Our first night in the new place went pretty well. After being out in the middle of nowhere, we had to contend with car noises and other sounds of civilization, but it wasn’t too bad. We got up and enjoyed a breakfast of our better cereal along with a little bit of the muesli. We packed up our stuff and headed for Patti and Angelo’s.

We entered their address into the GPS and headed out east. The GPS took us directly to the correct address, unfortunately, it was the correct address in the wrong town. We found our self in front of a barn working in building with a lot of kids toys scattered outside not the nice apartment building that we anticipated. I called Patti and we quickly figured out what the problem was and luckily we were only about 10 minutes away. We quickly found the right place and were welcomed by Patti and her husband Angelo.

They invited us in and we initially took a Funicular type elevator, one that moved both vertically and horizontally, to the third floor of their building and we spent the next hour or so sitting outside on their deck enjoying the beautiful scenery. Patti and I quickly caught up on family goings on and we spend most of the time talking about our kids and trip and all things Switzerland.

We headed out in their van, luckily there was room in the back for four people, and headed to the town of Appenzell. It was a very pretty town lots of nice shops and been pretty buildings. We poked her head in a small church that was built in 1787 and was in amazing shape. We did some shopping, took some pictures and hit the road.

Our next stop was at the app Appenzell cheese making factory and museum. We took the short tour inside or we learned about cheesemaking and was able to actually observe both the equipment on the factory floor, as well as the automated equipment in their warehouse which automatically flipped the cheese over and scrubbed it and then returned it to the shelves.

On our way back to town, we stopped in St. Gallen to see the Abbey Cathedral, What a beautiful building! The crypt and original structure dates back to 980 AD – wow! Dozens of ornate sculptures and paintings in a huge cathedral. Unfortunately, we arrives when evening mass was staring, so we cou;d take photos from the back of the church,

After St. Gallen, we stopped at a very nice bar for drinks, and then headed back to Patti’s place for dinner. Patti cooked up a very large pot of spaghetti and topped it with a delicious Bolognese sauce that her mother-in-law, Angel’s mother, had made. It was wonderful!

The day was also a very useful lesson on life in Switzerland. We learned why there are no ‘Junkers’ or damaged cars on the road (they are no allowed), why cars don’t pass you on the right (you lose your license for a month), how to interpret the first two letters on a license plate (abbreviation of the state where car is registered – AI – Appenzell has low taxes, so most rental cars are registered there), what the source of the flashing light when we drive (permanent and movable speed trap cameras). We also learned the most widely spoken language in the world – it’s not Mandarin – it’s poorly-spoken English (joke from Angelo).

The wine at dinner was delicious, both white and red. We ended dinner with a selection of Swiss chocolate, which were more delicious. We finally had to say goodbye, and came back to our Airbnb to get ready for the next day.