Lake Konstanz to Rhine Falls

Our day ended with a successful find of a local resort a few miles ahead along the north Shore of Lake Konstanz. The clouds parted long enough for us to have tea on  the outdoor patio. But by dinner we were relieved that we had not pressed on as a heavy downpour let us know that we had made the right decision to stop early.  

We set out the next morning in light drizzle hoping to make some progress along the north shore of Lake Konstanz. We didn't get very far before threatening clouds appeared again. 

No,  this isn't what our next hotel room looked like!  We had ridden into Friedrichshafen,  home of the Zeppelin Museum.  We made the time to take a look and we were able to go inside a replica of the airship. 

We wanted to see what the  passengers in the 1930's would experience on a passage across the Atlantic. 

Model of a typical Airship

Sadly,  there was a tragedy when the Hindenberg airship crashed in flames in 1937 in Lakehurst,  NJ.  The cause of the crash was not determined but the spectacular news media coverage resulted in a loss of confidence by the public.   We enjoyed our visit to the museum and learned a lot about the passenger and wartime uses of the airships of that era. 

The museum being on the waterfront was in a perfect place for us to board the "Katamaran"  ferry to the other side of the lake to the town of Konstanz.  We had intended to ride further on but the gathering clouds and the speedy ferry were the deciding factors.

We were greeted by a huge statue as we approached the harbor,  we rode through the city on the cobbled streets busy with locals and tourists.

After a brief stop for lunch we pressed on until a large storm convinced us that we should stop.














We stopped at the first hotel along our path.  It was full but a helpful receptionist started making calls looking for a vacancy, finally after many calls she found a room in a house nearby. We were in luck as this was a holiday weekend and most hotels were full. Our stop for the night was a room with a view in a private home.

We looked out at Reichenau Island in the Gnadensee. 

The following morning was a Sunday and we rode through village after village hearing church bells from the spires above us.  We had left our lovely room with a view, high on the hillside, on wet streets.






We found the lovely paved bike path along the Rhine towards the next old town.

The center of Stein am Rhein,  one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Switzerland, is lined with frescoed buildings, the most elaborate was the Town Hall (Rathaus).  Each town has at least one flower-bedecked fountain and the water is potable,  very handy for re-filling our water bottles. 

 

The 16th century statue guards the entrance to a modern bike shop which,  of course,  was closed being a Sunday. 

Another lovely old village has the remains of a fortress and a covered bridge. 

When we had started our ride at Oberalppass,  we noticed that the river was a milky white color.  After at least a week of rain,  the color changed to milk chocolate.  Here we are approaching the famous Rhine Falls and the water appeared very clear and emerald green. 

The Laufen castle overlooks the Rheinfall,  continental Europe's largest waterfall by volume.  It is awe inspiring to watch and hear the thundering water as it pours over the edge.  One of the small islands in the path of the falls has a Swiss flag on it and a number of people. How did they get there?

We were impressed to learn that a highly skilled captain navigates his boat and moors it near the rock where adrenaline seekers may (carefully)  disembark and climb to the summit - for a "peak experience"?

This Sunday,  a very long day of riding for us, led us on some nice paved paths.  However there were also many steep, unimproved rugged gravel paths where we had to push the bike due to our narrow tires.  There was a little weak sunshine on the uphill path and then on into the dark forest ahead.