10/2/21: Lake Zurich Cruise & Oodles of Trains to Rheinfall!

As soon as we arrived at Zurich's train station, the city's astounding wealth was apparent with a large number of uber-expensive cars. I wondered if the sentiment "eat the rich" was held by a lot of discontented or disaffected people in the city.                                                                                

On the way to the dock on Zurichsee or Lake Zurich to start a cruise, we stopped by Fraumunster, one of the city's largest churches but, even though it was a Sunday morning, it was closed to visitors as it had been the afternoon before.

I've heard of statues of bulls in financial districts but a rhino - only in Zurich!

It was probably just as well that all the tony shops were shuttered on the Sunday morning as we walked past as the store windows looked inviting.

Even the Tommy Hilfiger store proclaimed its 'caring' attitude and wanting to keep its customers safe and asking clients to do the same during the pandemic.

We did have several minutes, though, to wander through the second-hand market that was just setting up. I don't ever recall seeing chandeliers before at a street market - looked like an only-in-expensive Zurich type of thing!

Aha - a bull for the financial district possibly?

Definitely not a sight we ever see in any American city but certainly needed.

Another of Zurich's ubiquitous fountains:

The sculpture by the dock at Burkliplatz:

Yeah - our boat was approaching for what was described as a 'long boat' cruise because it traveled from Zurich on the north end of the lake to Rapperswil on the south end. 

The previous day, the tourist information rep had recommended the combination cruise and train ride to Rheinfall in northern Switzerland as a day trip from Zurich as it was all in one 'zone' on the Swiss rail system. It sure sounded like a fun way to spend the day but we discovered a little too late that it would involve a lot of sitting time!

I admired these hardy rowers as there was quite a chill and drizzle to boot.

Unless we wanted to buy food or drinks we had no choice except to sit outside on the boat. I was fine with that as I wanted the uninterrupted views and the fresh air against my cheeks but Steven was chilled for a good part of the journey.

There were quite a few fishermen (people fishing in this politically correct age?!) as we made our way along the lake. I wonder what they were hoping to catch.

More rowers:

The boat made its first stop at Kusnacht on the east side of the lake to take on a few passengers out for a few hours on the lake.

Each of the towns we stopped at had different and charming signs by their piers. 

Our son-in-law, Will, would have enjoyed looking at the vineyards by the lakeshore as he's in the wine business. I wonder what he thinks of Swiss wines.

For me, the most enjoyable part of the boat ride was weaving in and out of the thirty or so sailboats bobbing mid-lake. It was a beautiful, beautiful sight with the magical mountains as a backdrop to the shimmering lake.

You can see from the wind whipping through my hair it was a great day to be out sailing!

Meilen looked like an attractive town with its Reformed Church that dated to the 7th-century and was updated in the 15th. 

The captain had to sound his horn a couple of times when the sailors got too close.

The canton (like a state or province) of Zurich flag flew at the stern or was it the helm?!

The church bells pealed for a solid fifteen minutes in the town of Richterswil. I jokingly told Steven that it was to announce the boat's arrival.

At least a dozen passengers disembarked at Insel Ufenau, an island with a protected nature reserve and St. Peter and Paul Church. I wondered if they wanted to attend a religious service, go hiking. or perhaps both!

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As we approached Rapperswil, the boat's final stop on the east side of the lake we had a clear view of Schloss (Castle) Rapperswil.

Our eagle eyes spotted these two tiny figures on the roof of the dock at Rapperswil or did they spot us?!

Several of the buildings in the city were colorfully painted, just as we'd noticed in the older section of Zurich.

The lakefront promenade, Bühlerallee:

Another of the tiny figures in the square by the dock:

As the town is the headquarters of Circus Knie, there was a super-sized clown shoe along the promenade.

One of the many decorative wrought-iron signs in town:

The attractive Hauptplatz or main square:

After getting a bite to eat and finding a post office to mail all the postcards I'd written on the boat, we hopped on a train back to Zurich and then a connecting train toward Schaffhausen in northernmost Switzerland. We remembered that town as we'd just come through there from Frankfurt a couple of days before. Nearby was Europe's largest waterfall, Rheinfall. 

It was a lot of train rides through very pretty countryside on what became a lovely early October day that had started out drizzling.

Thank goodness the views were gorgeous as we'd spent a whole chunk of time getting to Rheinfall!

The sight of the boat nearing the rocks made us think of the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls!

Rheinfall is close to 500 feet wide, over 75 feet high with over 21,000 cubic feet of water plunging over the falls in the summer.

I'm not sure if we'd have liked the boat ride that let you off at this rocky outcrop so you could claim to be King of the Castle for a few moments before someone else usurped you! We were just as happy being landlubbers then.

A mini, mini falls coursing over rocks:

The same rock you could play King of the Mountain!

Our train had just been on this train bridge which was where we had glimpsed our first sight of the falls.

Walking across the bridge over the falls, we had marvelous views of Schloss Laufen, which was the home of the Barons of Laufen beginning in 858. After several ownership changes, it is once again run by the city of Zurich as a tourist attraction and youth hostel.

The Schloss or Castle Laufen was busy that Sunday with people coming from neighboring countries to see the falls based on the cars we saw in the parking lot from Germany, Austria, etc. 

The town cemetery looked like it was lovingly cared for.

The church grounds had been set up for a wedding reception - hard to imagine a more romantic spot than beside or in a castle at Europe's biggest waterfall on a perfect sunny day!

After walking along a pathway beneath the castle walls, we caught a train back toward Zurich, connecting in another town with just two minutes to spare. Having the day pass certainly made it a lot easier even if train officials never bothered to look at tickets on most of the journeys. We were surprised that tram tickets in Zurich were never once checked either on any of our rides into and out of the city. Guess they work on the honor system or there are hefty fines for those who try and take advantage of the system.

Steven questioned whether the view of Rheinfall had been worth the seven or so hours our derrieres had spent plastered to boat and train seats! We had both thought that we'd be able to do some hiking at Rheinfall but never saw signs for any trails anywhere. The cruise was as lovely as it gets and the falls were way better than mediocre but neither of us would recommend doing both on the same day.

Next post: Driving to Lichtenstein, Europe's smallest country after Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino.

Posted on October 24th, 2021, after another day taking in more mindboggling, or is it mind-numbing art in Florence?!