As a 10 year old on the search for new adventures in a foreign land, the hedged maze of Schadau Park is a daunting challenge. It’s a ravine to be crossed in order to reach the fabled lands of the swings and rope obstacles so you rally your fellow brave hearted companions to charge through the narrow paths. If you were to return as a 20 year old, the woods might hold a greater allure as you stroll aimlessly through meadows of carefully tended blooms. The verdure is set ablaze during spring in neat rows of tulips the shade of fresh butter and violet crocuses from which one could conceivably extract mythical elixirs from. At 35, you might search for deeper meaning beyond the empty streets and layers of paint put together in Wocher’s interpretation of 19th Century Thun with its red raftered roofs and monotonous cream walls. Perhaps as the oldest existing painting manually bringing to life the view of Thun as seen suspended in air at the city center, there would be a secret message slipped in between the strokes dedicated across the centuries just for you.

And by 40 you might resort to lounging on a checkered picnic mat by the lake, a glass of grappa at hand for some midafternoon wine as the ducks float by uncaringly and the words of your book swim across your eyes. There’s more to be seen beyond the horizon, Lake Thun encircled almost entirely by the misty outline of the Bernese Oberlands. 45 years and counting you walk across the pink hued walls of Schadau Castle, long since closed since your first visit here as you retrace the steps you took at 20 with a wariness that can only come about with age. Now at the threshold halfway across a century, you find yourself seeking out solace at the small Scherzligen Church, a constant of the landscape for over a millennium in the highlands. A sloped tower from the Carolingian rule and influence in the 9th Century is the earliest defining feature of age in this antiquated relic, its interiors adorned by rudimentary art from the 13th to 16th Century. Compile these moments from a lifetime together at a single instant and you would have Schadau Park encompassed before you.