We went to the castle side of the river - the upper right side of this picture to see the falls essentially from the top. VERY nice view. We could have walked over on the tramway and down to the bottom portion of that picture to see the falls from the bottom, but really? After climbing all those stairs it wasn't really on my mind and it was also about 5pm by the time we decided to head back to the house.
So let's start this day - the comment was made we would leave the house at 10:30 which means we leave the house more like 11:30 by the time we backtrack to find things we have forgotten and need to go back in and get etc.. So - on the road. There was quite a bit of traffic, lots of stop and go on the autobahn - there was one HUGE accident on the north bound side where a car had flipped and crunched the top, front and BACK of their car... hope the folks survived... the car in the middle looked intact but the door had to be pried open to get them out apparently. ouch! That traffic was backed up for about 20km. WOW!
what are you looking at? You are looking between the two fence posts at the pointy mountain/hill in the distance. Why? I was thinking "that would be a COOL place to have a castle"
Turns out it WAS a cool place to have a castl and there are ruins up there.. would be a heck of a hike up there to see them... but it was cool to drive past them on the autobahn There were two ruins in the local area. I didn't get pictures of the other as they were on the other side of the car.
Fields, fields everywhere!
We saw lots of wheat fields being harvested, lots of corn fields getting close to being ready to harvest and even some apple orchards with green and red apples ripening in the sun. Well I say we, but it was really ME looking out and about while Butch drove.
So - even with a very large shoulder they will create a lane in the middle for emergency vehicles - weird, eh? it IS nice when there are no shoulders - you KNOW if you need an ambulance to assist you that one will be able to get through no matter what. I DO like that about Germany!
Truckers don't wear clothing much here... seriously - the guy in the cab has what appears to be swim trunks on... the guy talking to him? Lordie... that belly!!! That took some time and effort to grow!!! But once pointed it out to me I noted that most truckers are shirtless in the their cabs. How very strange... but I'm sure they are quite comfortable! Maybe they don't have A/C in the trucks or it takes their milage down too far? Who knows... very strange indeed.
Entrance to Shloss Laufen
Laufen Castle (German: Schloss Laufen) is a castle in the municipality of Laufen-Uhwiesen in the Swiss canton of Zurich. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance[2] overlooking the Rhine Falls.
The first documented reference to the castle dates to the year 858 when it was the home of the Barons of Laufen. It passed through several owners until the Old Zürich War (1439-1450) when the castle was acquired by the Fulach family, from whom the city of Zurich bought the castle in 1544. Following the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803) the castle was once again in private ownership, with the city of Zurich reacquiring the castle by buying it again in 1941.[1]
The castle now serves as a tourist attraction, and contains a restaurant and a youth hostel. Between 2009 and 2010 a project was undertaken to restore and expand the facilities, including a visitors’ centre situated in the former staff quarters, an exhibition in the northern part of the castle, and a wheelchair-accessible circular walkway with glass lift between castle and river levels.[3] Laufen is overlooking Wörth Castle, on the opposite side of the Rhein river, in the Canton of Schaffhausen.
The Rheinfall railway line passes through a tunnel under the castle, halting at the Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall station to the south of the tunnel and beneath the castle walls. The station is linked to the castle by a walkway.
Starting to walk out to the falls... you can HEAR them... and you can get glimpses of them through the brush...
And then, there they are! WOW
There is one observation deck that you have to go through a small cave and into a small room over the water to view the falls - Notice that not very many people are wearing masks and NO ONE is doing social distancing at all. I'll be a little paranoid about my exposure once I get home for a while, I'm sure...
We wore our masks when we would be in close contact with people but I have to touch hand rails - why? I have ZERO balance and the neuropathy in my feet make me very unsteady going up/down stairs. It's sad but I have to hold onto something to make it up stairs unless they are perfectly smooth and standard steps.... on the side of a mountain they are none of those things... so I'm very "tippy" to say the least - so my hands touched a LOT of surfaces. I was very aware of this and used my hand sanitizer a LOT but it was still a concern with close quarters... i even put my back to people when we used the ONE elevator on the last few flights of stairs going back up. Honestly I trust NO ONE during this time!!
Back out in sunshine and the lowest observation deck.
ANNNDDDD going back up again...
The water is beautiful and clear and I assume cold
This door way says 1778 - wish there wasn't so much graffiti and such on it.. sad.
There was a small history area that was a self guided tour - this model shows the observation areas - the small one jutting out from the cave in the middle and the long one right over the water. All well worth the hike to the bottom of the hill! The elevator only cuts off the area from about 1/2 way up... and it's tucked on the other side of the hill.
THIS is what happens when you can tour a place with no supervision - you open windows for better pictures of the river. The windows were highly tinted so opening the window was the ONLY way to get a good picture of the beautiful river. Can you imagine living in this castle? What a view!!
And of course we had to sign the guest book!
Proof that we were there on August 1st 2020
SUPER pretty place. We will definitely go back again for day trips with visitors as it's not that far away!
The drive back was a bit calmer for me - all the traffic jams were long gone and I was able to zip on home without any delays! And thanks to the Waze app - no tickets :)
