Old town Schaffhausen

After waking up at 4:30am from jet lag, I finally went back to sleep after maybe an hour, but woke up eventually about 8:30am. Kevin had already gotten up and Christine (Kevin's step-mom) went to the bakery and got all sorts of breads for breakfast. We sat at the winter garden and enjoyed ouor breakfast, tea, coffee, juice, etc. It was a bit cool in the morning, but it looked like a good day was in store.

Kevin's dad designed his own house, being an architect. Their house was open and bright, with lots of plants indoors and out on the patio. The winter garden is a bit like a greenhouse, with glass all around, so when it's cool or wet or snowy, they can enjoy it without being affected by the weather. It's obviously one of their favorite rooms! We both tried out his rowing machine for a few minutes of exercise, played with Douglas the dog.

About noon we went for a walk down to the old town of Schaffhausen without the dog, so Chuck talked to every dog we met along the way. He really likes Douglas. Of course we missed our puppies at home, but we can't take them everywhere :(

Old town was very colorful, and lots of people sitting at the ourdoor cafes and restaurants. It was warm in the sun. We walked toward the Rhien River, and stopped at the restaurant of the old customs house for a drink. Afterwards, we climbed up to the Munot (Munotverein), a fort dating back to the 1500's, a famous local landmark. It is situated on the top of a hill, with grape vines along the hillside. It is a stone structure. We went up from behind the customs house. On the side of the fort were a couple of deer in the shade of the moat (or what used to be a channel which had water from the Rhein used to flood or deter enemy climbing up!) crossing the moat, we entered the Munot fort, the bottom part was very interesting stone basement with many round skyholes, made for a very interesting photo! Up a spiral ramp to the top, where there was a command view of the city and river below. Tables were out on the round courtyard and around the perimeter for various city activities. Nothing was going on when we were there. There were a couple of canons too pointing in the direction of the river below.

We climbed down the stairs through a vineyard back into town, and then went through an old convent, out through the town square, which was not very active. Back on the main street of old town, we had an ice cream cone and then slowly headed back home after about 4 hours in town!