The Bodensee (aka Lake Constance) is probably one of the most beautiful places in all of Germany. It’s a great big lake fed by the Rhine and surrounded by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, not to mention vineyards, forests, Baroque churches, and the Alps. It was the perfect setting for adventuring away from the Ruhrpott.
Sunday was R&R day, so we slept in and then just went to see the sights of Konstanz. Konstanz is gorgeous – it escaped bombing during WWII and so all the structures are still originals from, you know, the 12th century. Add that to the Alpine lake location and it really doesn’t get any better.
The view from the top of one of Konstanz’s churches (Münster, I’m pretty sure)
Monday was one of my favorite days of the break. Susanna and I borrowed a couple of bikes, took a ferry across the lake to Meersburg, and then rode the 10 km trail along the Bodensee to Birnau, a super baroque church surrounded by vineyards. Baroque churches like this kind of drive me crazy, but in a fun, European novelty kind of way – there’s so much going on, like, where are you even supposed to be looking? It’s overwhelming. But anyway, it was great. Susanna and I had a picnic lunch in front of the church – behind us was that beautiful, pink monstrosity and in front of us were vineyards and trees and lake and sunshine. Gorgeous.
Our view at lunchtime
Basilika Birnau
After our lunch we biked back to Meersburg and strolled around the town for a little bit. After we met Susanna’s aunt and uncle for dessert, we bought some fresh apples and headed back across the lake for dinner with friends.
Tuesday, Susanna and I caught the bus with her friend Christian to take a hike at Marienschulcht. Despite the rain that day, our hike was lovely and actually reminded me of being back home in Arkansas. The ravine and falls are surrounded by forests and it felt just like I was traipsing around in the Ozarks.
Marienschlucht. Pictures don’t do it justice.
Wednesday we met back up with Susanna’s aunt and uncle and went on a hike along the upper Danube. More trees, more wilderness, some fields, some cows, no rain but definitely some mud. Also, a castle/fortress. I’m not exactly sure what it’s supposed to be, but here it is. I’m pretty sure it was 11th century, maybe 12th. Wednesday’s picnic lunch view was the Danube on the right and the Very Old Building to our left. Seriously, how awesome is that?
Look at the Danube! Look at those cliffs!
I think in the moment I was more impressed with this tree stump than the Very Old Building you can kind of see peeking out in the background.
Susanna’s aunt and uncle took us to dinner that night and then dropped us back off in Meersburg so we could catch the ferry back across the lake to Konstanz. I’m pretty sure this was also the night we got ice cream and watched The Lion King in German. Don’t tell us we don’t know how to have fun. Thursday, we rested our tired little feet, and I spent most of the day relaxing at the lake park in Switzerland (because you can just hop over the border and do that here, NBD). We capped off the day by meeting some more friends at a restaurant for flammkuchen night (flammkuchen = pizza bread with a cream sauce base and cheese and ham and onions and it is truly so simple yet so unbelievably delicious). It was a lovely, chill night, and a perfect way to cap off my week on Lake Constance!
Laufen mit Liz 