Switzerland Journal: May 16-30 2007

It is a lovely thing to have a friend. It is lovelier still when your friend moves to Switzerland and begs you to come for a visit. And it is simply fabulous to be able to say "Yes!" to that invitation.

My friend Kate Pernia and her husband Sherm moved to the town of St. Gallen in Switzerland about a year ago. Kate and I had developed a friendship in Houston over the past five years after I enrolled in a millinery class that Kate was teaching. Little did we know as we shared our passion for chapeaus that we and our husbands would one day stroll through Switzerland and Italy together, admiring fashion and scenery and enjoying great food and wine in May of 2007.

Bernie and I had another reason to travel: We were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary year (the actual anniversary was in the past December.) Our honeymoon was spent in a Alpine type mountain resort in Southern California, we would celebrate our 30th anniversary in the "real" Alpine location.

We booked our travel in February. It seemed like a far off adventure as we acquired new small suitcases and backpacks and guide books. At the last moment Bernie had to head to Chicago on business and heavy storms nearly stranded him there the night before we were to leave. Thankfully he was able to get out and I picked him up at the airport close to midnight. At seven the next morning we said good bye to our mournful looking cats, and headed back to the airport, ready to begin our European adventure.

Bush International Airport is always an interesting place to people watch.
Sometimes you see pink suitcase toting cowboys..

Sometimes you see orange garbed Buddhist boys...

And sometime you even see giants.

Before long we were on what I call "a blue-tailed fly", Continental Airlines, the airline that Bernie flies so often he is beginning to know the flight attendants by sight.

My groom with a grin:

...and the Bride who is pretty happy too.

We flew to Newark, New Jersey first, arriving in a powerful storm that delayed flights for awhile. It was the same storm that had beleaguered Bernie in Chicago, and was causing tornado notices to be posted for New York and the surrounding states.
Tornado in New Jersey?
Naw.
We kicked back with the paper and watched a little TV until our flight was called and we were on our way again.

Bernie had gave me a surprise for Mother's Day: An upgraded ticket so we could fly first class "over the pond." We are both so tall that the extra leg room is a real treat. Shortly after settling in the food service swiftly began. Wine, warm nuts, lobster bisque soup, salad, little bits of this and that, fruit plate, cheese plate. I wasn't even interested when they brought around the ice cream sundae bar with a series of toppings and flavors.
We watched "The Painted Veil", and then we were ready to sleep.
The flight attended woke us with coffee and breakfast, and the news that Switzerland was just moments away. Rain drops splattered on our window as I caught my first look at Switzerland countryside, with sheep on the velvety green hills, and towns with quaint old church towers.

We had arrived carrying all our new small luggage with us.

And as promised, there was Kate waiting for us just outside of customs.

It was an hour long train ride for Kate to come down to Zurich from her home in St. Gallen. And it was so wonderful to see her again!
Bernie and I drank in the countryside as the train rolled past old buildings and garden patches, colorful graffiti designs and waterfalls. And I began to notice the color orange.
Now Kate was wearing one of her wonderfully designed hats, and a black and white striped shirt, covered with a long black coat and a very long orange pashima scarf.
The look was classic Kate: Flair, and sass, style and comfort.
I knew Kate loved the color orange.
What I didn't know was that ALL of Switzerland seems to loves the color orange as well.

It didn't take long for my eye to be catching the color orange EVERYWHERE.
And black and white striped shirts.
And food.
There is lots of food in Switzerland, all of which is delicious.
Cheese, chocolate, wines.
Delicious.
I took over 800 pictures during my trip. Reviewing them at home, I discovered that the trip had several themes:

The color Orange.
Food.
Fashions.
Architecture.
and Flowers.

After we arrived in St. Gallen, (which is next to a lake across from Germany), we walked from the train station and through the Old Town.
In the shop windows were fanciful displays of chocolate.
I was surprised to discover that in the Springtime, chocolate is shaped like insects!
And the insect shapes were then crowned with pretty little silk Lilly of the Valley posies.
They were too pretty to eat!

Also in the windows were these beautiful treats.
Notice the color orange?

Chocolate hedgehogs were also a popular motif.

Lady bugs are a sign of good luck in Switzerland.
I'm not sure what a chocolate fly would mean.

The Pernia's live in a fourth floor attic flat in a 400 year old building in the heart of Old Town St. Gallen. To get to their home, you first go into either a lift, or walk up the four flights of stairs, rounding on the floor of each landing on this beautiful tile flooring. I think it is from the early 1900's as it matches the designs popular at that time. But it is also possible the the designs of the early 1900's were inspired by much earlier designs.
Either way, I loved looking at the tile each time we chose to walk rather the ride the small elevator.

