Trip report 6 Sept/Oct 2012 Appenzell + St Gallen

PART 6 Final Trip Report APPENZELL and St GALLEN on 3 October 2012

Part 1 was Beatenberg and Brienz; Part 2 Wengen and Jungfrau; Part 3 Mannlichen;

Part 4 Lauterbrunnen and Murren; Part 5 Grindelwald market .

From Wengen, we made a long journey to Appenzell by train. Using the sbb online timetable is a breeze and I printed out our routes before we departed from Singapore. In addition, saving the itinerary etc on the iPad also made it convenient for me to refer to my notes.

It seems like every little swiss town is pretty, quaint and picturesque and Appenzell is no different. What stood out for us was the lovely frescoes painted on the houses and the ornaments hanging outside (see photos). It seemed as if there were more unusual designs on the houses compared to some of the places we saw. Walking through the town is really nice as you get to admire these houses and shops.

We did a side trip to the Appenzell Folk Museum which is very informative. The iPad english audio tour made the visit most interesting as we got to understand how the Swiss folk in the old days lived especially at the farms etc. The transport from appenzell to the museum was a breeze to arrange as the tour company picked us up from the hotel (I think it was only the 3 of us in their mini van) for the 15mins ride. We left Appenzell at 10:45am and returned at 2pm. Just nice for both Folk Museum (free with Appenzeller Visitors Card) and cheese sampling meal at the Cheese Museum next door. all we needed to do was present our visitors card at the restaurant for a sample of all the cheeses.

ST GALLEN - We took the 50min direct train to this very nice city (free ride with the Appenzeller card). Visited the cathedral, a beautiful protestant church and the Abbey Library. The latter looks like something out of a movie from the old days - very ornate and impressive. No photography allowed so I took a snapshot of the postcard instead (see attached). Again some nice buildings around the courtyard with a historical feel about it.

After our short stay in Appenzell, we headed back to Zurich for 1 night before flying home. As we don't really enjoy the big cities (the Old Town in Bern was nice but we couldn't enjoy the place as there were so many smokers polluting the air. It was impossible to walk along the pavement without inhaling all that smoke and we couldn't wait to get back to the Alps for the crisp fresh clean air again).

So that sums it up - hope fellow travellers enjoy all the photos which I attached on the reports as they describe the place more than I ever could.

Myswissalps was very useful for our trip to Switzerland (and Tripadvisor reviews were also helpful for accommodation). So many thanks to everyone who contributed to a fantastic trip.

Arno, do let me know if the photos came out ok after I resized them. Thanks for all your help. Looking forward to planning our trip next year.

Blessed regards.

Hello Traveljet

I have really enjoyed reading your reports and seeing your photographs, thank you for taking the time to post them - they are worth waiting for!

I agree that it is best to take your time rather than rushing about trying to fit too much into a day, You need to take the time to just sit and admire the view and absorb the very special atmosphere.

You have enjoyed many of the places that we love to visit. We haven't yet been to Appenzell and it is on our to do list - your pictures reinforce that wish! You say you would like to visit Allmendhubel and I hope you will be able to do that on your next visit - it is one of our favourite places and we go there almost every year! The views are great, there are some gentle trails to enjoy and the restaurant is excellent.

Your tips for other travellers are useful too.

Enjoy planning your next visit.

Best wishes

Maggie

Hi Traveljet - Thanks-

Pictures look great.

Very helpful.

Slowpoke

Hi Traveljet,

Thanks so much for your posts! I really appreciate your time and effort generating such extensive reports years after traveling. Reading about your activities was very enjoyable, and you've illustrated them with beautiful pictures. Their size is fine now, by the way. You were lucky enough to have just the right type of clouds up at Männlichen. Rising above the clouds is splendid indeed, and in my opinion even it's prettier than plain blue skies.

This will all be a useful resource for other visitors planning their Switzerland holidays. Glad to hear MySwissAlps has been helfpul back then, and it's great that you're preparing for a return visit.

I understand your decision to go with 1st class next time. You'll be visiting by late June 2017, right?Although it's not the peak of tourist period just yet, the more popular routes might indeed be crowded every now and then and 1st class may well be worth its money.

Hi folks - thanks for the acknowledgement on the trip reports. At least I know the time taken to compile and post them have been fruitful for others. It took me almost 6hrs to sort and resize the photos as well as check out some of my notes. But totally worth it if others get an idea of what to expect from some of the places we visited.

Annika, I am relieved the photos came out ok and you enjoyed reading the trip reports. Big thanks to you guys for always being on hand to advise and guide visitors to your beautiful country.

Maggie, wow it's nice for you to be close enough to do the trip to Murren every year. Hope the flowers will be out by June 20th next year up at Allmendhubel. Thank you for the encouragement.

Hi Slowpoke, glad you liked the photos. Your postings of your own pics motivated me to share the places I visited.

Myswissalps is an extremely helpful website for planning visits to Switzerland - very informative and the moderators are brilliant whilst fellow travellers are so helpful too. :):)

The effort is surely much appreciated. By us, and by lots of travelers stumbling upon your report in the future. Thanks!