Tour de Suisse, Pt. 2

Der Rheinfall - der grösste Wasserfall Europas

After traversing the central (Alpine) and western (French) reaches of Switzerland, Phase II of Steph's parents' May visit concentrated east. After a day's R&R in Zürich, we attacked another old stomping ground of Hobbes's (and ours), the very-nearly-in-Germany town of Schaffhausen on the Rhein River (yesterday's map, 'F'), like Bern another of our original November conquests. This daytrip was quite an improvement over the first (except for missing Hobbes), since our Nov visit--a mere two weeks after our original arrival!--featured cold wind, nonstop drizzle and Steph sporting the flu. Also the train stop for the area's biggest attraction, Europe's largest waterfall, the Rheinfall, had been closed, requiring over a mile walk each way; with picture perfect weather this day, the train stopped a one minute walk away (anti-Murphy's Law?).

We meandered through Schaffhausen's medieval Old Town and hiked up (should be good at it by now) to the Munot, the town's cool old fortress/mini-castle. As evidence of Steph's and my insanity as tour guides, we had originally proposed adding to the day's itinerary a leisurely 11-mile bike ride from Schaffhausen to nearby Stein-am-Rhein, a purportedly perfectly preserved medieval village. Kay and Archer, despite being avid cyclers, politely suggested this might just kill them, and Steph I were quite glad in retrospect to have heeded the parental advice (and we thanked them for their wisdom, how's that for good kids??).

We saved our final big daytrip excursion for their second weekend, uncharted territory for Steph and I, Switzerland's southern secret little Italian canton, the Ticino (G). I view the Ticino as a marvel of Swiss psyche--surrounded on the west, south and east by Italy, blocked from the rest of Switzerland by extreme mountains to the north, with Italian as the official language and only Italian food on the menus, they nonetheless view themselves as solidly Swiss.

Reviews from other Swiss locals (German and French alike) had been unequivocal--everybody loves the Ticino. The cultural elements are nearly purely Italian, but the organization and bank accounts are decidedly Swiss--the best of both worlds. That our daytrip enjoyed perfectly gorgeous weather didn't hurt either, as we explored the towns of Locarno on Lake Maggiore (the Swiss flipside of Italy's Lake Como) with its Alpine backdrop and Bellinzona, an amazing ancient Roman castle-studded village of utmost charm, which I joked would be called 'The-Town-That-Shall-Go-Unnamed-In-The-Blog' because I didn't want anyone to know about it. So there, I named it, I'm not a selfish jerk after all. But still, you shouldn't go there.

After ten (!) excellent days together which seemed to fly, we bid a glum farewell to Kay and Archer. Through all our conversations throughout the trip and also because of it, combined with that irreplaceable family effect, they helped Steph and I cross another important psychological obstacle to our ultimate European settling. Although I still agree with my own Theory of Expatriation (ha, big surprise!), it's easier for the brain to define than the heart (or the blog); in the end I suppose it's understanding that things from home you love are still there--and you appreciate them deeply during the short stints they're available--but also understanding that improving your tolerance for and acceptance of cross-cultural difficulties (there are so many!!) is key to fundamentally, emotionally appreciating the fantastic world of new experiences. Easier said than done, I'll tell you, but this trip helped a lot.

Did you want more pictures? http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2hd8fyj.49i65wg3&x=0&y=-it9ntk&localeid=en_US