Torture place - Sunday, June 20 2010

Torture place - Sunday, June 20 2010

We were sad to leave our ‘sleep in the straw’ but are looking forward to putting our roots down for a week at the Oesch’s - a Mennonite-Your-Way host family. We travelled back to Langnau Mennonite Church for Sunday service - tried to find the starting time but could not so decided to go for 10 a.m. but arrived in the middle of the service. After the service was over 4 or 5 persons came to us and we were able to find out a bit more about the church and the people who are there. We received an invite to come back on a good clear day sometime this week to the Rothlisbeiger farm to see the farm and the view. We will try to work that in this week. The wife was the lady who met us first at the church - actually she was in the nursery - the only sign of life we could find initially. She had Lehman relatives and she and Jean joked about being cousins. She spoke limited English but we were able to understand. She told us it is the oldest continuously operating Mennonite church in the world but we think she meant in Switzerland. The wife of the deceased pastor for 50 years spoke to us first after the service - she had been to England to study in earlier years.
After leaving the church in Langnau we set our GPS for the Schloss Thun (Castle Thun), parked in an underground parking lot nearby the castle and ate our lunch before touring the castle. At the castle was a special day - every 2 years they do a re-inactment of daily life in the castle - pottery making, blacksmithing, candle making, lots of food and many were dressed in period costumes. The whole city was there it seemed.
We saw the chamber where early Anabaptists were tortured for their religious beliefs and practices during the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. On up higher in the watchtower accessible only by a narrow curved stairway was a room where they were chained to the stone floor in shackles - only a small hinged opening in the heavy steel door for guards to check in on the poor culprit. There was also mention of a lower dungeon where some were also tortured. It was a sobering thought to think that some of our forefathers may have been among the ones who spent their last days in those locations.
After leaving the castle we drove to the Oeschs and were glad to renew old acquaintenances from two previous trips to Switzerland. Bethli as usual was eager to suggest places and towns we just had to visit. She always wants us to stay longer.