Our trip to Switzerland took us by a crowded, noisy, smoke filled fast train from Salzburg, Austria to Zurich where we had reserved a room in a budget hotel in the old town, the Otter Hotel. The hotel had a bar on the ground floor and was advertised as an “artistic” hotel with individualized rooms and bathrooms down the hall. The room was on the 4th floor but there was a tiny elevator. It was quite hot, but there were huge casement windows providing a little breeze. The windows opened onto the narrow cobblestone streets and looked directly across the street into another apartment (vintage 1500’s)!
The next day we took a cab to the Zurich Banhoff for a short fast trip to Stein am Rhein via Shafhaussen. The trip took us through rolling green farmland and quaint villages and I remarked that it looked somewhat like Illinois where the Boeschensteins first landed when they arrived in the U.S. and I wondered what those first immigrants thought when the saw Illinois and the Mississippi River.
We were met at the Stein am Rhein railroad station by our hostess, Nellie Keller who drove us to their bed and breakfast, a 20 year old A-frame modern house on the outskirts of town near beautiful fields of row crops and cow pastures. We walked into the historic town center and I was happy to see that it was just as the pictures I had looked at since child hood and since being told about the murals from my father.
It’s a beautiful medieval town, as the tour book says, with lots of tourists and upscale restaurants and shops. The Rathaus, or city Hall Square is a hubbub of activity with lots of German, Italian, French and Swiss tourists who arrive by boat and bus for a short stay.
We took Warren’s suggestion and visited the old print shop, Galerie am Undertor, and asked Karl Fehrlin, the print shop owner, for a “Boeschenstein print” and sure enough the owner rummaged around in the back and opened a well worn folder and found several! We bought one that had a view of the town square and Rathaus and we’re having it framed.
He told us that this artist, Boeschenstein, was quite well known in Stein am Rhein and had been Burgermister (mayor) in the 1930’s ? He then immigrated to Germany ”where he didn’t have an easy time of it during the war.”
We visited the tourist information center where the staff said they didn’t know any of the history of our family but looked our name up on their internet search engine. They found a Sandra Boeschenstein
(www.wkv-stuttgart.de/uploads/media/ueber_eng_01.pdf)
in Zurich who is an artist. Elizabeth had noticed her name in the Zurich tourist information book and that she was having an exhibit in Zurich. We got her phone number, but didn’t have time to call her when we returned to Zurich.
We had a nice evening chat in Stein with our bed and breakfast hosts, Roman and Nellie Keller, with wine and cheese. Roman works for Swiss Railroads and is an avid mountain biker who had also been to Vail as a member of the Swiss downhill skiing team and to Moab, Utah mountain biking team! Both he and his wife were born near Stein. Nellie, his wife had been a nanny in the U.S. in Portland, Oregon so they both spoke fairly good English.
Stein am Rhien is preparing for its 1,000 year birthday, (!) which starts in July and runs through August. They were rehearsing for a pageant that will be in full costume. There were many posters and other promotional materials advertising this celebration. We witnessed a rehearsal for the pageant and it looked like almost everybody in town was a participant.
One day we rented bikes in Stein am Rhien at a very upscale bike shop where the shopkeepers had heard of Grand Junction, Fruita and Moab! We rode on a beautiful bike bath along the Rhien river. The bike shop keepers told us to take our passports which we though was unusual, but after we got back we realized we had crossed the border into Germany. As we biked across the River on a highway bridge we saw an approaching storm and soon we were in the middle of driving rain, but we had our ponchos, so we continued riding in the rain and rode past the ancient roman ruins and then back across the river to the bike shop.
The castle at Stein am Rhein is currently under construction and as you look up to castle you can see a huge crane. The Kellers told us that the cost of the reconstruction of the castle is in the neighborhood of $6 million Swiss F! The funds came from the Schaffhausen province and local funds and the reconstruction should be done this year. We weren’t able to go to the castle since it was under construction.
We had some good meals in town at Mya’s sidewalk café and two restaurants on the river. We bought cheese and sausages and bread for lunch and since we were staying in a bed and breakfast we had free breakfasts.
We visited the monastery at Stein which has a beautifully restored complex of buildings and amazing carvings and stone work dating from the middle ages. So our visit to the old home town ended after a two day stay at a wonderful bed and breakfast (Roman and Nellie Keller) with lots of good memories and satisfaction to know that the old home town is in good hands!
Every Saturday, there is a farmer’s market in Stein. We visited to get some bread and cheese to take with us on the train down to the south part of Switzerland where we stayed for a week at a timeshare in the Alps.
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