Konstanz - Part 1

Thursday May 22, 2008

We arranged to meet Andrea and Michelle in Konstanz on the Bodensee (or Lake Constance in English) after their travels in Bavaria.  Toby and took the train down.  Luckily for us Konstanz is on a direct regional line so it's cheap and relatively fast to get there.  

Here I am with a delicious German snack, Maxi Mix. It's an assortment of pretzels, crackers and goldfish.  My friend Laura informed me of Maxi Mix before we even left for Germany so I have been able to enjoy it's deliciousness since day 1.  Thanks Laura!

Usually the regional trains are packed on the weekends with people standing in by the doors, but we had this car practically to ourselves!  

These guys (below), whose t-shirts say "dream team" on them seemed to be on some sort of biking trip together.  They were sitting nearby but in a different area of the train.  Toby could see them from where he was sitting.  He would inform me of their goings on.  "Oh, their bikes just fell over again.  Now their picking them up."  "Now one just pulled a long link of sausages out of his bag and he's taking a big bite" (seriously).  "Oh, now one of them has a box of wine held up over his head and he's trying to drink from the spout."  

Then unfortunately, the sausage eating, wine box drinker started smoking on the train, which is clearly not allowed.  The windows don't open and it was stinking up our "private" car.  Toby did his best imitation of a German and yelled from our car "Smoking is verboten!!"  No effect, but at least he tried.  How often do you get to yell at a German, IN German, for breaking the rules? (Ok, Germans do it all the time, but how often do WE get up the courage to do it?)

We thought karma might deal a swift blow of justice when we noticed that he was still in the bathroom when the train pulled into a stop and all his buddies got their bikes and got off.  And he was still in the bathroom... still in the bathroom.  Finally, one of his friends remembered him and got him off the train in time.  

So finally we arrived in Konstanz.  We brought our bikes along as it is a lovely area for biking.  Here I am enjoying my first ice-cream of the weekend at the harbour in Konstanz.

This statue stands at the end of the longest pier in the harbour.  It's called "Imperia".  Wikipedia says: 

The Imperia is a statue at the entrance of the harbour of Konstanz, Germany, commemorating the Council of Constance that took place there between 1414 and 1418. The concrete statue is 10 meters high, weighes 18 tonnes, and stands on a pedestal that rotates around its axis once every three minutes. It was created by Peter Lenk and erected in 1993.The Imperia shows a woman holding two men on her hands. The two men represent Pope Martin V and Emperor Sigismund. Martin V was elected during the Council while Sigismund represents the secular power. Both are naked except for the symbols of their power.The woman represents an Italian courtesan who was born 1485 in Ferrara. Although the historical Imperia never visited Konstanz, she is connected to the council that took place long before her birth through a short story byBalzac, "La belle Impéria". The story is a harsh satire of the Catholic clergys' morals, where Imperia seduces cardinals and princes alike and has power over them all.

I thought it was creepy, sexist, racy and fabulous all rolled into one.  What is that supposed to be on her head?

We took a boat ride while wating for Andrea and Michelle to arrive on their Katamaran.  It was much colder than I expected.  It didn't turn out to be the pleasant cruise I was expecting, but still nice to be out on the water.

A view of the harbour-side park and cathedral in the background.

Imperia and the harbour.

After the boat ride we walked through the old town centre a bit.  Konstanz was left relatively unscathed during WWII because it is located a few kilometres from the Swiss border.  They would turn their lights ON during bombing raids so that the Allies would think it a Swiss town, the Allies didn't bomb it for fear of accidentally hitting neutral Switzerland.

We stopped in a cafe for a bite.  We eneded up ordering the weirdest combination of food: curry coconut soup, chips and salsa and ... tea.  The tea warmed us up beautifully.  The soup was delicious but only in moderation.  Something about the sweet/spicy smell of it just didn't do it for us.  But isn't it pretty?

One of the streets of the old town.

The Zeppelin statue at the harbour in honor of Ferdinand von Zeppelin who invented the blimp which bears his name.  He was born in Konstanz.

Finally, we spotted a Katamaran whizzing towards the harbour.  We hoped Andrea and Michelle were on it.  See, they phoned us several times during the day to inform us of their various delays and missed trains.  They had quite the journey to begin with -- three connections, four different legs.  They missed their first train by three minutes after running through downtown Munich.  Then they missed another connection when the accidentally got off one stop too early at the train station and not the harbour station and missed their boat.  Luckily they were able to take the next (and last for the day) Katamaran and arrived in good spirits.  Don't worry guys, we've done all those things too.  Some days just work out like that.

We headed to our hotel in a Swiss town called Tägerwilen, which although only a few kilometers from Konstanz is Swiss through and through including the outrageous prices.  This pork chop cost 24 Swiss Francs which roughly translates to ... 24 Canadian dollars!  Oh my god.  Why did we stay here again?  Oh yah, everything else was full.

Another reminder we were in Switzerland: smoking is still allowed in restaurants.  I sure don't miss that in Germany.

Friday May 23, 2008

We awoke and the cares and frustrations of the previous day were wiped away.  We had a nice breakfast and then the girls took the train into town to rent bikes and we rode our bikes in and met them.

Along the way...

Once everyone was suited up with bikes we hit the road.

My favorite view in Konstanz of the beautiful, historic buildings just across the harbour.

We stopped to have some fun with the camera.  I won't tell you how many tries it took to get this picture!

A blimp!

Then we rode our bikes to the same "beach" we visited with our friend BreeAnne last July. It was still early in the day so the beach (really just grass near the water) was practically empty.  Except for a man on the beach, in the "nude" area, but choosing a spot where he was clearly visible to all, doing some sort of strange tai-chi movements which required an awful lot of squatting.  

Weeeee!

Toby's going so hi, this photograph couldn't contain him.

Did you, like me, notice anything bizarrely fairy-tale-ish about the juxtaposition of the above two photographs?  Like Michelle did some kind of magic spell on herself, got into position and was turned into a crane?

Click on the images below to enlarge them.

Then we headed back into town.  What a glorious day for a bike ride!  These great pictures were taken by Michelle.

Doesn't Toby look like he's about to be engulfed by a giant rolling green wave?

Going over the bridge towards the old town and harbour.

A great, cheap pizza lunch.  How can we get pizza and a salad for five euros and 10 KMs away pay 24 bucks for a pork chop!  

After lunch we headed up the church tower to take in the view.

The stairs were a little tiring.

Wow!  Gorgeous!

Yes there was a "normal' picture.  But why would I include that when I could include this?

The old town from above.

My favorite street again (also where we were just biking).

Hellooooo down there.

To be continued... Stay tuned for the rest of our adventures on the Bodensee tomorrow!