Out This Door

Travel hack #23 (or maybe #1 depending): Know where you are staying the first night in a foreign country. Or even a place in our own great country but foreign to you. Traveling, especially a long haul trip, is physically and mentally exhausting. Through jet lag in there. Ugh.

With plane tickets booked for Switzerland (see: “First Trip Across the Pond was Not the Trip of a Lifetime“) we decided to stay the first night near, but not in, Zurich, in the nearby town of Schaffhausen. Planning only to be there for the night to let the jet lag wear off, I put my blinders on and didn’t look up anything to do. You’re not missing out if you don’t know what you’re missing.

Turns out that Schaffhausen used to be a really important place, a few times in the past. I found this out first at a simple set of stairs. “Where do these go?” I asked innocently to the universe. CT still uses this as The Story of Nature Nikki’s Staircase Obsession. He had just recovered from back surgery so there was no time to waste in getting out to see the world.

At the top of the stairs was… another flight of stairs. And then another flight of stairs. I expect David Bowie to be walking upside toward me at any moment (that dates me). What these stairs eventually led to was a view so strategic that they (the long time ago kind) built a fortress or monastery depending. Nothing was left inside just dirt floors and big holes in the ceiling to let the memory of old bonfires escape but I could sense the bustle of long years ago before. This was archetecture I had read about in college Art History 101. I was hooked on Munot. If you go, there’s no fee to get in, just a fee in steps that your iphone will be proud of.

Back below in the town as the sun set, the Christmas lights came on–aha! a Christmas Market! Europeans love their Christmas Markets! The old city center is lined with booths of mostly food and drink but also local craftsmen and consumer goods from the world over.

The booths are mostly made of wood like little cabins, twinkly light abound strung from every corner and real Christmas trees adorned every corner. Yes, real trees, not artificial. This tree-lover loves real trees when we celebrate trees even with cut ones. With a cup of Glühwein in hand, we watched the people go by and marveled at those who can manage, or not so much, the little dog on the leash with one hand, pushing the stroller with the other, all while smoking a cigarette.

What’s this Glühwein? It is a warm mulled wine—sometimes just the wine, though most places watered down, or some with juice added to it. Every restaurant and café has an outside seating area with a blanket or fleece draped over each seat welcoming passersbys as the night and the wine seep in to the narrow streets and cobblestones. Then it was time for bed.

At just one room wide, two rooms long and four rooms high, the Hotel 2b was just too sweet. That personal touch and assumption of goodwill in Switzerland are just as lovely as the scenery. Each of the 8 total rooms has a different décor and different feel giving the whole more of an apartment community feeling. The courtyard in the center led to a Tex-Mex Restaurant. Being from the US Southwest we didn’t eat the restaurant but they did welcome us in for a coffee when we first arrived while we waited for our room to be ready. The staff was very personable and spoke very good English, we had no trouble with communication.

We reserved the balcony suite and had a lovely view of the Kloster Allerheiligen (the monastery) right across the street which we went to the next morning. The garden, Mosergarten, was gorgeous even being the end of the season. Included in the garden design were statues and arched walls which made it very picturesque. CT had to keep moving this shutter bug along.

We turned a corner and were in the hall along the central square which was lined with ancient decorative panels and several of the massive church bells. Interpretive signage with QR codes for translation to English gave the history of the place. CT kept turning corners and opening doors and suddenly we were in the old chapel, still in use today, boasting beautiful artwork and architecture with columns and stained glass and decorative panels and the reconstruction of the grave of Eberhard VI. von Nellenburg who was a brother at this monastery in 1072 after a trip, or two, to Rome.

Where can opening doors take you? Join us as we are out this door…