Yes, waggis, I've been to Appenzell as a train daytrip from Rapperswil. (a long time ago). Do you mean to say that it has not suffered from popularity? Everytime I write a comment like this, a voice in the back of my mind says 'There are a good many folks who depend upon tourism for their livelihood, and would be perfectly happy to 'suffer from popularity,' (including a number of little towns in Louisiana, I might add).

Two more quick comments: Did I put a negative slant on the bustle of Ascona? If so, I did not intend to. That lovely towns has entertained its visitors without damaging its original beauty. I just cannot say the same for that ugly concrete structure at the harbor in Rapperswil.

By the way, Ascona hosts its reknowned New Orleans Jazz festival in late June. Jazz aficionados might want to look into a visit at that time.

Now, Bulach. They're website is excellent, don't you think? But remember that I've used the phrase 'old town' and the word 'center'. When I go to maps of Bulach, it's obvious that it is a large town (small city?), and the historic center is very small. However, if one arrives by train and goes to the flughafen by bus, you can pretend the new construction doesn't exist. Nevertheless, for my last-night needs, Bulach is perfect. Thanks for the literary lead. J.

Hi. In the last two days I've attended one faculty technology workshop (RenWeb, anyone?) and have received several SACS action plan e-mails, (action-packed, I might add) so all of a sudden I'm behind schedule and school hasn't even officially begun yet. The bottom line is that I'd better get to the bottom line of this trip report asap. (Do I hear a thank goodness!?)

All that's left really is this. The Zum Goldenen Kopf is a lovely hotel in a historic building. It's restaurant is excellent. No AC.

I spent the evening poking into corners and back streets. The powers that be are doing a fabulous job of restoring the old town, which while small, has some jewels. There's a dandy little restaurant/beer garden behind the rathaus called the "Rathaus Stube", if you want to eat and drink beer where the townfolks do. It's very small with lovely dark wood interior (and the local rotary club meeting around 'their' long table) and a shady terrace out back. The Zum Golden-Kopf's restaurant is more upscale, so it depends upon your mood. I alternate between the two depending upon my mood.

The schnell buses make it to the flughafen from the Untertor (a circle in the ring road about 5 minutes walk from the hotel) about 15 minutes. This is the simplest, most peaceful way I can think of to arrive at the airport, though I'm sure the concierge could arrange a taxi if you prefer. The schnells go directly to the door of the flughafen right below Check-in Center 2, if memory serves. Anyway, it is super convenient. The schnell buses pick up at the Untertor at 6:07, 6:37, 7:07, and 7:37. There are many other buses, but they make other stops and take around 25 minutes.

My motto is get there early, so I caught the 7:37. As I mentioned at another post, I had forgotten that the airport layout was so expanded from my last experience, with a choice of 'airline centers.' Delta is in Center 2. Check in was time-consuming, because security wanted receipts from the hotels where I stayed. Thank goodness, I use a ziplock bag filing system and, as I mentioned before, I save pretty much every scrap of paper. Then at the airline desk, they had the wrong flight code in the computer because Delta had changed my flight and it didn't show up in the bits and bytes. Then all the computers went down. Full stop. Everyone stands around or sits around, in the case of the personnel. So, if you want to shop, allow plenty of time. I think swandav has mentioned before, that the international flights leave from terminal E, farther away than it used to be. There's slick transportation, but the whole process takes longer than it used to.

That's about it. If you're an art person and flying through Atlanta, be sure to see the hand-made paper quilt displayed near the international flight concourses. Made by Atlanta area kids and gorgeous!

Thanks for your patience and thanks to all for every single minute of pleasure this forum has given me over the years. How would I survive travel withdrawal or travel drought without you?! J.

Jw, thank you for this detailed and wonderfully written report. Better than pictures :-) You know, as a member of the Support Group for those who love Switzerland (I *had* to use this, haha) you can always rely on your fellow Fodorites who appreciate and enjoy your posts here.

I plan to visit Switzerland this fall again. You'll get to see some more pictures and I will also post a trip report - promised.

I'm off to Hamburg on Sunday morning for 3 nights and still have to pack. Enjoy the summer!

Ingo

Thanks, Ingo. I'm really looking forward to reading about your trip to Bavaria and seeing some photographs. When you wrote 'frescos', you wrote the magic word. I visited Mittenwald sometime in the late 70s or early 80s, and I'm hoping that you (and in the near future S') will be able to assure me that it has not been spoiled. It was such a beautiful small town! Keep in touch, J.

jmw--

What a lovely, evocative report! Beautifully written, as your trip was clearly beautifully traveled!

Thank you for sharing it!

A very warm thank you from me jmw, as I sit here hiding out from our 105 to 110 degrees heat it is been such a pleasure to read your beautiful and elegant report (as I think you are also). I truly enjoyed every word!

I was interested that you were required to produce every hotel receipt for your time in Swizterland by the security people at the airport. I have never encountered this. I have always brought all of mine home of course so I could verify that my credit card statement was correct but I was shall we say amazed that you had to produce them.

May you have many more trips that fill your heart and soul with joy!

FAntastic trip and wonderful report. I enjoyed every minute of it and thank you for sharing.
Vera

Schuler country! I love it.

Thanks for thinking of me while you were passing Rothenthurm. I live on the left side as you come in from Sattel.

