In which I experience the Appenzell sense of humor

It was so nice this weekend, and it had been ages since I'd seen my friend E., that we decided to go on a little hike, on the Witzwanderweg (Joke Hike) hidden in the hills of Appenzell.

Getting there was an adventure in itself--we met up in St. Gallen, and then took a train to Rheineck, after which we climbed aboard a strange one-car cog railway that took us up the hill (nearly entirely underground) to Walzenhausen, where we were greeted with the first joke (fortunately translated into high German).  I wouldn't dare to translate--let's just say they're not too different from the types of jokes you might find in the hollers of my home state.

The trail was gorgeous--for the first half, there was an amazing view of Lake Constance, and the rest was either through the woods, farms, or villages. Unfortunately, none of the promised cafes and bars along the way were open (after all, it's normally covered in snow this time of year). We made it 2/3 of the way, to Wolfhalden, but alas, it was already 2:15 pm and all the restaurants had closed, bad news for me and my mother-to-be companion. By the time we reached the end, we searched in vain for some real Appenzeller food, but settled on a  Greek/Appenzell restaurant (with great meatballs, by the way).

Ski legs and religious experiences

Each winter, my group takes off for a long ski weekend in a town called Taufers (Tubre in Italian), directly across the Swiss border in South Tyrol, Italy. Per strictly-followed protocol (i.e. tradition), we left Thursday afternoon to drive to Taufers. The drive took us past the Churfürsten Mountains and the Walensee, under the Flüelapass with the Vereina Tunnel (a rail-only tunnel with half-hourly trains to shuttle cars through the tunnel), and onwards to the windy roads over the Ofenpass. We got to Taufers just in time for dinner, followed by Williams (pear brandy).

Since I have not been skiing since birth, like most of my colleagues, I had to talk D into skiing with me the first run, until I felt comfortable. Yet instead she was nice enough to ski with me the whole two days. The weather was gorgeous, the snow great, and I had a great time.

Despite the amazing skiing, the highlight of the trip had to be the early morning (6:30 am) mass at the nearby Benedictine Monastery Marienberg, a UNESCO world heritage site. Being neither religiously inclined nor a morning person this was quite the personal challenge, but proved to be entirely worth it. After a relatively short mass (with the altar server strangely dressed in a black monk's cloak), the abbot of the monastery met us to give us a quick tour of the monastery. He brought us to his meeting room, where he told us about the lives of the 12 monks in the monastery, whose primary job is the upkeep of the historical monastery. His explanation was complete with large diagrams of how the monks spent their daily lives, and he loved telling us all the details about the beliefs of the Benedictines. He seemed especially impressed that a Chinese guy was at his monastery--you go the impression he hadn't left his monastery too much in the 55 years he had been there. We then got to take a quick look at the famous preserved frescos in the crypt, and you wouldn't believe how bright the colors were after 900 years. Then, after a quick breakfast, we were off to Züri again.

Lenzerheide aka why haven't i done this before?

Went skiing in Lenzerheide this weekend, and stayed in a chalet arranged by T. The chalet was great--nice view, great location, fireplace! Met lots of nice mostly-Americans and Canadians, sledded, hiked, and did a little bit of skiing. But I wondered, why haven't I done this before?