Switzerland's Rhine Falls

If you visit Zurich, be sure to leave a half a day to visit the Rhine Falls!

 

 We took a train from Zurich to the Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall.  

We had a change in Winterthur and it was about an hour trip each way.

We purchased Zurich Day Passes for the train which were 25 Swiss Francs each.

We then walked up the trails from the train station to the Welcome Center.

Admission to the falls was about 8 Swiss Francs each.

This gave us access to a museum and to the trails leading down by the falls.

  

The museum was small and in German, so we buzzed through pretty quickly.

But the views started right away.

  

 They are the largest falls in Europe and we were both so glad we made the trip.

The trails take you all the way down to the base of the falls to a viewing platform jutting out over the water. 

You feel like you are right in the middle of everything.

The water is roaring by you and spraying a heavy mist up into the air. 

 

  

You can feel, hear, and see the power of the water all around you. 

   

Did you know that the Swiss flag with the white cross on the red background

is one of the only two square flags? 

The other square flag is flown over Vatican City. 

The Rhine Falls are quite spectacular and should definitely be experienced if you visit Zurich.

Next stop is Innsbruck, Austria.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

xoxo

Selena

 

Zurich - Our First Stop

Zurich may not be the capital, but it is certainly a centerpiece of the country.  

It's often referred to as "downtown Switzerland" and is home to all the the big Swiss banks.

It's a massive, modern city, but we narrowed our short stay to the small Altstadt or Old Town.

 

The Altstadt runs along both sides of Limmat River.

The skyline features three important churches. 

The one in the photo above is St. Peter, the first Protestant Church in Zurich after the Reformation.

It has the the biggest church clock face in Europe, even larger than Big Ben. 

 

 The church with the tall, elegant blue spire is the Fraumünster Church which originated as an Abbey. 

The Romanesque church with the two distinctive domes is the third famous church in Zurich Old Town.

According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemange.

 

Zurich is also know for its 1,200 fountains and their constant supply of 

cold, clear drinking water.   It tastes wonderful.

 

Just about anywhere you go you can hear the tinkling water of a fountain and many of them are historical pieces of art. 

Be sure to stop for a drink.

   

One thing that we quickly noticed is that Zurich is very expensive.

It started with the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel which cost us 50 Swiss Francs (about £30.)

 Zurich is also home to the most expensive street in Europe, the Bahnhofstrasse.

 We strolled along for a bit, but didn't do any shopping.

This was a very relaxed trip for us, no shopping, no museums.

Just exploring and relaxing.

Zurich is a beautiful city.  I've mentioned before how every European City that we visit has such a distinctive character. 

Zurich is sophisticated with an understated elegance.

Of course, we were there off-peak, but it had a lovely, relaxed feel about it.  

We spent some time exploring the area at the Northern tip of Lake Zurich.

Boat rides are very popular during the tourist season.

Another nice thing about the city is that it was easy to find clean public toilets.

(Trust me. When you are a woman in your 40's this becomes more and more of an issue.) 

TMI?

 

  

As we were in Switzerland, we had to sample the National Dish... a fondue.

In Switzerland, that only means a cheese fondue (not chocolate or any type of meat fondue).

 It's made with several varieties of cheese, wine, seasonings and cornstarch to pull it all together.

It's traditionally served as the main dish and only with crusty bread for dipping.

We sampled ours at Le Dezaley. 

They serve the melted cheese in a caquelon over a flame 

and you use a long fork to dip the bread into the cheese sauce.  

A bottle of White Wine is the perfect acccompaniment.

It's a lot of cheese.  We only got through about half of ours,

 but the two young girls next to us were scrapping the bottom of the pot for every last bit.  

In all honesty, neither of us were blown away. 

It was a little odd to only have bread and cheese as your entire meal. 

And the cheese was a bit strong for me.  (I know, I know.  Princess/Nightmare.)

    I am glad we had the experience. 

But, be prepared.  At about £120 for the two of us, it's an expensive one.

