Rhinefalls to Stein Am Rhine

Not far from Zurich, up on the Swiss / German border, is the largest waterfall in Europe.  That was the destination of our next outing with my parents.  We took the train north, arrived in the nearby town, and walked along the river towards the waterfall.

The railway bridge over the river just above the falls

The area is rather touristy, with boats cruising around in the mist, ferrying people onto the big rock in the middle of the falls.   But you don't have to buy anything, and can look at the falls from every direction you want for free.

Up above the falls is a castle (of course! this is Europe!) which has been converted into a pretty spiffy youth hostel.

The falls were really quite impressive.  The volume of water pouring down is really immense, so even though the vertical distance is not much compared to many waterfalls in North America, the thunder of the water and the mist results in a spectacular view.

After lunch we caught a boat ride down the river to the medieval village of Stein Am Rhine, where we stayed overnight.  I'll have lots of pictures of the town in the next post - but here's one.  After a very nice (and, of course, terribly expensive!) meal at the hotel restaurant we went for a bit of a walk around the old center of the town before dark.