We are lucky to live in a place that others put on their travel bucket list when coming to Switzerland. It may get too crowded in summer, but we usually don't spend much time here around that time. I've been to the river today, and to my surprise there were quite a few tourists, but I think this is only a quick stop for them on their way to the mountains as there is a lot of snow covering the summits already.
Autumn here is not so charming, and we usually have to travel to the other side of Switzerland if we want to see some sun. It rains a lot and there is a lot of fog almost every day. We wake up to a sunny day, but when we look out of the window we can see the fog rising from the river. Within a few minutes we can't even see the building in front of us. We live at the top floor, and when it's foggy for some days our neighbours ask us if it's foggy at our height too 😊
However, today is one of those sunny days that we truly cherish during these months. I couldn't stay inside and decided to walk to the Rhine Falls to get some fresh air and much needed sunshine. I must say I thought it would be warmer, but the wind is cold, and I was thankful not to forget my scarf.
We live above the valley, and when I was walking down the hill I was surprised to hear the waterfall before I saw it. It means that there is a lot of water which makes sense as it keeps raining. Although there is snow in the mountains already it is still too warm and part of it melts and ends up in the Rhine. There was at least 1 meter of water even in places that stay dry in summer!
You can get to the rocks in the middle of the river bank by a small boat, but I haven't tried it yet as I'm scared because it looks so wobbly. People keep telling me to try, but I can't convince myself to buy a ticket - maybe one day 😊
In summer, there are many boats approaching the rocks every couple of minutes and people are queuing to get to the top.
I must admit that I don't even remember when was the last time that I came down here. It's a shame as it's less than 10 minutes walk down the hill. I keep telling myself that I don't come here so often to keep it special to me.
I used to work a few minutes walk from the Rhine Falls until recently, and with my colleague we usually skipped the lunchbreak to go for a walk in the nature. We would cross this bridge to the other side to return back to the office.
My husband still works in that company, so I walked to the office as his colleagues asked me to visit them for a cup of coffee. I would never miss such opportunity to meet them.
It's a pity that you can't hear that noise from the photos. I called my husband to show him how much water was in the riverbank and couldn't hear a word that he said. It was overwhelming.
There are so many colours in the forest these days!
It was very quiet and I only met a couple of people walking their dogs...
The river is so clean here that you can see the fish almost in the middle of the river bank. The river Rhine flows through Germany to The Netherlands, and it's a completely different river over there. It looks more like chocolate milk...
This tiny island usually stands on dry soil, and I wonder if the water will reach even higher this autumn. Luckily, the water management in Schaffhausen is very good and any floods are avoided by barriers that are built in various places to protect the cities.
There is a lot of water in spring when the snow melts, and in autumn when it rains. On the other hand, there is not so much water in winter or in summer.
I remember that there were trees in this place in the past, but some years ago we had so much rain that they all fell down to the water.
This is one of my favourite places and the perfect picnic spot in summer...
I have come across so many beautiful leaves today, so let me share some of them with you. It was not the easiest task as it was way too windy, but I hope that they still look good.
Thank you for joining me today on my walk!
Until next time...