2012-08-03 47 8

Location

A forest near Schaffhausen

Participants

Plans

Take the train via Winterthur to reach Schaffhausen at 12.38pm.

Expedition

"Lappi tue d'Augen uf" schtaht z'Schafuuse-n-am Tor; "Open your eyes, dumbass" stands written on the gates of Schaffhausen. That's what Calamus's mother had told him whenever he had failed to see an easy solution to a problem. This strange proverb had been about the only thing he'd ever heard about Schaffhausen before, except for the fact the US Air Force had once mistaken it for a German city in World War Two and bombed it, because they hadn't bothered writing down the coordinates (although some people claim the reason was "Americans don't care whom they kill and Schaffhausen just happened to be closer"). However, he was going to learn quite a bit more about the town today.

The hash of the day before had already been close to the town, and Calamus had considered sleeping in a friend's nearby barn so he could get them both without returning in the meantime. By the time he got off work, however, it was far too late to get to the hashpoint before midnight. So he had left that one in peace and concentrated on the point at hand.

The journey to Schaffhausen wasn't very interesting. He had taken the train to Winterthur and went on to Schaffhausen in a regional train. When he arrived in the town, which seemed very nice at a first glance, he immediately walked off to the point.

The point was actually located quite a bit outside of town, in a forest next to a road to the village of Stetten. Calamus fetched it and returned. He was looking forward to see a little of the town.

He wasn't disappointed. The first thing he saw when he entered the town was the explanation of the proverb. He had often wondered why not having your eyes open should be attributed to Schaffhausen. The answer was simple. Above the gate of Schaffhausen a relief actually ran "Lappi tue d'Augen uf". Whyever that was.

After wandering over the market for a while and discovering Schaffhausen was home to some great ice cream, he felt he had to visit the Munot. The Munot was the centerpiece of Schaffhausen, just as Schaffhausen was the centerpiece of its canton. The Munot was a big, circular fortress.

The Munot was sturdy, so sturdy than nobody had ever succeeded in capturing it. This was partly because its circular structure was optimal in terms of statics, partly because nobody had actually ever bothered to try. Calamus was no expert in military architecture, but he clearly saw that there was just about no place one could possibly attack this thing from. The interior consisted of a single column-supported catacomb-like hall, which only had a few embrasures for windows and wells for skylights and was dark as a smoker's lungs. Its only function clearly was to support the fortress.

The roof was a whole other story. One could see as far as to the hashpoint, and they had put benches and a screen there for an open air cinema. Calamus treated himself a local panaché before leaving.

It had been one of his nicest geohashes. Take that, number thirteen. He discovered there actually was an almost direct train to Zurich here (Lappi tue d'Augen uf!), which only stopped in Bülach and took him about half the time of his other connection. He boarded it and left Schaffhausen for the time being.