what does feldschützen mean? oh!

carnation, Staubbach Falls, Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

We spent a few days in Lauterbrunnen, which is in the Jungfrau region, close to Interlaken. The place was beautiful — we think. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy most of the time, and there was even a freak snowstorm that dumped 3 inches, and closed the roads in and out, due to rockfall and breaking trees. Yikes.

The Lauterbrunnen Valley has a ton of waterfalls — 72 of them, if you believe the locals, and all quite beautiful.

One day, we went hiking, and decided to follow an unmarked trail. We came upon a building with the word “Feldschützen” on it, next to an open field that looked like it might provide access to some other trails. So we walked up to the edge of the field, ready to cross it, but it was roped off.

Luckily, we weren’t in the mood to break any rules that day, because as we turned around and started to leave, a very concerned man came running out of the Feldschützen building, and yelled, “Hello! Hello! What are you dong? Where are you going?”

“We’re just about to leave.”

“Ok good. Don’t go into the field. Very dangerous!”

[looking in the windows for the first time, remarking to Jenny] “Hm, look, they all have rifles in there.”

[Jenny's response] “Let’s not walk across any firing ranges today, ok?”

[me] “I guess that explains those weird thunder-like sounds we kept on hearing.”

In retrospect, I will help you translate the German word printed on that building. “Feld” means “field” and “schützen” means “shooting the stupid Americans who walk into our line of fire”.