Tucked away on a hill above the beautiful village of Oberhofen there is a mystic spot. A path leads into the forest and a short climb up to the top of the hill. It is overgrown with trees. But if you look out you will still see some of the old age ruins overgrown by tree roots.

A 1000 years ago the castle of Balm used to sit on top of the hill with a splendid view of the lake and of the small village of Oberhofen down below. The noble knights’ family who lived up here owned the whole shore of this side of the lake.

Then in the 12 century the God fearing three brothers Werner, Selber and Libo didn’t have any male descendant. So the daughter Itha inherited the family fortune. She was married to the noble man Walter who moved into the castle to join his wife. Walter built the water castle of Oberhofen, down at the lake. Over time the castle above fell apart and nature has fully reclaimed this spot.

The powerful Habsburg family built the Wildegg castle (among many other castles) in the 13th century. It is located in the Canton Aargau. It burned out in 1552. After that it was continually enlarged. From 1680 it belonged to a noble family from the city of Berne. They turned it into a baroque castle that was very comfortable to live in with huge beautiful garden grounds.

Today the castle belongs to the canton and is open to the public. The rooms within the castle hold house precious furniture, paintings and other artifacts dating back generations. There are a number of screens set up in great locations throughout the castle. They look like old portraits. At that the press of a button the person starts to speak and share interesting scenes of their lives.

The river Doubs flows right through the middle of this delightful village separating France from Switzerland. You can decide to eat on the French or the Swiss side. Across the bridge there is a nice restaurant at each end. Their fish menus are really recommended!

Goumois is one of the lowest locations of Switzerland, at only 493m above sea level. At present only about 80 people still live in the village. The area of the Doubs is still quite untouched and beautiful for exploring it further.

On June 20, 1940 (during WWII) there were 43’000 French and Polish soldiers deserting France and crossing the border bridge into neutral Switzerland. They surrendered, giving up all their weapons and spent the rest of the war in an internal camp.

Since the middle ages the connection of the North of Europe with the South has gone right through the Swiss mountains across the Gotthard pass. It reaches 2107m and used to be a treacherous small road for traders and pilgrims often traveling in caravans past deep gorges. Due to bad weather every year a number of people didn’t make it.

Today a solid road leads across the pass. It’s great for motorbike rides or people wanting to enjoy the scenery rather than going through the fast tunnel beneath. The road is closed in winter with snow covering the top up to 10m. However the tunnel at the foot of the mountain stays open all year. During summer holidays sometimes the traffic from all over Europa causes traffic queues of several km of cars waiting to enter the tunnel…. A new railway tunnel through the mountain connects Bern to Milano by direct train in only 3h03’.

In the picture our friends look down into the valley on the Ticino side shortly before reaching the very top.

The village of Spiez is embedded in a bay on lake Thun. The castle is big and dates back to the 10th century. From the top of the castle (see picture) the view is of the 1000 years old church down below, the small harbour and across the lake.

The castle itself houses one of the most beautiful castle museums of Switzerland. It documents the change from a medieval life style to a patrician one.

Spiez produces a nice vine. The vineyard rises up on a hill close to the castle and adds color, especially in autumn! The restaurant down at the pier has nice fish and other foods too.

Many like to stroll along the lake and then board a boat taking them across the lake.

500 years ago, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. Later this was recognised as the official start of the Reformation.

There were quite a few other reformers that had strong impact on the young movement such as Calvin, Zwingli, Bullinger, Farel and others.

By the 16th century the Catholic Church had become quite corrupt. Church offices and titles as well as the forgiveness of sins could be purchased by money. Church traditions had accumulated and caused the simple gospel of the early church to fall into the background.

Luther himself was originally a monk within the Catholic church. He advocated the 5 solas (sola – in Latin means „alone“). Here just two solas:

– sola scriptura („Scripture alone“) – go back to the Bible and use the original writings to evaluate how to live a Christian faith
– sola gratia („grace alone“) – people’s sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ and this by grace alone. It is a free gift since Christ redeemed any believer by his own sacrificial death.

In the picture we see the „Fountain of Moses“ in Bern. The fountain is located in front of the Cathedral (the Münster) with the figure of Moses on top. It dates back to the 16th century and has a strong reformation message.

Moses points to the number 2 out of 10 (in Roman letters). God gave Moses the 10 commandments for the people of Israel. The 2nd commandment states: „You shall not make yourself a carved image…. and worship it“ (Ex 20:4-6) or simply put: don’t worship idols. The 2nd commandment was criticising the many statues of saints in the catholic churches, that the believers would pray to.

In the beginning the Catholic church leadership was offended and threatened by these radical ideas and the church split into two: reformed and catholic. Later the Catholic church also incorporated some reformation ideas and got rid of some excesses.

This year (2017) the reformation has been remembered in Germany and Switzerland. It is widely recognised that both churches, reformed and catholic face many problems and that both are in need of another renewal.