Sattel is a spread out town. It has a church and two small grocery stores. It also has a cable car that brings you up to Mostelberg/Hoch Stückli, where you can ski or hike. I think the farm houses you saw were on the Mostelberg side.

Before you come into Rothenthurm, you pass through Biberegg, known for its folklore restaurant, Cafe Biberegg, and it's two small ski lifts. That's where I go skiing. It also has the Beaver Creek Ranch restaurant, a perfect place for kids to play outside and even ride horses.

As you come into Rothenthurm, you'll see our big church. It's one foot bigger than the Schwyzer church. It has the letters IHS on the roof which is latin for... oh, even my husband doesn't know and he grew up here. Anyway, the locals smile and say it also means Ich Heisse Schuler, because of the large amount of Schulers in this town.

Rothenthurm has 2,000 residents, two bakeries (with grocery stores), two butcher shops, a uniform store, a furniture factory and a window factory. It's most famous for its moors, which offer fantastic photo opportunities as you pass by.

Thanks for your trip report. Next time your in town let me know so we can meet up.

Tschüss!

Hello jmw - I can't confirm that the Appenzell region is less visited by tourists than other areas. There isn't much interest expressed on this forum, which is surprising to me. I love their folk art, too, and own an old painting by a "naive" painter, which I love.

We had a similar experience at the DELTA check-in and almost missed our flight even though there was no hotel receipts requirement at the time. Never seen anything like it. Also, it was a huge trek to and from their check-in counters, which caused considerable anxiety. We had planned to have breakfast in the airport, which was then not possible, hence, I was interested in your Bülach accommodations for the future :-)

When we lived in CT, our IGA stores carried a Swiss yogurt by "Emmi". I loved the 5.3 oz. (150g) low fat 1.6% "Birchermüesli". The container was labeled "Swiss Premium Yogurt". They seem to have changed their packaging (no mention of low fat on their website). Have a look at their interesting varieties at www.emmi.ch The IGAs only carried the 5.3 oz size. It was a bit pricey, so I didn't buy flavors I could get from Yoplait, e.g. Good luck with Albertson's, I'll give Publix a go ;-)

Don't we wish we had roller shutters during the hurricane season or those nice awnings & windows. They're available in the US, but as you guessed, expensive.

You asked about grilling. Yes, the Swiss do but it was not prevalent until the late '50s, I think, unless one was on a camping trip or in ones garden.

Again, thank you for giving us so much pleasure with your exceptional report. I hope you will soon be traveling again. ;-)

welcome back schuler - "ich heisse Schuler" - LOL - you're too much :-)

How are you holding up in this heat?

Grilling? Oh yes. They love to grill. They grill bratwurst, cervelat, chicken, fish and other things. Lots of barbecue books out there.

Schuler, you can Google IHS and read a small article about it, but basically it is a monogram for the name of Jesus Christ from the Greek language down through Roman usage. Interesting thought from your neighbors, though!

Once again, jmw, your report is lovely.

Thanks Carolyn.

When they built the church, mass was still said in latin and the priest was the most powerful man in town. During mass, unmarried, unchaperoned or widows sat on the left hand side. Families sat on the right hand side. You would find all the unmarried men or widowers in the last pews on the right hand side. And they all sat in the backhalf of the church.

If you go to our church today, you'll see that some habits die hard. We thankfully still have a priest but many parishes don't. Not enough to go around.

How nice! Thanks for answering so many of my questions and for adding excellent details of your own.

When I passed the church in Rothenthurm, I was too low to actually make out what the letters were. If had, I would not have remembered their meaning, but I would have associated them with the writing on a crucifix.

Schuler, what do you mean by 'the moors'? marshy? And thanks for writing more about Sattel. If you're coming from Rothenthurm, the farms, quite large dark wood buildings of graceful proportions, are scattered on the green hillsides just at the edge of Sattel on your left.

I've given some thought to the hotel receipt business, waggis. I had completed my 'interview' and was already standing in line to get my boarding pass and check in my bag, when that security person came to get me with 'I have one more thing I must ask of you'. Obviously, something about me raised a cautionary light. (If you really knew me, you'd be laughing your heads off, or maybe this report tells you enough that you are doing just that.) I went back to her podium, and that's when she asked to see the receipts of my two hotels. I think it was because I was by myself with only one small carry-on, and I had stayed in out of the way places, maybe?

Thanks for informing me about the popularity of grilling. What about the baked potato with sour cream and chives?
Affectionately, J.

No, no no! (Having a senior moment here.) IHS isn't the writing on a crucifix. So where have I seen it? When I was a kid, we had to make posters for some sort of project, and I remember that I wrote "HIS" and had to go back and spray paint it out.
I have not had any coffee yet. J.

Hi jmw,

We are going to make our first trip to Switzerland in less than 10 days. I have used this forum extensively....and have gained excellent information and insights.

I stumbled across this trip report (if one could call it that)... and started reading it. Its early morning here...

Your writing has such a serene quality to it...it has made me peaceful. I haven't yet been able to read the complete report...(it needs to be called something else...a report sounds too mundane...and does not do justice to what you have shared here!)

However I had stop reading it in between to say and thank you...I have some very important writing that I need to do...you have just put me in the right state of mind.

Its truly been a meditative experience. Thank you again...I love your style!

Here's to you and to many more such trips...

Genie