The highlight of breakfast this morning was a quiche that Ryan purchased. Again, unfortunately, none of us could read the packaging in German and it turned out to be cheese only. But it was still good. We packed up and headed out to Rhein Fall, a place that Patty recommended we see.

We drove about 40 minutes to Rhein Falls, a beautiful waterfall on the Rhein River. The buildings on the property dated back to the 15th and 16th centuries, very impressive. We hiked down to close to the base of the waterfall, taking lots of pictures. We were able to stand within feet of the rushing water, something probably not availAble in the US. There was an option for a boat tour that would take us around the water at the base of the waterfall, including riding to a rock in the middle of the base the falls and climbing to the top to overlook the falls from the center.

After taking our photos, we returned to the visitor center and grabbed a delicious lunch, a plate of Indian food and rice, and a large meat stick with bread. On our way back to the car we stopped at an antique car show in the parking lot. Everything from a Lincoln Continental to a BMW that would very much like the one that Holly’s parents owned to old Fiats and an Aston Martin’s which look like Disney bad guy cars. They even had some old Dodge and other US cars from the 30s and 40s. They even had some old Dodge and other US cars from the 30s and 40s.

We then drove to Stein am Rhein, a medieval city on the Rhein River. We found a place to park, and Heather figured out how to get a parking sticker and we headed into town. We first stopped at a brookie, or a secondhand shop but didn’t see anything interesting. We then wandered through the cobblestone streets, pedestrian only, looking in shops and the small restaurants and cafés.

We want to the streets for a while including going down to the water and decided to take a break with a snack. We bought a curry with wurst which was a sausage pre-sliced in a delicious curry sauce. We also got some potato wedges that were very good. We sat on stone steps and enjoyed our snack and then wandered back through town. I guess we got hungry again because we stop for an ice cream and sorbet and fruit parfait and also a/burger Bruegel, which had a chocolate marzipan crust, a meringue layer surrounding a soft chocolate interior. They were delicious!

On our way out of town we drove up the hill to the Hohenklingen Castle that overlooked the city. Part of the road was only a single lane, that was also true of the road in and out of the town itself. We found the parking lot closest to the castle and wandered through the castle on our own. There were no tour guides or others, the only folks working there seem to be the ones in the restaurant. We climbed to the top of the tower for beautiful views of the town and the surrounding countryside. We also found display rooms in the tower as well as the restaurant. They had some very cool with stairs in the castle that made it easy to find your way to the top. The only problem was that the entry to the top of the tower had a ceiling so lone the stairs that we all had to duck, even Holly.

We arrive back at the Airbnb in time for dinner and plan to finish all of our perishable foods, but weren’t sure if we had enough, so Ryan and I ran out to the local McDonald’s so we could check the box and say we ate at least one McDonald’s on the trip. I called Holly and Heather using FaceTime once we got to the McDonald’s parking lot so they could get the full experience of being there. The McDonald’s had an electron a kiosk where you order the food and so we were able to show them all of the different menu options and we chose the fifth wheel at four we got a farmer burger which was a very large cheeseburger, with Swiss cheese of course, and chicken wings. We brought the food home and enjoyed it with our salad and other leftovers.

On the way back from McDonald’s, Ryan and I passed a number of community gardens. Each garden had plants that were probably 10 x 15’, and adjacent to the pods were some sort of a shed or structure for people to keep their gardening tools. There must’ve been 50 small gardens and sheds in each of the community gardens.

The Swis have a different model for dealing with construction and narrow roads then we have in the US. In the US we would typically see a flagman on either side of construction area holding signs and say stop or slow and radiant radiant back-and-forth to control the traffic. In Switzerland they have lights that are timed to let traffic go in one direction or the other and just turn red or green. They put the lights on both ends of the construction and they let the drivers manage it themselves. For one lane roads they often will have places to Pull over on a regular basis, so each driver must be looking ahead in determining when they need to pull to the side to provide other cars to pass. Another trick they use to reduce traffic in residential areas is to either have speed tables, or they actually have parking places on alternate sides of the road or little gardens set up with brick structures to force cars to slow down and change lanes, basically making the road one lane on a regular basis so you can speed through the area.