Day 3: Rapperswil to Einsiedeln.

There's a saying: "the real Camino is the other Pilgrims" and I wholeheartedly agree with this notion. I had the privilege to spend my day with my two new french speaking friends Catherine and Nicolas who were kind enough to wait for me all the time despite being way faster.

I do have a bit of an excuse tough as I had to stop and explain my grotesque appearance and receiving doubtful looks when I explained my plans to people. But I'm also just still a bad hiker so there's that... we spoke a wild mixture of german, swiss, french and english together and they made (rightfully) fun of the fact that a Guy named Jacot-Descombes with a mother who was a french-teacher knows like four and a half words or so in their language. 9 years I had french in school and I know nothing! Money well spent Gouverment. Good Job!

We started fittingly enough by a random monument of a discarded old shoe which seems the perfect metaphour for the likes of us despite not being Camino related as far as I could tell. I love random crap like this.

They received their Camino shell on the Albergue which from now on proves they are actually on the Camino.... and I'm NOT AT ALL jealous that theirs are much bigger than mine! It's not the size but what you do with it that counts! At least that's what my Girlfriend tells me. Unfortunately this is already their last day as they only planned to hike from Konstanz to Einsiedeln - but they still ARE pilgrims!

The trail leads over the lake Zurich on a wooden bridge and afterwards leads steep uphill for a few hours. Pretty gnarly stuff but the view is wonderful and the fact that I left Zurich with its stupid stinky Zurich people behind me makes me pretty happy!

I love that I saw the first yellow arrows showing the path as they are absolutely everywhere in Spain and it feels very pilgrim-y to follow them, knowing their context. They were invented in the 90s by private citizens to help us stupid Pilgrims who are unable to read a map not to get lost and die. I like people who dont want me to die. I find this a very accommodating trait in People.

Then I saw a curiosity: some anti-tank concrete blocks in the middle of the forest! Obviously remnants of WW2 but their existence here baffles me. I mean, what were they thinking? That Hitler would send his tanks over the Alps toward Zurich in case of an invasion? Like Hannibal with his Elephants? I mean sure, them Nazis liked to hike in the Mountains between doing Genozides and dressing up but something tells me that it would be strategically benefitting to send your Batallions from Konstanz over flat terrain. Sure, the view is less pretty but I personally would prefer it over tanks rolling down Mountains... maybe somebody can explain those things to me? Are they remnants of operation "Reduit"?

And then finally the top and a beautiful view

of the snowy Alps in the background. Also it's getting catholic in here as all of a sudden there are golden Jesuses hanging around like nobodys business. NOT a thing you see in the lutheran (zwinglian) parts of Switzerland.

Fun fact: In the oh-so-liberal and christian US of A I never saw a single (!) Jesus nor a cross on the top of a mountain. Way too controversial to put something so SHOCKING in a public place!

And then - in record time - we hit the monestary of Einsiedeln. The most important Pilgrimmage place in all of Switzerland! I'll sleep here as they have some beds especially for Pilgrims. The others were misinformed and wrongly booked a private accomodation. It was hard to say goodbye after we went to the mass together because on the Trail you make instant and deep connections to people and you start liking them immediatly. But that's the teaching of the Trail: you do your Trip alone but sometimes you are lucky enough to share a bit of the ride with others before letting them go. But letting them go you must.

The mass ("Vesper") was a beautiful thing to behold. The monks are singing and they are a fantastic choir as far as I can tell! It made me very contemplative and I enjoyed listening to them. Their robes are like mine btw. but clean and black for some reason. They look pretty evil like Sithlords from Star Wars and I love it!

The rest was.. uhmmmm... catholic. Strange Guys saying strange things from the Bible and then a Guy with a cloak comes and two other Guys open it as if he were Batman and then some other Guys with flowery Carpets on their backs come and want you to get up only to immediatly sit down again and all that weird stuff. And then they all go and sing to the black Maria statue - yeah see, we did Race-swapping LONG before Hollywood got woke! Keep your black Ariel and Tinkerbell, we got a Maria and Jesus direct from the Hood since 1699 man !

I didn't make pictures or videos because despite of what people think of me I actually dont like to offend people who just do their own thing without bothering others. And I find it disrespectful to treat a church like a Zoo! The picture above is from Google btw.

Now I'm alone in my dissapointingly clean and comfortable commonroom. I was kind of hoping to sleep in a dark cell on a wooden bed with straw but that's actually neat! And the view is pretty awesome directly towards the big plaza and the fountain.

Rooms in Hotels with this view are ususally prizey as heck!

Now I have to mentally prepare for tomorrow - I'll climb the Hagenegg which is with its 1414 meters the highest point on the whole Camino until the Pyrenees. Fun times ahead ;)!