Stein am Rhein

The summer sun sets late, this far north. At dinner, one of our hosts proposed a quick excursion to the nearby town of Stein am Rhein. Most of the group had explored the town the day we arrived in Ramsen, but two of us had missed the chance.

One of the guys in our group, when asked, had characterized it as “a cutesy town.” Which (seriously) does not do it justice.

With the shops closed and tourists dispersed, it was a rare opportunity to have the old town nearly to ourselves.

We learned that the deep red hue of the exposed beams in this style of building was originally a consequence of the oxblood used to preserve the wood (nowadays, they're painted).

The elaborate frescoes on the buildings depict the trades, or tell stories.

One could only wonder what inspired the panel showing Diogenes, in his ceramic jar, confronting Alexander the Great.

I would have regretted missing this historic place; I've never seen anything like it. And this visit, though brief, offered some consolation for the day's earlier disappointments.