Driving in convoy of camper van requires you to check the rest of the vehicles from time to time. Each time we reached a roundabout or about to take a junction..we would relay the news first and later check with each driver if they had successfully navigated the road. We tried our best not to be too far from each other...lest we have to pull over and guide the missing van back to us.
I think it was a 45 minutes drive from the camping ground... pass the small towns along the way...head to the town of Schaffhausen. Well, not really the town.. but to a huge nearby waterfall.
But hang on....there was a drama I believe. Ok, it goes like this. Hahahahahaha... We've established that we are photographers, not tourist..and any photo opp would be hard to resist. On our way to the huge ancient waterfall, we passed this structure...
 |
| the Munot Fortress, Schaffhausen |
So, like usual we would pull over the road and would proceed to take pictures that interest us. Some were very busy than the rest..and rushing from one place to another, until....a walkie talkie fell into someone's backyard...hmmmmm. We continued our journey afterwards...and voila!...
The Rhine Falls or Rheinfalls (in German) is the biggest waterfall in Europe. Infos about it mentioned about the waterfall since the Ice Age! That old! Remember the river by the campsite that we left? The same water passes this waterfall. I traced the route of the water...and Rhine River empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands! That far...
 |
| all present and accounted for? |
 |
| The 'I', 'E' and 'N' exchange places when you spell it in English |
 |
| The ticket counter, doubles as souvenir shop |
The place that we parked the caravan was near a castle called the Laufen Castle (Schloss Laufen), built circa 850s. A history buff like me loves castle. The more the merrier! The most important thing about the castle is overlooking this:
 |
| behold!...the mighty Rhien Falls. The white and blue diagonal colour flag is from Zurich's coat of arms... (taken with fast shutter speed) |
 |
| The waterfall's vital statistic (150m wide, 23m in height) |
Adult admission per person is 5euro. When you walk pass thru the entrance, there's a courtyard...with a single tree, kind of LOTR: Return of the Kings. You can almost 'feel' time radiate from the structures.
 |
| A single tree in the courtyard |
 |
| Anz the stylo Pharmacist... |
 |
| the entrance ticket to the viewing platform |
Syibli called us to him because he was about to teach us to take pictures of the fall using filter (Cokin). Some brought with them, but I waited my turn to use the one from Syibli. Harun and Dinie were there too, armed with a video camera...asking us separately, to talk a bit about the place and the travel so far.
 |
| the viewing platform |
 |
| (from foreground) Sab, Syibli (with cap), Che Mun (partially hidden), Coke, Radzi and Harun (taking video) |
 |
| my first attempt...look at that boat |
Tripod is a must, because for a 15 second exposure...a tiny movement will cause the picture to be blur. Most of my pictures were blur even with tripod because of the wind! Or was it because of the wooden floor of the observation deck. t wobbled a bit. The result anyway, would be smooth trail of water. The other option would be to use a fast shutter speed but that would freeze the movement of the water.
 |
| Alstom (opposite the river bank) |
 |
| Dinie (this time was still a father-to-be) and Me |
 |
| with Abang Rashid...Europe is just like a 'kampung' (village) to him... hahahahahaha |
 |
| key chain with name of the couple |
There's another observation deck very much lower than this one.But prepared to be wet from spray of water from the violent water fall.
 |
| from the walkway to the lift |
 |
| the glass lift |
 |
| Kak Mona (I think) and Radzi taking picture of us in the glass lift |
 |
| the castle's rampart |
 |
| the entrance of the castle (I was on my way out) |
"C1 Naija ready"
"Temerloh ready"
"Ganu ready"
"Johore ready"
"A1 ready"..... all driver called in one by one.
Bismillah....(In the name of Allah) and we are on the road again.
We still have a long way to go today. I was a bit sketchy about the route we took. But on the highway, we took the junction towards Zurich. Not Zurich, no....but to Schwyz. There must be lakes over there. What drama would ensued there? No one knows.........aheh
No comments:
Post a Comment