MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial St Gallen, Appenzell, Zurich in Autumn
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So, after Thun, Montreux a Neuchâtel this is where we went next . . .
Colmar – photos.app.goo.gl/o4741mnFHLn2W2cZA
Strasbourg – photos.app.goo.gl/HqTJF2oWpxVXHEr68
Meersburg – photos.app.goo.gl/mEatrKFB7q67SBtZ9
Lichtenstein – photos.app.goo.gl/jRoC3Ai2PvVR1pyEA
Bregenz – photos.app.goo.gl/XyXcV6fgVZsVE2h76
St Gallen – photos.app.goo.gl/3kHgqe8Zwivma37o7
Appenzell – photos.app.goo.gl/kbcYXzRkSxErWeAb8
Zurich – photos.app.goo.gl/PW6WLcmvXE7pH8uR7
Narrative (of the Swiss locations) to follow.
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Hi rockoyster,
Thanks for the preview 🙂 Looking forward to reading the full report.
Happy holidays!
Anna
Hi Rockoyster
Again nice photos. Looks like good weather and lots to see. Looking forward to narrative as well.
Merry Christmas, Mark
After Neuchâtel we spent 4 nights in Colmar including a day trip to Strasbourg. I’ve included some photos (link above) but won’t go into any detail on the non-Swiss part of the trip apart from mentioning the saga of the French train tickets which has already been chronicled at bit.ly/34fxdgD.
After the Alsation sojourn we headed to Konstanz to meet up with our family. We last visited in June 2017 and reported previously on the Lake Constace area at http://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/the-reluctant-travellers-swiss-adventure-part-6.
While in Konstanz our son took us on day trips to Meersburg, just across the Bodensee from Konstanz, Lichtenstein and Bregenz in Austria but for the purpose of this forum I will just comment on the trip to Lichtenstein.
Vaduz was a couple of hours drive from Konstanz. Halfway down the motorway our driver realised his 2018 vignette had expired (by about a year!) He pressed on and somehow managed to avoid getting caught. He wasn’t so lucky on the trip to Bregenz when the Navman took him onto the entry ramp for a motorway where we were greeted by the Austrian constabulary. No vignette? That will be €120 thank you very much sir. “But officer, I didn’t plan to use the motorway, the Navman brought me this way . . .” didn’t wash. But I digress.
Vaduz is a fascinating place. I often wondered why people went there but it is really an interesting blend of old and new. Some very modern architecture. Very clean and tidy as befitting a pretty rich little principality.
The drive up to Malbun is very scenic and not a little hair-raising. You can catch a bus and I’d suggest that’s well worth doing. At Malbun a chairlift takes you higher to a popular hiking location. There is a restaraunt with great food and great views.
The kids really looked after us during the time we were in Konstanz but they eventually had to go back to work so we headed off to St Gallen for 3 nights.
On arrival at the Hotel Dom we learned there was a massive fair on at Olma. We skirted around it, checking out the attached fair ground and market stalls, then went up the Mühlenwegg lift (funicular) in the afternoon. There is a nice walk along the hilltop with fine views over the city. On the way back we followed the nature walk which parallels the funicular track back down to the city. It’s full of waterfalls and gushing streams. As an aside the hotel didn’t offer us the Appenzell Holiday Card (http://www.appenzell.ch/en/accommodation/appenzell-holiday-card.html) which I only recently discovered was an actual thing. Worth asking if you stay in St Gall. They did give us this great little visitor guide (http://www.thisismysaintgallen.com).
The next day the weather was perfect so we hopped a train to Appenzell and then on to Wasserauen and from there by cable car to Ebenalp. The hike around to Wilderkirchli and the Aescher Gasthaus (aescher.ch/en/) is really something. There is a short way there and a longer way back. We opted to do the short version both ways.
Rather than retrace our steps back to St Gallen from Appenzell, we returned on the slow train (there seems to be a “halt on request” station every kilometer or two) via Gais. This was a really entertaining ride with the train running down the main street of many of the villages.
