A Fall trip to Switzerland

 Our visit to St. Gallen became a fateful experience.  We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and found our Airbnb apartment where we expected to stay for the next six days.  From here we could easily take daytrips by train the visit the Bodensee to the north (on the border with Germany) and visit the scenic mountains to the south at Appenzell and Wasserauen.  We then did food shopping (Sunday and only a grocery at the bahnhof was open) and went for a walk to explore the city.  A cog train ride, Muhleggbahn, takes you to a ridge overlooking the city.  At the top is a scenic walking path, "wanderweg", with a series of three ponds and recreation facilities along the trail, Drei Weieren recreation area. 

A couple days later, Wasserauen was our destination by train (end of the line) and then by a cable car to Ebenalp, at 5380 feet altitude, the northern most peak of the Appenzeller Alps, on a high ridge.  A lodge at Ebenalp serves meals and snacks or even an overnight stay.  Several trails fan out for hiking to mountain crest locations.  There is also a steep open meadow with windsocks which is popular for launching by paragliders.  Great views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

Approaching Ebenalp.  At the very top center of this photo, if you look closely, you will see a building; that is where the cable car takes you and where the paragliders launch from.

This is a more close-up view of Ebenalp.

And here is a paraglider launching from Ebenalp.  This is not a ski slope, as vertical cliffs surround the area.

To get to Wasserauen we needed to change trains at Appenzell.  The town was full of visitors and also cows.  Not sure what the purpose was of this gathering, but the parking lot across from the Appenzell brewery was full of cows in secured close order.  The next day, the same area held a gathering of goats.  A scenic river runs through the town, and we noticed signs marking the routes for several bike trails.  The AB bahnhof there had e-bikes for rent; thus, we made reservations for the following day.

The town of Appenzell, perhaps best known for its scenery and its brewery.

We returned to Appenzell the following day and picked up our rented e-bikes.  We took a pleasant, mainly paved trail and rode our bikes back to Wasserauen and beyond.  At the head of this scenic valley, it becomes a narrow and steep gorge leading upward to a lake and, above that, a naked rock peak with banks of snow in areas more sheltered in the shadows of cliffs.  End of the trail for our bikes. 

The cutest little church in the most scenic location in the valley of Wasserauen.

The green fields look like a carpet covering the entire valley, no crops but pastures for cows, sheep, and goats.

Time for one more photograph before we head back to Appenzell.

We headed back by a different path rising above the valley, diverted into a new area to explore, and then found our way back to Appenzell for refreshments and a potty stop.  Heading west out of Appenzell to follow a new route, Dawn took a serious fall on the cobblestone paving and, effectively, our entire vacation was over.

After the arrival of an emergency ambulance, she spent the next nine nights in the St. Gallen Kantonsspital where she was stabilized, and pain control was achieved (after four days).  The initial question was whether she would need surgery there in Switzerland or could she be moved back to the US.  Upon arrival at the hospital, I was asked to provide an immediate 12,000 Swiss franc deposit.  My job was to take care of the logistics of her hospitalization and start planning for our return to the United States if possible.  The medical care there was excellent.

Once I could see that some measure of pain control and stabilization was achieved, I was able to contact Delta Airlines (our most convenient connection) by telephone and arrange wheelchair service and first-class seating for our flights home.  Due to the hip fracture, Dawn could not walk.  Due to her severe elbow fracture (impacted, displaced, comminuted) and resulting cast, she could not wear normal shirts or sweaters.  We could only wrap garments around her.  Zurich airport transfer went well.  Going through security at JFK airport was a nightmare; they expected her to walk and ignored her when she couldn't.

However, part of that time we were simply waiting for her condition to improve with nothing I could do to speed it up.  I was able to take a couple of daytrips by train to visit Rorschach, Haiden, and Winterthur.

The central platz in St. Gallen.  If I panned to the right, there is a large cathedral complex with several buildings.  The interior of the cathedral is very beautiful, but after you have seen a number of such cathedrals, they start to look alike.

Fall was in full force while we stayed in St. Gallen.  I walked through this area every day walking between my hotel (after moving from our Airbnb) and Dawn's hospital room.  The Talhof festival began the day before we left the area.

Rorschach is on the shores of Bodensee, alternately called Lake Constance, which is a large lake separating Switzerland from Germany.  Haiden is visited using a cog train; it is a small town at higher altitude from which, on a clear day, you have a vista of almost the entire Bodensee and into Germany.  Winterthur is a larger city to the west which has a large fussganger district (pedestrian only) with many small, specialized shops and interesting displays.  Nearby are also pleasant green park areas.

My visit to Haiden was a bust as far as seeing distant views.  The town was socked-in, immersed in a cloud bank.

Our trip back to the States was long and tiring.  We had arranged a van with wheelchair to get us to Zurich, and we were met with wheelchair service at Zurich, New York, and Denver airports.  Now Dawn needs surgery, convalescence, and then we head for Washington, DC to see our grandchildren at Christmas.