The first photo is a Christmas Tree made out of Bummel, a local treat which is basically a molasses cookie mixed with gingerbread cookie and cinnamon; but is quite firm. In the tourist shoppes they paint little pictures on it and charge ALOT ($15 euros for one 20-inch square) but we bought some in the grocery store (without the paintings) for about $3 euros. It is delicious and a favourite snack for Morgan & Meadow.
Appenzell is one of the beer capitols of Switzerland and they make many types that you can only buy in their town (Mike bought a couple to try.) The cow statue promotes a brewery and there are many of these on the roofs of houses and businesses too...in really random places. The 2nd and 3rd pics are of breweries too.
The naked lady is actually a very intricate wood carving which is very popular here and she is looking into a mirror. It was impossible to get a good photo but the details were really amazing! The picture of faceless hairdo`s was painted on the front window of a Hair Salon and you had to guess which celebrity the hair belonged to...I put the answers there too if you want to try it out. The whole bay window of the salon had this painting on it.
The last picture of the advertisement was to show you the long, dangling earing of the local sheep herder. I think it`s the traditional dress of the area but we were told that the earing is actually very popular and shows great status and `coolness`if you can imagine. Don`t be surprised if Mike & Morgan come home trailing one...ha ha! (Lianne)