The Appenzell Region is really beautiful; the brilliant green of the farm lands contrasting wonderfully with the autumn leaves of the mountainside forests. On another trip we will spend more time there.
Our last full day we spent wandering about the quiet streets of the St Gallen Altstadt and doing the Abbey Library (http://www.stiftsbezirk.ch/en/ ). The audio guide (multi-language) which you can get when buying entrance tickets covers outside the Abbey as well as inside and is well worth getting. We spent most of the day wandering about but did find time to squeeze in a legendary St Gallen bratwurst for lunch. Not to be missed!
And so, after breakfast the following morning, to Kloten . . .
We had an early flight the next day so we had decided to stay at the airport. Somehow we had managed to luck a seriously discounted room at the rather posh Radisson Blue which is attached to the main the airport building. Great location. The airport is full of all manner of shops and eateries.
We checked into the hotel around midday and a half-fare ZVV day ticket covered our travel to and from downtown Zurich where we spent some hours taking in the sights.
We basically followed the MySwissAlps recommended walking route (http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/zurich ).
The UBS Polybahn funicular was interesting. After several false starts the the car set off up the hill. We had a look over the city and then went back to the Polybahn to descend back down to the city. The car clanked and made signs of moving but didn’t actually set off. Several people got off. Several people got on. This process was repeated a number of times until we gave up and joined the departees to walk back down the hill.
Niederdorfstrasse was not quite what we were expecting. Many parts had a definitely grungy feel to them. It certainly has character. Bahnhofstrasse is full of expensive and exclusive shops if that happens to float your boat; ours wasn’t. The best bit of the walk for us was Lindenhof Hill with its park and observation deck overlooking the Limmat River
Anyway the overall route is easy to follow and well worth doing if you have a few spare hours to fill in Zurich.
Next day we were at the Qatar check-in at 07:00am. We had hoped to get some views of the Alps as we headed south from Zurich but the weather said otherwise. It was pouring down as we taxied away from the terminal.
Amazingly about 15 minutes after take-off the clouds parted and we got some great farewell glimpses of the Alps.
For pictures of all the places mentioned above see the links at the start of this thread.
That’s all folks. Thanks for following along. Merry Christmas. Ciao.
Thanks Mark, Merry Christmas. 🎅
Thanks Anna. Happy holidays to you too. 😎🇦🇺
Thanks for this new episode of your comprehensive travelogue Rockoyster! I always enjoy reading your adventures and studying your pictures. This is once more an interesting report about some of Switzerland’s “off the beaten track” towns and areas (oh well, not Zurich maybe, but definitely Appenzell/St. Gallen/Vaduz :-)). Keep up the good work and merry Christmas!
Thanks Annika. May the Force be with you. I just had to record my Pareto Principle post . . .
Attachments:Hi Rockoyster
I’m just curious, are you staying in Switzerland? Seems like you’re always travelling to Switzerland ?
Hi Rockoyster
Just read your last 2 instalments and viewed your great photos! Glad you had such a great time and thanks for sharing with the rest of us!
What a contrast to all the problems facing Australia at the moment!
It has been really interesting reading about all your adventures this time around – you must have covered most of Switzerland in your 2 visits now. It has been nostalgic seeing pics of a lot of places we have visited in past years but also a reminder that there are still a few places we haven’t been to yet!
Merry Christmas to you and yours
Maggie
Hi Nyap,
No, I live in Australia. I have only visited Switzerland twice; in 2017 and this year. I may be back. 😉
Hi Maggie,
Glad the photos brought back some happy memories for you. Yes we have touched most areas of Switzerland but each time we visit we leave with a desire to delve deeper next time. I think our next trip may be a Christmas one when our grandson will turn 5.
All the best to you and hubby. Hope you realise your plans for a 2020 Swiss visit.
Thanks for your reply.
Hi Rockoyster –
Nice pictures of the oriel windows. They are a lot of fun….in my opinion. St. Gall is a nice town to walk around in and just look at the buildings. I’m enjoying the variety of things that that you found to photograph. As noted in our earlier conversation, I’m disappointed that all we get is a picture of the menu from zum Baümli. And, even if the sausage stand sells the best “Stadionwurst” in Switzerland (whatever that is) in zum Baümli you’ll get authentic Skt. Olma bratwurst. The best.
