Hipskind European Adventure: Appenzell and Rheinfall

On Sunday, Darren and I attended church for a bit while Mom and Steve had a great brunch at a restaurant called Rüsterei, which was near their hotel.  After that, we met up and headed out to see more sights in Switzerland.  Darren and I had picked out some sights to see,  but we didn't know if they would be fun.  However, Mom and Steve were good guinea pigs and went along for the ride.  First, we drove an hour or so away to the little town of Appenzell.  This is where the Swiss cheese Appenzeller is made.  I really enjoyed the drive through the countryside to reach the town because it featured verdant hillsides, sunny skies, and of course, pretty Swiss cows!  

We toured the little town of Appenzell and discovered it wasn't really that interesting, which was surprising because so many tour books recommend it.  We still had fun walking around on a sunny day, but we were glad we hadn't planned a whole day trip around this town.

Me and Mom in Appenzell

Cute Appenzell buildings

Us by the river that ran through Appenzell

The beautiful countryside we drove through around Appenzell

Since Appenzell didn't take us that long, we still had some time left in the day before we needed to head back for dinner, so we hemmed and hawed about what to do and finally we decided on going to see the Rheinfall.  Rheinfall is a group of waterfalls on the German and Swiss border and is actually the largest in Europe. Darren and I had first seen it on a train on the way to Stuttgart and I remembered it being pretty impressive, but we didn't know anything about visiting it.  We just followed the signs to the waterfalls and were led to a parking lot for Schloss Laufen (Laufen Castle), which is Renaissance castle that overlooks the Rhein (Rhine in English) river.  We found out you had to pay to get in to the castle to see the waterfall, which we were unsure about since we still didn't know how the view of the waterfall would be.  We ended up paying and going inside anyways and we were handsomely rewarded! 

Rheinfall, waterfalls on the Rhein (Rhine) river

The entrance fee went towards a great trail that has been built along the side of the castle that winds all the way down from the top of the falls to the bottom.  We can view the falls from all kinds of angles from multiple platforms along the trail.  It was fantastic!  I have never been so close to such a power waterfall!

The waterfalls were really impressive, but were not up to their usual strength.  You can see in the picture below how lots of rock is exposed on the other side of the river.  Usually all that is covered by water, but we had a dry second half of winter and a dry spring (don't worry, it's been raining the whole month of June, so we're getting the water back).

Me in front of the Rheinfall

The powerful falls churning up the water below

Boat cruises to get up close to the falls

Boats drop people off in the middle of the falls on that rock formation for a close-up look

The view as we walked down the trail, with water coming right at us!

Me and Steve next to the falls

Us at Schloss Laufen

The Rheinfall was a great surprise and we really enjoyed it.  As we were driving back from the falls, we stopped along the side of the road to admire the clear view of the Alps and take some pictures.  Here are some shots that Darren got.

Beautiful day in Switzerland

View of the Alps from Northern Switzerland

After we got back from our adventures, Mom and Steve came over to our house and I cooked for them!  I got to use all my new cooking skills I've been working on since we moved here and it was a great success!  So to everyone reading this blog, as an incentive, if you come visit us, I will cook you dinner!