From Now to January......: Landing in Europe

I always have a little culture shock when I first land in Europe. I have a terrible ear for languages and a terrible memory when it comes to simple phrases. So, even though we were here in June, it took me about 24 hours to finally remember how to say hello. And I am sure I am butchering the pronunciation, but at least I try.
In hindsight, starting our journey in a familiar place was a good idea. Everything related to the travel part has been easy so far, from landing in Zurich and purchasing train tickets from the kiosk instead of standing in line to finding our hotel just a few block from the St Gallen train station. I even took the train to Stein am Rhine, about 80 minutes away, by myself to tour the village, while Rick worked. But I will have to admit, restaurants can be a bit of challenge. On Sunday, when Rick and I went to a cafe for lunch, we both just stared at the menu. I had been to this cafe before, I was pretty sure they had quiche and salad, but for about 5 minutes I looked at the menu as if it was written in Greek! I just find the German language to be somewhat difficult as compared to Italian. However, it was nice to be able to walk around the compact city, not get lost and just take in the surroundings. There was a festival (we later found out it was a Catholic youth festival) and we watched as children were doing all sorts of activities that would never be allowed in the US. I did not have our camera, so no pictures to share. There was a lady making cotton candy, or candy floss. We had a discussion about cotton candy the night before with Lauren, how you never can find the freshly made stuff....so I just had to have some and it was yummy.
We had dinner with Rick's colleagues. As always, I get to listen to various opinions about tourism research. But the dinner was delicious, we had traveled to Appenzell, a small village about 20 minutes away. The interesting thing about Appenzell, beside the cheese and beer they produce, is that they still gather in the town square to vote. Apparently, the men will wear traditional dress and carry a sword and they cast their vote by holding up their sword. Women only gained the right to vote in these type of elections in 1998.

Tonight we head to Vienna, Austria. We will be there for several days before heading to Italy.

We took a walk before dinner and this was the view of St Gallen from the hillside above our hotel.

Not sure what church this is in St Gallen, but I was playing around with the camera.

Fountain outside the concert hall in St Gallen

Murals on the buildings in Stein am Rhine. This village dates back to the 12th century or so.
It was a Monday, so the castle and most of the museums were closed. But I walked around, went inside one church dating from 1400's, visited a museum of a house from the 1800's and bought some chocolate. The train ride to Stein was beautiful, passing farms, orchards and along Lake Constance. The apple trees were so overloaded with apples, I am not sure how the branches did not snap. I saw some farmers picking apples. I am hoping to find some apples today.