Locked in

Wednesday morning we took a class trip to the site of Byron's Prisioner of Chillon, where we learned the history behind the poem.

Chillon Castle is located just a short boat ride away from the city of Vevey. When we arrived, we immediately went down to the dungeon where the prisoner, Bolivard, was kept. In the poem Bolivard was chained with his two brothers down in a dark cell, where he was forced to hear them slowly die. At the sound of his secound brother`s death, Bolivard broke free from his chains.  He asked the gaurds to bury his brothers outside but, his request was refused.  However, the guards allowed him to remain unchained, which allowed him to constantly pace his cell.  Although Bolivard faced horros in his prision, by the time he was rescued he longed to stay.  Rumor has it he paced his cell so frequently that the shoe prints remained etched in the stone.

We unfortunately did not see the remainder of Bolivard`s footprints, however in reading the poem together on location, we had the unique experience of witnessing the truth in Byron`s description of Chillon`s dank prision. I personally enjoyed this opportunity because it allowed me to better connnect with Byron`s words, especially in how he related to Bolivard.

Yesterday Becky, Ally and I made our first independent journey to Interlaken, Switzerland. Today, we took the train to the Jungfrou, which is the Top of Europe. It was beautiful, and brought to mind two of the novels we read in preparation for this summer class, Frankenstien and Heidi. Both of these novels describe the Swiss lanscape in wonderfully acurate detail, which can only be expierenced in person.  Pictures and words don`t give the beauty of the mountains the full justice they deserve. Sublime is the only word to define what we were fortunate enough to witness today.  It was as beautiful as described in Heidi with a touch of terror that can be felt in Frankenstien.