Horses and books

Saturday - two destinations today.

The first was Neu St Johann, where a horse-drawn carriage awaited us.  But on the way, we were able to take the mountain road that becomes impassable  when winter really hits.  This takes us around Santis, a mountain of 2500 metres.  We were able to stop and have a look around, and play (for some), in the snow.

Neu St Johann is a small place and the tour includes a carriage trip, or sleigh if it’s snowing.  We had 4 carriages, it was cold and rainy at times, but it showed off the Appenzeller countryside and farms well.  We stopped mid-journey for a gluhwein which helped to warm us up some. Then back to town to stretch the limits of the train station toilets.

We left for the bigger town of St Gallen.  This town was founded by a monk back in the day who later became a saint and whose monastery, for some centuries, ran the place.  The people took over when Switzerland was all coming together, but the monastery is still there, with its cathedral and heritage protected library.

We saw the cathedral, had some time in the town (more markets and another sausage), before visiting the library.  This is very old, more than 1000 years, and we had to wear special overshoes to protect the floor.  Some manuscripts date back to the 8th and 9th centuries. (No photos allowed in the part of the library that you can visit). We were amazed at the craftsmanship of the men who had written the books - no smudges our mistakes - it looked like a computer had produced the work.

St Gallen is an attractive town with old old buildings that are quite colourful.

On our return to Appenzell, I took a walk around and took some shots of the town and its old buildings, including a small chapel dating back to 1564.

Tomorrow, we set off on the train journey to Zermatt.  We have to take a couple of trains to meet up with the Glacier Express in the afternoon.  Snow and cold weather are forecast for the next couple of days, so out with the thermals!