Ancestral home of the Hullingers / Hollingers / Holligers - Hallvill, Seegun, Bonisvil Eglisvill, Canton Argau, east of Zurich, north of Luzerne.
This is my favorite part of Switzerland. (Beth points out that Craig's love for this area is in part because his ancestors left the area in 1735 to emigrate to the US. It is unspoiled and uncrowded, and undiscovered by most tourists. The small lake of Hallvil has excursion boats that tour the lake during the day, providing convenient access to all parts of the Lake.
It boasts the charming castle of Hallwyl, located on Lake Hallwil. The castle is small and easily visited, and boasts excellent English translation phones that work well. The charming towns of Hallvill, Seegun, Bonisvil, and Eglisvill are nearby - these are the towns that the Holligers lived in, beginning with Henri in 1425. Our ancestor immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1735.
The high part of our visit was spending two evenings with Elizabeth & Elizabeth & Christoph Holliger. We had met Elizabeth 19 years before and had a nice visit. We had walked into Elizabeths place of business in 1984, announcing that we "were her cousins, from the US.” We compared our respective geneologies, and had determined that we were distantly related from the 1600's. Elizabeth brought her son and daughter in law, and we joined them for dinner on two occasions. So Christoph and I had the distinct pleasure of dining with three lovely Elizabeths.
Our Swiss cousins are very charming, intelligent and well educated. Elizabeth is now retired from her long career running Fruettiger-Holliger. Christoph is a Professor of Physics and his wife Elisabeth works in mental health.
Christoph is a rennaisance man. In addition to being a PhD, he is the Director of International Relations for the Fachhochscule Aarau, University of Applied Science. He completed a project in Bolivia providing solar hot water and potable water for poor areas and will travel this year to India to work on a project in that country. He built his own energy efficient home, complete with his own sheep, chickens, garden, and home made schnaps. He also weaves and is a skilled artist. Beth was interested in how alike Christoph is to his American cousins.
The Seehotel Hallwil is located on the east side of the lake in the town of Meisterschwanden. It has great rooms overlooking the lake, a fine restaurant, and friendly staff.
Switzerland is a picture book country, with magnificent mountains, beautiful lakes, great trails, and quaint towns. The country has four official languages (German, French, Italian, and Romanch), and many people speak several of these languages plus English.
The Country is small, and you see a great deal in a few days. We enjoy simply wandering the country, taking in the sites.
Luzerne is a beautiful city, overlooking a beautiful river, lake, and Alps. You can easily spend a few days here. But when the weather is fine, you want to be outside and in the country.
On fine days, we take to the hills, and ride a ski lift up the Alps. Many areas have paths and trails that you can take around the mountains, and back to your car or train station. Make sure you get a usable map, and that you choose a trail that does not exceed your abilities.
Geneva is in the French portion of the country, located on Lake Geneva. We drove into Lake Geneva from France, took the train to Florence for the third and final time to pick up my computer, then back to Geneva.
APRIL 16, 2003