 

We spent the rest of our evenings walking along the narrow,

cobbled streets peeking into shop windows, occasionally stopping for a cocktail.

All cities take on a whole new look at night.

I think Zurich is at it's prettiest at night with all of the reflections and shadows.

 

What did you think of Zurich?

How do you feel about Cheese Fondue?

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing our trip to the Rhine Falls.  I hope you'll join me.

xoxo
Selena

This is not a sponsored post. 

Austria and Switzerland Winter Trip

Hi.  It's me. 

I'm back and feeling quite contrite. 

I'm sheepishly peeking out into the midst to see if I have any readers left. 

I hope I didn't really offend anyone with my little hissy fit or the photos.  

It was all very tongue in cheek and I promise I won't do it again.  

Much.

If you are reading this then you can relate or you have just forgiven me.

Either way, I'm glad you are here and I'm lovin' the comments you left.

Now as promised, I'm on to nicer endeavors.  

Let me tell you about our Anniversary Trip to Switzerland and Austria.  

 After much discussion, TE and I decided that instead of heading South in search of warmer temperatures,

we would just embrace the cold and make it a Winter Trip.

We flew out on Friday evening after work to Zurich, Switzerland. 

It was a quick two hour flight with only about 15 people on board.

After two nights in Zurich, we boarded a train to Innsbruck, Austria for one night. 

And our last stop was Salzburg, Austria for our last two nights.

We flew home on Wednesday afternoon

We pre-booked our hotels with advice from Tripadvisor.com and were happy with our choices.  

We aren't too fussy about hotels.  Location, cleanliness and good customer service are the things that we value.

The three that we picked all fit the bill very nicely.

 Zurich

 Innsbruck

Salzburg

All three of them were close to the Old Town Center and the river

which are common characteristics of each city.

We splurged a little on first class tickets for the three hour train journey from Zurich to Innsbruck.

Nice big comfy seats with lots of room and amazing views.

On a side note.  Did you know most trains have seats facing both ways,

meaning you could be facing backwards at times on a journey?
How did I not know this until recently?

Riding backwards happens to really do a number on my stomach.

I go a crazy shade of grey and my insides start making awful noises.

(I told you I was a bit of a princess nightmare.)

 I do get really sick so TE always tries to make sure he books seats for us facing forwards.

The challenge on this journey was that for part of the trip, we were facing one way.
Then after a particular stop the train reversed and we were facing the opposite direction.  

TE thinks he deserves lots of sympathy that he had to try and make sure I was facing the 
wrong way for the least amount of time. 
I think I deserve the sympathy for having a wonky stomach.
  

 It's a good thing we had the extra room because I actually spent part of the trip 

sitting in my seat on my knees facing the back of the seat.

TE just pretends he doesn't know me.

 

 After less than an hour, I was happily facing in the right direction with a settling tummy

so I could focus on the amazing views along the way.

Crisp, blue skies and pristine snow.  Majestic mountaintops and charming cottages.

Fuzzy evergreens and floating clouds.

It was just beautiful.

 There is something so relaxing about watching these views flash by

and thinking about the people that live and work in these places.

From Innsbruck to Salzburg we were in standard class.

The train had a hallway along one side of the carriage.

On the other side were compartments with glass doors that each seat six people.

Three facing backwards including TE and three facing forward (me).

There is plenty of room above for storage and the seats are comfy.

Everyone just settles in reading or watching the world go by in comfortable silence.

It was five wonderful days and I think it was one of my favorite trips so far.

We had really good weather, just a few random showers.

 There was plenty of this.

And a daily serving of this.  

Pork Schnitzel with a nice squeeze of lemon, parsley potatoes and cranberry sauce.

So nummy!

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting about each of the places we visited

and some of the things we did along the way.

 I hope you will follow along.  

And please tell me I'm not the only one that gets sick from facing the wrong way on a train!

xoxo

Selena

Sorry about the quality of the pics taken from the train windows.  And as usual, this is not a sponsored post.  However, if anyone would like to sponsor a future excursion, please make yourself known.