Appenzell had some big clouds hanging about 100 feet over my head, and it was raining. I wished it wasn't raining, but it was my last day, so I made the best of it. You know how you sometimes feel like you're walking around with your head in the clouds? I really was. My little hotel was in a convenient location, so I walked a few blocks into town. Many of the buildings had the traditional painting on them, and most have shutters. This area of Switzerland is so close to Germany, so the style of architecture is very similar to what I saw in Bavaria. Many of the businesses have an ornate metal insignia that hangs perpendicular to their entrance door. It depicts the store's type of business. This comes from long ago when many ... read more

For the last 20 years, I have subscribed to several travel magazines, and I get very excited when a new one arrives. In one of my first travel magazines there was an article about the world's most outstanding train trips. One of the trips was the Orient Express, and it looked interesting, but the trip that won my heart was the Bernina Express. The train starts in Chur, Switzerland, which is very near the border with Liechtenstein. It climbs up through the Alps by way of spiraling tunnels and crosses the Bernina Pass on one of the highest train crossings in the world. Then it descends by way of corkscrew bridges and viaducts into Turino, Italy. I really can't describe the things I saw, but I will post many pictures.For more info, go to www.swisstravelsystem.com/.../Bernina-express-en.html ... read more

I got up early to catch a 7:30 train to Salzburg. Staying right across the street from the train station is great! It was cold and rainy; staying in bed sounded so good, but this was the “scheduled” day for Salzburg. It took about 90 minutes to get there, since it was a regional train that makes several stops, instead of a high-speed express. I had studied the Rick Steves book and the internet, so I knew which city bus to take to get to the heart of town. It's always such a thrill to arrive someplace new and actually realize your plan is going to work! I exited the bus at Mirabell Plaza just in time to be the first and only customer on the Hop-On, Hop-Off tourist bus around town. It was still cold ... read more

I had a little more time to finish looking around in this great little village of Rothenburg. When I first saw it, I immediately thought it looked like a movie set. It's just so hard to believe that a town this old is still intact after so much destruction in Germany's wars. Supposedly, American troops had bombed it during the war, but they missed the center of town. They were later ordered to bomb it again, but there was an American officer who's mother had visited Rothenburg in 1609 and brought back a painting of the old buildings. She told him stories of how much she loved the place, and that painting hung in their dining room during his early life. When word reached him that the town was to be destroyed, he called the right ... read more

Sunday, Sept. 8 I woke up ready to continue my trip and laugh at my stupidity demonstrated last night. The weather was cool as I took off to roam the streets of Bacharach. Since it was Sunday, a few of the shops were closed, but the restaurants were open, and that was important. There were such amazing smells coming from the kitchens, and I was ready to eat. I stopped at a cute, quirky place run by a woman in her mid sixties who spoke very good English. She said that Joe Cocker had performed the night before in an open air amphitheater on top of the Lorelei Cliff very near Bacharach. She and her employees are big fans, so she shut down the restaurant on a Saturday night so they could all go to the ... read more