Stein-Am-Rhine

The next day we explored Stein-Am-Rhine, which is a very nice old town on the Rhine river.  The big attractions are the castle (which you can see at the top of the hill), some museums, and the town itself, which has a lot of very old buildings.  The buildings have been painted with murals showing scenes from village life, moralistic warnings, historical and legendary scenes, and more

Stein-Am-Rhine, viewed from the bridge

Some of the painted buildings in the town square

After breakfast we hiked up to the castle, through vineyards and then forest.

The view from the hike over the valley and river was great.  It was easy to see the original line of the ancient stone wall which protected the town. Over the years the wall has become incorporated into the buildings, but the boundary and the gates into the town are still there.





























After the hike we returned to town and had a great picnic lunch overlooking the river.  Then we explored one of the local museums. This was two of the old houses in town joined together, with most of the rooms set up with furniture, decoration, and everything just as it would have been in the very early 1800s.  We explored from top to bottom, including the attic, where they were drying meat and nuts, and storing grain, down to the cellar, where wine storage, leather tanning, and other work took place.  Here's one of the model kitchens, where a model kitchen servant is plucking the feathers from a chicken near a ceramic coal-burning stove:

They even had art which would have been typical of that time:

Finally, we took a few more pictures out in the sunshine before we took the train back to Zurich:
The story of St George slaying the dragon is a big deal here.  Some of the buildings are decorated with dragon heads on the corners, and one of the big painted murals on the building walls shows the legend: