Rhine Falls

A glorious June morning near Zurich, Switzerland.

Once Devicka agreed for a US visit, the decks literally opened for the trip I had wanted to take since last few years. I had my eyes set on Alaska cruise and that was only possible if we were to travel to the USA. Devicka hates flights and America is a bit too far from India. The West coast of the USA seems much further away than going to New York. Devicka had two conditions for the trip. 1) That she would stay at least a week with her sister at LA; and 2) We will leave airport mid-way for at least a few hours so that the legs could be stretched and fresh air taken in.

This 2^nd condition was a bit tricky as I didn't want to go into a European city with all the luggage for just a few hours or just for a day. So, after some research we decided on Swiss Air while going and Lufthansa while coming back. Both had a layoff of 6 and a half hours . They have a code share so this wasn't a big problem and this arrangement helped us into flying into LA and flying out of Seattle without any extra cost. This code sharing business also gave us a bonus of San Francisco to Seattle flight on United Airlines without any additional cost.

This 2^nd condition meant that Schengen Visa would have to be acquired for the entire family for these few hours. Getting Schengen Visa means spending around Rs 20K for the family and filling up 4 separate forms with tremendous amount of paperwork. The photocopy machine remains busy for a day trying to complete these papers. Not only do they want the financial statements etc but also certificate from employers and schools that they have granted us leave for the visit. I did complete the forms meticulously and added a covering letter stating that as we visit Schengen country each year, the Visa may be given to us till 30^th June next year so that we save on all the paperwork and the money for our visit in June 2014. I attached copies of last 4 Schengen Visas starting from 2009. No one seems to have read my letter. We got our routine 3 month Visas. Next year once again I will have to fill up all the forms and pay the fee if we do decide to go to Europe. Should the European states not be encouraging frequent travelers like me who visit their countries and spend money each summer ?

Money well Spent ?

Not many people thought that this money and effort was well spent. 6 hours break between flights in a foreign land , speaking foreign language is too short a time to go gallivanting. They thought we were joking when I told them that we will disembark, clear the immigration, take a train to the town to spend a couple of hours there. Then come back, clear immigration again and clear security and embark on next flight. I was advised to pay for a good lounge and relax at the airport. This advise would have been tempting if the 2^nd condition of my dear wife were not to be fulfilled. She would have never trusted my travel plans again. I could ill afford to annoy her on this factor.

Delhi had been like a furnace during the last week of May and early June. From somewhere the humidity had crept in making it difficult even to breathe. 44 deg C along with humidity is not something that one likes very much. All this was forgotten when the Pilot announced that weather in Zurich was 8 deg C at landing time and it was expected to go up to 20 deg C during the day. The met department had predicted a nice and sunny day for Zurich, which had been reeling under the cold and wet conditions last few weeks. We have been to Zurich earlier and had no intention of going to city center. It would have made no sense going downtown so early in the morning as everything would have been shut. I did know from the past experience that the train station is attached to Zurich Airport. From the arrivals, you have to cross the road into a hall where the check in counters are located. Then you have to go down the escalators. From departures there is a footbridge which takes you into next building and then you go down by escalators to the train station. The secret of doing is by travelling light. The carry on luggage should not be much. Otherwise it would be sensible to shove all the stuff into a locker at the train station and pick it up when you come back.

A nice colorful train takes you right up to the Rhine Falls

We didn't have much luggage so there was no problem at all. We were not going to the city center so where were we going ? I had decided to chill out for a couple of hours taking the train from Zurich to the north towards the German border to the town of Schaffhausen. Just before the station of Schaffhausen is a small station called  Neuhausen am Rheinfall where we got off. You know where to get off as you can see the glimpse of the falls from the train itself. We had reached the largest European waterfalls called the Rhine falls or Rheinfall. From here we climbed for a few minutes up the steps and reached the ticket booth. From the other way we came down again to the gushing sound of these waterfalls.Once you have the tickets, you can go up and down by the escalator as well. On a crisp morning at around 8 AM, we were just too happy to laze around these beautiful falls for a couple of hours.

It is scary being so close the gushing Falls

These few hours were spent by us walking to the base of waterfalls; clicking pictures; hiking in the woods near the river; having breakfast & coffee and just relaxing a bit once the sun came out. Sanya and I walked down the hill to woods near the river and it was really beautiful. Once mind and body were refreshed, we went back the same way to the Airport for being well in time for almost a 12 hour flight to Los Angeles.

Travel tips for Rhine Falls

-          Buy ticket for Schaffhausen (Return) from the vending machine at the station. Tickets are not cheap. Children below 16 are charged 50% fare. We spent around Rs 8K for our roundtrip journey for a family of 4.

-          At Switzerland they accept CHF as well as Euros.

-          At Zurich Airport station, board train to Winterthur.

-          At Winterthur you have to change the train going towards Schaffhausen.

-          Either go to Schaffhausen and take a bus to Rhine falls or get off at Neuhausen am Rheinfall.

-          Come back the same way via Winterthur.
-     A one way journey takes a total of around 45 minutes.

Rhine Falls facts

Nothing can beat the Niagara Falls. Rhine Falls don’t even come close to the Niagara falls. Once you have been to Niagara, everything seems small in comparison. But still I would say that Rhine Falls were worth a visit. When you are visiting Rhine Falls, keep the comparisons with Niagara totally aside. 

Due to tectonic shifts in the Ice Age, the Rhine River was forced into a new riverbed over 15,000 years ago. The Rhine Falls have a breadth breadth of 150 meters and several hundred cubic meters of water rush into the depths at the rate of 23 meters per second.
You can spend an entire day doing things around the Falls. You can visit the Laufen castle as well if you have the time. Laufen castle is right there-on top of the falls. A boat ride can take you to the other side of the river from where you can get a different perspective to the falls. 

This was a nice way to stretch your back between the flights. 

The journey ahead

Zurich to LA was more than 11 hours. It was really boring and back breaking. I did see a few movies in the flight and Swiss Air were top class with their service. It doesn't help that LA is a very busy airport and the queue to clear customs was an hour long.

One felt very relaxed upon reaching my sister in law’s place in LA. We were all tired and decided on an early dinner. The schedule for next morning was the famous ‘Universal Studios’ with the kids. I needed a good night’s rest to cope up with all the thundering rides and roller coasters which awaited me at Hollywood the next morning !