Switzerland 2018

After spending most of the morning on the Island of Mainau in Konstanz, Germany, we headed back to the car and drove over the border into Switzerland!  My brother-in-law Joachim wanted me to see Rheinfall, a large waterfall reminiscent of Niagara Falls.  It’s absolutely beautiful, and huge:  it’s Europe’s largest waterfall!  According to Joachim the falls are very tame right now.  In the Spring, during the snow meltoff, the water is much higher and the sound is deafening!

As we walked from the parking area I could start to see and hear the falls in the distance:

       

I loved the swan lazily swimming around.  I zoomed in past the swan with my 300mm lens to see the people on the balcony over the falls:

      

As we got closer I could hear and see the falls better, and see the beautiful castle [Schloss Laufen, built in year 858 – OMG] overlooking the falls on the right:

       

I kept seeing a boat dropping people off at a rock in the middle of the falls – I zoomed in and could see a series of stairs, ladders, and platforms for premier falls viewing:

      

Here’s a different angle showing how small the people look compared to the rocks – can you see them in the lower left corner of the first pic?  The whole thing was such an amazing sight to see:

       

We had a wonderful lunch of salad and mineral water, where we could see and hear the falls.  After lunch we walked around to the side of the falls and up some stairs to a different viewing angle:

      

I loved the standalone rock formations carved by the water.  The rock with the Swiss flag on it is the one the boat was bringing people to:

       

Here’s a great photo my brother-in-law took of me and my beautiful sister:

It was neat to see the falls from the side.  I heard a guide telling people the sign in the middle of the falls measures the historically high water levels in 1880 and 1963:

      

Then it was back to the car and back to Nürtingen, Germany, where my sister and brother-in-law live.  I was SO HOT & POOPED after walking around the Island of Mainau and Rheinfall!  It was a very hot day [mid-80’s] and we were in the sun a lot more than I’m used to:

Thank god for 100SPF!  And hats.  I was also still tired from climbing the church tower in Ulm and the path up to Hohentwiel.  But it was all worth it.  I slept VERY WELL that night!

I love southern Germany – it’s so cool to be driving along and see a random castle [2nd pic]:

      

My brother-in-law promised me the following day, Thursday, would be a no-travel day.  A “rest” day of a sort.  I say “YAY!!!  You mean a relax day?” [Jim and I are VERY FOND of relax days during vacation] and Joachim laughed and said “you’ll see”.  And you’ll see during my next post!  Hint:  It was NOT a relax day.  But they did let me sleep in until 10am, which was AWESOME.