The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1945-11-29
Sgt. Don Trovinger Goes Sightseeing In
Switzerland On C. /. Conducted Tour
Son and Mrs Preston Trovnger Writes Parents Inter
estng Letter Covering High Spots Trip To Swiss Capital

other thing, there is rationing of
many foods there bread, coffee,
dairy products and meat, not to men
ton sugar. They have meatless Mon
days, Wednesdays and Fridays
usually filed in with fish or fish
food of some sort.
1--WE had our first Swiss meal in
Bellinzona (enroute to Brunnen),
which gave us an idea of things to
come: DEEELICIOUS!"
The tour continued to Drummer
through some superb Swiss noun
tain scenery. The boys spent their
first night in this small German
speaking town, and, says Sergeant
Trovinger, incidentally, we stayed
at the best hotels in every town,
| getting regular civilian tourist serv-
! ice"
In Drummer the boys walked down
town and stopped in a dance, which
they found to be nothing like the
American variety. ''The music was
furnished by Swiss band that play
ed mostly polkas and waltzes =.
we didn't stay long"
The next morning the Americans
got their first letdown a Swiss
breakfast consisting of coffee, but
ter, jam and a few buns "This,"
Sergeant Trovinger states, 1--WE
couldn't get used to, after our big
Army breakfasts"
The boys attempted to do little
shopping in Brunnen, but their
francs seemed so few that they
couldn't muster courage to start
parting with them until they got to
Interlaken, where their shopping
ranged from a wrist watch to a
music box and fancy carved pipe.
In Interlaken they rented bicycles
and rode around the countryside
taking pictures and enjoying the
fresh air. Trovinger says, eve also
got milkshake, which we found
was nothing more than favored
milk with a lump of ice cream in,
quite inferior to those I used to get
up at Schindel's Drug Store"
Next morning the party left early
for trip up the famous Jungfrau,
one of SWitzerland's highest noun
tains. The sergeant writes of that
trip: eve spent all morning climb
ing the mountain by cog-wheel
train. We got to the top in time for
dinner which was served in a big
hotel within few hundred feet
of the peak. It is supposed to be one
of the highest hotels in the world
in altitude, not necessarily prices. |
We spent the entire afternoon tax
ing pictures, admiring the splendid |
view of the valley and glaciers and |
just plain messing around in the
snow which covered the entire sum-
NIT"
Referring to Joanna Spyri's loved |
story about the little Swiss girl, Sgt. |
Trovinger says:
Il looked and looked while l was
in Switzerland but | didn't see
Heidi" On second thought maybe |
l did, because she's probably an old |
woman by now and l wouldn't |
recognize her Some time back |
you asked me whether goats milk
wasn't the most used in Switzer-
land, On the contrary l didn't see
or hear of anything but cows milk.
There were lots of herds of cattle
In pastures throughout Switzerland |
A funny thing about them was that |
they all had bells around their necks.
Some were small, some were
medium, some were large and a few
were huge-almost church bell size. |
This puzzled us until we got into a
conversation with a cattle owner in
Interlaken who spoke English very
well. 1t seems that the bells tell the
age of the cows. Each year the bells
are changed and each cow gets a
little larger sized bell. The cattle
man threw his chest out with pride
when he told us that before the
war lot of his cattle were ex-
ported to America for breeding. He
said they were fine cows and we
agreed, of course, but believe I've
seen better around home.
Swiss cleanliness came in for its
share of praise in the sergeant's let
ter.
about the biggest impression
Switzerland has made on everyone
is its cleanness. There just doesn't
seem to be any dirt there. Every
thing is in its place. I woke up one
morning about o'clock and I could
hear people out scrubbing their side
walks"
From Interlaken the party went
to Bern, the Swiss capital. where