Do Go Chasing Waterfalls

15 September 2018; Saturday
Zurich, Switzerland

So the goal for today was only Rhine Waterfall, the largest waterfall in Europe. I wish I had done a tiny bit more planning as there were several amazing sounding day trips from Zurich to the Swiss Alps for glacier viewing/walking and funiculars and what not - that being said, there are closer cities in Switzerland to the Swiss Alps (Bern, Lucerne, etc.) so it almost makes more sense to do the excursions on the next Eurotrip.

I was still feeling lousy but I got a new box of tissues from the cleaning lady and got ready to rock and roll. As I was leaving the hotel I saw this tall wall from which people were all viewing the city. A bit of a google search revealed that this was Lindenhof, which was home to a Roman Fort in the 4th century and a royal residence to the grandson of Charlemagne in the 9th century. I climbed the steps to the top and enjoyed the view for a moment.

Zurich HB was the point of departure for my train to Rheinfall (Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall to be precise) and I was literally buying the ticket as the train was arriving. Luckily I got it sorted and managed to change trains correctly and arrive at the waterfall myself in about 46 minutes, avoiding paying 54 Euro for a day trip from Zurich. There are two sides to the waterfall, Neuhausen and Schaffhausen. Luckily for me, it is not quite winter yet so the boat service was still running. I arrived in Schaffhausen, the Swiss side, and paid 5 Euro to see the falls. There are several view points both at the top and near the bottom and a nice nature path in between. Next I took a boat to Neuhausen, the German side, and then a second boat to the “island” in the middle, apparently owned by the Swiss (per the flag at the top). It was a steep climb but I was the third from our boat to the top which afforded a good view without so many people interfering. Rheinfall is the largest waterfall in Europe so a very cool site that was definitely worth the trip. It was an interesting perspective to be in the middle of the falls and also right near the crashing water, so close it sprays you. I love listening to the sound of the falls so I appreciated being able to get so close.

I made it back to Zurich right around 445pm which gave me enough time to stop at Teuscher, founded in 1932, for more chocolate (they are famous for their champagne truffles) and Sprungli, founded in 1846, for their macarons (called Luxemburgerli)!

The final goal of the day was to make it to Grossmunster, one of the four major churches in Zurich, to see the stained glass windows and the view from the top of one of the towers. The church was built on top of Zurich’s patron saints, Felix and Regulus, and inaugurated around 1220. The stained glass windows were put in in 1932 by a Swiss artist and are really unique, they look like the inside of those geode rocks with the crystals! You aren’t allowed to take photos from inside but if you google it there are photographs of them. The man at the information desk was really nice and gave me a tower ticket for 1.4 Euro (all I had left) instead of the 5 CHF I was supposed to pay. The climb up began with a narrow stone spiral staircase, not unlike other towers I’ve visited. It continued with several super old and rickety wooden staircases which were at least a little wider. The view from the top was incredible and totally worth the climb (over 200 steps). There are four sections from which you can step out of the top to see the city. I love going to a city and being able to see it all from above!

At this point I was still sweaty, still blowing my nose everywhere, and exhausted. I googled restaurants for dinner and ended up at Raclette Stube but decided against it. It’s got great reviews and smelled AMAZING but it didn’t seem like the correct atmosphere to eat in by myself and I also didn’t want to order an entire bowl of cheese fondue for one. I went with the safest option at that point since I also didn’t want to have to find a place with a menu in english and went back to HILTL. This time I tried the buffet and took it to go! What a wonderful thing.

I set myself up in my PJs with plenty of tissues and watched Jane the Virgin on Netflix while I ate my veggie cuisine and macarons. Cheers to that!