14th of July was the 90th anniversary of my uncle Werner and we celebrated it with a performance of my cousin Julika and Nicolas on their violas and me spontaneously with singing “Fahrradfahrn” by Max Raabe. It was very touching to have this family moment together, while outside the rain clouds moved away. We were packed and ready to leave by noon. We were lucky to be able to catch the cable car just three minutes before it left Riederalp. Once you step out of the gondola down in the valley you can already feel the temperature change immediately and with the humid air it felt nearly tropical compared to…

13th of July after a little rain shower had passed in the morning it looked like we will be lucky and experience no rain around noon, so we took the risk to make another bike tour towards the Riederalp and continue to the Riederfurka. Our trail followed along the Bettmer lake and we discovered my uncle Werner with his sister Erika and my aunt Friedel sitting up on a bench looking over the valley. At the horizon you could already see our destination la villa “Cassel”. It was in 1895, that Sir Ernest Cassel got the recommendation by the court physician of Queen Victoria to stay up in the high…

12th of July the sun rose while the full moon set crystal clear above the most iconic and famous Swiss mountain peaks, like Fletschhorn, Dom, Matterhorn and Weisshorn. The weather was so promising, that I was ready to repeat a part of the tour from yesterday to show Robert around the beautiful landscape. Biking along Fiescheralp to Märjelen lake was a must see. From there we climbed close to the Aletsch glacier with splendid views. You could read the middle moraines stretching through the whole length of the Aletsch. They were created by the different glaciers joining at Concordia place. High above we were able to see the Sphinx of…

11th of July we planned to take a break for a few days. Seven days of being on the bikes and six lectures along the tour can be quite demanding. Packing and unpacking the bike bags is another tiring part of the way of pilgrimage travel. You are always searching for something and it keeps you loading and unloading. We already have a system of bags within bags on which I marked their content, but nevertheless I drive crazy sometimes trying to find things. Especially the camera-material and the strategy of charging batteries gets more and more difficult the less socket outlets are found. But nevertheless Robert stays always relaxed…

10 th of July marks the highest point of our challenge. Also the highest expectations built up in our minds during our long preparations for the “Less-is-more-Tour” will they turn into the biggest disappointment? Due to the United nations declaring this year as “International Year for Glacier Preservation”, we chose the “Alpine way of Saint James” to follow all the way up to the glacier of the Rhone. Already during last night’s dinner our Rotarian friend Urs impressed Robert with the stories of the Oberalp Pass being easy compared to the Furka Pass. But we had no choice than finding out by ourselves. The day appeared perfectly with no cloud…

9th of July the morning prayers of the monks start at 5:30am and I entered the church at the exact time. They were reading texts from the old testament and it reminded me again of how strong the connection of Christianity and Muslim religion is based on the Jewish roots. After the morning prayers I got myself into a little conclave back in our room to finally get my diary updated to the very last day. I was a bit proud of myself, that I got so far. Therefore I was again the last one at breakfast. By ten o’clock we were supposed to leave the room, but brother Benedict…

8th of July Hotel Rätia – that name already showed that we were in a different language region. The Swiss Alps preserved in their valleys and villages many different dialects but also even old individual languages like the “Ladinsch” and “Romansch”. Old Latin based languages, which are still in use nowadays. Rita Holderegger president of the Rotary Club Flims-Laax can switch from Swiss German to Romansch within one sentence to the next. She gave me the translation of the “Less-is-more-tour” in Romansch, which is: „pli pauc-ei-dapli-tura“ She also tried to organize us a meeting with the architect Ramun Fidel Capaul as she has her office just windows to windows with…

7th of July I was the first one to wake up really early and start working on the diary or call it blog as it is linked to the website nowadays. Well as busy as the last days were I had no chance to get anything done and it needs these calm morning hours to find some time to do it. Outside it was still raining, but the sun broke more and more through the clouds and created rainbows. I like this time of the day, when you feel being ahead of everyone else and the world just belongs to you with all the fresh impressions and thoughts. But this…

6th of July we were spoiled with a wonderful “Liechtenstein-style-bredfast”, sorry breakfast. But the Bürli were just delicious with honey and jam from the mothers in law. A good coffee is never missing, because coffee runs through the veins of Peter Demmel. Today we had no lecture and therefore a little bit slower start. I used the early morning to finally write a bit down in our diary to update our blog on our website, because I still had’nt found a minute before to do so. But nevertheless we had to leave, because I had made up an appointment with the Sacristan at 10:15 am at the church of Schaan…

5th of July waking up in a castle with a view over Lake Constance doesn’t make it easier to leave such a beautiful place, but we had to start early to be in time for a lecture at lunch in Schaan / Liechtenstein. We were just making a little detour downtown to Rorschach to get our Saint James stamp before we followed the lake shore to the Altenrhein, which is the old river Rhine still representing the border between Austria and Switzerland. Stopping in the border town by the church of Saint Margrethen we sent a message to my 102 year old grandma Marga. From now on it would be…