I have not forgotten my commitment to completing this blog. However, a couple of days after I returned from Switzerland, my desktop computer, in a sputtering, noisy escapade mimicking Mimi's death scene, bid adieu to this world. Recovery from that frustrating (and expensive) experience distracted me temporarily. But now that the photos and files are safely loaded onto the new computer, I can return to telling the tales of the trip. And so...

On occasion, Switzerland's visitors happen upon any of a number of little burgs where their fantasies (perhaps I mean stereotypes) of a Swiss village are brought to life.

For example, between Vitznau and Klausenpass we drove through Altendorf, where the (assumed) local connections to William Tell was depicted everywhere. Much of the town's village center resembled a stylized medieval alpine village. The attention to detail worked on us: the architecture was so compelling that we stopped to take a 15-minute walk around before heading on our way.

Our final destination of this Swiss sojourn was Appenzell, which lies close to Switzerland's northeast corner, not far from Liechtenstein, in the northern foothills of the Alps. After crossing over Klausenpass, we approached Appenzell over a less dramatic pass and seemed to be gliding into the valley. Even if the region's hills and mountains lacked some of the jagged grandeur we had left in the higher alps, here we were greeted by a luscious, undulating sea of green, dotted with farmsteads. The perimeter's mountains still rose majestically skyward, even if not to heights that challenged the imagination.

Appenzell, like Altendorf, seemed to be caught in an alpine time-warp. Its business district centers around a busy square, but many of its shops line pedestrian walkways that spoke outward from this hub. The village storefronts would look kitschy in most environs, but they so match the Swiss mystique that their charm was captivating. Appenzell's prices are also a bit less choking, so we felt a little more at ease in eating dinners.

Culturally, the Appenzell region shares much in common with a New England towns. Each year the town square hosts a gathering of all the citizens, where they vote on taxes and referendums. The parallels with New England's town meetings were unavoidable. The region is among Switzerland's most conservative; women were granted the right to vote in these annual gatherings only in 1990 (and then only in answer to a court order).

We also found fewer speakers of English in this region than elsewhere, and even native German speakers often find Appenzellers' accents difficult to wade through.

This double-whammy language barrier led to a bit of confusion. Toby and I, in our broken German, thought we had booked our hotel for two nights. Instead our German-speaking hostess misunderstood and thought we only wanted to stay a single night. She was already booked solid for our second night, so we obligingly uprooted ourselves and moved 2 blocks away to another (more upscale, similarly priced) hotel.

Really, we were none-the-worse for the experience. Travel requires flexibility.

Clouds and showers hemmed in our options on our last full day in Switzerland. We had considered taking a hike up into the Appenzeller hills, but the weather instead gave us an opportunity to visit St. Gallen, the largest city in the region.

The St. Gallen Cathedral is an ornately filigreed baroque church that anchors the campus of the St. Gallen Abbey, which was established circa 613. This was the era of the Holy Roman Empire, and bishops ruled from this spot for centuries as regents over the region.

Eventually the government was secularized, and now the city of St. Gallen has become a shopping hub for this corner of Switzerland. Even in the midst of showers, the street market remained busy.

On Sunday, we drove back to Zurich, and all but Toby boarded a flight back to Boston. (Toby caught a train for France to spend a few more days on the Continent.) But the blog is not finished yet. I will fill you in on some of the impressions (and some of the food) in a final entry coming up. Until then, tchüss!