Switzerland - 10-12 Aug 2008 - Appenzellerland (Part I)

10 Aug 2008 - St Gallen and Appenzell Towns

We have been looking forward to this 3-day stay in the mountains, to experience the vastness of nature and to what I call 'rough it out' in comfort. We booked a 2-night stay at a mountain inn in the Seealpsee region, a 50-min climb from Wasserauen train station, less than 2-hour train ride from zurich city. We stopped by St Gallen and Appenzell towns along the way so the ride was broken into comfortable segments.

We set out early to catch the 8.45am train and made it just on time. When we reached St Gallen on a sunday morning, the town was very quiet. Luckily the main attractions, the Abbey Library and the church were opened, although the rest of the town was not. The Abbey Library of St Gallen was founded by Irish monk St. Gallus in 612. It is the oldest library in Switzerland, and one of earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. In 1983 the library together with the Abbey of St. Gall were made a World Heritage Site, as "a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery". Yes, I copied these from wikipedia. The library was a sight to behold. Too bad no photography was allowed. A video of the library can be viewed at

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/multimedia/video/detail.html?siteSect=15045&ne_id=8158378&type=real

The St Gallen Church, which is now a cathedral, was built in the 17th century. A choir and orchestra were performing when we were there.

The painings on the church ceiling.

There was a sunday fair going on when we reached appenzell town. In contrast to St Gallen, this town was rowdy, with live music and people dressed up in their traditional costumes. The appenzell people were often the butt of swiss jokes because of their ancient practices but I thought it's cool that they didn't see the need to change.

Tents like this where music concerts were held were everywhere. Apparently, you had to buy tickets to go for these concerts.

We had our lunch at the Hotel Traube, where a live band played traditional music during the lunch period for free. Who needs tickets to the outdoor concerts when you could have them for free in the comfort of a restaurant while enjoying your food?

The restaurant was famous for its veal and this was the best and most tender veal I had, accompanied by some gnocchi-like pasta and veg.

We discovered smooth appenzell beer and flavoured mineral water, flauder.

Saw this cute little girl in traditional costume and couldn't resist asking her mother (in the background) for permission to take a photo with her daughter.

After a satisfying lunch, we headed to Wasserauen to start our 50-min climb to paradise. The road to paradise turned out to be quite hellish. This little river was the turning point of our climb - after this landmark, it was a steep and grueling back-breaking uphill climb. It turned out that for the swiss, it was a 50-min climb but for s'poreans, it was more like an hour and half. The amazing thing was there were old folks and young kids, some even had pacifiers in their mouths, who made the climb! And there we were panting like our lives were about to expire.

Along the way, we saw some paragliding enthusiasts which motivated us somewhat as we had booked a slot the following morning to glide in the sky.

The ardous climb. Some people were making their way down.

The torture was worth it after all. Imagine seeing this view when we opened the windows in our room. Breathe-taking...

After a much-needed bath, we decided to explore the area before heading for dinner. The air was fresh and crisp and the lake was just beautiful. This picture just goes to show that black is so slimming. After dinner, there was nothing to do. No TV, no malls, no computers, so we did the most logical thing... read, talked and went to sleep, anticipating the next day's activities.