17 April 2009

Bodensee Day 2: Rheinfall & Stein am Rhein



We set out pretty early to get to Rheinfall. After driving around in circles for about an hour because of a closed road, we finally crossed the Swiss border. It was only a short drive beyond that. We found parking and walked through the unimpressive town to the Rheinfall, which was huge and loud and really beatiful. It's hard to capture the scale with photos or even video. You can see the people standing on top of the large rock to the right, which helps a little, but you really needed to be there. Unfortunately it was packed, but not nearly as packed as when we left. We were dumbfounded by the number of cars and tourists that arrived just a short time after we did. It was Easter Sunday, so we guessed that everyone must've just gotten out of church.

Anyway, it was a great start to the day! Afterward, we followed the Rhein to Stein am Rhein, which was a really cute, quaint town. The painted facades were especially beautiful. We stopped by the river for a bit, which was nice. It is much cleaner down south than it is up north. Then we continued on through the mountains. Pretty much just taking the most scenic route back.


On the walk to the Rheinfall


Rheinfall statistics

An 18 second noisy panorama. It's hard to capture the feeling you get being there.










A few panoramas




Stein am Rhein, Switzerland









A mountain stream somewhere in Austria

On the way home

That was our trip! We passed through three countries in one day. How about that!

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