When I wrote that we don’t have a honeymoon, it wasn’t completely true. We did get a honeymoon-day as a present from our friends which we made use of today. The little one therefore had the pleasure of her first “Gotti-Tag” (Swiss German for a day spent with your godmother) while we took the train to Schaffhausen and then rented an E-Bike in order to explore the Pinot Noir region.

We started at around 9 am and dropped the little one off at our friends (she was spending the day in the zoo with penguins and blueberries, much to her delight!). While we still worried a bit during the first hour (after all it was the first complete day without her and we weren’t even close by in case we were needed), we started to relax immediately when we saw the Rhine Falls. In Schaffhausen, we received the E-Bikes at the train station (after some troubles at the counter) and off we went: our first E-Bike tour.

What shall I say?……Wuuuuuuuuuuushhhhhhhh!!!

It’s almost immodest how fast you can drive with an E-Bike!

First short stop was at the Rhine Falls, but we left relatively quickly for the wine region as we would see the Falls again on our way back. The beginning of the tour turned out to be not as easy as imagined. Mainly because we didn’t bring a map as it was a railaway offer by the Swiss railway company and we somehow thought that they would provide us with a map for that tour together with the bikes and the helmets.

So the only thing we got was a map with a mountain bike route. Which we decided to take as it lead us through the forest. We thought we could turn it into a mount-E-bike route. Didn’t work out. Fact is – E-bikes don’t work so well on rocky forest paths. And we somehow lost track. So after two hours we were really happy to end up in a small village which we knew was on the actual pinot noir route. Aaah, and the vineyards. The grapes. Dozens of red kites. And half-timbered buildings, all with the characteristically big gates that you find in wine regions. A truly beautiful route via Jestetten, Osterfingen and Wilchingen (click on the pictures to enlarge).

The second part of the route went along the Klettgau-Bike trail, but was, compared with the first part, less spectacular. Mainly along the railway tracks. (If we go back there we would take another way back). It ended, however, at the Rhine Falls again which are simply beautiful, especially because it had been raining during the last days so there was more water than usual, and today was beautiful sunshine.

Back in Schaffhausen we enjoyed a pizza and a stroll around the old part of the town. I wasn’t aware that Schaffhausen is such a picturesque town and was pleasantly surprised. Almost by coincidence we entered the cross coat of the cathedral – a beautiful and very relaxing ending of our tour.

We were back in Zurich at half past five, only half an hour later than our friends and the little one.  Looks like they had a great day too and we are extremely happy and thankful that we were able (and enabled both by our friends and by the little one) to do such a wonderful trip. Now we’ll drink a glass of wine and finish the day with a movie…