Week in the life ~ Monday

Monday, 1/08/2011. I know I'm a week late with the Week in the life project. But I only learnt about it last week on Monday, and I thought it would be a pity to start with already missing the first day. And besides, last week was very boring. Just work, and lots of rain on top of it. So I decided to do my own little week in the life this week. And it's the perfect week to start, as today is our national holiday, and so I start the new week with Monday off :).

I went to Appenzell with my mum and an aquaintance of her to visit a friend of theirs and to harvest some red currants. We took the train from Zurich mainstation at 9, together with masses of people all heading for the mountain areas to spend a lovely day in the alps. (I know, it doesn't look very crowed in the picture, but believe me, the train was packed).

There's no direct train to Appenzell from Zurich, so we have to take the train bound for St. Gallen and change in Gossau.

The heavy rains in the last few weeks have caused some landslides along the route of the Appenzeller Bahn and so there's a bus service between Herisau and Urnäsch until the repair works on the damaged tracks are completed.

Back to the train in Urnäsch for the last few stops until Appenzell. The weather outside the train window is still looking misty and rather like autumn (quite to my liking though :) ).

We have finally arrived in Appenzell and are on the way up to where our friend lives. I manage to get a quick snapshot out of the car window before the woods block the view. This is the edge of the town of Appenzell, the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden. With a little under 6,000 inhabitants, this must be one of the smallest capitals in the world. But it's a beautiful place.

After some cake and tea we head into the garden to tackle those red currant bushes. I'm a bit lazy though, I only fill two small dishes. I'm longing to go for a walk.

So off I go, following the path down to the bottom of a little valley with a river in the woods to get to the other side. I just love those mountain woods!

Where to now? I'm heading to the right left (always get those two wrong...), up the mountain. Nothing's better to clear one's head than being up a mountain and looking down on the world below.

It's hard work walking up those mountains, especially if one's in such a bad shape as I am. But the views from up there is worth it every time. Admittedly, I didn't get even near a mountain top, just some way up. I'd need much more time than just an afternoon walk for a real mountain tour. But really, I ought to do something for my fitness...

Of course there have to be cows up here. The Swiss alps without cows wouldn't be the Swiss alps :). It's just such a pity that there are those power lines everywhere going right trough the pictures.

And more cows...

But not all of them are allowed to play outside. Poor little thing...

Back from my 2 1/2 hours walk and lunch is ready :). Salad and and the most delicious homebaked bread for starter (even the flower is edible! Though none of us actually did eat it...).

Followed by a lovely and tasty salmon dish...

Not much time to rest after our late lunch, as it's already time to head back. So back to the train station we go to take the train back to Zurich.

Somehow, after getting off the replacement bus, we actually manage to miss our connecting train in Herisau. So we have to wait half an hour for the next one.

Finally back home after seven, half an hour later than planned. For dinner there's a bowl of fruits - melon, peaches, blueberries, and red currants picked just a few hours ago. Yummy!

And some telly - one of my favourite shows is on at the moment: Terry and June. They're so funny. Just love it.

And then it's soon time for bed. It's been a long but wonderful day. And I'm sure I won't even hear the fireworks and firecrackers tonight. Back to work tomorrow, and I'm sure I won't have half as many pictures tomorrow. Which is probably not too bad. It's quite a lot today. But then it has been a packed day.