Appenzell - You are weird...and wonderful - Part 1

Luggage schlepping reprise....

We scoot back to Zurich on Wednesday and make our way to the Hilton near the airport.  The idea is that it will be easy to get away on Saturday morning.  They have a shuttle, so no baggage schlepping will be involved.  

...maybe...

We take the train to the station that is under the airport terminal and find our way to curbside to arrange for our shuttle to the hotel.  

...except...

The shuttle doesn't run for a couple hours in the afternoon.  We'd have to wait two hours.  What's plan B?   A taxi.  $20.  $20!?!  Don is cheap.  Plan C?  Get out the SBB app!  A tram from the airport, then walk a half a mile - and save $20.  Forgetting my "no schlepping" pledge, I talk Patti into it.  "How hard can it be? I say.

Find the tram at the airport.  Easy?  No.  We hunt for signs and finally figure it out.  Buses and the tram leave from the same outdoor plaza.  

Get on the tram with our bags.  Ride one stop.  We can see the hotel.  A railroad, a highway and two industrial parks are in the way.  We start walking.  Blocked.  Double back and get around the railroad.  Walk through an industrial park.  Blocked.  Take a different route.  Find a highway overpass.  Carry bags up and over.  Finally arrive at the hotel.  Four flights of stairs from the street to the lobby.  Patti is done with my foolishness...so I "gladly" take both bags up the stairs.  That $20 taxi is looking like a bargain, now!

Slow learner schlepps.

We get checked in.  First thing we do is book the shuttle back to the airport for Saturday morning.  Next, we head back to the airport to catch a train back to Zurich.  This time, we figure out how to take the bus.  Much easier.  Much, much easier without luggage.

We make sure we know the location where I can get my Covid test and then took a look around the state museum.

Old room preserved at museum

Thursday, we decide on a day trip to the Appenzell area of Switzerland, with two destinations in mind.  One is a trip up Ebenalp on a cable car and a short hike to a restaurant built on a ledge on the mountainside.  The other was the town of Appenzell itself.  Most of Switzerland we'd seen so far was dominated by the Bernese culture.  Appenzell is different.  It's in the east, close to Austria and is different in many ways.  

But, first Ebenalp.

Bus to airport, train to Ebenalp.  

Train to Ebenalp.  We changed trains here, at Gossau.

Arriving Ebenalp

Cable car is right across a stream from the train station

We head to the cable car station and buy our tickets to the top

On the way up!

Thankfully, not a busy day!

Passing the cliff with the trail on it.

At the top.  Note the dark clouds on the horizon...

Not quite the happy hiker.  Too many sheer drops!

The trail goes through a cave.

The cave was once inhabited by pre-historic people.

Cave exit

The trail also included a small chapel.

Along the trail to the lunch spot!

The restaurant...and the view

Our table inside

Appenzell is known for it's brewery.  So I order an Appenzell.  What I get is Appenzell schnops!  They are also known for that! 

Appenzell schnops - a double shot!  That'll warm me up!

But, I wanted the beer.  So, I had that, too!

Beer!

And some lunch!

As it turns out, we would need something to keep us warm...

12 C is 53 F.

and dry...  Remember those clouds on the horizon?  They moved in!  Time to get going!

Not quite the view we had half an hour ago...

Heading out.

Too late!  It's pouring!  Thunder and lightening, too, near the end.  We run up the trail, through the cave,  back to the cable car station.

Rain!

We dry off in the cable car station and wait for them to start running again.  They'd stopped running due to the lightening.  

By the time we get to the bottom, the rain had stopped.

We get the next train and head to the town of Appenzell, but when we arrive, it's pouring down rain again.  We catch the next train headed back to Zurich.

The sky was unsettled all day.  The view from our hotel that evening.

Tomorrow is "go get a covid test day"...and go back to Appenzell.