Day 4: Rhine (Rhein) Falls

While Michael worked on Monday (ha-ha) Amber (work wife) and I headed to Rhein Falls. This is the largest waterfall in Europe. Now I emphasize largest vs. tallest because I believe there is a difference. Honestly I thought it was a lot smaller than the "largest waterfall in Europe" should be but it was beautiful and breathe taking just the same.

It was quite a hike (3.5km each way) there and back not including the walk around the falls but we braved it and decided not to take the bus. In hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea but I worked off all the calories from the days before.

We started the walk (hike) through a quaint little town. Wonderful little homes with extravagent gardens. People don't have large lots but what they do have they plant with beautiful flowers.



I took this as we started walking through the woods. There was no one around so it was kind of creepy. In the US two women don't just walk through the woods alone because someone will jump out and kill you but not here. It was really safe. We eventually saw some bikers. We apprantly took the longer steeper hike on the way there.

Notice there are no more pictures of the trail...because I couldn't breathe much past that point. This picture is decieving. Right beyond this it got ugly. Honestly it wasn't that bad I am just a fat American.

The hike was worth the view. As we broke the trees and after climbing five billion stairs...we arrived!


Now these shots are actually from behind the falls on a bridge. Amber was fasicnated with how people got on top of this rock in the middle of the falls. I should have known then she was going to make me climb to the top.

We headed down off the bridge and down more stairs to the touristy area of the falls. Where we were at prior to was mainly the hiker version of th falls.

Oh is this it??

Next to the midget fall of Rhein Falls.

Just a few facts about Rhein. It is 150 meters wide and 28 meters tall. It is about 15000 years old and is a shallow 13 meters deep. During the summer it flows about 600 meters cubed per second with the summer of 1965 boasting 1200 meters cubed per second. Holy Moly!

See the daredevil boat at the rock. That was about to be us......

In case you can't tell this is complete fear on my face. 1. I am scared of heights 2. I can barely doggy paddle. I can't believe I did this!

The fall looked a lot bigger from the angle of the whimpy boat. The water was so blue it was amazing!

Yeah getting a little wet right here.

The view back towards land...where I REALLY wanted to be.

View from the top!

Okay I thought there was a platform on top. Uh....no. It really was just a rock with rails around it. A tiny rock with little surface area for bodies. Imagine a whole lot of bodies and no surface area. Bad Mojo. But I did it with a smile on may face!

It was hard to get pictures on the little "platform" but Amber snapped a few. People had to wait on the stairs to get up because you could only shove about 10 people at a time up there

Just a few of the very steep stairs we had to climb to get up!

Amber was freaking out I was going to step back and drown in the falls. It really was a pretty shot of the water though. Worth it! If I can climb a rock I can surely dare a picture!

It was loud and misty at the bottom of the falls. All the construction you see behind me is the restoration of the town castle. It was closed so we didn't get to go in, but with the long hike and lunch we really didn't have time.

In all its glory!

The weather was great that day. Probably the best we have had since I got to Europe. Most days have been overcast but not Monday!

The view from the trainstation! Beautiful town.

I had a great time at the falls. Not my usualy cup of tea but it really was awesome. I might become a nature girl yet....but don't hold your breathe. I went home to a nice shower and bed...oh and to my husband hand washing all of our clothes in the hotel bathtub since he ran out of clothes and it was ten dollars to get a shirt washed at the hotel. Talk about role reversal again?!