Schaffhausen and the Rhinefall

Today was pretty awesome. We started off with a lovely breakfast and headed up to the very north of Switzerland, to see the Rhinefall, Schaffhausen, the fort that protected Schaffhausen (Munot?), and Therese’s other aunt. We started out at the Rhinefall, which is a lot larger than it looks from the riverbank. There are two major channels that the water crashes through and several smaller channels closer to river right. We took a boat out to the island between the two major channels, and from the top of the rock/island, we could see the tons more (small) drops that lead up to the falls. While I would guess that the river drops about 30m or so, it was a little tough to tell through the mist and huge tails at the bottom of the falls. After a sufficient amount of time crammed on a rock with a ton of other tourists, we took the boat back across the river and then took another boat to a trail that goes around the top of the falls. On the cliff beside the falls, there’s a castle dating to the 1500s, which now serves as some restaurants and a youth hostel (hostelling in a castle sounds like fun). The cloud cover had been on and off by the time we went for our brief walk, so, of course, it began to rain when we were at the farthest point of our jaunt.

We eventually got back to the car and drove into town. We strolled through the old part of town and ate lunch above a department store (hooray for fruits, oats, and salad). The town was gearing up for the 1^st of August (Swiss Confederacy Day or some such) by hanging banners belonging to each of the regions/groups that joined to become Switzerland. The sun came out for the afternoon and shoppers followed suit. We headed up to a fortress that provided housing for all the townspeople in case of medieval attack, and it was very pleasant. We had a nice view of the town, the old city wall, and the Rhine from the top. There was also (amusingly) a small herd of deer in the ring around the fortification.

Back in the city, we stopped by a cloister with a beautiful garden adjacent to an equally lovely protestant church (the first of the trip, I think). From there, it was back to the train and Zurich. We had a few hours to get chocolate, a Swiss watch (not originally part of the plan, but good for getting rid of francs), look (unsuccessfully) for “Swiss-looking” espresso cups, and grab a (tasty) beer. Packed this evening, and off tomorrow.

Zurich

We’re graciously being hosted by Therese’s aunt and uncle, who live just outside of Zurich. We’re being treated to breakfasts, dinners, and some good conversation. This morning, we went into Zurich (in the rain) for a city tour, complements of Therese. Most of the shopping places are closed for Sunday, which is kind of nice. From the train station, we went up to the University to get a broad view of old Zurich. We wandered down the narrow, bricked streets which house a large portion of the shopping district. We walked along the river and into one of the larger churches in the area. By that point, I was pretty damp, thanks to a delaminating rain shell. I suppose I shouldn’t be too bitter, since it did last through many a college adventure and the bike trip.

We stopped by the art museum, which had some lovely stuff. (My favorites were a huge piece by Monet, some Marc Chagall, a Van Gogh, and, surprisingly, a piece by Cy Twombly.) There were a surprising number of things there for the (relatively) small size of the museum. After the museum, we went back to the main Zurich train station to get delicious hotdogs (take an impaled baguette, put sauce(s) in the hole, and ram a similar-to-a-hot-dog sausage through the sauce). I got mine with mustard and an especially delicious “garlic” sauce. We got dessert from Spignoli(?) - a super awesome pastry/chocolate place that’s pretty famous. I don’t remember what they were called, but we got these tiny cookie-sandwich type things (hazelnut, cappuccino, and champagne-deluxe) with the cookie parts made out of something like a macaroon and the filling being super creamy and rich. Once fed, we headed to the water. Lake Zurich, to be precise. We took a short round-trip cruise on one of the commuter ships, and though it was rainy, Zurich and the other cities that surround the lake were quite beautiful.

Some really great green beans, potatoes, sausage, bacon, and smoky tenderloin(?) for dinner, thanks to Therese’s aunt. After-dinner entertainment was the women’s world cup, and while Solo and Wambach are still my current soccer-heroes, it was a sad end to the night. Tomorrow we go further north to meet with another of Therese’s aunts. Soon we’ll be US-bound; I would not mind staying here a bit longer, but alack.

The Juras

Day two of Ali-and-I-adventuring-off-on-our-own brought us to a “5-hour” hike from Motiers to Ste. Croix and our first summit of a Swiss peak. After a delicious meal at the hostel (bread, cheese, jam, ovomaltine spread, yogurt, coffee) and saying goodbye to our roomies, we caught the train with a suspicious number of other people in hiking gear. The train went through Switzerland’s equivalent of the Midwest – flat, crop-covered, sunny, and altogether frightening when you’re hoping to go for a nice hike. Thankfully, we made it to the Juras (Switzerland’s other mountains – older and more like the Appalachians) in pretty short order.

In Motiers, we got off the train with a ton of other hikers. I filled up my water container at the fountain to let most of the hikers get a lead, and then, we systematically picked off all the slower groups (including several older couples and a giant party of incredibly hungover, incredibly young camper-types). The first quarter of the hike followed a stream up through some beautiful, largely deciduous forest – the kind of stuff Ali and I are more used to. There was an especially glorious section of gorge where we were hiking on planks and the side of some mossy cliffs; unfortunately, we had just passed the hangover-hike, and we didn’t want to dally, lest they catch back up. After the gorge, we hit more crowded underbrush/meadow/cow-pasture type terrain (with one annoying patch of stinging nettle). The meadows continued, with occasional pine forest, until we got to the top of Mt. Chasseron. At the top, there were some rocks perfect for lunching. About 20 other people felt this way, too, but there were plenty of rocks.

The way down started pleasantly enough, more pine + meadow footpath. About a mile down the trail to Ste. Croix, we hit what we now know to be a detour. Instead of going directly down the mountain to the city, we ended up going down a trail toward a different set of cities in (I believe) a different valley, and from there, we’d have to take an ill-maintained trail back over a bit of a ridge to meet up with the old trail. The detour added 2 hours to the hike, which meant (a) Ali’s feet would be in full rebellion by the end of the hike and (b) we would end just in time to train straight to Zurich to meet Therese, nixing our plans for dinner in some new city along the way. The detour shunted us on to a gravel road for way, way too long. The hiking shoes I have right now are lovely for a pair of hiking shoes that were bought out of mild desperation. They are made for softer trail, though – not sharp gravel. And while my feet were just getting tender, Ali’s were killing her. Right before we got on some more footpath, Ali had to switch out of her flip-flops (which had done amazingly well) and back into the trail runners that had caused so many blisters (even though she had broken them in before leaving Wisconsin). Back on the dirt footpath, we climbed up a nicely-forested ridge, through a meadow/some underbrush, and back into the woods before we hit the poorly-maintained bit. We were on the side of a sharp slope, with the bottom part of the trail crumbling into nothingness, hiking on gravel in loose dirt. I think there were a solid ten minutes of downhill where I didn’t want my step to be more than half a foot forward because I would lose my balance. At the bottom of that, there was a bridge with steps broken or completely missing. More brush and meadow followed, until we finally made it to the next sign post. There were three arrows, each pointing a different way. Ste. Croix was listed on two of the arrows. Ali looked ready to kill some Swiss civil engineers. (The people who build and maintain the trail system are engineers employed by the Swiss government.) We picked the trail going down through a cow pasture and made it to Ste. Croix one cow-standoff and 20 minutes later.

From Ste. Croix, we took a commuter train down to Yvonne(?)-les-Baines. The ride down was stunning; we started in the cradle of the Juras and wove our way down the ridgeline, with the farm-lands spreading before us and the outlines of the Alps on the horizon. In Y?, we got some tasty salads (American salad = salad greens + fruit + chicken + turmeric/curry dressing) and chocolate-filled croissants for dinner and headed off to Zurich.