On A More Personal Note

Bud and Kathy in front of Der Rheinfall

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Kathy says I’m being far too historical in this blog, as if I am trying to write a history of Europe. So, maybe its time to just talk about the more personal things we are doing. We left the beautiful Bavarian countryside around Fussen without an itinerary for the next two days (20^th and 21^st) and no reserved lodging. We decided to enter Switzerland at the far northeast and travel along the Boden See to Schaffhausen. There is a beautiful falls there which we saw many years before in pouring down rain. This time we wanted to see it in the sunlight. Well, it was still threatening rain this time too, but at least it was cooler than our recent stay in Bavaria. Der Rheinfall, as they call it, is the German version of Niagara Falls. While not as high as Niagara, the Rhine River drops a good fifty to seventy five feet with a roar that makes it a fascination to everyone who visits it. We loved the place. They provide views of the surging water from almost every angle: from the front, from both sides, from elevated viewing areas on both shores, even from the huge rocks located in the very middle of the falls (accessible only by boat). They even have boats that carry about fifty passengers right out and nearly into the falls (wet suits advised!). Just as it looks like the boat is going into the falls, the captain suddenly turns the boat sideways and allows the boat to ride the rapids back to calmer water. From shore it looked like an amusement park ride!

Let's see, how does this thing work?

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We arrived in Schaffhausen early in the evening of the 20^th and found a hotel in the city. Before we went to dinner it started to rain. So we quickly found a place to eat nearby hoping the rain would stop when dinner was over. No such luck. Now it was raining harder and we had to run from awning to awning to keep from getting drenched. We were reminded of the reason why Switzerland is such a green country. Years ago we visited this beautiful country only to experience five straight days of rain and on the sixth day it snowed. Until now, our weather on this trip has been wonderful. The only serious rain we had was in Bavaria where it rained buckets all night with loud peals of thunder and hail bouncing off the red shingled roofs. Both mornings were clear and bright. God has been good to us, giving us the fair weather during the sight-seeing hours of the day and yet providing for the lush green landscape as well.

How does $6.00 a gallon sound to you!

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We drove south about noon, on Sat. the 21^st, eventually arriving in the Luzern area. We wanted to visit an alpine peak called Rigi just across the lake from Luzern, but we wanted also to avoid the mass of tourists that Luzern always attracts. We found a little hotel in the town of Weggis (pronounced “Vegas”) on the opposite side of the lake from Lucern. The view from the top of this town is spectacular. (At least we think it is! However, we couldn’t see it because a massive storm had moved in.) It looks out over the big lake with the Alps in the background. It is also the main area where you take the cable car to the top of Mt. Rigi. This was a difficult village to find. We had to watch the signs carefully. Once while Bud was entering a round-about (traffic circle) the signs were posted in the center of the circle high up on a post. There must have been 15 signs on the post. So he stayed on the inside lane of the round-about while Kathy and Eric tried to read the signs and make sense out of them. He kept going around and around until they got the information they needed. Now the person in the round-about has the right of way, so people waiting to get into it have to yield to the car going by. But no one could enter the round-about until Bud got his information from the signs!

We eventually found where we needed to go but by this time the clouds were growing darker and the rain was coming down heavier, so we decided to call it a day and try the ascent of Rigi the next morning.