Slowpoke
Hi Rockoyster –
<<“Thanks Annika. May the Force be with you. I just had to record my Pareto Principle post . . .”>>
I am reminded (by the link that you attached to your post) of the standard of performance common here in the ‘States, but not necessarily in some other parts of the world:
More is better!
On the other hand, one corollary of the Pareto Principle, as I learned it in Quality Management training, is that 80 % of the events don’t matter very much. In other words, with good selection of the critical few, less is definitely better.
<<“The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.”>>
If that holds true in this case, we only need a tool to decide which 1600 or 1700 of your posts are effective.
Since you were so kind as to direct our attention to the Pareto Principle, could you please pre-attach from 1 to 5 stars to each post, so that we have less difficulty sorting your posts?
😉
To be serious for a moment, I have really enjoyed all of your picture series from your Fall trip. Maybe, Neuchatel is my favorite. And, I learn new things about familiar places when you report.
Thanks,
Slowpoke
St Gall snags rock! Perhaps “stadionwurst” means they are the best sossos to have at the footy?
Next time maybe you can do a taste test with the attached model? That’s what we had.
Attachments:
“Since you were so kind as to direct our attention to the Pareto Principle, could you please pre-attach from 1 to 5 stars to each post, so that we have less difficulty sorting your posts?”
I’ve misjudged you Slowpoke. Perhaps you really do have a sense of humour after all.
Oh, and we’ve moved on from stars . . .
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
<<“Perhaps “stadionwurst” means they are the best sossos to have at the footy?”>>
Perhaps. Or, perhaps the least worst Wurst in that venue.
The picture of the menu (die Speisekarte) for zum Baümli in your collection illustrates on the right of the picture a properly cooked Skt. Olma bratwurst.
I cannot reattach the image that I sent you recently, because I’m traveling and don’t have access to it. You will recall that it shows a properly cooked one, on a plate, at zum Baümli….with Rösti, not mashed. If you are going to have your sausage with mashed, you need English bangers stuffed with breadcrumbs and a smattering of lard and “meat” for flavor. Forget about texture (mouth feel).
From the picture that you attached, I cannot tell how a sausage from Bechinger would look (or taste) when cooked. What was your reaction?
Once you have made a few dozen more trips to Switzerland and developed an appreciation for the culinary subtleties, you will begin to understand why I spend so much time on this point. I am fully aware of the Pareto Principle, and only expound at length on truly serious matters, hoping to expand your perspectives. After all, that is a benefit of foreign travel….
<<“Next time maybe you can do a taste test with the attached model?”>>
I’ll do my best to make that test. Thanks for the pointer. I’m always open to expanding my culinary horizons, and take seriously the recommendations of (experienced) travelers in Switzerland.
Slowpoke
Hi Slowpoke,
I take it all back.
“From the picture that you attached, I cannot tell how a sausage from Bechinger would look (or taste) when cooked. What was your reaction?“
Our reaction was very favourable. Almost as good as the Weisswurst we used to get from Huon Valley Meats. The grilled brat looked pretty much like the zum Baümli one and also like the ones shown here. It tasted pretty darn good. It was just served with a crunchy bread roll. A Bürli I believe it is called. We took the advice from here. I didn’t realise Olma was a brand of brat.
Here’s a few more oriels for you.
. . . . and for the dedicated brat followers out there – cuisinehelvetica.com/2019/07/10/st-galler-bratwurst/.
Hi rockoyster!
Finally had time to read your latest installment.
Glad you enjoyed the Appenzell region, it’s not higly rated but in my opinion a very lovely place to explore. I love taking visitors to the Aescher Gasthaus in Ebenalp. They serve good rösti but it’s usually crowded everytime we visit. From the guesthouse you can hike down to the nearest lake called Seealpsee. Love mountain lakes, the views never disappoint.
Regards,
Anna
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