obnoxious crowds | The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

I don’t know how, but somehow we missed Rheinfall (Rhine Falls) the first time we lived in Germany. In fact, I’m sorry to say that I never heard of it until we moved here the second time, two years ago. I’m glad we finally found out about this magnificent waterfall in Switzerland. It would have been a real shame not to have seen it at least once. It has the distinction of being Europe’s largest plain waterfall.

After last weekend’s successful outing to Riquewihr, France with our dogs, Zane and Arran, I decided this weekend, I wanted to go to Switzerland. I gave some thought to enjoying an overnight in Schaffhausen, which is a decent sized town near the waterfall. I looked at places to stay, but finally gave up on the idea when I realized that Rheinfall is really not that far from Unterjettingen, which is where we’re living. On a good day with normal traffic flow, it takes less than two hours to drive there. We woke up to pleasant temperatures and sunshine today, so it seemed like the perfect day to visit.

We loaded up the dogs, packed some water and a bowl for them, and set off for Switzerland down A81. I was enjoying the beautiful scenery as we headed further south, at least until we hit the first of several Staus (traffic jams).

If you are driving and don’t already have one, you’ll need to stop and buy a vignette, unless you plan to stay on secondary roads. They cost 40 Swiss francs, though you can also pay for them in euros. The sticker for 2016 is good until January 31, 2017. Otherwise, you can also easily reach Rheinfall by train. There is a station literally right by the falls.

Rheinfall is literally just a few miles into Switzerland. We already had a vignette because we visited Switzerland in December 2015. We figured we might as well get our money’s worth. Once you reach the Rheinfall area, you have to decide if you want to visit the north shore or the south. We chose the north shore because of the dogs; it’s basically a public area.

The south shore has a castle on its grounds which offer attractions. We parked at the first lot we encountered. Today was a very busy day. I watched the lot quickly filling up as Bill went to pay for three hours of parking. As the lot was filling up, Zane and Arran were whining and annoying a couple of women trying to have a conversation near us. That was the worst of their behavior today. Again, euros or francs are accepted for parking, though people seemed to be very confused by the machine where the tickets were dispensed. Bill paid five euros for three hours (2 CHF per hour).

Once we paid for parking and I made use of the free bathroom facilities, we started the fifteen minute walk to the waterfall. Those who don’t want to walk can take a little train/tram thing. It costs money to ride the train, but it takes you all the way to the bottom of the waterfall. Those who have mobility problems may want to consider taking the train. There are lots of steps and hills to climb.

Bill checks out the city map in Neuhausen, which is the community where the north shore of the river is located.

Along with many, many other people, we made our way down the steep hill to the river. The place was teeming with people and quite a few had brought their dogs with them. Zane and Arran made fast friends with a friendly beagle. I was pleased to discover there was no entrance fee to see the waterfall. You just have to pay for parking.

My first few dramatic views of the falls… They were beautiful, loud, powerful, and putting off a refreshing spray.

It was about 12:45 when we arrived and I was feeling pretty hungry. Luckily, there was a very expensive snack bar handy. I sat down with the dogs and Bill went to fetch us some lunch.

For some reason, lots of people were posing with this fake cow. I decided not to because I figured it would be asking for trouble.

Bill brought me a nice locally produced Swiss beer. This is a Falken lager, made in Schaffhausen. It was kind of a nice change of pace. Didn’t taste like a German beer. It had more of a malty flavor.

We also had very fresh butter pretzels and brats. Bill bought a bottle of water for the dogs. All of this cost about 33 francs, which is roughly $33. Switzerland is expensive! Budget conscious folks may prefer to bring a picnic lunch. On the plus side, this simple lunch was restorative. I felt a lot better after we ate. Zane made friends with an adorable little Indian girl of about two who bravely came over to pet him. She was a lot more courageous than the little Dutch kids they met last weekend.

More dramatic shots of the falls. Notice the rock in the middle. You can take a boat out to the rock and climb up. We didn’t do it because we had the dogs and because the rock was *teeming* with people. It was very obnoxiously crowded!

Obligatory shot of bearded Bill posing in front of the falls.

And one last shot right in the center.

This is a train that takes people to and from the falls.

I got a kick out of this sign in several different languages warning people of death.

We walked around a bit, but soon got tired of the extreme crowds and heat. We walked up a gently sloping road instead of the extremely crowded steps we walked down to get to the bottom of the falls. I think the road is probably the better way to access the waterfront at the bottom of the falls. It’s a lot less crowded, not as steep, and you don’t have to contend with people paying closer attention to their phones than where they’re going.

But before we walked back up, I stopped in the bathroom and got a kick out of another sign. This one was explaining how to use the toilet properly. It was entirely in English. I noticed that the people before me didn’t follow directions very well.

FYI: An elevator is available. You can take an elevator from the train station to the access road we walked up on, and then this elevator from the road to the bottom of the falls. This is another option for those who don’t want to bother with the steep hill or crowds.

