanctuary was beautiful. There is no doubt about that. But where was God? See tangent below for more on this. The next stop was another church with a beautiful pipe organ and God.
From there I went to a museum. The basement was a nature museum with many stuffed critters, an ant farm, and a cage or field mice. The main floor and upstairs was an art museum. The art museum was mostly modern. They had a few old relics, a Monet (whom I love), and much contemporary stuff. I’m not really a huge contemporary fan and this was not an exception. On my way back to the train station, I wandered through a flea market of sorts and also through the food, cheese, and flow market. These markets are lovely. The flowers are amazing, but really expensive. Someday I will treat myself to some flowers.
And now for my Tangent:
I sat down in the Cathedral and 50 teenagers come pouring through the door behind me. They were talking, snapping pictures, and well, being teenagers. I sat for some time in this pew looking around and trying to find God. I didn’t. After about 20 minutes of setting there, I came to the following conclusion: ‘This’ is why I am the outdoors type of person. ‘This’ is why I hike mountains. ‘This’ is why I ski. ‘This’ is why I ride my bike. You may be asking yourself, “what is ‘this’?” ‘This’ is God. I can find God outside in His world that He created. I could not find God in this beautiful man-made Cathedral. I don’t think God ever intended for millions and millions of dollars to be spent in the building and upkeep or this magnificent architecture. I’m not saying that all the people involved in this building were not men or women of God. I’m just not sure how you could focus on God sitting in a place like this. Yes, God created and enabled some extremely skilled craftsmen. Unfortunately, I spent my time focused on the craftsmanship and did not find God. The snapping of cameras didn’t help either.
The second church I entered was much more my speed. This church was more basic. I sat in the pew for over ½ an hour. There I could find God and he told me this. He has opened a door for me; a very obvious one – Switzerland. However, this is also a test, for God is harder to find in Switzerland than in the US. Peace like a river….
