So day 3 and we are re-entering our holiday routine of me waking an hour or so before the girls then going out to explore and buy croissants. The girls are not one for mornings and I normally return to wherever we are staying to find them still in bed and then have to sulk for an hour or so until they get up but this morning they are both awake when I get back to our rather nice hostel.
Admittedly they are somewhat in darkness because before I went to sleep last night I managed to knock the light off my bedside table, break the bulb and fuse all the power, but who needs electric light when it’s sunny?
Finally summer!
Suzy managed to leave vital supplies of makeup at home (better than almost leaving one of the bikes like I did she’s kind enough not to remind me of) so our first stop is to a Clinique dealer in Staffhausen where she is able to replenish her supplies. Quite a fancy looking pharmacy…
After buying a pharmacy (judging by the price) our next stop is Tourist Information where an outwardly pleasant young chap tells Suzy the best route to take to see the best of the Rhine Falls and of we go for the short cycle ride. Unfortunately the route he suggested is closed, there is a diversion which takes us up what I’m pretty sure is a Cat 1 climb prior to cycling along a busy main road into the tourist centre of the Rhinefalls.
Of course we choose to first climb the road, stop just short of the sign which would have told us we were going the right way then have a row. We then descended back to the original diversion sign so I can show it to Suzy, then re-climb the hill once she finds another person to tell her not only is it the right way but it is worth it for the view.
There is no view.
When we finally reach the falls and negotiate the queues they are, according to Millie “the best water falls she’s ever seen”. (Although that was delivered with a pout as she claims not be a fan of waterfalls. Who knew?)
On leaving the Rheinfalls we push our bikes for a bit (as there are strict rules about riding bikes on the footpaths, which other cyclists seem keen to enforce) and then we’re off to our AirBnB place in Wagonhausen, just across the river from the famously pretty Stein am Rhein.
The weather is perfect, 22 degrees with blue skies and we follow the Rhine back to Stein am Rhein all accompanied by the sound of cowbells ringing in encouragement. Actual cowbells! On Cows! It’s like we are in an advert for the Swiss tourist board, complete with Suzy singing Edelweiss in the background until we ask her to stop.
In Wagenhausen we have rented a whole house right on the banks of the Rhine (via AirBnB). Well we sort of have a whole house, George is there to greet us at his house and he welcomes his sweaty travelers with a cold beer before giving ius the tour. Although we have the whole house he tells us there is a lodger who lives in the basement who he assures us we’ll never see. Georg himself has the top floor so we may see him as his stairs pass through our floor.
What we have actually got is a floor in his house, sort of like an apartment with it’s own kitchen, lounge, bathroom and balcony. If I’m being honest it’s not absolutely spotless but there’s a cracking view of the Rhine and George is lovely. We go for a paddle in the river when we get there and I wish that we’d stayed longer. (He tells me that during the summer kids float down the Rhine in inflatable boats all the way to Schaffhausen, which sounds idyllic. Although presumably if you went much further than Staffhausen you’d plunge to your deaths over the Rheinfall.)
Sitting out on George’s balcony overlooking Stein am Rhein with Hohenklingen Castle in the background is a marvellous end to the day.
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