Wing'in It: Lake Konstanz and the Rheinfall

Back at the beginning of September when I reminded the kids that our first quarter break would take place during the last two weeks of the month, Maya said that was great...she's always up for a bit of a vacation from school, but she said she worried about being bored if we weren't in class. Seems that her worries were unfounded...now she's worn and when I asked her how her vacation has gone so far she had this to say..."It's been busy!"

Yes, indeed. It's so awesome!

I was doing some surfing online a few weeks ago and found the Rheinfall, which is the largest plain waterfall in Europe. I thought the falls looked beautiful and sent the link to Steven, not really even realizing where they were located. Steven decided that we should make the trip to see them so he planned our day and on our way to the falls, took us to Lake Konstanz which is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps. It consists of three bodies of water; the Obersee, (or upper lake) the Untersee, (or lower lake) and a connecting stretch of the Rhine called the Seerhein. Lake Konstanz is located in Germany, (where it's called Bodensee) Switzerland and Austria near the Alps. It's Central Europe's third largest lake and its greatest depth is about 827 feet deep.

The drive to the lake took us through some beautiful country.

Once we arrived at Lake Konstanz, we boarded a ferry that took us over the water.

Palm trees!

Grape vines nearly ready to be harvested.

This was a huge ferry. It even had a restaurant on it.

They didn't realize they would be getting a boat ride.

This is our car...

...this is not. Unfortunate for Steven and Scotty.

Sailing on Lake Konstanz.

The ferry took us to the city of Konstanz where we decided it was time to pull over and eat our picnic lunch. We stopped at a park near the lake and got out and walked around a bit.

We didn't realize it until we found the bathrooms, (a difficult task here in Europe we've found,) but we were only a bridge length away from Mainau Island.

We were on the left where that blue parking sign is.

There is a zoo on the island and, according the web site, Mainau is famous for it's gardens. We had an itinerary set, however, and chose not to visit the island. We had some falls to see!

We saw perhaps a dozen hot air balloons floating along the blue sky as we made our way to the falls.

I'm disappointed that this photo didn't turn out better...but am not surprised the camera couldn't capture the mini rainbow we found in the center of this cloud. It was remarkable.

So was the fact that Rheinfall is in Switzerland!

Like I said before, I hadn't researched it enough to know exactly where the falls were...but Steven knew and chose to surprise us. Awesome surprise if you ask me.

At the German/Switzerland border.

Rheinfall is in northern Switzerland near the town of Schaffhausen.

We parked and took a trail around the falls.

Rheinfall. Absolutely beautiful!

I love this picture...it turned out really well, but every time I look at it for years to come, I'll think of the story behind it. Steven told the kids to go climb out onto the rock so he could get them in front of the falls. They both ran off as Steven and I watched them from the shore. Once Maya got to right about where you see her here, the toe of her new Nike's got caught on the rock and she fell forward. We thought she was going into the Rhine...and were all at once thinking how cold the water would be and grateful that she knew how to swim. She saved it, however, and didn't fall in. Notice the grin on her face.

The falls are 450 feet wide and 75 feet high.

The photos I'd seen online were pretty amazing, but it was even better in person.

Maya...chillin' for a minute or two.

This bridge is a train track with a pedestrian path alongside it.

You can pay to have a boat take you the middle rock where there is a steep, narrow stairway you can climb. There is a Switzerland flag flying at the top and makes for a great photo, I imagine. The boat ride is probably a bit rough, however.