Day 3 Appenzell

Today we learned even more about cheese. We went to the big Appenzeller cheese factory, where they make large quantities of cheese. We could view the whole process through windows on the upper floor.

Shaun counted up the curing cheese, 13,200. They had a big machine that would take a board of cheeses, brush it with brine, rotate it and put it back. It would only stay here for a few weeks and then it would be sent to a cureing house for the rest of the time. this cheese is shipped all over the world.Next we went for a little walk up the hill to where that little swiss flag is.
Just a picture of the view on the way up. There are troughs like this all over Switzerland, usually with water flowing into it. You can get a drink or water your animals, very useful.

Once we reached the flag there was a lookout, from that lookout we could see Germany (Hi Heike) behind the church steeple.

And Austria, the little blue mountains in the background.

This is all of our group. The oldest was 82, the youngest 11. Our guide is front and center a native Swiss. They were from all over the U.S. CA, AZ, TX, MN, KY, NJ, MA, NH, of course AR, and Australia.
After we walked back down we went to a museum, where they had reconstructed a old cheese hut. These were typically in the mountains, people would take their cows up to the higher areas in the summer and the cheese maker would care for the cows for the farmers.
A man came into the hut and demonstrated how they would make cheese in these huts, although we found out later that he wasn't completely accurate. (see Day 11) When he had strained all the cheese he poured some whey in a pitcher so we could try it. It was sweet and a little like skim milk.
These mannequins depict the traditional ceremony that takes place in the spring when they take the cows up the mountains. They will ring the bells together to scare away the winter spirits.
This is just an interesting photo, we would see poles like these every once in a while and wondered what they were. As we looked a little closer we noticed the angles at the tops of the poles. We came to the conclusion that they are survey poles for a new house, and the angles are for the peaks of the house. We saw several homes under construction and they used cranes to build them.