Old Glarus

In a recent email I commented to my high school friend Margie that our stay in Zurich has not been a huge culture shock for me as there are many elements that are somewhat familiar from my exposure to New Glarus - the community that neighbors my childhood home of Monticello in Wisconsin. The ubiquitous red flag with a white cross, the quality and composition of local foods, the mix of friendliness and reservedness, and the daily workmanship evident in nearly everyone's efforts. I've reflected a lot upon the cultural traditions maintained in New Glarus and have been anxious to get my first look at the source that provided those 145 brave settlers back in 1845.

So, in early November, the four of us set out one weekend day to hike in the canton of Glarus, which is fortunately only a 1.5 hour train ride away from Zurich. Our planned hiking path turned out to be overly ambitious -- way too steep for two boys who turned out to be a little tired. It didn't help that each bend in the trail offered a buffet of cool stones and sticks that they soon put to work in creative play.

After returning to the village of our base hike (I can't remember if it was Nafels or Mollis), we hopped on the train for a little longer an arrived in Glarus. I looked for names familiar from my childhood, and found an Elmer and a Zweifel on various store signs.

The city itself is set in a deep valley forged by the Linth River and surrounded by some formidable mountains - the Glarus Alps - which top out at just under 12,000 feet. The town in much bigger than New Glarus, with a current population of around 5,700 (New Glarus is still around 2,200).

Glarus has quite a history, with the first mention of the town dating to 1178 (yes, the year 1178 AD). The whole valley was converted to Christianity in the 6th century by the Irish monk St. Fridolin who still adorns the canton's coat of arms.


The protestant reformer Zwingli -- for whom my home church in Monticello is named -- got into the act around 1505 and tried to shake up the catholics in the valley. Even a guy by the name of Napoleon dabbled in the area as he established the Canton of Linth in 1798 - Glarus was part of this canton before going on back to Glarus later. In 1861 a big fire destroyed much of the city, meaning the buildings are not as historic as those found in many of the cities and villages around Switzerland.

Somewhat interestingly, Glarus has made recent news by being the first Canton in Switzerland to lower the voting, which means that Glarner youth can now drink, smoke and vote when they turn 16 (and, yes, I fear they may do all at the same time).

Our journey to Glarus was too brief. We walked the streets some and found an early supper at a simple little cafe not too far from the train station (rosti for me, spatzli for Elena). Finally we boarded the Glarner Charger train bound for the Zurich train station and read a book outloud to the boys (I think it was Matilda).

I'm looking forward to returning again some day soon - hopefully when somebody reading this blog comes to visit us:)