Stein am Rhein
New Year's Day was cloudy and cool. Typical winter weather in our part of Switzerland. We had slept in that morning, due to the fact we had gone downtown Zurich on New Year's Eve 
("Silvester") to watch the fireworks display over the lake. As is our normal course of action when heading into the city, we took public transportation.
I must admit, however, it brought back memories of the year that light rail was newly opened in San Jose and you were urged to go downtown using light rail for the 4th of July fireworks show. Only problem was that there were not enough trains to take everyone home! It took a few hours that year before we got home. Although it was late, due to the fact that the fireworks were from 0.20 to 0.40 (12:20 a.m. to 12:40 a.m.),
they held trains so that leaving the main train station was not difficult! Typical Swiss efficiency.
But we did want to take advantage of the fact that Bob was off of work, and so we decided to explore a medieval-era built city nearby. Well, Bob thought we were going to one much closer, I thought Stein am Rhein was where he wanted to visit. Ah well, we saw more of the area and drove through parts of Germany as well.
We visited Stein am Rhein which is not far from Rhein Falls. The city walls and city gates are preserved, although now the city wall consists of houses. The old part of town ("Altstadt") is only open to pedestrians and makes for a charming place to visit. Many of the buildings are painted with frescoes and most of the ancient framed buildings in the area are charming shops. Bob was VERY grateful that we were there on New Year's Day, as everything was closed. Well, other than the two candy shops, but we resisted. This is definitely a place to take the women who come to visit. Bob agreed that he would drive, but while we shopped he would run to the castle that you could see on the hill above town.
("Silvester") to watch the fireworks display over the lake. As is our normal course of action when heading into the city, we took public transportation.I must admit, however, it brought back memories of the year that light rail was newly opened in San Jose and you were urged to go downtown using light rail for the 4th of July fireworks show. Only problem was that there were not enough trains to take everyone home! It took a few hours that year before we got home. Although it was late, due to the fact that the fireworks were from 0.20 to 0.40 (12:20 a.m. to 12:40 a.m.),
they held trains so that leaving the main train station was not difficult! Typical Swiss efficiency.But we did want to take advantage of the fact that Bob was off of work, and so we decided to explore a medieval-era built city nearby. Well, Bob thought we were going to one much closer, I thought Stein am Rhein was where he wanted to visit. Ah well, we saw more of the area and drove through parts of Germany as well.
We visited Stein am Rhein which is not far from Rhein Falls. The city walls and city gates are preserved, although now the city wall consists of houses. The old part of town ("Altstadt") is only open to pedestrians and makes for a charming place to visit. Many of the buildings are painted with frescoes and most of the ancient framed buildings in the area are charming shops. Bob was VERY grateful that we were there on New Year's Day, as everything was closed. Well, other than the two candy shops, but we resisted. This is definitely a place to take the women who come to visit. Bob agreed that he would drive, but while we shopped he would run to the castle that you could see on the hill above town.
