Säntis & Käse

Last week I went with my friends up to the top of the Santis. SOOO MUCH FUN. You can read about the Santis, HERE. It is the tallest mountain in this region of Switzerland and it is just a hop, skip and a few switchbacks up a mountain away from our house. We rode a lift up to the peak and that was divine. There was a little part at the end that you feel like you might plummet to your death...but other than that I think my jaw was dropped in awe the whole time. It was a tad cloudy that day, but that was okay...I LOVE clouds. However, I would like to go back when its clear. Switzerland is a very beautiful country and no pictures can capture it.

 Uri walking on top of the snow...right before he fell through.

It was quite funny...Claudia trying to hold him while Daniela dried off his snowy shoe.

On the way back down we went through a cloud.

Untitled from Monica Duschletta on Vimeo.

this video makes it look like we are going super slow...but it didn't feel like it.

Untitled from Monica Duschletta on Vimeo.

After the ride up to the Santis, we went to lunch in Appenzell(to remind you, Appenzell is one of my favorite villiages) and then went to the Appenzeller Cheese(Kase) factory. I have been here once before with Jachen, but I LOVE factories and was excited to go again. I learned a lot more about the cheese this time around, my friend Daniela knows her stuff. I tell ya, Switzerland has got it going on in the cheese department. You have not had cheese until you have had Swiss cheese(and not "swiss" cheese...that is fake). I can't wait till you come to Switzerland, I will have already a fridge full of cheese waiting for you to try. A bit about cheese...the longer the cheese sits the stronger the flavor. While I was there a lady gave us a sample of 4month, 5month and 6month aged cheese. sooo delicious, but the 6month was too strong for me, but i tell ya, that 4month is cheese goodness.

See the above? I was standing in the middle of those two pictures above. To my left was a large group of kids having a tour and then all of a sudden to my right a LARGE group of older people came flooding in to see this amazing cheese. It was a funny sight and a joy to be in the middle of it. Literally. ALSO, in the corner of the above picture you can see the cheese stacked up on shelves...I don't know why I didnt take pictures of it, but there they sit till they are ready to move on.

MY FAVORITE ad that is around Switzerland is the Appenzeller Cheese ads. The "thing" about this cheese is that it is a secret recipe...so the ads for this cheese talks about the secrecy and about how people want the secret recipe. The ads have these old men wearing traditional Appenzell clothing and they are SO GREAT. I LOVE these pictures, they are so funny...and cool. Don't you agree? I wish I was friends with those men.

Thanks to Rick Steves you can get your history lesson on Appenzell. AND it makes me sooo excited when he talks about the voting of the men raising their swords...because when we went a few weeks ago, I think I mentioned this on the post about it, we happened to go to Appenzell the day they had their meeting...with the swords. You gotta watch this video. He talks about Appenzell till about 3:30. AND if you want to see more about the Appenzell farmers tradition of bringing their cows up into the mountain, go HERE.