Day 1: Cheese Territory. Yes, I took lots of pictures, but we also went to the birthplace of Appenzeller Cheese. We started in the town Stein AR to visit their cheese factory. In reality, the "factory" was smaller than our local grocery store, but we did get to see the process. The kids and Christy also watched a great video that showed the entire process from cow to table. (John and I were off trying to figure out the best route to the town of Appenzell.)
The kids also enjoyed some time on the playground:
John and I had determined that we would need to take the bus back to St. Gallen to catch the train to Appenzell. Unfortunately, we had just missed the bus, so we didn't think we'd have a lot of time to explore the town. Our suggestion was to take a short, one hour hike around the area. Christy realized that Appenzell was "only" 7.6 km away, so she said we should just hike it.
4 hours later we arrived in Appenzell. First, you can't walk as fast on a single path trail as you do on a street. Second, Appenzell is a significantly higher elevation than Stein AR. (And, if you can prove otherwise -- no comments are necessary.) Third, we just may have taken a wrong turn or two along the way. It seems I left my hiking maps on the kitchen counter. Fortunately, Christy had brought us some Girl Scout cookies and I was smart enough to put them in my day pack. Abbie made it the entire four hours with a thin mint and gummi bear "stick". She was a real trooper! The kids even found some snow on the way. Of course, they threw the snowball down the hill, into a gully, knowing full well that our dog lives to fetch... but that's a story for another day.
We had a pizza dinner in the town of Appenzell, which is adorable. Unfortunately, all the cute stores were closed when we arrived. We made it home very late, and the girls said that they were up for anything the next day as long as they could (a) sleep in and (b) not hike.
Day 2: Taking their advice to heart, I suggested a short hike from our house to Lake Zurich and then a boat cruise to Rapperswil, a historic town at the bottom of the lake. This hike, we know very well. It's an easy, one hour, downhill hike. I even promised unique features: a dragon's cave, a princess' house, and inventoried rocks. (Yes, the accountants in the family just love that the rocks at the end of the hike have inventory control tags on them. The Swiss are nothing if not efficient. Except, when they aren't. But, again, I digress.)
We had fairly good weather while they were here -- no rain, but it was always hazy. I insisted that we had great views of the Alps from our town, but I don't think I was very convincing.
Day 3: Zurich, finally. We did a quick walk through Zurich. Just to make sure everyone got in their exercise, we suggested climbing the 183 (yes, they counted) steps to the top of Grossmunster, a 12th-century Romanesque ex-cathedral.
See the Alps behind those clouds? It's gorgeous, I swear.
Day 4: Lucerne. Somehow, I didn't take any pictures. My unfortunate kids had to return to school and John went back to work. The Amos girls and I headed off to Lucerne to see the historic wood bridges and the gorgeous views of the Alps. At least they saw the bridges! They did some tower climbing as well, but I stayed below to (supposedly) take pictures.
Day 5 Good-bye. We sure hope they come back to visit again!
Here's the link to their gallery
5 comments:
Gorgeous weather and what great fun you all had!!!
I can't believe the size of the twins. They look great. Asusual..wonderful pictures. Thank you.
Mom
Sounds like a nice visit. You should have let CJ and the twins go off on their own. CJ could have showed them Zurich and Switzerland through his eyes.
I looked at the pics before the blog. I knew I recognized the trail and Rapperswil.
Bummer that the Alps were hiding during their stay.
The twins weren't too excited about sightseeing. I don't think they would have gone off with C.J. That's a good idea for future "young" visitors though.
Of course the parents of the young visitors might worry about their kids venturing off on their own with CJ to some distant place on foot or in combination with public transportation.
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