Night in Brig

Where we are staying in Brig is nice (Mary Joy obsesses about denting the beautiful wood floor in our room), but there is no air conditioning, so when it’s as warm as it is, we have to keep the windows open at night. The street we face on doesn’t have much traffic, but it is cobblestoned and with the old buildings close in it’s like an echo chamber. When a car does come down the street, it sounds like a freight train and when a group of loud people walks down shouting at 3:15 in the morning, you don’t sleep through it.

Pretty quickly, you realize that instead of the standard Westminster chime, the local church’s bells are playing the Lourdes Hymn:

5:15: “Immaculate Mary”
5:30: “Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing.”
5:45: “Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing. You reign now in splendor”
6:00: “Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing. You reign now in splendor with Jesus our . . .” Pause. “King, king, king, king, king, king.” No Aves.