Kate has studied Theater, has appeared on Broadway and has designed costuming and millinery for many shows. Her bedroom is tucked under the attic eaves, and her hats and clothes provide a colorful decorating touch, while being placed in reach in an old structure that didn't include closets. How practical!

Inside the front door there is a small landing where you can shed coats and shoes. You then climb a narrow spiral staircase, popping up to the living room area by going past this angel.
Their building is called "The Angel", and their angel in the stair well is the size of a small child.

The living room had white walls, light wood flooring and modern ORANGE couches! Kate showed us around the flat, with its small courtyard in the center. The back of the living room was all window, looking into the courtyard, and our bedroom windows also opened into the same courtyard space. We stowed our luggage and I enjoyed the sight of a beautiful orange wrapped box of chocolates resting on the pillow of our bed.
In the bathroom were cheery yellow towels and deep orange towels. The bright colors seemed just right in the white environment with old white heavy beams overhead.

We sat and had a cup of tea to warm up, then we headed out to explore St. Gallen a bit after our long flight.

If I can figure out how to load this movie clip into U-tube and then post it, I will. This is the front of Kate's building, and the clock tower bell is tolling loudly in the rain.

High on my list of "to-do, for sure!" was a visit to the St. Gallen's Abbey Library, also know as Shiftsbibliothek. It houses some of the oldest books in Europe, brags that it has more ancient Irish manuscripts than Ireland, and is just gorgeous to boot.
We entered in the building and were amused at this fanciful use of discarded books.

Bernie and Kate conferred on Swiss Francs before buying tickets to see the library proper.

We had Swiss Rail passes, so it turned out that we got in free!
After putting huge heavy felt clogs over our shoes, we stepped into the Shiftsbibliothek.

The elaborate Rococo designed library is breathtakingly beautiful, and no photography is allowed. To learn more about the library, check this link. I kept thinking about how this library looked exactly like this right after the American Revolutionary War, the only way I can place it in my mind in a historical time line.
Perhaps because it was raining the library was jammed with people. There is just something about rain that makes people want to head to a library!
We decided that since we could get in free with our Rail Pass, we would come again another day. I bought some post cards there, and also a poster to put up in the Librarians work area back home.

Even though it was rainy, we decided an invigorating hike was in order. Kate took us the the funicular, a cog rail car that pulled us up a steep hill to a walking path above St. Gallen.

Once we were up top, we enjoyed seeing the houses, flowers and even a little bit of graffiti.
It was pretty cold, and Bernie was wishing he had brought his hat and/or rain gear.

The detailed wood work fascinated me. Each little fish scale wood siding was perfect and the date-1903-just tickled me. I love having the information right there about when a house was built or trimmed.

I liked this house as well.

Switzerland requires that walkers have access across all properties. This particular walking trail was nicely graveled, and the fences merely held back wide swatches of wild flowers that awaited sheep and cattle.

I was interested in seeing the wild flowers, and enjoyed seeing new species.This tree was fragrant.

And these little flowers were lovely.

I had never seen lily of the valley growing wild before.

And I reminded Bernie and Kate that this little blue flower was called "Forget-Me-Not."

Even the occasional snail was pretty with its shell glistening in the rain.

People walked their dogs along the path. Kate told me that Swiss dogs are very well behaved, frequently are found under chairs in restaurants, but you should not attempt to reach out and pet another person's dog. I forgot that lesson and later in the trip reached out to pat a Golden Retriever and got a good warning bark for my efforts.
The path had a small washed out edge next to the fence, and Kate took a nasty spill. Her thigh was brightly bruised all week and she had to watch carefully how she slid in and out of chairs.

At the top of the hill there was a small restaurant. We were pretty cold, but decided to stop for some soup and a beer. The soup was just OK, but I learned that each little monastery at one time had its own brewery. Over the hill was the Klosters, and their beer was being served. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but this brew was light and fresh.
The pink place mat is actually paper...and considering the fact that St. Gallen is so well known for its lace, it surprised me that paper was being used instead of real lace!

We got back to the house and Kate noticed that the cup that I had enjoyed my earlier tea had dried in a heart configuration.
I guess it just goes to show, I just loved being there!

I don't remember much about that evening. I suppose we went to bed early...so for now I will end this post here, and will continue with "Switzerland Journal" by posting pictures off Day Two (actually Day 3) later.