Day 4: Appenzell, St. Gallen, Chur
Dear All,
Writing you this evening from Chur, where we are staying at the Romantik Hotel Stern and just had a fantastic dinner, including an assorted leaf salad with Bündnerfleisch (a type of prosciutto); for entree a lightly breaded pork slice with red wine sauce, a type of Spätzle (pasta), and a mixture of vegetables. For dessert, then, a “Cupetta con Tschüschinas,” which consisted of walnut ice cream with dried plums marinated in plum brandy—a sublime dessert. If I make spelling mistakes or don’t make any sense in this blog, blame it on the plum brandy!!
Today, our luggage had to be out early, as a van service was taking luggage to our hotel in Chur while we took the train to the Appenzeller Land in NE Switzerland, hugging the Bodensee or Lake Constance and the border to Germany. We got off at Appenzell, encircled by rolling hills, with the snowy peaks of the Albstein ridges to the south. Monks from St. Gallen colonized the area in the 10th c., calling it “Abtzell” or “Abbey Cell,” but the fiercely independent local peasantry threw off ecclesiastical control in a series of wars in the 14th c.
Appenzell joined the Swiss Confederation in 1513, but Appenzell became two half-cantons—one Protestant and one Catholic. Once we left the train at Appenzell, we walked down the main street, which was largely car-free. So many of the houses sported beautiful facades. From there we strolled back to the train station and caught the train to St. Gallen, the main urban center of eastern Switzerland. It is a relaxed, provincial city set amid rolling countryside between the Appenzeller hills and Lake Constance, with a beautiful Old Town. The centerpiece is its extraordinarily lavish Baroque abbey, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cathedral, which we also visited with a guide, is impressive enough, but the abbey library is celebrated as Switzerland’s finest secular Rococo interior (see a photo of it as the frontispiece of my blog site this year). St. Gallen owes its existence to the religious community that remains at its core. In around 612, the Irish monk Gallus, a follower of Columba, was traveling south from Lake Constance into the forest, when he claimed he received a sign from God to build the monastery on this site. In the 8th c., a follower named Otmar established a monastic community around Gallus’s cell, and founded a school of scribes and translators. I loved the inscription over the entrance to the library: “Pharmacy of the Soul.” In 630, Abbot Gozbert established the great library, and St. Gallen’s reputation as a center of learning grew. By the 13th c., St. Gallen had become an important market town, and was known as an exporter of high-quality linen. By the end of the Middle Age, it was the only Swiss town to have trade representatives resident in foreign cities.
A few more words regarding the books in the library—they are ranged on floor-to-ceiling shelves. Its list of cultural treasures includes more Irish manuscripts than in Dublin. There are 15 handwritten examples including a Latin manuscript of the Gospels dating from 750. Other works include an astronomical textbook written in 300 BC; copies made in the 5th century of works by Virgil, Horace, and other classical authors; texts written by the Venerable Bede in his original Northumbrian language, and the oldest book to have survived in German, dating from the 8th c. There is also a 2.3 meter-high globe depicting both celestial and earthly maps.
Before touring the monastery complex, we had lunch at the Bierfalken restaurant, and I added St. Gallen Bratwurst topped by a dark brown sauce (a milder form of Bratwurst and supplemented by a good potato salad and mixed salad) to new things to have sampled in Switzerland. Kuby’s Wurstteller in Dallas still outdoes itself on the sausage plates, and will be hard to beat.
After seeing the monastery complex, we took a train to Chur, in the canton of Graubünden. We walked through the main street in town, and proceeded right to the hotel, where we found our luggage had been delivered. After freshening up, we had dinner, as described earlier. And now, before the gray cells dwindle to nothing, let me bid you a fond adieu. Off to Brig tomorrow. Stay tuned! As ever, SV
Writing you this evening from Chur, where we are staying at the Romantik Hotel Stern and just had a fantastic dinner, including an assorted leaf salad with Bündnerfleisch (a type of prosciutto); for entree a lightly breaded pork slice with red wine sauce, a type of Spätzle (pasta), and a mixture of vegetables. For dessert, then, a “Cupetta con Tschüschinas,” which consisted of walnut ice cream with dried plums marinated in plum brandy—a sublime dessert. If I make spelling mistakes or don’t make any sense in this blog, blame it on the plum brandy!!
Today, our luggage had to be out early, as a van service was taking luggage to our hotel in Chur while we took the train to the Appenzeller Land in NE Switzerland, hugging the Bodensee or Lake Constance and the border to Germany. We got off at Appenzell, encircled by rolling hills, with the snowy peaks of the Albstein ridges to the south. Monks from St. Gallen colonized the area in the 10th c., calling it “Abtzell” or “Abbey Cell,” but the fiercely independent local peasantry threw off ecclesiastical control in a series of wars in the 14th c.
Appenzell joined the Swiss Confederation in 1513, but Appenzell became two half-cantons—one Protestant and one Catholic. Once we left the train at Appenzell, we walked down the main street, which was largely car-free. So many of the houses sported beautiful facades. From there we strolled back to the train station and caught the train to St. Gallen, the main urban center of eastern Switzerland. It is a relaxed, provincial city set amid rolling countryside between the Appenzeller hills and Lake Constance, with a beautiful Old Town. The centerpiece is its extraordinarily lavish Baroque abbey, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cathedral, which we also visited with a guide, is impressive enough, but the abbey library is celebrated as Switzerland’s finest secular Rococo interior (see a photo of it as the frontispiece of my blog site this year). St. Gallen owes its existence to the religious community that remains at its core. In around 612, the Irish monk Gallus, a follower of Columba, was traveling south from Lake Constance into the forest, when he claimed he received a sign from God to build the monastery on this site. In the 8th c., a follower named Otmar established a monastic community around Gallus’s cell, and founded a school of scribes and translators. I loved the inscription over the entrance to the library: “Pharmacy of the Soul.” In 630, Abbot Gozbert established the great library, and St. Gallen’s reputation as a center of learning grew. By the 13th c., St. Gallen had become an important market town, and was known as an exporter of high-quality linen. By the end of the Middle Age, it was the only Swiss town to have trade representatives resident in foreign cities.
A few more words regarding the books in the library—they are ranged on floor-to-ceiling shelves. Its list of cultural treasures includes more Irish manuscripts than in Dublin. There are 15 handwritten examples including a Latin manuscript of the Gospels dating from 750. Other works include an astronomical textbook written in 300 BC; copies made in the 5th century of works by Virgil, Horace, and other classical authors; texts written by the Venerable Bede in his original Northumbrian language, and the oldest book to have survived in German, dating from the 8th c. There is also a 2.3 meter-high globe depicting both celestial and earthly maps.
Before touring the monastery complex, we had lunch at the Bierfalken restaurant, and I added St. Gallen Bratwurst topped by a dark brown sauce (a milder form of Bratwurst and supplemented by a good potato salad and mixed salad) to new things to have sampled in Switzerland. Kuby’s Wurstteller in Dallas still outdoes itself on the sausage plates, and will be hard to beat.
After seeing the monastery complex, we took a train to Chur, in the canton of Graubünden. We walked through the main street in town, and proceeded right to the hotel, where we found our luggage had been delivered. After freshening up, we had dinner, as described earlier. And now, before the gray cells dwindle to nothing, let me bid you a fond adieu. Off to Brig tomorrow. Stay tuned! As ever, SV
Jealous you got to tour a monastery complex...definitely wish I could have joined you for that. Sounds really fantastic to see all of those manuscripts as well. When I'm in LA we should go tour the Huntington Gardens and Library together, which also has great manuscripts.
ReplyDeleteKeep having a great time!