You Go Nate!

How I Spent My Sommer Vacation - Part X (July 29th):

CODA

I returned to Munich on July 17th after nearly two weeks traveling through Northern Germany. I found them already starting to set up for Oktoberfest...





And the elders had gone crazy....




So my arrival was just in time.

I had a full week of teaching the next week but I still had one more day on my German Rail Pass to travel anywhere in Germany. I thought about it carefully. I couldn't go too far because I only had one day, but I wanted to go somewhere very different. My decision: Lindau on Lake Constance.

You can see on the map below that Lindau is a little island on Lake Constance. It is the farthest south-west corner of Bavaria and Lake Constance itself is the tri-border between Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

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After a two and a half hour train ride, I was in Lindau on Lake Constance. This imaginatively-named lake is actually called "Bodensee" in German, which means "Ground Lake." I like "Lake Constance" better. This lake is also the third largest lake in Central Europe after Lake Balaton, and Lake Geneva.

I arrived to find a unique and beautiful German city, full of charming sights and interesting things. The center of activity is around the harbour seen below...

The harbour is separated from the lake by two flag-lined dikes. At the end of one sits the Lindau Lighthouse....

At the end of the other sits a great lion...

Together they create a picturesque scene for the Lindau harbour...

Across the lake you can see the Austrian and Swiss Alps in the distance...

I took a expeditionary walk through the town to find out what lay in store. There were quaint narrow streets...

Unique row-houses each with a different penthouse window...

Cozy plazas hidden between the buildings...

Quiet alleys...

People painting the view of the lake....

And miles and miles of pure white-sand beach. I felt like I was in Hawaii....

I didn't have a lot of time, however, before I boarded a ferry boat, crossed the lighthouse and the lion, and entered Lake Constance. Which brings up a good question: What do you get when you cross a lion and a lighthouse?

Answer: some good photos! (But better on the way back.)

Lake Constance is huge....

But always in the distance, the jagged peaks of the Alps loom....

Hi Nate, welcome aboard...

It was so nice to sit on deck and enjoy the sun and the scenery.

After a pleasant hour on the boat, we were approaching the town of Rorschach, Switzerland!

I alighted from the boat onto Switzerland. This was country #24 for me! (Though I was on the tarmac of the Zürich airport in 2000, but I don't count airports.)

There was no hiding the Swissness of Rorschach. The streets were lined with Swiss-looking houses and banners representing the different cantons (regions) of Switzerland.

Schaffhausen Canton banner...

Obwald Canton banner before a very Swiss-looking house.

Some of the buildings had enormous amounts of detail around the windows and doors. Here is a carving below a window...

And the window itself...

Pleasant churches...

Serene Swiss Meadows...

The Swiss Film Commission commissioned me to make a short "Welcome to Switzerland" film for promotional use...

I had about two and a half hours in Rorschach before it was time to head back to the wharf to catch my return trip.

Here's a nice blue house with the Geneva Canton banner...

On my way back to the harbour, I stopped inside a Swiss Army Knife store. There I bought a new Swiss Card (the old one, that I purchased in the Zürich airport in 2000 having lived its life.) This new Swiss Card features a knife, scissors, tweezers, a needle, a pen, a multi-head screwdriver, a magnifying glass, a light, and a ruler.

Here's the ferry on its way in to pick us up...

...and that was the end of my time in Switzerland. It was a delight!




Lake Constance was tranquil in the afternoon sun....

...with awesome clouds over the Alps on the horizon.

We passed by small churches and villages along the coast...

And soon I was back in Lindau for the afternoon. I was also starving so I headed to the main square of Lindau, found a pizza place, and enjoyed a wonderful (and big) pizza lunch.

A troupe of drummer boys came drumming past while I ate my lunch....

Each building has a different design on their shutters...

Triton: King of the Lake!

It was a hot summer day and I was very tempted to take a dip in the lake. I had even brought a swimming suit just in case. These boys were certainly enjoying their summer swim...

But, alas, my train back to Munich was leaving soon and I just didn't have time. So I slowly worked my way back to the train station.

You can see I have done a consistently poor job of choosing strangers to take my picture. I'm starting to loose all faith in humanity...

So goodbye Lindau and Lake Constance...

The train ride home was a special bonus. The train wasn't too crowded so for much of the ride I had a compartment to myself. I could lower the window in the compartment and also the window across the aisle and it was fun to go back and forth seeing the countryside and snapping a few shots.

Just a little too late on this one...

There were rolling green hills...

This photo was a total accident. There were a ton of trees blocking the view and I just happened to take this picture at a break in the trees.

The Alps were always nearby...



Here is exclusive footage of Nate enjoying his train ride...

So it had been a wonderful day on the great German-Austrian-Swiss lake. It was the perfect coda to my Summer vacationing in Germany.

Lake Constance Picasa Album:

Lake Constance

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