A few weeks ago, Laura and I took a long weekend and visited the town of Appenzell. Appenzell is a small and conservative Catholic town in the Northeast corner of Switzerland.
We ran into trouble before we even left. We were staying at a quiet time of year -- too early for Ski season and too late for hiking season. So, many of the hotels had closed either for renovations or for lack of traffic. I made reservations online at Hotel Loewen. A day later, they called me and told me, very apologetically, that they were closing the hotel that weekend, but they'd forgotten to disable online booking. Would we mind spending our second night at the four-star hotel down the street at no additional charge? I told them that would be no problem.
There's no direct train between Zuerich and Appenzell. Appenzell is reached via a narrow-gauge train from Gossau or St. Gallen. The SBB was quiet and comfortable with a great view, as usual. Swiss trains are thoroughly spoiling me. The Appenzeller Bahnen was definitely smaller. It felt more like a school bus with small bench seats. Between Gossau and Appenzell, there was an amusement park, so the train was very full of parents and small children for a while. I'd heard that these trains could be crowded, and they were. I'd booked a first-class ticket, but our train didn't seem to have a first-class car. So, we endured the chaos until the children left.
Our hotel (both of them, actually) was great. We arrived early, and they allowed us to leave our luggage for a while. We wandered around the town, browsed the small shops, and just relaxed. Lunch was at a small restaurant called Cafe Flade where lunch was standard, hearty Northern Swiss fare. for dessert, we had Coupe Nesselrode. This was a mix of ice cream, dried merangue, whipped cream, and vermicelli noodles made with Chestnut and kirsch. Decadent, but very good.
We spent the afternoon wandering around and relaxing. We toured the local brewery, where they had a table set out where you could touch and smell all of the ingredients that they use to make their beer. This brewery makes many different kinds of beer, including hemp beer, so the table contained some items that you wouldn't see in America.
The next day, we took the train and cable car to the top of Ebenalp. It was a stunningly clear day. Our eyes and our cameras were having a hard time with the color of the sky. It was, for lack of a better way to put it, the brightest dark blue I've ever seen. There were no clouds to be seen, and the view was magnificent. Our only problem was that we'd forgotten sunscreen.
We spent a while walking around, but we didn't have hiking shoes, so we went over the closest, smaller peak, but we didn't wander too far before returning to the smoother trails. After an hour or two, we stopped by the restaurant near the top of the cable car for lunch. The local specialty was macaroni and cheese (made with Appenzell cheese, of course) and a mild boiled sausage. This, and some apple wine, fortified us enough to make the return trip.
We decided that since the day was bright and beautiful and we had no deadlines, we'd walk back to Appenzell. This was a pleasant stroll, and along the way, we were able to visit a Kaeseri (a cheese making hut) with a wonderful cheese, the name of which we never learned.
We returned to and wandered around Appenzell for a bit, then moved to our new hotel where there was absolutely nobody at the desk for a while. Eventually, somebody noticed us and checked us in. We were given some coupons for free drinks at the hotel bar, so we took advantage of those. This was definitely a quiet time of year. I'm pretty sure that there was one bartender for the several bars in the hotel. Unlike most places, they didn't close the less busy bars. They just got to you... eventually.
The next day, we returned home. We took a different route (going through St. Gallen this time). This time, there was a first-class section, and it turned out to be a good thing. The train was once again packed with rowdy children, but none were in our section. Our tickets were for any time during the day (that is, we didn't have reserved seats), so we stopped at a fancy burger restaurant in Winturhur for lunch on our way home. It was comfortingly American, though everyone was eating their burgers with knives and forks. We decided that Winturhur deserves a longer visit in the future. As with all of Switzerland, Sunday afternoons are pretty quiet there.
We took a few more pictures along the way. You can see them here.
There's no direct train between Zuerich and Appenzell. Appenzell is reached via a narrow-gauge train from Gossau or St. Gallen. The SBB was quiet and comfortable with a great view, as usual. Swiss trains are thoroughly spoiling me. The Appenzeller Bahnen was definitely smaller. It felt more like a school bus with small bench seats. Between Gossau and Appenzell, there was an amusement park, so the train was very full of parents and small children for a while. I'd heard that these trains could be crowded, and they were. I'd booked a first-class ticket, but our train didn't seem to have a first-class car. So, we endured the chaos until the children left.
Our hotel (both of them, actually) was great. We arrived early, and they allowed us to leave our luggage for a while. We wandered around the town, browsed the small shops, and just relaxed. Lunch was at a small restaurant called Cafe Flade where lunch was standard, hearty Northern Swiss fare. for dessert, we had Coupe Nesselrode. This was a mix of ice cream, dried merangue, whipped cream, and vermicelli noodles made with Chestnut and kirsch. Decadent, but very good.
We spent the afternoon wandering around and relaxing. We toured the local brewery, where they had a table set out where you could touch and smell all of the ingredients that they use to make their beer. This brewery makes many different kinds of beer, including hemp beer, so the table contained some items that you wouldn't see in America.
The next day, we took the train and cable car to the top of Ebenalp. It was a stunningly clear day. Our eyes and our cameras were having a hard time with the color of the sky. It was, for lack of a better way to put it, the brightest dark blue I've ever seen. There were no clouds to be seen, and the view was magnificent. Our only problem was that we'd forgotten sunscreen.
We spent a while walking around, but we didn't have hiking shoes, so we went over the closest, smaller peak, but we didn't wander too far before returning to the smoother trails. After an hour or two, we stopped by the restaurant near the top of the cable car for lunch. The local specialty was macaroni and cheese (made with Appenzell cheese, of course) and a mild boiled sausage. This, and some apple wine, fortified us enough to make the return trip.
We decided that since the day was bright and beautiful and we had no deadlines, we'd walk back to Appenzell. This was a pleasant stroll, and along the way, we were able to visit a Kaeseri (a cheese making hut) with a wonderful cheese, the name of which we never learned.
We returned to and wandered around Appenzell for a bit, then moved to our new hotel where there was absolutely nobody at the desk for a while. Eventually, somebody noticed us and checked us in. We were given some coupons for free drinks at the hotel bar, so we took advantage of those. This was definitely a quiet time of year. I'm pretty sure that there was one bartender for the several bars in the hotel. Unlike most places, they didn't close the less busy bars. They just got to you... eventually.
The next day, we returned home. We took a different route (going through St. Gallen this time). This time, there was a first-class section, and it turned out to be a good thing. The train was once again packed with rowdy children, but none were in our section. Our tickets were for any time during the day (that is, we didn't have reserved seats), so we stopped at a fancy burger restaurant in Winturhur for lunch on our way home. It was comfortingly American, though everyone was eating their burgers with knives and forks. We decided that Winturhur deserves a longer visit in the future. As with all of Switzerland, Sunday afternoons are pretty quiet there.
We took a few more pictures along the way. You can see them here.
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