Soon, we were back on the way to Germany! We got home at about 4:00pm.

It was great to finally see Rheinfall. If we’d wanted to, we could have found plenty to do all day there. The area is very dog friendly, although I’m not sure how dog friendly the castle on the south shore is. I did read on TripAdvisor that dogs are welcome all over the area. Had it been less crowded, maybe we would have tested out that theory a bit more. Today, it was just overrun with people! But we did have a good time and it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Maybe we’ll visit again in the fall. I bet it’s beautiful there when the leaves are changing colors.

Pro-tip: If you plan to use your cell phone in Switzerland, remember that it’s not part of the EU and roaming charges could add up quickly. I went through about 54 Euros in less than a couple of hours.

Sunday morning, we woke up in Seefeld. My back was a bit sore, probably because I’m used to sleeping on a feather bed. The mattress at Hotel Diana was a bit firmer than that which my old back is accustomed. I had taken a shower the night before and enjoyed it. Hotel Diana doesn’t have a rainfall shower like the Moorhof in Franking did, but it was very clean and got great water pressure. Unfortunately, my shoulders and hips were a little stiff.

We got dressed and went down to the breakfast room. One of the ladies who had waited on us the night before was there in her dirndl. I went to sit down, but she directed me to a different table, one in the middle of the dining room. For some reason, there was “assigned seating”. Before I could stop myself, I shot her a filthy look. I can understand assigned seating when someone is serving you a full meal, but not for a breakfast buffet, especially since where I was about to sit was already set for two. Poor Bill. He caught the brunt of my side eye. You’ll be glad to know that I didn’t make a scene, though.

We sat down at the assigned table in the middle of the dining room, and enjoyed the usual breakfast spread. Hotel Diana offers meats, cheeses, cereals, juices, tea and coffee, as well as breads. I was feeling a bit peeved about the waitress’s militant sticklerism for where we sat, so we decided to take a walk around Seefeld so I could burn off some steam.

Hotel route.

This church was connected to the Klosterbrau Hotel. Very expensive digs!

This is a town that is custom made for ski holidays. I saw lots of people skiing down the slopes with artificial snow (for now). People were ice skating, too. If we’d wanted to, we could have hired a carriage ride. I’m pretty sure most of the horses we saw were Haflingers, which is a breed native to the area. All those hours I spent as a horse crazy kid studying horse breeds has paid off here in Europe, where I often see horses I never saw in the States. Anyway, they were all well looked after and appeared to enjoy their work and the horsey aroma helped lift my spirits. It was very cold on Sunday and all the cars had frost on them…

As you can see, someone took advantage of the frost. This was parked right in front of a five star spa hotel. I’m not sure why someone drew a penis on this person’s car. It was funny to see, though. Maybe it wouldn’t have been had it been my car.

One thing to know about Seefeld is that on Sundays, things are open. There’s a huge Spar market next to Hotel Diana, as well as a smaller one near the center of town. Most of the souvenir shops appeared to be open, too. Bill and I didn’t do much shopping, though, unless you count the wine and liqueurs we bought.

There was an impressive assortment of funny boozes…

We had plans to visit the Swarovski Crystal World in Wattens. I had gone there alone on a tour with the Edelweiss Lodge back in June 2009. I thought it was a really interesting place and figured Bill would love it. I suggested that we go together, since we were conveniently located nearby. Bill was game, though getting down the steep mountain road to get to the autobahn was a bit scary. I’ll write more about that in a later post. Suffice to say that if you have plans to stay in Seefeld, your car must have good brakes!

Crystal World was pretty busy on Sunday. Bill and I happened to arrived at the same time as a large group of Russian tourists, who arrived in a late model luxury SUV. The women were all dressed to the nines and a couple were wearing fur. They seemed excited to be there and oblivious to everyone else. In fact, they got in line ahead of us. One of the ladies, doused in some kind of pungent cologne, was excitedly directing her husband which tickets to buy. It turned out they were in the wrong line, though, since there were sixteen of them.

The museum costs 19 euros per adult if you’re not in a group However, you do get a little break if you spend money in the shop at the end of the tour. I came away from there with three new pairs of earrings. I might have bought more, but the store was pretty mobbed and I was getting a bit stressed out by the aggressive crowds. Besides, as much as I like sparkly stuff, I don’t tend to take good care of my “pretties” as Bill puts it. I’m not good about dusting and almost never entertain, so buying pretty knickknacks is kind of a waste of money for me.

Near the entrance.

Crystal World was just as cool as it was when I visited in 2009, though the throngs of people made it somewhat difficult to enjoy everything fully. Lots of folks were stopping to take selfies and pictures of the exhibits. I didn’t take any selfies, but I did snap a few photos to go with the ones I took in 2009. The exhibits are mostly the same, though I did see a few different ones this time. It’s a great place to go with kids. They do have reduced admission prices and family prices available.