June 12: Brunnen and Zurich

We got up a little later - about 6:30 AM (Brenda was up at 5AM to wash her hair). Dr. Guzder stayed to look around Brunnen and Brenda and I went to Zurich.

We traveled to Pfaffikon and then right to Rapperswill and up along the east bank of the Zurichsee to Zurich. The Zurichsee is not very spectacular, but nice.

We went to the seminary (Baptist Theological Seminary of Zurich) and asked for Mrs. Burch. She has been there 16 years and we expected to find her, but we learned that she had retired and returned to America on 1 May.

One of the officials was very hospitable and told us something about the seminary. The buildings, which occupy a beautiful site overlooking the Zurichsee, were once the estate of a Swiss millionaire, who sold them the property at an excellent price after his wife died.

The seminary presently teaches 50-60 students from about 18 different countries. These students are mainly advanced students from national Baptist seminaries in their respective countries.

Besides the teaching duties the seminary serves as a "Baptist Center". It has a press which publishes Baptist material for Europe, holds various conferences like Ridgecrest and Glorietta, and serves other functions. I was interested in the comment that many Christians from communist countries come there for conferences- they are permitted to do so because of Switzerland's neutral status. This is a unique opportunity for the Zurich seminary.

We looked around a little while for the Swiss National Museum but gave up the search when it threatened to extend into the lunch hour when all the shops, notably the pastry shops, would be closed. Obviously I'm not very keen on museums - and I am very keen on Swiss pastries. We loaded up with some nice ones and headed back for Brunnen.

On the way back we took the route through Zug and along the Zugersee and then by the Lauerz See. Of these two lakes the Lauerz See, partly because of its diminuitive size, was the more impressive scenically. We couldn't take pictures, however, because of the cloud cover and haze.

We returned to the campsite and spent the remainder of the afternoon at the camp because of rain and generally overcast weather.