June 10th, 2025

Last week, I celebrated my birthday by spending the day at the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum (https://ballenberg.ch/en/). The last time I visited was over 50 years ago, with our neighbours. This museum is truly unique: it brings together historic and culturally significant buildings from all over Switzerland, carefully reconstructed on site in their authentic form, complete with period furniture and objects. Some buildings even house artisans practising traditional crafts, many of which are now almost forgotten. Every Swiss region is represented.

I went with Deniz, the former Kurdish refugee, thinking that this dive into Switzerland’s living history might interest him. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how much walking I’d manage, so it was reassuring to have someone with me just in case.

We arrived in Brienz around 11 am under ideal weather: lightly overcast, no rain, and very pleasant temperatures. Midweek, the museum was quite quiet, which made the visit all the more enjoyable. It’s a shame the visitor numbers are down, as you could easily return several times, there’s so much to discover. Since my last visit, the site has expanded considerably. It would be impossible to explore everything in one day without rushing, and that would be a shame because you’d miss out on many fascinating details.

For example, one building was a sausage-smoking house, where you could buy the smoked products; another housed a bread oven over 200 years old, with a baker making artisanal bread. In a farm garden, there were rare or very local vegetables like Geneva cardoons, a true delight! An enclosure sheltered woolly pigs, perfectly adapted to the cold of the alpine pastures. In an alpine hut, cheese was being made, which we got to taste… and naturally, buy.

One building especially caught my attention: it came from Blatten, a mountain village recently destroyed by a mud and ice flow, an event reported worldwide in the media’s. This is the only surviving building from that village. Inside, a woman was weaving on an old loom in a timeless atmosphere. In another building, there was a flour mill, and in a narrow but long structure, linen ropes were still being made, including nets used to carry hay up in the mountains.

You discover a multitude of trades now partially forgotten. Most houses were staffed by someone explaining the techniques, historical context, or objects on display. For a future visit, I think a guided tour would be even more rewarding, with anecdotes and extra details.

Another fascinating aspect is the contrast between the lowland houses, often larger and more elaborate, and the modest thatched cottages of the mountainous regions, where the harshness of life is obvious: very simple, almost impoverished.

To start, we enjoyed an excellent lentil and vegetable soup made over a wood stove in a farmhouse. Later, we ate in a vintages-style restaurant on site, sampling typically Swiss dishes: Rösti, roasting sausage with onion sauce, Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (sliced veal in a creamy white wine sauce), and of course, the famous alpine macaroni with local cheese.

I had a wonderful day, rich in culture, traditions, but also emotions. Above all, I was able to walk nearly 7 kilometres without significant pain, with some welcome breaks. That’s very encouraging!

Deniz was equally enthusiastic and hopes to return one day. This visit offers an impressive, concentrated glimpse into the culture, traditions, and way of life of times gone by. I highly recommend it.

Finally, my modified orthosis really seems to be working better. Next Friday, I’m picking up a new shoe, a bit less rigid, which should help me roll my foot more naturally.