Where We Be
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| Next door to the Cheese Dairy is Stein's highly rated Folklore Museum |
| St. Gallen & Stein, Switzerland |
We took the train from Appenzell to St. Gallen
about 40 minutes away. The main reason for
our visit was to see St. Gallen Library, called
the Stiftsbibliothek. It's attached to the main
"Dom" or cathedral in St. Gallen. This Unesco
World Heritage Site (shown left) is the cultural
centerpiece of northeastern Switzerland. One
of the world’s oldest intact libraries, it was built
in the 1500s and is considered the finest
example of rococo architecture in Switzerland.
The library is wonderfully proportioned and
filled with parquet walls and floors, wooden
pillars, swirling fresco ceilings, and thousands
of ancient manuscripts. When you enter you
put silly little slippers over your shoes, so you
end up shuffling through the exhibits in a most
amusing manner, but it’s all to protect the
original wood flooring from damage.
Our day trip included several other interesting
sites in St. Gallen and the nearby town of Stein,
as you'll see below.
about 40 minutes away. The main reason for
our visit was to see St. Gallen Library, called
the Stiftsbibliothek. It's attached to the main
"Dom" or cathedral in St. Gallen. This Unesco
World Heritage Site (shown left) is the cultural
centerpiece of northeastern Switzerland. One
of the world’s oldest intact libraries, it was built
in the 1500s and is considered the finest
example of rococo architecture in Switzerland.
The library is wonderfully proportioned and
filled with parquet walls and floors, wooden
pillars, swirling fresco ceilings, and thousands
of ancient manuscripts. When you enter you
put silly little slippers over your shoes, so you
end up shuffling through the exhibits in a most
amusing manner, but it’s all to protect the
original wood flooring from damage.
Our day trip included several other interesting
sites in St. Gallen and the nearby town of Stein,
as you'll see below.
| St. Gallen's Library looks like a dream library fashioned by a fiction writer [Not my photo] |
| The Appenzeller Showcase Cheese Dairy includes a warehouse of stacked cheese wheels. (Free cheese tastings with Appenzeller card!) |
| We took a bus from St. Gallen to Stein. By now it was rainy and overcast, but the sightseeing in Stein is primarily indoors anyway. |
| St. Otmar, first abbot of St. Gallen -- with his bishop's staff in a wine barrel! |
| What a zany art installation! |
| Intended as an "outdoor living room," it seemed quite popular with the locals when we visited |
| The Stadtlounge is an unusual part of historic St. Gallen that is covered in a rubberized red tennis-court coating! In place since 2005, it covers several streets as well as numerous outdoor chairs, sofas, tables, and even a car! |
| We finished our visit to St. Gallen with a bratwurst at Metzgerai Gemperli, said to be THE place to go |
| This silver bug-like building is the city’s emergency call center – an unusually modern piece of architecture surrounded by tradition |
| Near the cathedral we liked this patterned tiled roof and carved wooden inset |
| The top floor is dedicated to Appenzell folk art made by 19th-century farmers |
| Traditional wooden bedroom complete with painted furniture |
| Live display of traditional weaving techniques |
| Traditional Appenzeller cowherd's cabin |
| Stein |
| Boys play a pickup game of soccer beneath the cathedral |
