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Bodensee
We arrived in Lindau on the Bodensee as the rain was coming across the lake. You can clearly see the rain as it approaches from the right. Memorial Day weekend we decided to go to southern Germany to visit the Bodensee or Lake Constance, as it is also known. The Bodensee is a large lake, the 3rd largest in Europe, which borders Germany, Switzerland and a tiny portion of Austria. The lake is 40 miles long and 8 ½ miles wide. Bodensee loosely translates to “bottom lake” as it lies at the bottom of Germany.
We stayed at a very nice gasthof (hotel) in Neuravensburg, Hotel Landgasthof Mohren, just a few miles north of the Bodensee. What was nice about the hotel was that it had an indoor pool and sauna, although I never did get the sauna to work correctly. The pool was great place to relax after spending the day walking around Lindau. The hotel served a very nice German breakfast, consisting of cereal with yogurt, soft-boiled eggs, various luncheon meats, cheese, and rolls, along with coffee or tea. The only disadvantage of the hotel was that it was adjacent to a church that began ringing its bells at 7 AM.
Unfortunately, the weather was not very nice on our trip to the Bodensee. It rained most of the weekend. As you can see Statue Among the Trees
In a little town just north of the Bodensee, we came across this antique dealer who had these lovely bronze statutes. from the first picture just after we got there, the rain came across the lake and continued raining off and on all weekend. Just before Lindau, a town on the Bodensee, we came across an antique shop in Weissensberg. What was unique about this shop was surrounding the building were these very large bronze statues. The inside of the shop looked more like a junk store but hidden among the piles and piles of junk was a couple treasures. Kate was able to pick up a couple trinkets. We found out that the antique shop does most of its business on the German Ebay so there was little need for it to be a neat customer friendly shop, although the owner was very nice and spoke English. He was very helpful in dating some of the pieces Kate was admiring. I would have loved one of the bronze statues but the cost and shipping was way beyond my budget. The statues were lined up among the trees on the property and next to the trees was a pasture with cows. This one cow (see picture) came by while I was taking pictures and stared at me for the longest time
Garden of Statutes
The antique dealer had a number of different statutes for sale. I wish now I had taken more pictures. and even continued doing so while I left.
We were only able to visit two towns on the Bodensee, Lindau and Friedrichshafen due to the weather. We had originally planned to take the ferry over to Switzerland but due to the weather we decided to do that at some later date. Lindau is a nice little town with a beautiful harbor from which you can catch ferries to all points around the lake. Its ornate rathaus, council house, originally built in 1422 and later rebuilt in 1578, is one of the major points of interest in Lindau. The town’s narrow streets with picturesque signs and wall murals, along with many outdoor cafes, makes it a great town to spend a very pleasant day, even in the rain. The highlight of Lindau has to be its beautiful harbor with the “Bavarian Lion” and new lighthouse (1856) guarding its entrance. The old lighthouse, the Mangturn, a tower built in 1220 also highlights the harbor.
Approximately 30 kilometers down the road along the Bodensee is the town of Friedrichshafen. Friedrichshafen is best known for having been home to the Zeppelin Airship Company. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin , who was born in
Who you looking at?
Adjacent to the antique shop was this pasture and this cow comes up while I'm taking pictures and stares at me for the longest time. As I stared back and took this picture I could imagine the cow saying, "Who are you looking at?" Notice the bell around her neck. Putting bells on cows is really big in southern Germany. They really make a ruckus when they all start moving together. Konstanz (Constance) not far from Friedrichshafen, originally had his airships built in a floating assembly hall on the lake which could be aligned with the wind to support the difficult starting procedure. Count Zeppelin was the first to make airship travel a commercial success. The Zeppelin museum lays out the history of zeppelins and its famous inventor as well as displays life size models of some parts of the zeppelins to give you a feeling of what it was like to travel on a zeppelin.
We got a chance to visit a few villages and towns in the area. One town, Wagen (pronounced Vagen) is another example of a German town with picturesque wall murals that adorn the many buildings in the altstadt (old town). Wagen was also the town that appears to be really big on pigs as can be seen from the bronze statue of the pig herder to the stone wall covering on the town’s main well.
Except for the rain, and there was lots of it, it was worth seeing the Bodensee and its surrounding areas. We look forward to coming back when the weather is better!
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